Mark chapter 1. I sat in my study two or three days ago and was looking at this because we've been going through Exodus on Sunday mornings and Mark on Thursday evenings. And I just started writing and some thoughts came to my mind. Next thing I know, I had about four pages already written. And I thought, well, this is what I'm going to preach. this morning, Lord willing, the gospel of the Kingdom of God, the gospel, glad tidings of the Kingdom of God.

Now it says in verse 14, John, as you know, was the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ He pointed out to Israel the Messiah, the Lamb of God. He said, Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the world. And then it says here in verse 14, now after that John was put in prison. This is the Lord's servant, this is the forerunner, and he's put in prison.

John's imprisonment Mark's a turning point here. His ministry is fulfilled now and He must fade. He must fade into the background as our Lord's ministry rises to the forefront. And as John himself declared, He must increase and I must decrease. And this is the pattern for every true minister of the gospel. Christ must increase and I, I must decrease.

The Lord Jesus Christ is to have the preeminence in all things. I want you to turn to Colossians chapter 1. Let me read a few scriptures here. I like to let the Scriptures speak because God has promised to bless His Word, not necessarily my comments on them, but He has promised to bless His Word. Now look in verse 12, GIVING THANKS UNTO THE FATHER WHICH HATH MADE US MEET OR FIT TO BE PARTAKERS OF THE INHERITANCE OF THE SAINTS IN LIGHT, WHO HATH DELIVERED US FROM THE POWER OF DARKNESS. and has translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son. This is the Kingdom He's speaking about here in Mark, in Mark chapter 1. In whom we have redemption, that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, we have redemption through His blood. We've been purchased by His blood, even the forgiveness of sins.

Who, that is Christ, is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature. FOR BY HIM, now listen to verse 16, FOR BY JESUS CHRIST WERE ALL THINGS CREATED THAT ARE IN HEAVEN, THAT ARE IN EARTH, VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE, WHETHER THEY BE THRONES OR DOMINIONS, PRINCIPALITIES OR POWERS, ALL THINGS WERE CREATED BY HIM AND FOR HIM.

AND HE IS BEFORE ALL THINGS, THAT'S HIS ETERNAL EXISTENCE. AND BY HIM ALL THINGS CONSIST, ALL THINGS. right now are held together and maintained by that man, that God-man, Jesus Christ. Right now, everything's held together and maintained. And He is before all things, and by Him all things consist. And He is the Head, now listen, of the body, the Church, who is the Beginning, the Firstborn from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence. the preeminence. There's one person that we really recognize here, isn't there? That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He has the preeminence.

Now John was put in prison, not for doing something wrong, but for righteousness. He boldly told Herod, and you remember this story, he boldly told Herod that it was unlawful for him to take his brother's wife. And this confrontation with the truth, it stirred anger in Herod's house and John was put in prison over it. And you know the story how Herodias' daughter, she danced and pleased them, and then she went and asked her mother, because Herod said, you ask me for whatever up to the third of my kingdom. And Herod's wife said, I want John to bat his head on a charger, that's what I want. I want you to cut his head off. This is the Lord's servant. This is the Lord's Son. This is one of His children. And He's going to be beheaded.

Because of what? Telling the truth! Telling the truth! John chose faithfulness over safety. He chose faithfulness over denying the Lord. He chose to be faithful. WE NEED TO REMEMBER THE WORDS OF OUR LORD IN MATTHEW 16 AND 25. LISTEN TO THESE WORDS. OUR LORD SPOKE THIS. FOR WHOSOEVER WILL SAVE HIS LIFE, THAT IS, HIS EARTHLY NATURAL LIFE, SHALL LOSE IT ETERNALLY. YOU'RE GOING TO SAVE THIS LIFE. JOHN COULD HAVE SAVED HIS LIFE. HE COULD HAVE JUST SHUT UP. HE COULD HAVE JUST SHUT UP AND NOT SAID ANYTHING. BUT HE DIDN'T DO IT. He didn't do it. He was faithful. He was a faithful witness.

For whosoever will save his life, this natural life, shall lose it. And whosoever will lose his life, this natural life, for my sake shall find it, shall have eternal life. It's better to lose one's head in obedience than to lose one's soul in compromise, isn't it? I would rather lose my head in obedience than lose my soul in compromising the truth. You can't compromise. You see, John did not preach in vague, soft generalities. He didn't do that. He laid the axe to the root of the problem, sin. HE SPOKE PLAINLY, HE SPOKE DIRECTLY, AND HE SPOKE TO HEROD THE KING WITHOUT FEAR. Without fear. Someone else did that also.

Remember Paul standing before Felix? Paul, he's standing there in chains. He's bound. He's shackled. And he comes before Felix and there sits Felix and Trezella. which was another man's wife and he took her. And Paul stood there and he reasoned with him of righteousness, temperance, and judgment. You know what it says? It says Felix trembled. His conscience was struck.

But he told Paul, he said, go away and I'll call you when it's a more convenient season. Brethren, it's never a more convenient season than now. Now, as the scripture says, it's now. Today is the day of salvation. Now is the accepted time. Neither Paul nor John softened their message to preserve their lives, to preserve their reputation. They spoke the truth. They were faithful witnesses of the gospel. And I pray that those of us who preach today be given the same boldness to stand in the pulpit and take the Word of God and not dance around it, but when we come to each verse, we declare what it's saying and not compromise, not take the edge off of it to try and get along. That's dangerous. That's deadly. It's deadly for me and it's deadly for you. That's what it is.

We need to call sin what it is without hesitation or compromise, without fearing the consequence. We can't dance around truth to avoid trouble, but we are to firmly stand as witnesses of the Word of God. That's what you want, isn't it? You don't want me to stand up here and compromise so we can fill the pews. but to tell the truth on God. You know what my number one responsibility is right now?

It's to glorify Jesus Christ. When God told, when the Lord Jesus Christ, who is God, when He told Peter, feed my sheep, you know how we do that? Glorifying Jesus Christ. Christ is sheep food. Did He not say, I'm the bread of life? I'm the water of life, so for me to feed you and water you, I have to preach Christ, as He's revealed in the Scriptures. You know, we have no authority to talk about Christ in a way that we would imagine Him. God's given us a book. I don't have to imagine who God is. I don't have to imagine what God is like. I don't have to do that. I have His book. What if I wrote you a letter and I revealed myself, I described myself to you? And you took the letter, folded it up, laid it aside and sat there and just imagined, what must John Chapman be like? I just wrote you a letter. God has given us a book. We don't have to imagine who God is. He has clearly revealed Himself in this book. Make much of the Word of God now, make much of it. Now, John's ministry, it was over.

God has many preachers whom He sends to preach the Gospel. They fulfill their ministry and then they are gone. But Jesus Christ is not gone. If He's pleased to keep the gospel here, Rupert came and now He's gone, I'm here and I'll be gone in a little while, and by God's grace He keeps the gospel here. There'll be another one here preaching the gospel, but the message will be the same. The Lord will be here. The Lord will be here, same Lord. It says that Jesus Christ in Hebrews chapter 1, Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

He never changes. He never changes. He is never gone. He said, I'm with you always unto the end. I will never leave you nor forsake you. As long as there's one sheep in this congregation, the Lord will never leave you. He will not leave his sheep. Remember he went after that 99? He had 99 and went after that one that was in the wilderness? He ain't gonna leave his sheep. He's not gonna leave his sheep. Not gonna do it. He said, I will not do it.

And now our Lord picks up where John left off. You'll notice he picks up here in verse 14 where John left off and the message never changed. The message didn't change. You know, I originally had titled this Christ the Preacher because it's exactly what He was. He was a preacher. In verse 14, Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Our Lord did not start His ministry in Jerusalem. He went to Galilee, a small, simple place, no fanfare. Our Lord never courted popular religion. He never courted religion. He never courted those Pharisees. He never did.

They hated Him. The ones who were supposed to be teachers hated Him. They despised Him. He came into His own and His own received Him, not they turned thumbs down on Him. He didn't look like what they thought the Messiah would look like. There was no beauty that we should desire Him. When He comes and they see Him, it's like, you can't be the Messiah. He wouldn't look like this. He wouldn't be dressed in like peasants. No, they had this idea that the Messiah was going to be this glorious person coming in, and you? You the Messiah? You the Son of God? Away with Him, that's what they said.

We will not have this man reign over us. Well, it's too late, God already appointed Him. He's already reigning over you. The earth is the Lord, the fullness thereof, and they who dwell therein, He's got everybody in this world, they're His. And it's not what you're going to do with Jesus, it's what He's going to do with you. God put everything in His hands. It's not in our hands, it's all in His hands. He's the Sovereign. A.W. Pink said this, No one will ever worship, they'll never worship God until they worship Him at His Sovereign Throne. Everyone else they'll bargain with. Everyone else they'll bargain with.

Now our Lord here has said here, He came preaching the gospel of the Kingdom of God. Now that was a prophecy in Isaiah and our Lord picks up on this prophecy in the synagogue and He reads it to the people there in the synagogue. And he closes the book and he says, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. And here's what he read. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me. Yes, he's fully God. And yes, he's fully a man. And yet he's one undivided person. What a mysterious person.

But the Spirit of the Lord God's upon me because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel. to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering a sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised. Christ preached the glad tidings of the gospel of the kingdom of God to sinners." You know the gospels for sinners and nobody else.

If you are truly a sinner, I got good news for you. I'm talking about a Biblical sinner, the way the Bible describes a sinner. I've got good news for you. But if you're not, I don't have any good news for you. Christ preached the glad tidings of the gospel to the sinners, to the poor, He says there. That doesn't mean poor in purse, it's poor in spirit. Over in Matthew 5, blessed are the poor in spirit. A person could be very poor in purse, but very, very proud in spirit. To priesthood, they're broken hearted. What are they broken hearted over? They lose a job? We're broken hearted over a lot of things, aren't we, in this life? He's talking about being broken hearted over sin. Well, who broke their heart? God did. God said, I wound and I kill, I bruise and I kill and I make alive. I wound and I heal. God is the one who does the wounding. God's the one who breaks the heart. Deliverance of the captives. Captives to sin, Satan, and the law.

I didn't know I was a captive until God saved me. I didn't know it. I thought I was a free bird. I thought I was a free bird like old Leonard Skinner and so on. I don't know why I said that. I need to take a drink of water on that one. Anyway, I did until the Lord saved me. Then I realized I was a captive. I didn't know I was dead until He gave me life. I didn't know I was lost until He saved me. I didn't know I was blind until he gave me sight.

So he says here, this is what he's gonna do. He's gonna preach the gospel to the poor. He sent me to heal the brokenhearted, the hearts that he's broken. He sent me to preach deliverance to the captive, you're set free. The gospel is a message of deliverance to the captives. And when God makes you realize you're a captive, you know what you do? You flee to Christ. Sight to the blind? Like I said, I didn't know I was blind until he gave me sight. Liberty to them that are bruised, oppressed? Does this fit anyone here? I got good news for you. I have good news for you. The Lord died for you. The Lord died for you.

Most people don't fit the description of a sinner. They're like, well, I'm a sinner, but I ain't that bad. I am. I am. You can look at any person in this world, no matter how vile the sin is, and I can honestly say, except by the grace of God, there go I. If He took His hand off me and let my nature have its way, I'd be in prison. Or they'd have already executed me, one or the other.

I'm telling you the truth. Now the gospel here is called the gospel of the kingdom of God. It's God's gospel. The good news, the glad tidings is from God. He sent it. The glad tidings are from heaven. It's the message of God's kingdom which is a spiritual kingdom. It's a kingdom of grace. It's a kingdom of righteousness. The kingdom we live in, in this world, is a kingdom of darkness. That's what the Word of God says. But the Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of LIGHT and GRACE and RIGHTEOUSNESS and PEACE.

Listen to Luke 17, verse 20-21, And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, the Pharisees are demanding him. This is so amazing to me that the God of heaven and earth, the God of creation, would stand in front of these religious hooksters and hypocrites and allow them to demand of Him. Wow! And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the Kingdom of God should come, you tell us when the Kingdom of God shall come since you know so much. And he answered them and said, The Kingdom of God cometh not with observation.

They were looking for this physical kingdom to be set up and deliver them from the Roman power and rule. They looked for this kingdom where they would be the big guy on the block. That's what they were looking for. They weren't looking to be saved from sin. They weren't looking to be saved from their sin that they might know God and have fellowship with Him. They thought that was already taken care of.

HE SAID IT COMES NOT WITH OBSERVATION, NEITHER SHALL THEY SAY, LO, HERE, OR LO, THEREFORE, BEHOLD, THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS WITHIN YOU. It�s within you. It�s a SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. It�s a SPIRITUAL KINGDOM. They were looking for a PHYSICAL KINGDOM to be set up, and they STILL are over there.

They�re STILL looking for that. Isn't that sad? Isn't it sad to be looking for the Messiah and He's already come and gone and they're still looking for Him to come? Isn't that sad? That's so sad. But they're still looking for that. I tell you this, here's what's amazing.

They did not believe at all that Jesus Christ is the Messiah, that He's the One that the Scripture spoke of all through the Old Testament. They don't believe He's the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Well, they need to be offering some lambs if they don't believe that.

Why did they stop? I know it's because their temple was destroyed, but they need to be... If He's not the Lamb of God, then why did you stop the offerings? Why'd you stop all that stuff? I'll tell you why they stopped it. God stopped it. God stopped it because His Son came and fulfilled it and He put a stop to it. He did. But if I didn't believe that Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God, I'd be offering some lambs. Blood's got to be shed now. Scripture said blood's got to be shed. THE KINGDOM OF GOD HAS COME, FOR CHRIST THE KING OF THAT KINGDOM IS HERE.

Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there are mine in the midst. He's here this morning. The Kingdom of God is among you. The Kingdom of God, all you who believe, all this, the church, the Kingdom of God is in you. And you are in the Kingdom of God. My first responsibility now, is to the Kingdom of God. I live in this world, I live in this country, I love this country. I think it's as good as it gets in a world as bad as we live in. My first responsibility is to the Kingdom of God.

That's why John got his head cut off because his responsibility was to the Kingdom of God and he stood firm. He stood firm. The King has come, in verse 15, I'll wind this down, and saying, verse 15, the time is fulfilled and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel.

The time is fulfilled. What time is he talking about? The time is fulfilled. Well in Greek language in that day, the time fulfilled meant this. A DECISIVE APPOINTED SEASON, A CRITICAL MOMENT OF FULFILLMENT, that s what he s saying. A critical moment of fulfillment is here. It s here.

The prophesied time that was promised has arrived in the Old Testament the promise of a Messiah coming because the whole Old Testament says this, Someone's coming. Someone's coming. You know what the New Testament says? The Gospels? You know what the four Gospels say? He's come. You know what the Epistles say?

He's coming again. He's coming again. The PROMISED MESSIAH, the KING PRIEST, has come. The Kingdom of God, it is HERE. It is HERE. Isaiah spoke of the GOOD NEWS, the HEALING, the RESTORATION that he spoke of, it is HERE. Daniel, in Daniel chapter 2 verse 44, I read this this morning, it foretells of God's ETERNAL KINGDOM.

HE SAYS THERE WILL BE A KINGDOM SET UP, AND IT IS AN EVERLASTING KINGDOM, IT HAS NO END. AND ALL THESE OTHER KINGDOMS, I'M PARAPHRASING, AND ALL THESE OTHER KINGDOMS ARE GOING TO COME TO AN END. THERE IS GOING TO BE AN END TO EVERY KINGDOM, TO EVERY COUNTRY. THE UNITED STATES, WE HAVE A SHELF LIFE, EVERYTHING HAS A SHELF LIFE, EVERYTHING. AND WHEN GOD IS DONE WITH IT, IT WILL BE FOLDED UP AND PUT AWAY. And then that eternal kingdom, it will not be put away. It won't be.

You see, the Messiah King, the Sovereign, the Sovereign has arrived. Everything God promised is now coming true in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Kingdom is here. It has arrived. The King has arrived. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He has arrived. We are under a theocracy, aren't we? THIS WORLD, THE WORLD AS A WHOLE DOESN'T KNOW THIS. THEY DON'T RECOGNIZE THIS. BUT THEY ARE UNDER A KING. KING JESUS. RIGHT NOW, SEATED AT GOD'S RIGHT HAND, THE KING OF GLORY IS RULING AND REIGNING OVER THE WHOLE WORLD. OVER THE WHOLE UNIVERSE. AND NOT ONE THING IS GOING TO HAPPEN. that is outside of His eternal purpose, which God purposed in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Now, if you really believe that, you can go home and rest. You can go home and find real rest, that your life, your times, everything about you is in the Lord's hands. Now in closing, He said, REPENT YE AND BELIEVE THE GOSPEL. I've told you several times from this pulpit what it means to repent. The first thing about repentance is a change of mind. Change the way you think. God's not who you think He is. He said in Psalms, you thought I was altogether, completely altogether like you. Change the way you're thinking. God's not like me, not like you. You know what ungodly is? You know what it is to be ungodly? Unlike God. Unlike God. Change the way you think. Change the way you think about God.

Change the way you think about SIN, YOURSELF, JESUS CHRIST, ETERNAL LIFE. Most people, when they think of ETERNAL LIFE, I mean the vast part of so-called Christianity, when they think of ETERNAL LIFE, they're thinking of the LENGTH of it. ETERNAL LIFE is the LIFE OF GOD. in the soul, it's the quality of it, it's the life of God in you, that's eternal life. Now, eternity, that's forever, and everybody's going to live for eternity, everybody, as soon as someone's conceived, they are eternal, one place or the other, with Christ or without Christ, one place or the other.

Change your mind, turn from your way of thinking, and turn from your sins, because I assure you this, I know this, if the Lord changes your mind, your thinking about sin is going to change. Your thinking about sin is going to change. What you once found pleasure in, you're going to find condemnation in. It's going to trouble you. Trouble, trouble, trouble you. Because your mind can't be changed and your heart cannot be affected.

But change your mind, turn from your way of thinking and turn from your sins and believe the gospel, the glad tidings. The gospel tells us how God can be just and justify the ungodly. Believe it! You know, the Pharisees didn't believe that the gospel was for sinners. They got upset when they looked at Christ. They said, this man receives sinners and he eats with them. I can't even believe that.

He could be eating with us. But he eats with them. He's sitting down. They were offended by his company. Not only by his appearance, but by his company. The company he kept. Harlots? Prostitutes? Are you serious? He saved Rahab the harlot. I think she was David's great-grandmother. Some might say yes or no. I believe she was David's great-grandmother. Like I said, it's hard to think and preach too. But believe the gospel. Oh, believe the gospel. What is to believe the gospel? It's to believe on the Lord Jesus, Jesus Christ. It's to follow Him. It's to love Him.

He is your life. He's not a part of any of your life. He is your life. He's the reason I wake up in the morning. He's the reason I breathe. He's the reason I exist. I read that to you. All things were by Him and for Him. I am for Him. People trying to go out in the woods and find their purpose in life, I FOUND MINE IN HERE, IN A BOOK, IN A PERSON, REVEALED IN THIS BOOK. MY WHOLE PURPOSE IN LIFE IS TO GLORIFY JESUS CHRIST WHEN I WAKE UP, FROM THE TIME I WAKE UP TO THE TIME I GO TO BED. NOW THAT'S A PURPOSE, ISN'T IT? THAT'S MY PURPOSE IN LIFE. I'M NOT LOOKING FOR A PURPOSE IN LIFE NO MORE.

There's one, listen, there is no one in the Kingdom of God who does not believe and repent and follow Christ. But I assure you, if you really believe, and if you really believe, you will repent because you can't do one without the other. It's not possible. You cannot believe and not repent. They go together. And if you do, you will follow, and you will fall in love. with Jesus Christ our Lord. All right.