So we're going to be reading
Mark chapter three, and we'll read from verse 31. There came then his brethren
and his mother, and standing without, sent unto him, calling
him. And the multitude sat about him,
and they said unto him, Behold thy mother and thy brethren without
seek for thee. And he answered them, saying,
Who is my mother or my brethren? And he looked round about on
them which sat about him, and said, Behold my mother and my
brethren. For whosoever shall do the will
of God, the same is my brother and my sister and mother. And then if you have your Bible and you're still there,
just turn with me to Hebrews chapter two, please. Hebrews
chapter two. I just have another few verses
that I want to read from Hebrews chapter two. And if you can go to verse 10. Let's just read verse nine for
continuity. But we see Jesus, who was made
a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned
with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, should taste
death for every man. For it became him, for whom are
all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through
sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth
and they who are sanctified are all of one, for which cause he
is not ashamed to call them brethren. Saying, I will declare thy name
unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust
in him. And again, behold I and the children
which God hath given me. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. For verily he took not on him
the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his
brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things
pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of his people. For
in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to
succour them that are tempted. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. So once again, brothers and sisters,
friends, as we gather together around the word of God, we're
remembering that the Gospel writers are teaching us
about the Lord Jesus Christ, not only His words and His works,
but His purpose and His motivation, and some of those things that
were going on around about the Saviour as well, which we might
find interesting with respect to His ministry and the way in
which we understand that ministry today. And this passage that
we've got before us, this passage from Mark chapter 3, is a passage
which is very short and it would appear very simple, very straightforward. There's something very, very
basic and very fundamental in understanding what the Lord Jesus
Christ is saying here with respect to the relationship that he has
with his people. And I don't want to make what
is very simple complicated. I don't want to make it any more
difficult than clearly the Holy Spirit has made it easy. And
I don't want to make it any more dark or dim to see through that
which Mark has written in such an empirical way. And yet I do
want to stretch your thinking upon what it is that we're being
told in this passage. And I hope that even just in
a few minutes we might be able to improve our understanding
of what it is to be brother, sister, and mother to Christ. And I wish to enlarge all of
our wonder and astonishment at what the Lord Jesus Christ has
actually done for us. So let us realize that God, the
triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit has provided
an amazing gift for us in the gospel, an amazing blessing in
the provision of grace. And here in these few verses,
the Lord Jesus Christ is just drawing the curtain aside a little
to give us another glimpse of what it is that Jesus has done
for us. And if we are going to glean
and gain anything from this evening, I trust that God the Holy Spirit
will give us a greater comfort in understanding who Christ is,
more reason to rejoice in what he has done and a greater desire
to worship him and to thank him for his mercies. All three writers
of the, what we've called already, I think, in our studies in Mark's
gospel, the synoptic writers. And that really just means that
there's great similarity between these three gospels. John is
peculiarly different and read in a different way. But these
gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they give us a very straightforward,
historical, literal, conversational view of the Lord Jesus Christ
and his ministry. And each of the writers, Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, give us almost exactly the same words for these
four or five verses. And there is great similarity
in what they say. But they are explaining to us
this encounter between the Lord Jesus Christ and his family. And it is very obvious from what
is already gone in this chapter in Mark, where we're told that
the kinsmen of the Lord came to speak to Jesus. And these
verses, which are clearly different, because Mark writes about them
both within a few verses, where he speaks of the family of the
Lord. So clearly, both the wider family and the immediate family
of the Lord Jesus Christ were concerned for the wellbeing of
one that they cared for, one that they loved, and we can understand
that. We have affections in nature for those that are close to us.
A brother loves a sister, a sister loves a brother, parents love
their children, and children love their parents, and there's
a natural affection which is built into, as it were, almost
our DNA under normal circumstances. And here we can see that evidenced
in the life of the Lord Jesus. There were people around him
after the natural affections who loved him and who were anxious
for his well-being. And I don't doubt for a moment
that this reflects the widespread awareness that there was at this
time amongst those people whom Jesus was ministering to that
his words and perhaps more particularly his actions at this stage placed
him on a collision course with the Jewish religious leaders. They knew, they were smart enough
to know, they were smart enough to realise that nobody speaks
to the scribes Nobody speaks to the priests, nobody speaks
to the Pharisees or the Sadducees or the Herodians or any one of
these religious sects or religious groups in the way in which Jesus
was speaking and gets away with it for very long. And so there
was an anxiety building with respect to what was happening
at this time in the Lord's life. And of course, so it proved. And we see that within really
just three years, these men had moved against the Lord in a concerted
effort, even to the point, not simply of sponsoring some sort
of ad hoc assassination attempt, although that took place as well,
but politically manoeuvring against him in order to, it would be
in their own minds, legitimise their actions and keep their
hands clean from the blood of an innocent man. You see, religion
can no more accommodate the Lord Jesus Christ in his own lifetime,
as the works religion of our own day can accommodate the free
grace of God in salvation, or justification by grace. Nor can free will religion live
in peace with sovereign election. These doctrines, these views
of God, views of man, views of the world, views of responsibility
are opposed to one another. They must come into conflict. People imagine that they can
meld them together, that they can bind them and bond them and
live together in peace believing opposite things, diametrically
opposed truths and that they can rise above these things and
they can still be at peace one with the other. But when the
Lord shows you what sovereign grace means, when the Lord teaches
you about eternal election, you know that the religion of Man
has no place in the worship of God and therefore a separation
must take place and an antagonism is sure to follow. And that's
exactly what happened in the life of the Lord Jesus. And so
here we can see that there is validity, even in supportive
validity, in the way in which Mark told us just a little while
previously, that the Pharisees went forth, I think it was verse
six, and he said, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians
against the Lord Jesus Christ, listen, how they might destroy
him. You see, that's what they were
trying to do. Right from the very beginning,
they would destroy the Lord Jesus. this narrative that we have in
these verses. It really is very straightforward. The family come. If we're right
in thinking that this may have taken place in Capernaum, then
the family had likely come from Nazareth, Nazareth to get the
Lord Jesus. And they come and they're outside
the house. They learn that Jesus is inside
a house and they stand outside the house. and it seems as if
they remonstrate with him. It seems as if they are saying,
come out to us Jesus, come out to us, come home with us and
leave this behind. but their actions in so doing
and in so asking drew from the Lord Jesus a wonderful reply
and a wonderful statement of possessiveness and ownership. Here's what he said, he identified
himself Not with the family that came and stood outside and called
them or called him to them, but he identified himself with those
who came in and sat around him and whom he called to himself. And there's a big difference.
You see, men imagine that they can call Christ to themself whenever
they want to. But the reality is that those
that are united to the Lord Jesus Christ are those that he has
called to himself. And here's what he says, verse
35. For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same as my brother
and my sister and mother. Now, I want to mention just a
couple of things as points of interest here in this little
narrative that we have. As I say, it's only a few verses,
but the first thing I wanted to draw your attention to was
that there was a group of people here at this moment, in this
episode, sitting around the Lord Jesus. Now, we don't hear about
that before. That's new. What have we heard
about hitherto in Mark's gospel? We have heard of the Lord Jesus
Christ being mobbed. We have heard about the Lord
Jesus Christ almost being pushed into the Sea of Galilee to the
point that he had to get into a boat and have it pushed out
a little bit so that he could speak to the people. We have
heard about them crowding out the house where he was. We've
heard about people not being able to get to him because they
had to go up onto the roof and let the person down through a
hole in the roof. We've heard about him being in
a synagogue and surrounded by his enemies. But here this is
different. Here he is in a room and there
are people sitting around him. What does that tell us? That
tells us that he was discipling these people. He was teaching
these people. This wasn't miracles that were
being formed. This wasn't sick people that
were clamouring to be with the Lord. This was much more reserved,
much more organised, much more systematic. This was people being
taught and they were seated around about him as students would be
seated around about their tutor or their teacher. Remember what
we said, I think it was last week, with respect to these miracles,
that the miracles were not an end in themselves, never have
been, never were. The miracles were not an end
in themselves. The miracles were intended and
designed, they were purposefully performed in order to draw attention
to the miracle worker and cause people to be interested in hearing
the message that he had to declare. The gospel, the miracle was a
stepping stone to the gospel. And here we see how that is actually
working because these people are not any longer saying to
Jesus, heal my brother, heal my sister, heal my mother, heal
my father, heal me. They are saying, let us hear
what he has to say. Let us hear the message. Let
us hear the gospel. And Here it's Christ's words,
Christ's revelation, Christ's gospel that is foremost in our
attention. And that is still the same today. There are people who say, oh,
we need miracles. Oh, we need to see wonderful
things happening. We need to see people being healed
and we need to have the evidence of spiritual power amongst us. No. We already know where the
authority lies. We already know what the gospel
is. We will benefit and be blessed
above all else by sitting at Jesus' feet and hearing the gospel
preached. That's what will make the change
and that's what will make the difference. we learn as we hear
Christ speaking in the gospel. That's the first thing I wanted
to point out about the people who are sitting around the Lord
on this occasion. The second thing is interesting
as well because perhaps as you've read down through these verses
with me, you will hear the multitude who sat around the Lord saying
to him, behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for
thee. And Jesus says, who is my mother?
Who are my brethren? And I just want to Stress this
point in case there's any question about it. There's no disrespect
here from the Lord. The Lord is not disrespecting
his mother or indeed his brethren by saying this. But as before,
he is showing them the priorities that he had and the important
work that he had to do. he must be about his father's
business. That was his calling. That was
what he was now embarked upon. He had spent 30 years with his
mother and his brethren. Now he had a ministry to accomplish,
and this was his father's business. I wonder if Mary, his mother,
as she stood out there with the brethren of the Lord, was reminded
of that conversation that she'd had with a young boy 18 years
previously, when she had had to go back to Jerusalem, where
Jesus had got left behind. And she went back anxiously wondering
where he was. At least one night, they were
without their son when he was in Jerusalem at the time of the
Passover. And I wonder if she remembered
his words to her on that occasion. I have to be about my father's
business. We're told on that occasion that
she stored up all those things in her heart. I'm sure that means
that she remembered them. And here was another occasion
when she was plightly, being reminded that the Lord Jesus
Christ was someone special and that the job that he had to do
was a job that was more important than his immediate well-being
or indeed the immediate desires of his closest family. Maybe
also she remembered that there was something that had transpired
30 years before. when an angel had come and spoken
to her and said, this one will save his people from their sins. And so Mary was being reminded
at this time, here she was expressing the passion that she had for
the well-being of her son, but having to have this drawn to
her attention again, that he had a higher calling. that there
was destiny at work here, that there was a task, a purpose that
the Lord Jesus Christ must accomplish, and that no ties of love, no
filial obligation, no subjection to even parenthood would hinder
or prevent him from doing that job. And so too, there is no
greater respect for the physical relationship that the Lord Jesus
Christ had with his mother than there is for the spiritual relationship
that he had with her. There are people today who will
say that Mary has to be elevated, that Mary has to be honoured,
that Mary has to be worshipped, that Mary is the means and the
channel and the way of approaching to the Lord Jesus Christ, approaching
to God. and there's much religion based
upon the veneration of Mary, but what the Lord Jesus Christ
has very gently, very courteously, very politely reminded his own
mother. is that actually the natural
relationship had to give way to the spiritual relationship.
And that is how Jesus Christ must be approached. He must be
approached spiritually. He must be approached by those
who come to him, not with any priority or any greater importance
one for another because they have any special qualities. but
everyone comes upon the same ground, upon the same foundation,
upon the same footing to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the third
point I want just to mention, as it were, briefly, is that
here was a group of people who came and stood outside the house
and called for Jesus to come to them. The people who were there sitting
around Jesus said to him, thy mother and thy brethren are without
and they seek for thee. And that reminded me as I thought
about it of the fact that there are many people who seek for
the Lord Jesus Christ. There are many people who seek
for him. In fact, as far as Christianity is concerned, There are no doubts
about it that there are churches in so many places all around
the world that speak about God, that speak about Jesus, that
speak about blood, that speak about the cross, who will follow
through a ritual and a regime and a form of ceremony. But I wondered if there was a
likening of these people to those who stood without and called
on him. They sought Jesus, but to what
end did they seek him? They sought Jesus, but for what
purpose did they seek him? They sought Jesus, but for whose
glory did they seek him? You see, it was the glory of
God that motivated the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was
the satisfaction of the flesh that motivated these who stood
without and called for Jesus to come to them. People may speak of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the way of salvation, but only insofar as they allow
They speak about the fact that he is the light of the world,
but they want to keep their own finger on the switch. They speak
about him like a stepping stone to get to where they want to
be, not as the cornerstone of the building in which they are
built. They speak of Him as an enabler
for what they want, rather than the achiever of what they need. And seek all you will. Men and women of this world,
seek all you will. Christ will not be found outside
of the covenant of grace. He will not be found outside
of God's elective purpose and the free grace of his way and
will. And that brings me to the main
point that I wish to leave with you this evening. I think that
the meaning and the significance of this 35th verse here in Mark
chapter three is important for us to realise. The Lord says,
for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother
and my sister and mother. Now most preachers, I was going
to say most free will preachers, but I guess most preachers will
take and emphasize the whosoever in this verse because the religious
world loves whosoevers because they can drive whatsoever into
a whosoever. And here we see that the way
in which the Lord Jesus Christ speaks is taken and manipulated
by preachers today. As though the Lord Jesus is here
inviting anyone who wants a spiritual relationship with him to have
it simply upon doing the will of God. As if to say, whosoever
does the will of God can be my brother or my sister or my mother. And that's how free will religion
would take a verse like this. And others will say, all we have
to do is believe and we shall have everlasting life. And still others will say, all
we need to do is properly distinguish what God's will is and then sincerely
obey it in order to have everlasting life. Do and live. Follow and live. Exercise and
live. Believe and live. As if there's
man's work in this verse, when in fact I believe that the reality
is quite the opposite. I think the Lord is saying something
quite different in this verse. He's not offering salvation. upon either holy living or sincere
faith or finding the will of God and doing it, but rather
he is pointing out that there exists a mystical relationship
between God's elect people and the Lord Jesus Christ. A mystical
and yet very real. You see, we think about mystical
as being ethereal, ghostly, spiritual. And this body as being the physical. And this table as being the physical. And right enough, we have a physical
world around about us. And yet the Bible teaches us
that the true reality is a spiritual reality, that this world that
was created was created out of nothing by the word of the Lord
Jesus Christ and will return to nothing when the Lord Jesus
Christ is finished with it and he will make a new heaven and
a new earth. so that the true reality is the
spiritual relationship that we have with the Lord Jesus Christ
and not the mere things that we think or do or imagine in
this life and in this natural body. The Saviour is saying here
that notwithstanding the physical relationship between himself
and his natural family, his mother and his brothers and his sisters,
that there is a deeper and a stronger and an eternal bond that exists
between Jesus and those whom God has chosen in him to salvation. and that that bond was formed
and fixed in the everlasting covenant of peace in the eternal
purpose of God. And this isn't just esoteric,
this isn't just otherworldly thinking or imaginative dream
making. This is the revelation of God
in his Bible. This is what the word of God
teaches. And that's why I wanted to read
Hebrews chapter two with you, to show you how that in that
little passage, the writer to the Hebrews speaks about this
union that we have, this very real union that we have with
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the Lord had a physical
body. The Lord was given a physical
body. The Father prepared a physical
body for the Lord Jesus Christ to come into this world because
he required a physical body to fulfill the physical needs of
that people that had been joined to him in the eternal purpose
of God. So we read together in verse
11 of Hebrews chapter 2, for both he that sanctifyeth, that's
the Lord Jesus Christ there, he is the one that sanctifies
his people. We read that in 1 Corinthians
chapter 1, verse 30 and 31, that he has made unto us sanctification. Redemption, righteousness, wisdom,
sanctification. So he that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified, that is the people that are made holy, the
people who are set apart, because that's what sanctification means,
he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of
one. They're all one. There's a union.
There is a connection. a relationship between these
people, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them what?
Brethren. That's what he says in Mark chapter
three, verse 35. These are my brethren. It isn't
the physical relationship, but rather the spiritual relationship
that is in view here. These are my brethren. Who are
my brethren? The sanctified ones, the set
apart ones, the made holy ones, the ones to whom the righteousness
of God has been bestowed, the one who in the elective purpose
of God and in the decrees of God have been set apart in the
Beloved, in the Beloved Son, for which cause he is not ashamed
to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto
my brethren. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ
came to do, to speak the gospel to his brethren. That was the
purpose. He came into this world not to
save everybody, never was the intention, not even to reveal
himself to everyone, not even to speak in that prophetic capacity
to everyone, because that's what we mean when we call the Lord
Jesus Christ prophet, priest, and king, that he had a number
of offices that he fulfilled. This revelation of God, this
declaring the name of God or the identity of God, the nature
of God, because that's what the name means. To declare the name
of God was to reveal God to his brethren, to the people that
had been given to him in that purpose of grace. I will declare
thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. And so here again we see that
there is a distinguishing amongst men. There are those amongst
men and women. There is a distinguishing to
the extent that the Lord Jesus Christ says the worship and the
praise will take place within the church, within the congregation
of the gathered people. I will sing praise unto thee
and again I will put my trust in him. What does that mean?
It means that the Lord Jesus Christ in his mediatorial capacity
as that one who came from God to declare the name of God, reveal
God to his brethren, had to become flesh to fulfil that role. and in becoming flesh, had to
become subject to his father, and therefore had to have faith
in his father and trust him. So that little phrase, I will
put my trust in him, is tantamount to the Lord Jesus Christ acknowledging
the humanity that he assumed in coming into the world to join
himself with his people. And again, We're still reading
Hebrews chapter 2 verse 11 to 13. So you see what has happened
here. We've moved away from thinking
about the mother and the brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ standing
outside the house saying, come out to us, come out to us. We
want to take you home. We want to take you away from
all this dangerous stuff. To the Lord Jesus Christ saying,
wait a minute. That natural relationship isn't
of the essence of my purpose. That's not what I'm here to honour. Rather, I came to fulfil the
will of my Father and to bring that people that have been eternally
joined to me in the election will of God to the knowledge
of the truth and the revelation of their standing with the Father. Behold, I and the children which
God hath given me. So who are Jesus' brethren? Well, we've just read it. They
are the children given to him by God. What is their standing? They are one with Christ from
eternity. What is their state? Their state
is that they are in need of help. They're a fallen people in Adam.
They are covered in shame because of their sin, because of their
unworthiness, because of their disobedience. They are a rebellious
people against God, which is the reason why the Lord Jesus
Christ must come. In their hearts and in their
minds, they are estranged. They are opposed. They are antagonistic
towards God. But God, out of His love and
mercy and His desire to accomplish the salvation and redemption
and the glorification of these people, sends His only Son into
the world, taking upon Himself the flesh of our humanity, entering
into the experience of our life, coming and submitting Himself
to time and space and place and the limitations of our humanity
in order as that God-man, as the sinless one, as the perfect
representative to stand before God on behalf of those that God
had given to him. He that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified. And that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ is saying here. What was the need of these people?
that their elder brother should sanctify them. And how would
he do it? By becoming flesh with them. bearing their sin for them, dying
in their place, conquering and defeating their enemies, and
victoriously bringing many sons to glory according to the will
of God. So that's what the Lord Jesus
Christ is saying here in this passage. That's what he's declaring
here in Mark 3.35. He is saying that the only relationship
that matters As far as his role is concerned is that union between
Christ and his people by which we are first sanctified in the
eternal purpose and then made holy by his redeeming grace. These people, these ones that
are chosen, are chosen to this end that they might be holy and
without blame in Christ, and their choice is before the foundation
of the world. So we can see here that it's
nothing to do with the will of the individual. It's nothing
to do with the whosoever will. It's nothing to do with what
we do in this life. It is God who must always take
that initiative and the preeminence and it is his gift of grace and
goodness to such individuals as he is pleased to call to himself. and yet to be the recipient of
that blessing, to be the receiver of that grace, to be amongst
the sanctified, to be amongst the redeemed people from all
iniquity through that shed blood and through the regeneration
of God the Holy Spirit in the life of an individual making
these truths real and vital and important to us is the making
of a new creature in the Lord Jesus Christ. when we are born
again and born into the family of God and given that gift of
faith whereby we are able to say we believe that God has done
all things well and that we can find forgiveness for our sins
through the shed blood of Jesus Christ. What is the will of God
that we might do it? Well, John chapter six, verse
40 tells us what the will of God is. And this is, again, the
Lord Jesus Christ who is speaking, and he says this. This is the
will of him that sent me. Okay, now some people would say,
what is the will of God? Well, the will of God is that
you should believe the gospel. And we call that the duty faith
teaching, that it's your duty to believe the gospel. Or some
people might say, well, the will of God is that we live good lives.
Or it's the will of God that we should obey the Ten Commandments. It's the will of God that we
should behave ourselves with propriety and live well amongst
the people around about us. Well, what does the Lord Jesus
Christ say? Because surely that's what's most important. This is
the will of Him that sent me. that every one which seeth the
Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise him up at the last day." You see, these scribes
and Pharisees, they saw the Lord Jesus Christ. They saw him personally,
physically, naturally. They saw him alright. and yet
they accused him of being the devil. They accused him of being
Satan. But we have been given the gift
of faith to see the son in the gospel and thereby to believe
in him. This is the will of God and that
Christ shall raise up all who believe, all who are given that
gift of faith And that will, that purpose has bound us closer
to the Lord Jesus Christ than a brother and a sister and a
mother. And the Lord is describing this. when he speaks in Matthew about
the indissoluble marriage union that exists between the Lord
Jesus Christ and his people. And he says in Matthew 19, verse
five, and they twain, that is those two, shall be one flesh. Wherefore they are no more twain,
but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined
together Let not man put asunder. And what has God joined together?
Christ, the head, and his people, the body. What is a brother? A brother is one of the same
flesh, naturally speaking. And yet the Lord Jesus Christ
has joined himself to us. flesh of our flesh, bone of our
bone, inextricably linked himself to our humanity. And so we will
forever dwell with him in this human body, perfected and righteousness,
but yet in this human body. We are connected with Christ
in our humanity. Not every single person in this
world, but those whom God wills to save in him. What is a sister? A sister is one that has been
carried in the same womb, nourished at the same breast, carried,
cradled in the same arms, And so the Lord Jesus Christ's people
are eternally bound to him in the same graces and in the same
blessings, in the same electing grace, from the same womb of
the morning, nourished by the eternal Father with gospel milk. and then entering in upon the
strong meat of gospel truth and doctrine. Comforted by the Holy
Spirit who embraces and who gathers us to Christ and underneath are
the everlasting arms. What is a mother? A mother is
the epitome of love and commitment and dedication. A mother will
not eat before her children have eaten. A mother will not sleep
before her children are asleep. A mother will care for her little
ones to the damage of her own body. A mother is the epitome
of love. And we love him because he first
loved us but we love him nevertheless. And so when the Lord Jesus Christ
says that his people are his mother, he is saying that his
people love him. His people are dedicated to him.
His people are committed to him. His people love him. Now the
impetus for that is his love towards us, but we love him nevertheless. And what we have with Christ
as brothers and sisters and mothers in Israel, we have with all the
Lord's people. We have a union together with
them in one body. We are bound together in spiritual
relationship, one with another. And so we may, and so we do,
address one another as brothers and sisters. We're brothers and
sisters in Christ. We're brothers and sisters because
we have one father, because we have an elder brother who has
done everything that is needful to bring us into this beautiful
family relationship, spiritual relationship, which is deeper
and more profound than any natural relationship ever could be. I've
got one final little note and then I'm finished and we're going
to end our broadcast. Why does the Lord Jesus Christ
say sister in verse 35? Have you ever noticed that? He
says sister. He didn't need to say sister.
There's not been any reference to sisters anywhere else. Your
mother and your brothers are outside. The Lord says in verse
33, who is my mother? Who is my brethren? He says in
verse 34, behold my mother and my brethren. There's never been
a mention of a sister. Where does sister come from?
In verse 35, for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same
is my brother and my sister and my mother. Well, I'm glad that
the Lord Jesus Christ added sister in there. And I don't think that
the Lord Jesus Christ ever spoke anything that was unnecessary
or wasn't full of meaning. So I had to scratch my head and
think, what on earth is he talking about a sister here for? And
I thought, I wonder where the first reference in the Bible
to a sister is to be found. And I went back and I looked
and it's in Genesis chapter four and verse 22 where we hear about
a lady who was sister to Tubal Cain and her name was Nama. Nama. And what does Nama mean? It means beautiful. And I think
that the Lord Jesus Christ is recognising here that not only
has he a sister, but he has a beautiful bride, and that he has a people
who have been made holy, righteous, perfect, and beautiful to stand
by his side for all eternity. Listen to what Song of Solomon
chapter four, verse nine says. Thou hast ravished my heart,
my sister, my spouse. Thou hast ravished my heart with
one of thine eyes, with one chain of thy neck. How fair is thy
love, my sister, my spouse! How much better is thy love than
wine, and the smell of thine ointments than all spices. Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as
the honeycomb. Honey and milk are under thy
tongue, and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of
Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister,
my spouse, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed. What beautiful
poetic language that is, describing the Lord Jesus Christ and his
sister, his bride. And just because we think about
sisters in that natural level, the scriptures describe the spouse,
the bride, the wife, if you like, as a sister. And so the Lord
Jesus Christ calls his sister beautiful and holy and perfect. in his sight.