So we're in Mark's Gospel, chapter
six, and we'll read from verse one. And he, that is the Lord Jesus
Christ, went out from fence and came into his own country, and
his disciples follow 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? Is not this 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. But Jesus said unto them,
A prophet is not without honour, 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 marvelled because of their
unbelief, and he went round about the villages teaching. Amen. May God bless to us this reading
from his word. The Lord Jesus Christ left Capernaum,
which appears to have become the city of his residence, and
returned to Nazareth, the city of his upbringing, his education
and his trade. It seems from Nazareth that he
began his ministry and then he moved it to Capernaum. His family still lives in Nazareth. So that we are told here in this
opening verse that he leaves what has been called his own
city to go to his own country. The point being, of course, that
he was very familiar with both these places and the people there,
and they with him. And we're told that he did not
go alone because his disciples follow him. And here, I want
to make a plea for a moment of self-awareness for each of us. I want to kind of be a little
bit personal, not that I'm going to say anything personal about
you, but I want you to think about this for yourselves. What does it mean to be a follower
of Christ? We're told here that the disciples
followed him, but what does it mean to be a follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ? And perhaps many of us here today,
if not all of us, would claim or at least aspire to be a follower
of Jesus. But what does that mean? The world, the world is full
of people who call themselves followers of Jesus. But let us
not deceive ourselves. A follower is a description,
it's not a badge. A follower follows, that's what
makes him a follower, or her, a follower. Where the master
leads, they follow. They learn at the master's feet. They submit to the master's will. And they endeavor to live their
lives as the master lived his and directs them. Now that doesn't
mean that we wear a long cloak and sandals like Jesus wore and
we try to model our lives after him to the best of our ability.
That's just silly. This isn't about outward appearance
and it isn't even about external practices. Nor does it mean And this is
important because I suspect that a lot of people mistake this
point for true Christianity. Nor does it mean that we conform
our lifestyle to a way of life imposed by a religious group
or by the religious norms and expectations of that group. Let me just give you an example
here of what I mean. If we grow up, I don't know,
in a little town and we have been taken as a child to a church
and we attend that church, that becomes our church. We grow up
in that church. Maybe we get married in that
church. Maybe our children get baptised in that church. Maybe
we identify with that church as far as our giving is concerned
and as far as our affiliations are concerned. and we live in
that church and we are regarded as being a member of that church
all our lives. Come the day of our death, come
the day of our burial, the minister of that church will say, here
is so-and-so, they've lived a good life, they've been a member of
this church and now they're with the Lord. Are they with the Lord? What
is it that makes a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ? It's not
by doing all the things that your church expects of you. It's
not doing all the things that your minister or your peers require
of you. That might make you a good member
of the church, but it won't make you a follower of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Following is motivated by an
internal transformation, a conversion. It is a spiritual state. To be in the Kingdom of God is
not to be a member of a particular church, far less the member of
a particular nation. To be in the Kingdom of God is
to be in God's family, amongst God's people, to have a spiritual
life that shows itself in practical ways. It's not trying to be holy
but it's believing despite our failures that we are holy because
Christ by his cleansing blood and by his imputed righteousness
has made us so. It's not looking for a fight
with people who are not believers in order to impose our moral
standards on them. which seems to be what many people
think Christianity is today. We'll impose our way of life,
our values, our morals on you. But it's wrestling with our own
flesh that constantly tries to rob us of our blessed state in
Christ. following Christ certainly involves
cost and it certainly involves difficulty, but it isn't about
impressing anyone. It's about being honest with
the Lord and honest with ourselves. In Mark chapter 7, We'll come
to it in a few weeks perhaps. The Lord says, Whosoever will
come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow
me. Whosoever will come after me. Why would we want to come after
the Lord Jesus Christ? Why do we want to follow him?
It's because we have learned to say with Peter and the other
disciples, where else can we go in this life, in this world? Where else can we go to find
peace with God? To whom else can we go? Because the Lord Jesus Christ
has the words of eternal life. So these disciples followed the
Lord Jesus Christ. They followed him to Nazareth
because that's what followers do. They follow their Lord. And I suspect that these disciples
were rather surprised at the reception that they received
in Nazareth. I think maybe they thought that
there was going to be something of a party atmosphere, maybe
something of a hero's welcome. Here was a local man made good. They would be neighbourly and
friendly to the Lord Jesus Christ and to his disciples. But I think
rather that the Lord Jesus Christ was teaching these disciples
a lesson, and teaching us as well. He was teaching them the
lesson that no matter where they went, being a follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ was going to be tough. It was going to be demanding,
and it was going to be lonely. When we take up our cross and
follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we can't go back. We don't go
back. But oh, what a blessing awaits
the followers of Christ. Recently someone wrote to me
asking about a verse which I think has something to say on this
subject. The verse was 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 17, and it says this. For our light affliction, which
is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. To be a follower of Christ will
bring affliction, but it's momentary and it's light and it worketh
for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. To be a follower of the Lord
Jesus Christ requires that we labour, that we serve, that we
fight, that we follow. But that affliction that we endure
is light and short and passing and positive, constructive, because
it is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight
of glory. So may the Lord enable us to
follow the Master, to follow Jesus Christ as his true followers
by giving us grace now and that promised glory hereafter. I've got three observations that
I wish to make and leave with you today from these six verses
that we've read together here from Mark chapter six. And I
hope that they will educate and encourage us in the things of
the Lord Jesus Christ. The first one is this. that the
Lord Jesus Christ had gone to Nazareth. There he entered the
synagogue. Both of these things were purposeful. He went from one place to the
other, and when he arrived there, he entered the synagogue, and
we're told he began to teach. You see, the Lord is showing
us and showing his disciples that he was willing to bring
the gospel to the men and women of Nazareth. He was willing to
bring the kingdom of God, the message of the kingdom, to these
men and women also. It was a purposeful act to preach
amongst them Now being the Lord Jesus Christ, being the Son of
God, being omniscient, He knew what the reaction of these people
would be. He knew that they would reject
Him. He knew that they would be offended by Him. And from this we learn, as the
disciples learned, they by example, we by reading this, that Jesus,
when he gave them this example, was teaching them that the hearts
of men and women are implacably opposed to the Lord Jesus Christ
and to the gospel of grace. Even, even, where ordinarily
one might expect there to be an openness and a welcome to
Christ and to his message. Now, realise what I'm saying
here. The Lord took these disciples all the way to Nazareth, all
the way to his hometown, all the way to where his family was,
all the way to where his neighbours were. in order to show them that
the place where they might most expect the Lord to get a positive
welcome ended up being a place where he was almost entirely
rejected. The Lord was willing to do good
to and for his neighbours, but they would have none of it. And
there he went in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So here was
a religious gathering. People who were there for a religious
reason among his family and among his erstwhile friends. the greatest
preacher, the greatest miracle worker of all time, stood up
and spoke the truth to men's hearts, set before them the way
of life. And these people threw it back
in his face. Let us never expect the message
of sovereign grace the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be widely
welcomed by proud, self-righteous men and women. It wasn't so for
the Lord Jesus Christ, in circumstances we might imagine to be the most
conducive to receiving his message. It would not be so for the disciples
when they were commissioned to take the gospel out to the ends
of the earth, starting at Jerusalem and Judea, even to all nations. And it shall not be for the church
in any generation. And that's not to say that there
won't be plenty of religion. Here these people were in their
synagogue with their religious formalities, with their religious
books, with their readings and their patterns, and ostensibly
with their divine worship. But they rejected Jesus Christ,
they rejected God himself. The Apostle Paul tells us in
1 Corinthians 2, verse 14, The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto
him. Neither can he know them, because
they are spiritually discerned. So that is point one that I have
to leave with you today, that spiritual life, if it is to be
had, if it is to be possessed, requires a divine work of grace. The next thing we read is that
these people of Nazareth were offended at him. Offended at the Lord Jesus Christ. The most inoffensive, gentle,
good and loving man who ever walked upon this earth. And they were offended at him. Not because he didn't teach them,
but because he taught them so well. Not because they didn't
know him, but because they knew too much. and not because he couldn't help
them, but because they were too proud to accept his help. Such
is the contrariness in the words of these people. It becomes clear
that it was simply malice and evil hearts that caused them
to speak as they did. They admitted that Christ's words
were wonderful. They admitted that his wisdom
was inexplicable. Where does he have these things
from? Who taught him these things? These words are wonderful words.
This wisdom is unexplainable. His works are mighty. But rather
than these qualities which they admitted, which they saw, rather
than them softening their attitude towards Christ and his gospel,
they offended them. And we should learn something
from that. You cannot impress a sinner into heaven. you can't do it. Churches, they
try to be entertainers. Maybe they talk about miracles
and power and they try to make their services as dramatic and
as exciting as they possibly can. Or they bring in psychology
and life skills in order to make them more meaningful to people
living in the modern world with the practicalities that they
encounter. And let them do all of those
things, let them get on with it. The point is this, that grace
itself was the stumbling block. Mercy was the obstacle to these
people. They accepted and acknowledged
all the wonderful things that Jesus was able to do, but they
didn't want him. They wanted a religion of merit. They wanted a religion of works
and self-righteousness. And it hasn't changed in 2,000
years. If we speak about blood that
cleanses, right? Blood that cleanses. Not blood
that makes cleansing possible. There's a difference. Not that
makes forgiveness possible if you want it, but that actually
cleanses. If we speak of the gift of faith,
not something that you earn, not something that you labour
for, but something that is given as a free gift of God. If we
speak about righteousness imputed, without works, and speak about
God's choice of who he will give his salvation to, we will discover
that the natural men and women of this world will set up any
reason to be offended at the preacher,
at the message, and ultimately at the Lord Jesus Christ and
God himself. They were offended. Why? Because
the message of sovereign grace humbles men and women. and it goes against every desire
of the flesh and every principle dear to sinful human nature. The Lord Jesus Christ brought
the gospel to Nazareth and the people of Nazareth were offended. And that's our point two. The
Lord Jesus Christ and sovereign grace offends natural men and
women. I've got a little aside for us
here now because I wanted to pick up just on a little word
that was used by these people who were offended at the Lord
Jesus Christ and read a little piece to you that I read when
I was doing my preparation. The people of Nazareth called
the Lord Jesus Christ this carpenter and they meant it as an insult. They meant the fact that they
were saying to him, as it were, he's setting himself up here
as a teacher. He's setting himself up here
as a leader. But we know who he is. He's the
carpenter. This carpenter. It was intended
as an insult to the Lord Jesus. Listen to what Robert Hawker
says with respect to that insult. He discovers a beautiful thought
here concerning this allegation that was made against the Lord.
Here's what Hawker has to say. What became, in the view of the
enemies of Christ, a matter for reproach is, to the friends and
followers of Christ, a subject of heartfelt joy. Is not this
the carpenter, they say? Yes, say I, and blessed be my
Lord for his grace and condescension in being so. For in Christ becoming
a curse for his redeemed, it behoved him to undergo that curse
in all its branches. The tenor of the curse, pronounced
at the fall, ran in those words, In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, meaning toil and labour. So let me paraphrase. You would have to work in order
to eat. You would have to sweat in order
to make your way through life. And Hawker goes on to say, had
not Jesus thus toiled and laboured for his bread, This part of the
curse could not have lighted upon him, neither could he then
have been said to have borne it. But by labouring with his
hands for his daily bread as a carpenter, he literally fulfilled
that part of the curse. And though he might have fed
himself as he fed others by working a miracle, Yet then he could
not have come up in this point to the object intended. So far, therefore, is Christ's
labour in the employment of a carpenter from lessening the authority
of his mission that without it he would not have answered the
character of our Redeemer in redeeming us from the curse of
the law being made a curse for us. That's what Mr Hawker has
to say. So that even the Lord's trade
as a carpenter, which these people ridiculed, was purposefully designed
to enable him to fulfil all the covenant obligations for his
church and for his people. Isn't that beautiful? I think
so. Here's my third and last point.
The Bible tells us many are called but few are chosen. And that's
the wonder of electing grace. Let me just mention here, in
case anybody is wondering, when we read about the Lord's brothers
and sisters, remember that that's talking about his near family,
including cousins and half-cousins and those of the wider family
group. That wider family is often in
the Bible called brothers and sisters. And also, let us remember
this, that the Lord's power was not in any way constrained by
the fact that these people didn't believe in him. The Lord's power
as the omnipotent God to do mighty works was never diminished. It was not. Rather, what Christ
is telling us here or doing here is that he would not do a mighty
work because of their unbelief and because of their sin. As
God, there was nothing that Christ could not do, but there was much
as God that he would not do. What he did do was wonderful
enough. He laid hands on a few sick folk
and he healed them. And that is a beautiful picture
of particular mercy and sovereign grace. The very mercy that endures
that we were reading about in our opening psalm. And that's
a lesson for the disciples and it's a lesson for us. Despite
the general unbelief of these people, the Lord still sought
out those few sick folk that he had chosen to bless and he
delivered them from the bondage of their sickness and their need. Let me ask you a question, let
me personalise this. Are you sick? Are you sick? The elect of God, the elect of
God are poor, sick, sinful, needy folk. And Jesus has come to save
them. He comes in his gospel to their
place, to their condition, in order to deliver them from their
need. Here are the poorest. the most
useless, the most easily ignored group of people in that whole
community. They were a few sick folk. And
the Lord finds them, and the Lord lays his hand upon them,
and the Lord heals them. And that's what the disciples
learned from this episode. And that's what the apostles
experienced when they went out into all the world to preach
the gospel. And that's what we are doing
today, right here and right now, in this little exercise that
we are embarked upon. We are preaching the gospel indiscriminately. We are preaching to everyone,
to anyone who will listen, all who will hear. And yet we marvel that so many
are offended at the message that we bring and the gospel of grace
that we preach. We think that free grace is good
news, just what we need. Why won't you hear us? We marvel at the unbelief around
about us, at the hardness of sinful hearts, at the offence
of the cross. But praise God, through the preaching
of the Gospel, the Holy Spirit still finds a few sick folk to
bless, a few sick folk to save. a few sick folk to bring into
the kingdom of God and reveal them as Christ's true family. The Lord Jesus Christ left off
preaching in Nazareth and he went around the local villages
preaching and teaching. Mark this, we never hear of him
returning to Nazareth again. but those who must be saved were
not abandoned. Those appointed to salvation
are gathered in. The few sick folk that must be
healed were touched by the Lord Jesus Christ. The elect will
always be few in any place at any particular time. The elect
confess themselves sick with the disease of sin. We struggle. We live with this sin and we
dare not die with it. We're not special in the eyes
of the world. We're not special in our own
eyes except for what Jesus has done for us. We are the few sick
folk that he came to save. We are the few sick folk for
whom he shed his blood. And we are the few sick folk
who are regenerated by God the Holy Spirit and brought to the
experience of the love of God in the preaching of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. The world is offended by the
Lord Jesus Christ, and it despises the few sick folk. But we long
for the touch of the physician's hand. All who seek the healing
touch shall discover the Lord Jesus Christ to be all we need
and all we desire. May he prove to be so to our
soul's good today. Amen.