Let's take our Bibles and turn
to Mark chapter 9. Last week we looked at the transfiguration
of Christ and what that was all about. I especially wanted you to know
how that I believe it was given to give assurance to the disciples
who were still confused and still, they knew that he was the Christ. The Spirit of God had given Peter
that revelation and he told the Lord, thou art the Christ, the
Son of the living God. And the Lord told him that flesh
and blood didn't reveal that to him, but the Spirit of God. But when this was all over, And
they came down from the mountain. All of a sudden they had questions.
They had questions that they felt like needed answers. And
this happens to us a lot. We've got questions, questions,
questions, questions. We had a little family that came
here two or three Sundays in a row and then they didn't come
back. But he was full of questions, full of questions. And that's the way it was with
the disciples, even though they were hearing the truth from the
Lord Himself, the Master. Never a man spoke like this man.
He spoke with such wisdom that it's inexcusable not to understand
what he was saying. But yet they had questions. And
I want to say this at the outset of our lesson today, that those
who truly want to know the truth, They seek counsel from the Lord,
whose very name is the Word. Now the title of the lesson is,
They Asked Him. They Asked Him. These questions
weren't directed at the Pharisees. They weren't directed at the
world. They were directed to Christ. And He's the key to all
mysteries. He's the source of all knowledge.
He is the way. That's what He said, I am the
way. I am the truth. I am the life. And no man cometh
unto the Father. That's not just talking about
our coming to Him in faith, but it's talking about our coming
to a knowledge of Him. Coming to an understanding of
who He is. And that is eternal life. But
any man, any woman, any boy or girl who truly wants in their
heart of hearts to know the truth, if they ask of Him, they'll know
the truth because He is the truth. And when we have a sincere knowledge,
if God gives us that appetite for sincere knowledge and spiritual
knowledge in the heart, saving knowledge of God, if we have
that sincere attitude, we're gonna listen to what Christ tells
us. In John 8, 31, the Jews, which believed on him, they followed
him, they called themselves his disciples. And Jesus said to
them, if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed,
and you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free. Then in verses 11 through 13
in Mark chapter nine, I want us to look at three things recorded
here for our learning on this subject. And the first thing
is this, how false religion causes so much confusion in the minds
of them, even them who believe. It causes confusion. There is
no confusion in the gospel. What's confusing about God chosen
people? How hard is that to understand?
You teach things at school that's much more difficult to understand
than that. God chosen people. Well, what makes that so hard?
All the religious luggage that we've brought with us. That's
what makes it so hard. Trying to make that somehow fit
into free willism and universalism and all the isms that we've heard
and learned from who knows who our whole lifetime. It causes much confusion. And Peter had already been empowered
by the Spirit of God to confess that Jesus was the Christ. And
these men, in spite of all their weaknesses and flaws, were true
believers. Some would even go on to be apostles.
But for the moment, they were confused, and what made them
so was these... They still gave
credence to things that they'd learned when they were small.
They still gave credence to things that they were It was just hammered
into them. From the time they were children,
they sat under the priests and under the people who were over the synagogues
and so on. And they sat under them, and
it was just hammered week after week after week after week after
week, all of these things. And they were still giving credence
to the scribes. and to the Pharisees. And often
they even tried to kind of intercede for them before the Lord. On
one occasion that comes to mind immediately, they said, did you
know they were offended at what you said? Does that matter? It's still so. You know, and
that's the way it is. We may bring somebody we really
love to services, and they get upset and leave. And then folks
will come to me, do you know what you said really offended
them? I can't help it. Can't help it. It's not that
I despise them. It's not that I don't want them
to hear the truth. It's just how it is. But they
were still giving credence to these things. And though the Lord warned of
the blindness of the Pharisees, the blind leadeth the blind,
their boat gonna fall in the ditch. He warned them about their
ignorance. He warned them about their very
nature, their vipers, wolves in sheep's clothing. Yet they
still listened to things that they had to say. So what does
that have to do with you and I? What's that got to do with
us? Well, I know that some of our
younger ones are told by their parents to listen to me when
they come to worship. When it comes time for me to
preach, they'll tell them. I can still remember Luke tapping
the boys on the head, pointing up. Listen. Listen to what he's
saying. Listen. Listen. And I appreciate
that counsel. I really do. I've tried to show you in the
scriptures where pastors are ordained of God to this end. And for the most part, some of
you are listening. Some are. And I hope someday
the rest of them will. But for now, it's a real and
continual source of confusion to our children and to us, as
far as that goes. But especially to our children, Because what you're being taught
here is being challenged. It's being challenged by your
friends. It's being challenged by your
teachers. It's being challenged by the parents of your friends. You know, first thing this child
said, you know that they believe in election? Well, he didn't
even know what election was until you told him. And he tells his
parents that. Well, what's his parents going
to do? We don't believe that. Now things start to get confusing. You see what I'm saying? The
challenge, challenged on every side. In 1 Timothy 1 verse 4,
the Spirit of God tells us not to give heed to fables. And that's
what these doctrines are, they're fables. They're fables, fables
passed down from generation to generation to generation. That's
what Grandpa believed. That's what your great-grandpa
believed. That's what I believe. Don't give heed to fables and
endless genealogies. Now watch this. What happens
when you do? What happens when you give ear,
when you give credence to those who would challenge the truth?
They throw these scriptures at you, what happens? Listen to
this. Which minister questions? Questions, questions, questions.
You wouldn't have had a question if you just look at the word
of God and listen to what's being said. Wouldn't be any confusion. What brought the confusion was
these fables, this false doctrine. these other subjects, endless
genealogies. In talking to the scribes, the
disciples suddenly had questions about the Christ, whom God himself
had just a few hours ago said, this is my beloved son, hear
ye him. How long did that last? About
three hours. Now they're questioning. And now the problem is twofold.
First of all, it arises from the idea that anyone can pick
up a Bible and read it and come away with the truth. My friend, the Bible said there's
none that understand it. So what's the problem? Well,
Paul said we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles are all
under sin. That's the problem. That's the
problem. And there's none that understandeth
and there's none that seeketh after God. All my life I heard
testimonies from men who talked about how they sought God. And
then I read the Word of God and it says there's none that seeketh
after God. I listened all my life to people
stand up on a Wednesday night, that was testimony night. They'd
stand up on Wednesday night and start giving their testimony
and talk about how the Spirit of God revealed things to them
at home. Really? Word of God said when he'd come,
he ain't gonna speak of himself. He's gonna take the things of
Christ and show them unto you. And it's just the plain truth
that God has hidden these things from the wise and the prudent,
the clever. and reveal them unto babes. There
are many who try to literally interpret the Word of God by
natural intellect and reasoning. I know a man right now, Brian
knows him, I know him. I know a man right now who has
separated himself from every known preacher in the world.
Not just the state he lives in, not just the country he lives
in, but from anybody in the world. Every established pastor in the
world he separated himself from. And this man is a scholar. And
he's read and has opinions on all the various versions of the
Bible, and he's even taken his favorite version and republished
it as it was in the original without chapters and verses,
as though that made some kind of a difference. And for all his efforts and all
his learning, he's only succeeded to separate himself from the
ordained means of God to save his soul. The Word of God is
spiritually discerned. And in 1 Corinthians 2.14 it
tells us that the natural man, he will not receive the Spirit
of God. He's not going to do it. The
things of the Spirit. Well, what are these things?
Well, one is the Word of God. One is the preaching of the Gospel. He's made us sufficient. He's
made us able ministers by the Spirit. This is a thing of the
Spirit, but they won't receive that. The Gospel of Christ. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, because there is foolishness
unto him. You mean I have to have God send somebody to me
to tell me the truth? That's what the Word of God says. In the wisdom of God, the world
by wisdom knew not God, but it pleased God through the foolishness
of preaching to save them that believe. That's pretty clear,
isn't it? How are you going to hear without
a preacher? That's what the Holy Spirit asked. In Isaiah 29, 14, God said, I'll
destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I'll bring to nothing the
understanding of the prudent. And when these wise and prudent
men set out to discern the word of God, they're pawns of the
devil. They become pawns of the devil,
and they go about in their ignorance serving the devil. That's what
God said to them. Now, they didn't know that. They
said, we are of God. God is our father. He said, if
God was your father, you'd love me. I proceed forth and come
from the Father. You're of your father the devil.
Isn't that what he said? They're pawns, and they serve
him, but they believe in their service that they're serving
God. And the Bible is spiritually discerned, not literally interpreted. And the scribes read Malachi
4 or 5 about the coming of Elijah the prophet. Now we're gonna
get back to our subject. They read Malachi 2 about the
coming of Elijah the prophet and literally looked for him
to appear on this earth. And especially since Elijah didn't
die a natural death. God took him right up into glory.
He was standing on one side of the river and Elisha stood standing
on the other side. And he watched and saw as God
come down and took Elijah right into glory. And now they're reading Malachi
the prophet. He's the last prophet in the
Old Testament. Malachi is saying Elijah's gonna
come before that great and terrible day of the Lord. So they're looking
for Elijah. And along comes this man called
Jesus. And he's preceded by a man called
John the Baptist. And they say, well Elijah hadn't
come yet. I don't care. He is a wonderful teacher. We're
willing to give him that title. He could even be a prophet. We'll give him that title. He's
a wonderful man. He's a do-gooder. He heals the
sick. We don't have a problem with
that. But he can't be the Christ. Because Malachi said Elijah has
to be reincarnated. Elijah's coming back to the earth. That made sense to him, considering
that God had taken him into glory. And there are lots of scriptures
that seem to say one thing, but they don't really say that at
all. Well, God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten
son. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but
have everlasting life. And hundreds and thousands have
read this passage and come away with the understanding that God
loves everybody and Christ died for all mankind. That's it, and
argue till the sun goes down. But this passage doesn't teach
that at all. It simply teaches that God's
love extends past the nation of Israel. into every nation,
kindred, tribe, and tongue under heaven. And that his elect out
of that, out of the world, his elect will all be known by faith. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish. But when these men come at you
with these passages like this, it brings confusion to those
who give them a hearing. I'll give you another one, over
in 1 John 2. He said, if any man sin, we have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he is the
propitiation for our sins. And not for ours only, but for
the sins of the whole world. So that means Christ died for
the whole world. No, it just means Christ is the only propitiation
in the world. And then secondly, our Lord gives
to them the right interpretation of this. This is what these scribes
said, and it confused them. And they come back to the Lord.
And they said, why do the scribes say that Elijah has to come?
Well, our Lord gives them a right interpretation, Mark 9, verse
12. And he answered and told them,
Elias verily cometh first. and restoreth all things. Now
here's what that restoration is about. See it here in verse
12, Mark 9, 12. And how it is written of the
son of man that he must suffer many things and be sad at naught. Our Lord did not apologize for
the prophet Malachi or complain that the passage could have been
made a little clearer Huh? I've been guilty of that. That
passage could have been in its interpretation. It could have
been made a little clearer. I don't need to apologize for
the Spirit of God. He didn't apologize for Malachi.
He didn't complain that the passage could have been made a little
clearer. He simply said that Elijah indeed
will come as the Scriptures foretold that he would. And that His coming would be
to establish the Word of God concerning the appearance of
Christ and to set forth His rejection and His substitutionary death. Most preachers, they portray
John the Baptist as a worksmonger. He didn't drink any strong drink.
He didn't do this. He didn't associate with the
world. He didn't do all of that. when in fact his separationalism
wasn't from the world, it was from religion. Huh? That's right. You take a survey
of the great churches in this country and you won't find very
many of them right up in the middle of religion. Most of them
are out of town somewhere just like we are, sitting off by theirself. Well, that's what John the Baptist
did. His separationalism was from established religion and
their concepts of the Messiah. And his baptism was a clear picture
of particular redemption by the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ. And this is what I want you to
see. His baptism demanded fruits of repentance. It demanded it. Fruits of repentance from established
religion and those who brought their religion with them. He
sent them away. Did he not? You go back, what
did he tell them? And bring fruit for repentance. Get those broad phylacteries
off. Hang them up in the closet or burn them in the backyard. Our Lord would have his disciples
to know that his person and work was not the result of God's compromising
the scriptures of the prophets. Elijah had indeed come and he
came preaching, now listen, how it is written of the Son of Man
that he must suffer. That's what John the Baptist
preached. And his mission was to make straight
the way of the Son of Man. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
one. Luke chapter one, this is the
gospel according to Luke. And Luke is, These writings here is concerning
Zechariah, John the Baptist's daddy. And in Luke 111, it says,
and there appeared unto him an angel of the Lord, standing on
the right hand of the altar of incense. And when Zechariah saw him, he
was troubled and fear fell upon him. But the
angel said unto him, fear not, Zacharias, for thy prayer is
heard. And thy wife, Elizabeth, shall
bear a son, and thou shalt call his name John. And thou shalt
have joy and gladness, and many shall rejoice at his birth. For
he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink
neither wine nor strong drink. And he shall be filled with the
Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb. And many of the children
of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. Now watch this. And he shall go before him in
the spirit and power of Elijah. To turn the hearts of the fathers
to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just and
to make ready a people prepared for the Lord. That passage If
Malachi had nothing to do with the reincarnation of Elijah or
of Elijah who never died coming back to stand on the earth. It had to do with John coming
in the attitude and spirit of Elijah. And I tell you this, don't ever
try to build a doctrine around one verse of scripture. Don't
do it. Don't do it. Whatever he says
in one place, he says it all the way through the Bible. And
Henry used to tell us to, like a tin can, set it up on a fence
post and take rocks and see if you can knock it off. If you
knock it off, you don't have the right understanding. Christ, our cornerstone, connects
both Old and New Testaments, and both can be seen through
him, and they can be seen at the same time. And then thirdly,
he shows them the scripture in question being fulfilled. Mark chapter nine, verse 13,
but I say unto you that Elias is indeed come, and they've done
unto him whatsoever they listed as it's written of him. Brother Mahan used to say the
Old Testament weaves a garment to less fit one man. When it's
talked to him, give all the prophets witness. And it weaves this garment. That may be the garment, that
might be the significance of that garment that they gambled
for around the fire that was woven throughout and had no seam. But everything written before
the coming Redeemer was fulfilled concerning this man, Jesus of
Nazareth. Everything from the woman seed
to the forerunner of Christ and His message, all has been fulfilled. So here's the lesson. Ask of
Him. Ask of Christ. Don't ask the
Pharisees. Don't ask the false prophets. Ask of Christ. And what Christ
tells you, He sent out His disciples, He sent them out to preach, 120
of them, He sent them out to preach and He said, He that heareth
you, heareth Me. How's Christ going to teach us?
Through His ordained means. That's how He's going to do it.
So when we look for questions and we ask of Him for the revelation,
then we go to the means that He's ordained. We use prayer. We attend where
the gospel's being preached and we sit there. I don't charge
admission. It don't cost anything. I ain't
trying to get somebody down an aisle. I'm not trying to get
anybody to sign a pledge card and contribute so much money.
They can come here and sit for free for as long as they want
to. This is the means. And when you
get confused, go to the means that God has ordained. You ask
of Christ and that's what he's gonna tell you, forsake not the
assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. Ask of him, whatever it is that
brings doubt and confusion into your life and then listen as
he speaks through the means he's ordained and shows to you the
fulfilled word of God concerning him. May the Lord himself be
our teacher. Thank you.