Brethren, if you will, be turning
to the book of Mark. The book of Mark. About 120 years
ago, Charles Gabriel wrote these words in our hymnal. He said,
He took my sins and my sorrows. He made them His very own. He
bore the burden to Calvary and suffered and died alone. Oh, how marvelous. Oh how wonderful,
and my song shall ever be, oh how marvelous and oh how wonderful
is my Savior's love for me." That word marvel, it means to
wonder, to admire, to have astonishment at something. I marvel at a lot
of things. I have astonishment over a lot
of things. I look at the Lord's creation,
at this earth, and I'm amazed. There are so many wonderful things.
I'm amazed at beautiful waterfalls and how tectonic plates shift. I'm amazed at rainstorms, especially
the last six months. That's fabulous. The Lord uses
the sun and He evaporates water off the lakes and the ponds and
takes it up in the air and floats it to different parts of the
world and drops rain on the ground where He wants it, where He sees
fit. I'm amazed by that. I marvel at that. I marvel at
what man has done. We have airplanes. We can go
all the way around the world in a day. We have helicopters. Someone that's pretty well to
do in math That's an engineering feat. That's hard to even explain
how those things work. That's amazing. We have skyscrapers,
hundreds of stories tall, all the logistics for food. We're
seeing a little bit more of that now in our grocery stores. People know how many chickens
we need to have to feed everybody. Well, somebody's got to grow
the feed for those chickens. Well, we have to have trucks
to take it there and then to get it here and refrigerate it
throughout the way. That's a logistical nightmare. I marvel that it's not as fragile
as it should be. I marvel at all those things
webbing together, and we don't pay any attention to it. I ask,
does Christ marvel at anything? Does He admire anything? Is He
in awe of any of these things that I've mentioned? The things
we stand in amazement of in His creation here on this earth,
He created it. He made it. The things we admire,
the man's created. He gave us all the material to
make it. He gave us the knowledge to make
it. We have all these fancy things that are supposed to be cell
phones, MRIs. We didn't have that years ago.
Nuclear power. He gave all that. He gave the
knowledge. He doesn't admire those things. He made it. He
gave it to us. Now there, Mark chapter 13. I've got to get there first. Mark 13 verse 1. And as he went out of the temple,
one of his disciples saith unto him, Master, see what manner
of stones and what buildings are here? Lord, do you see this? This is amazing. Look what a
beautiful job they did. Look at the architecture. Look
at these fancy stones that they used. Isn't that something? Do
you marvel at that? Isn't that something to behold? Look at verse 2. And Jesus answering
said unto him, Seest thou these great buildings, you see them,
there shall not be left one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down. Everything we think is amazing,
everything we put stock in, everything we build our lives around, there's
not going to be a stone left on top of another one. It's all
going to be destroyed. It's all going to be destroyed.
What would it take for Christ to marvel at something? I understand
how I can be amazed at things. There's so much more that I don't
know than I do know. There's so many things that I've
never thought of, things that I don't understand, things I
could easily marvel at. But how could Christ, who is
infinite, He's all-wise, all-powerful, All-knowing, God Himself. How
could He ever be amazed? How could He ever marvel at something? No one's ever taught Him anything.
No one's ever been His counselor. Our God has never been surprised.
He's never been caught off guard. He's omnipresent and He's omniscient. He's all-knowing and He's in
all places at all times. How could He marvel at something?
What could He even marvel at? Last night, Kimberly was outside
taking pictures of a comet going by. You children saw that comet. She was taking pictures of it.
Man won't see that comet for another 6,000 years. And we got
to take a picture of it. I thought that was amazing. I
got to marvel at that for a little bit. The scriptures tell us Christ
caused the stars by name. He's named them. That one has
a name. We might name it something. He's
already named it. He made the heavens and the earth. There
are two places in the scriptures that say Christ marveled. I don't
attempt to be able to explain how that's even possible, but
I'll declare what's written. I'll declare to you what's written.
When we look first at Mark 6, 6, he says, and he marveled because
of their unbelief. He marveled because of unbelief. And in Luke 7, Christ heard this
Gentile man speak, the centurion, and he said, When Jesus heard
these things, he marveled at him, and turned him about, and
said unto the people that follow him, I say unto you, I have not
found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Scriptures tell us
Christ marveled at unbelief, and he marveled at faith. They tell us that Christ, the
Almighty God in human flesh, He marveled at unbelief and He
marveled at faith. Let's look at this marveling
at unbelief first. Turn back a few pages to Mark
chapter 6. Mark chapter 6 and we'll begin
in verse 1. And He went out from thence, and came into his own
country, and his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath day
was come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing
him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this man these
things? And what wisdom is this which
is given unto him, that even such mighty works are wrought
by his hands?" They began to marvel, to be astonished, but
something else happened. It didn't stop there. Look in
verse 3. Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother
of James and Joseph and of Judah and Simon? And are not his sisters
here with us? And they were offended at him.
They said, we know this man. He's a carpenter. That's Mary's
boy. He's just a man like we are.
They started to be amazed, started to marvel. Then they were offended. They were offended at Him. It
begins to look like they're marveling at the teaching of Christ, but
it quickly turns out to be an offense. They were offended at
what our Master said concerning Himself. That's what offended
them. Look there in verse 4, Mark 6,
verse 4. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet
is not without honor, but in his own country, and among his
own kin, and in his own house, And he could there do no mighty
work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed
them. And he marveled because of their unbelief." Now, I've
used this illustration briefly before, and I want to use it
again. I think it's a good one. If someone were to want to confess
to me their sin, we don't do that. That's something of Rome.
A man doesn't have to confess his sins to another man. But
if someone said, I've got to get this off my chest. I've got
this deep, dark, burning sin inside of me and I've got to
tell somebody. And they looked at me and they said, I have unbelief. I would feel a sense of relief
about that. I'd be relieved. It could be
a whole host of other things that personally I would think
would probably be worse. I wouldn't want to hear. Murder,
adultery, stealing, harming a child, the list goes on. In my head,
a lot of other things would be much worse. But it's easy to
excuse unbelief. Well, everyone has spells of
doubt. Everyone has times of not trusting God. Everyone has
times of unbelief. It's easy to excuse it away.
When we think that, it shows to us that we really do not understand
what unbelief is. What is unbelief? To understand
what unbelief is, we've got to understand something about what
faith is. Faith is not just believing in
God. James told us, James chapter
2, Thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well.
The devils also believe and tremble. There in Job, Satan reported
to God like a soldier reports to a commanding officer. He reported,
he showed up, and he spoke with God. Satan knows God's real,
but he does not have one drop of faith in himself. Not one
drop of faith's been given to him. Faith's not believing in
God. Faith is believing God. Believing what God says. Now
many people out there, they'll say they believe their God's
able. They believe that their God's
able to heal. That He's able to help them in trials. He's
able to keep a hurricane from knocking down their house. They
think a God is able. He's able to pull someone through
a surgery. That's not faith. That's not faith. Faith is believing
what God says in His Word and trusting what God says in His
Word. Because you believe God and trust
only in Him. You believe what He says. If
the Word of God is truth, why would someone not believe it?
They don't like what it says. Someone fights against what the
scriptures say, it's because they don't like what it says.
They don't like what it says about man, his condition of sin,
and they don't like what it says about the majesty, the holiness,
the justness, and the glory that's deserved only by God. They don't
want to hear it. The Bible is an inspired word
of God. I've had some that don't agree
with that. They say, well, it's been so over translated through
the years. Man's put his hand to it too
much. I don't know if I can trust that. And I asked him, I said,
well, did God create the universe? And I said, well, yeah. Yeah,
I think God created the universe. Well, if he created all things
and he rules on things, you think he'd be able to preserve his
word for a couple of generations? I think he's able to keep it.
Let's turn over to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. Men do not like
that because if they read the Word of God, they see that they're
in trouble. They want to disprove anything that looks bad on them.
They want to excuse sin or accuse the very thing that's exposing
their sin. Find fault in the Word and not
themselves. Is that our nature? Do you like
being wrong? Do you like being told that you're
wrong? Do you like someone calling you
out for your failures? I don't. Look here in John 3
verse 18. He that believeth on him is not
condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation. that light is coming to the world
and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. For everyone that doeth evil
hateth the light neither cometh to the light lest his deeds should
be reproved." They don't want to get proved wrong. They don't
want their sin exposed. Turn over to John chapter 16. We don't want to be reproved.
That's our sin nature. Our old man wants to stay in
unbelief because we do not want to face what we are. We don't
want to acknowledge it. We don't want it exposed. Here
in John 16 verse 8, And when He has come, the Holy Spirit,
He will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and
of judgment. Of sin, because they believe
not in on Me. Here's the conviction of the
Holy Spirit. When you find out you're guilty
of not believing on Christ, and that unbelief is our chief sin,
that's the worst thing we can do. And we understand that. The Holy Spirit's come to you.
He's convinced you of that. Our unbelief says that what Christ
did was not good enough, that we can make it without Him, that
we can take care of our salvation by ourselves. It is to say we
can be saved or made holy by our works. It's to prefer our
righteousness over the righteousness of Christ. Prefer our works over
being saved, over His blood of salvation. To have our unbelief
revealed in us, in our hearts, is to be truly convicted of sin. Every person that believes Christ,
they're His child, they love the gospel of grace. They rejoice
in the fact that Christ made a full payment of sin, because
we know we're unable and we are unworthy. We know we cannot be
saved by what we do or by our merit. When the saints of God
hear that salvation has been fully accomplished, that all
our righteousness is the righteousness of Christ, and that is how we
will be presented before the Father, that's good news to us. We rejoice in that. We celebrate
that. Those people of saving face rejoice
in the gospel because it makes the way for us to be saved. That's
what makes it possible. There's finally hope outside
this body of death. This miry pit we're trapped in.
We have a savior. We have hope. The person in unbelief
doesn't like the gospel of grace and Christ. It offends them. It offends their pride, their
self-worth, their righteousness. There's no glory for man in that. There's nowhere they can shine
a little bit. It offends them. If you're trusting
in your works, if you're trusting in your doing, your living to
please God, and you're told that everything you're doing is no
good, it's evil only continually, it's offensive to you. That offends
natural man. Some people have their intellect
offended. They can't figure this out on
their own. The gospel has to be revealed in you through the
preaching of the word. That offends people. That hurts
their feelings. But the gospel does not offend
someone that's truly a sinner. Someone that has been convicted
of sin by God, the Holy Ghost, they're given hope. This message
gives hope to them. It gives a sure foundation of
redemption. Unbelief is why God sends men
and women to hell. They refuse to believe. Some
say, well, what about that person in the jungle that's never heard
of the Bible? They've never heard of God. No
one's ever told them. There's no excuse. There's no
excuse. There's a declaration of God
throughout creation. Paul told us that in Romans 1,
said, "...for the invisible things of Him from the creation of the
world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that
are made." That's me and you. "...even His eternal power and
Godhead, so that they are without excuse." There's no excuse for
anyone. Natural man wants to divert any
manner possible. Blame shift. As hard as they
can go. But right now, let's not worry
about that person that's never heard of the Bible. Let's not
worry about that person in a jungle somewhere that some missionaries
never got to. Right now, you are hearing the
gospel. You are hearing that the only way that you can be
accepted by the Holy God is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ
told us that in John 14. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life, and no man cometh unto the Father but
by me. You're hearing that right now,
that the only way for you to be saved is for Christ to do
everything for you. Your redemption, your regeneration,
your sanctification is totally dependent on Christ and Him alone.
If you believe that, you will call on Him. If you are made
to believe that, you will come to Him. But if you're dependent
on something, you do. You will reject the truth. You
will reject the written Word of God. There in Mark 6, it says
that Christ marveled at their unbelief. Why did He marvel?
Unbelief shows just how evil all men really are. For some
that hear the truth that glorifies God, that Christ died for a people
deserving eternal death and has provided all things for them,
and they reject it. They find no love in that message.
They find no comfort in it. That just shows how wicked our
sin is in our nature. Christ marveled at their unbelief. Turn over to Luke chapter 7. Now here in Luke 7, we see the
story of that centurion. I gravitate towards that story
a little bit. Some shared experiences we always
look towards, don't we? Luke chapter 7 and verse 9. When Jesus heard these things,
he marveled at him, and turned him about, and said unto the
people that followed him, I say unto you, I have not found so
great faith, no, not in Israel." What did this man say that would
make Christ marvel at what he said? Look here in verse 2. And a certain centurion's servant,
who was dear unto him, was sick and ready to die. And when he
heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching
him that he would come and heal his servant." This captain in
the Roman army had a sick servant, and he sent some folks after
him, after Christ, to come heal him. And when they came to Jesus,
they besought him instantly, saying that he was worthy for
whom he should do this. For he loveth our nation, and
he hath built us a synagogue." They said, Master, come save
this man's sick servant. He's deserving. That's what they
said. Verse 6, Then Jesus went with
them, and when he was now not far from the house, the centurion
sent friends to him. He sent his friends, saying unto
him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy that thou
shouldst enter under my roof. Wherefore, neither thought I
myself worthy to come unto thee. But say in a word, and my servant
shall be healed." This man had an understanding of what authority
was, what it was to say something and everything else take place.
Look here in verse 8. For I also am a man set under authority,
having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth,
and to another, Come, and he cometh. And to my servant, do
this, and he doeth it. He knew Christ was God. He knew
his own unworthiness, but he believed Christ was able, and
he trusted Christ's will and not his own. Look here in verse
9. And when Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and
turned him about and said unto the people that followed him,
I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Do you find this centurion's
faith impressive? Do we marvel at his faith? I'm
impressed by Abraham leaving Ur. There is nothing there. You climb up something tall,
there ain't nothing as far as you can see. And the Lord said,
Abraham, start walking, I'll show you where to go. That would
impress me. I'm amazed that Noah, it had
never rained on this earth. The earth was watered with the
mist. And Noah started building an ark. God told him to, and
he believed him. And everybody walked past, made
fun of him. He said, big water drops will come out of the sky
and this place is going to be under water. And they laughed
at him. And he kept swinging that hammer. I was impressed
by that. I'm amazed by David running full
speed at Goliath towards that giant. The whole time knowing
that God would deliver him. Little old David. The centurion. What's so impressive about his
faith? What's to be marveled about it? First off, any faith is marvelous
because it's given by God. If we have true faith, it's not
of us, it's a gift from God. Paul told us that in Ephesians
2. He said, For by grace are you saved through faith, and
that not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. Any faith is amazing. It's a
gift of God. It originated in God Himself. But there are two
things that stand out about this centurion's faith. The first
one was he had a complete lack of any sense of entitlement.
His friends were bragging on him. They said, oh, he deserves
this. He's built us a synagogue. He's
a good man. He's a powerful man. He was well respected in that
community. People thought highly of him. But he said, I'm not
worthy for you to come in my house. I'm not even worthy to
approach you. I ain't even gonna come out of
my house to you. I'm not worthy. He knew he was nothing more than
a sinner in the presence of a mighty and holy God. A sense of entitlement
is what keeps men and women from coming to God. It's pride and
a high view of ourselves that makes us think God owes us something.
That's why people fight elections so much. They say, how can he
hate Esau? That's pride. A humble heart
said, how could he love Jacob? The centurion did not have a
high sense of self. He was made humble at the majesty
and might of Christ. He had a low opinion of himself
and a high opinion of Christ. That's the second reason this
man's faith was marvelous. He had a high opinion of Christ.
He said, I understand authority and I understand you have all
authority. Because of who you are, all you
have to do is to will it. say a word and my servant will
be made whole." You don't even have to come into the house where
He's at. You just stay out there. Don't trouble yourself walking
this far. He knew who Christ was. He had a high opinion of
Him. Everything in faith hinges on what you believe concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you believe Christ is God?
Do you believe He's all-powerful? That He's completely holy? That
His wisdom is true wisdom? That His will is what must come
to pass? He must receive all the glory
for all those things. There are two main points of
true saving faith here. A low view of self and a high
view of Christ. Christ marveled at the simplicity
of this man's faith. The sincerity of his faith. The
faith that knows there is no power in and of itself, but that
there is so much power in Christ that all he has to do is will
it and a servant can be healed. Matthew records it this way,
this event with the centurion there, Matthew 8. It says, And
Jesus said unto the centurion, Go thy way, and as thou hast
believed, so be it done unto thee. Same way you believed how
it's going to be done to you. And his servant was healed in
the self same hour. That is amazing that a sinner
believes on Christ. sinners given faith to believe
on Christ. That's a miracle. It's amazing. Our Master marveled at that man's
faith that was given to him. He gave it to him. Do you marvel
at that? That a child of Adam's fallen
race would be given the gift of saving faith to believe Christ? If you don't, you haven't yet
been given that faith. I pray the Lord does a work in
you and gives you faith in Christ. He told us in John 6, He said,
This is the work of God that you believe on Him whom He hath
sent. I'm confident that the work of
God will be performed. I'm confident that those that
are His are going to believe on Him. They're going to come
to Him. They're going to be called out. Believe on Him. Believe on Him. Believe on Him.
Sure He is. Come to Him. Amen. Let's pray together. Heavenly Father, thank You for
the forgiveness of sins, Lord. Thank You for giving us faith
in Christ. We know it's of You. Lord, don't
let us stay in our unbelief. Don't let us be lifted up in
pride and our arrogance. Keep us from those things. Lord,
humble us. Bring us to Your feet. Allow
us to worship Christ for who He is, what He's accomplished. Lord, thank You for our brethren.
Thank You for those that Christ died for. Let us be an encouragement
to them. Let us love them. Let us support
them in trials and give us the words to comfort them. Let us pray for them. Let us
pray for one another, Lord. Be with us always. Be with us
through this week. Keep us ever pointed on Your Son. It's in
His name that we ask it. Amen.