The Mark's Gospel. The Gospel
of Mark chapter 1. Chapter 1. We'll read the first
11 verses. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets,
behold I send my messenger before thy face which shall prepare
thy way before me. And of course this speaks of
John the Baptist. And that prophecy is from the
book of Malachi. This Next one, in the third verse,
is also concerning John the Baptist, and it's from Isaiah chapter
40. Christ said, all the prophets spoke of him. And that's exactly
what John did. Verse 3, the voice of one crying
in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his
path straight. John did baptize in the wilderness
and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. And
there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem,
and were all baptized of him in the river of Jordan, confessing
their sins. And John was clothed with camel's
hair, and with a girdle of a skin about his loins, and he did eat
locusts and wild honey, and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier
than I after me, the lachet of whose shoes I am not worthy to
stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptized you with
water, but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost. And it came
to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee
and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out
of the water, he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit like a
dove descending upon him. And there came a voice from heaven
saying, Thou art Thou art my beloved son in whom I am well
pleased." There are a couple of hymns in our hymn book written
by Martin Luther. One is entitled, A Mighty Fortress
is Our God. He says in that hymn, speaking
of the devil, The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can endure, for lo,
his doom is sure. One little word, she'll fail
him. He also wrote, did we in our
own strength confide, our striving would be losing. Were not the
right man on our side, the man of God's own choosing. Just ask
who that may be, Christ Jesus it is He, Lord Sabaoth the same,
from age to age the same, and He must, He must win the battle. On earth is not His equal. Did we in our own strength confide? Our striving would be losing. What else could it be? What else
could it be? If we endeavor to fight the good
fight of faith, to lay hold of eternal life in our own strength,
it'll be losing. It must. But Luther didn't stop
there, did he? The Lord, the Lord sabioth his
name from age to age the same and he must win the battle. He must win the battle. Who is he? Who is he? Luther
identified him in his hymn and God himself identified him here
when he came up out of the water after being immersed, covered
up Verse 11, there came a voice from heaven saying, thou art
my son, not John. John was a prophet, a great prophet,
the last of the prophets. Oh, but not concerning John the
Baptist. He was the forerunner of Christ
and counted it his greatest honor to be so. But never was it spoken
of John or any other man, ever. Never was, never will be, these
words, thou art my beloved son. in whom I am well pleased." John,
in answer to the question of Luther's hymn, who is he? Who is that man? John answered
that question in verses 7 and 8, didn't he? Look at them again. John came and preached saying,
there cometh one mightier than I. after me, the lachet of whose
shoes I'm not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have
baptized you with water, but he, he, that one who is the only
begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth, he'll do
what I can't do. He'll do what I'm doing as just
a picture of what he'll actually do spiritually. He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost. In John's gospel, chapter 1,
we read these words. There was a man sent from God
whose name was John. The same came to bear witness
of the truth, to bear witness of the light rather. He was not
that light. But he was sent to bear witness
of that light. And of course that light is the
Lord Jesus Christ. That was John's mission. And
he said again in verse 7, don't stop with me. If you do, you'll
miss the Christ. You'll miss salvation. He said
there's one coming after me. That's who John pointed to. He
said, there's one coming after me. I'm just his voice. I speak of him. I'm a voice,
but he's the everlasting word of God made flesh. And he's coming.
He's coming after me. Keep looking. And when John saw
Jesus of Nazareth coming unto him, and he was identified as
being that Messiah by what we just read at the waters of Jordan,
When he was baptized and came up out of the water, God had
told John, upon whom you see the Spirit descending, that's
the Christ. Again in John's gospel he said,
I knew him not, but he that sent me to baptize told me these things,
and I saw and bear witness that this is the Son of God. And when he appeared on the scene,
Remember before John said, pointing behind him, he's coming. And
then when he came, he pointed in front of him and said, behold,
that's him. That's him. Behold, the Lamb
of God. That's what every God-sent man
does. Everyone God calls to preach
the gospel, that's what they do. They are all, in a sense,
forerunners of Jesus Christ. They all do what John said. If
they're called of God, they do. They don't draw attention to
themselves. Listen to this verse in 2 Corinthians chapter 4. Paul
said, He and those other men God had called. We preach not
ourselves. Then what do you preach, Paul?
I mean, we're surrounded with men that preach themselves. But Paul says, no, we don't preach
ourselves. We preach Jesus Christ the Lord,
just like John. He was a voice, a forerunner.
We preach Jesus Christ, the Lord, and ourselves, your servants,
for Jesus' sake. We don't preach ourselves. We
don't preach by ourselves. We don't preach about ourselves. And we don't preach for ourselves. That's exactly what John the
Baptist did. In Luke's Gospel, chapter 3,
we read that while all the people mused, They pondered, they wondered. Concerning John the Baptist,
they said, you suppose he's the Christ? You suppose he's the
Messiah? Do you suppose, do you reckon
that he might be that one that we've been looking for, that
our fathers and forefathers all looked for? Do you think he's
the promised Messiah? Could it be John? And you remember
what John answered when they asked him that? He said, I'm
not the Christ. I'm not the Christ. I'm just
the voice, and I'm speaking of Him who is the Christ. That's
why I've come. He said, He must increase. I like that. Don't you, Lester?
He must increase. It's not about John the Baptist.
And it's not about Larry Criss. It's not about any man except
the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. He must increase, but I must
decrease. John said, He that has the bride,
and that wasn't John. He that has the bride is the
bridegroom. He that cometh from above is
above all. He that cometh from above He
that condescended from the very throne of glory to be made like
unto his brethren. He came from above, therefore
he's above everybody else. He's below everything rather
and everyone is below him. He's above all, John said. He
that came after me is preferred before me. That's what God said,
this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. John went
on to say, the Father had given all things into His hand. Everything. He said, He that
hath the Son hath life. No wonder he said, no wonder
he told all the people, behold the Lamb of God. We preach not
ourselves but Jesus Christ the Son of God. Our Lord himself
said concerning John the Baptist, his forerunner, he said among
those born of women there is not a greater prophet than John
the Baptist. That's what he said concerning
John. But look what John says in verse 7. There's one mightier than I.
There's one mightier than I. Mightier than I. My. You don't hear that very often,
do you? Not in this me first generation. But John said, no,
it's not about me. It's all about him. There's one
mightier than I. And that I includes everyone
except the Lord Jesus Christ. Take all the I's together. The little I's and the big U's. Just take them all together.
Just bring them all together. And everything they are, everything
they profess, everything they've done, everything they claim doesn't
hold the candle to this one who is mightier than all the eyes
and all the knees. In Luke's gospel, turn there
for a minute if you will, Luke chapter 9. I think this is sort
of a good illustration of what I'm saying. In Luke chapter 9, our Lord is
going through the villages, the towns, the cities, preaching
the kingdom of God. In verse 59, we read, and he
said unto another, follow me, follow me. Oh, what an honor. Follow me. Follow me and you'll
follow me all the way into glory. Follow the Son of God and you'll
be with the Son of God where He is forever. Follow me. Take
up your cross and follow me. Deny yourself and follow me. But, He said, Lord, suffer me
first. Me first. Not you, me first. To go and bury my Father. Jesus
said, let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach
the kingdom of God. And another also said, Lord,
I will follow you, I will follow you, but let me first. Doesn't that sound familiar?
I'll follow you if I can be me first. If I can have my will
over your will, if I can have my way over your way, if you'll
allow me to be first, I'll follow you. If I can have me first and
just have you as a doormat into heaven, let me be first. I'll take you as my fire escape
out of hell, let me be first. But I will not bow to the Lord
Jesus Christ." And he sent them away. There is no me first concerning
the Son of God because as John says here, he is that one who
is mightier than I. And again, no wonder John said
to the wandering multitudes, don't stop with me. Look past
me. Look at that one. Oh, behold
the Lamb of God. John, whether it was to a multitude,
to the religious leaders, his message was the same. Behold
the Lamb of God. He stood one day with only two
of his disciples. And Jesus of Nazareth walked
by. And he said, fellas, it's time
for you to leave me. It's time for you to leave me.
Behold one mightier than I. Behold the Lamb of God. And they
followed Jesus. The words that he speaks are
the words of eternal life. John didn't say, me first. You remember that stupid little
song some years ago? Me and Jesus got our own thing
going. Notice me first. No. John was the messenger, but Jesus
Christ is the message. John was sent to prepare his
way. But Christ said, I am the way. I am the way. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Scott Richardson, dear, dear,
faithful man. He's with the Lord now. Pastored
that church in West Virginia where Marvin Stoniker pastors
now for, I declare, I think, longer, a few years longer than
Brother Henry was in Ashland. if I'm not mistaken. But anyway,
Scott said, a preacher is a nobody who tells everybody about somebody
who can save anybody. It's pretty good. Pretty good
definition, isn't it, Louie? Behold the Lamb of God. Again,
verse 7 here in Mark 1. One mightier than I. One mightier than I. Let's just
think about that. for the next few minutes. One
mightier than I, applied to the lost and applied to those who
are saved. One mightier than I. The real
sinners, real sinners, that's real good news. I mean real sinners. You say, well Larry, everybody's
a real sinner. When's the last time you talked
to one? When's the last time you talked to one? When's the
last time you talked to anybody that said, I'm the sinner. Nobody's worse than me. Nobody's
as fallen as me. I'm the sinner. Those who are
without strength This is the best news they've ever heard
about one that's mightier than themselves. To the blind, to
the deaf, to the prisoners of self and sin, listen, listen. Or was this not good news to
you? when God had stripped you? Because He stripped you. If you're
a child of God, you've been stripped. If you've never been stripped,
you've never been clothed. If you've never been lost, you've
never been saved. I mean, that's just a fact. Oh,
but those who know themselves to be these, sinner, this is
the best news they ever heard. That one who is mightier than
I is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by Him. We read concerning him, the spirit
of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to
preach good tidings unto the meek. He hath sent me to bind
up the broken hearted. Who else can? You ever tried
to bind a broken heart? It's out of our power. He sent
me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to them that are bound. He doesn't just stand before
the prison door and say, now if you can get yourself out,
If you can pick that lock and come out of that cell and come
to me, I'll do something for you. Oh, no, no. He sets the
captives free. He goes into the prison and he
goes to that particular cell and he opens the door and he
doesn't stop there. He goes in and brings the prisoner
out and says, now you're free. That's the captain of our salvation. He's mighty to save. That's exactly
the kind of Savior that a real sinner needs. One that's mightier
than I. Don't you? Don't you? Look here in chapter 2 of John,
or I'm sorry, Mark's gospel. Mark chapter 2 verse 17. Look
what he says. They that are whole have no need
of the physician. but they that are sick. I came
not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance. Christ really is. I'm so glad
that we read concerning Him that I am the Lord, I change not.
I'm so thankful that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today
and forever. He's always full of grace and
truth. He always delights to show mercy. All power is always in His hand. He's always able to keep those
the Father has committed unto Him. Thank God He changes none. And right now, Christ really
is the great physician that heals helpless, sinful, hopeless sinners. He saves sinners. He's the great physician nobody
else is. There are multiplied examples
of that in scripture. But let's just look at one. Let's
look at the testimony of one sin sick soul that made her way
to the great physician and see what happened. Turn over here
in Mark's gospel to chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. Is he the great
physician? Is he that one, like John said,
that's mightier than I? Does he really reach down his
hand and left up helpless beggars. Is he really able to do that?
Well, let's ask this woman. Verse 25 of Mark 5. And a certain
woman which had an issue of blood twelve years and had suffered
many things of many positions. They didn't help her. They made
it worse. Their remedies, so called, just
made things worse for her. And she spent all that she had
and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse. Listen to her story. Woman, is
Jesus Christ of Nazareth able to save? Is he that great physician? And she'd tell you, oh yes. I
was dying. I had an issue of blood. I was
hemorrhaging. And I had it for 12 years. I'd spent every dime I had. I was passed around from one
doctor to another. They tend to do that, don't they? Well, let's send you to this
one, and this one will send you to that one. They passed her
around and the only thing they relieved her of was her bank
account. They cleaned her out. She said, I spent all my money
and not one of them helped me. Not one of them could cure me.
I got worse. I got worse. I went to one well-known doctor
of divinity. And he told me to study doctrine. He told me to study until I intellectually
arrived at a certain amount of doctrine. Get it in my head and
everything would be alright. And I did it. And I only grew
worse. And another one Another one I
went to, he instructed me in the traditions of his religion. But I only grew worse. I only
grew worse. There's an article by Martin
Luther in your bulletin today. Very good. You might want to
keep this. Don't throw it away. Luther said
this in regards to religious tradition. If ever a monk could
get to heaven through monastic discipline, I was that monk. And yet my conscience would not
give me certainty. But I always doubted and said,
you didn't do that right. That's what tradition does. That's all it does. You weren't
contrite enough. You left that out of your confession. The more I tried to remedy an
uncertain, weak, and troubled conscience with human traditions,
the more I daily found it more uncertain, weaker, and more troubled."
So did this woman. Then she went to another, Dr. Legalist. He told her, keep the
law. Keep the law. Dot every I. Cross every T. Keep the law. Touch not. And taste not. And wear not. And go not. But I found by the
deeds of the law, no flesh living was ever justified. John Newton
said, I endeavor to renounce society. that I might avoid temptation. How did that work out, John?
But it was a poor religion. So far as it prevailed, it only
tended to make me gloomy and stupid and unsociable and useless. That's about what it does. Verse
27 here, back in Mark chapter 1. One mightier than I. Oh, that lady goes on to tell
us, then one day, one day, I heard that Jesus of Nazareth was coming
where I live. And I heard He had cured all
manner of disease. And I thought, He can do the
same for me. I just got to get to Him. I've
got to get to Him. And I went, but the crowd was
so large around him, so great a multitude surrounding him,
I couldn't get to him. And to be honest with you, I
wasn't even supposed to be there. The priest pronounced me unclean. My disease under God's law rendered
me unclean. I wasn't even supposed to be
around those people. But I knew if I didn't get to
Him, I was going to die. I was going to die. And so would you and I, child
of God. If we had never gotten to Christ,
we would have died. We would have died in our sins.
Multitudes die in religion. They die in their morality, but
they die in their sins because they never came to Christ. They
came to a church, they came to a preacher, they came to a priest,
they came to baptismal waters, but they never came to Jesus
Christ and they died in their sins. What a horrible, horrible,
truth. Our Lord said, if you believe
not that I am He, you're going to die in your sins. This woman
continues, oh but I pressed through the crowd. I pressed, pressed
my way through the crowd and I reached out Ooh, I stretched
out, I stretched out my trembling hand and just barely enough,
I touched the hem of his garment. And my disease, my disease dried
up. That's what we read in verse
27 and 28. Straightway, verse 29 rather,
straightway the fountain of her blood was dried up and she felt
in her body that she was healed of that plague. My disease flowed
out. She would tell us and His blood,
or rather His power, His virtue, His amazing grace poured in. Oh my soul! when he reached down
his hand for me. I was lost and undone. Larry
Criss was lost and undone. I was without God or his son
when he reached out his hand for me. Oh yes, I can bear witness
to the blessed, blessed truth. He's mightier than I. He did
for this sinner what he could never do for himself. Luther
went on and said this, night and day I pondered until I saw
the connection between the justice of God and the statement that
the just shall live by his faith. That's the correct translation.
The just shall live by his faith, that is Christ. Then I grasp
that the justice of God is that righteousness by which, through
grace and sheer mercy, God justifies us through faith. Thereupon I
felt myself to be reborn and to have gone through open doors
into paradise." They say Luther was walking up those steps. Oh
no, that's wrong. He was crawling up those steps.
trying to justify himself before God until his knee was bloody. His knees were bloody. And then
God flashed as a lightning bolt into his heart. Luther, the just
shall live by faith. And Luther said, well, my soul,
why am I doing all this? Why am I doing all this? And
he finally found peace with God. That's what this woman did as
well, didn't she? Look what it says in verse 34.
Are you still here at Mark 5? Daughter, the great physician
says, daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole. Go in peace
and behold of thy plague. And she probably would add one
more note. She would say, and you know what? That's not all. It was free. It was free. He didn't charge
me a mite. He did for me in an instant what
all those so-called doctors couldn't do in 12 long years. And it was
absolutely free. Ho, every one that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. And he that hath no money, come
ye, buy and eat. Yea, come buy wine and money
without money and without price. Wherefore, wherefore, does this
description apply to you? Wherefore do you spend money
for that which is not bread? All that my soul has tried left
but a dismal void. Why am I here? What's my life
about? Am I going to just live and die
and that's all? Is there no more? Wherefore do
you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfieth not? Hearken unto me. Eat that which
is good and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Hear the voice
of the great physician of souls. The spirit and the bride say,
come. And let him that is a thirst come. And whosoever will, let
him take the water of life freely. Freely. We preach free grace. Free grace. It's free. And Christ says, come sinners,
come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded by the fall.
Jesus ready stands to save you, full of pity, grace, and power. Come and take the water of life.
Drink and live forever. Forever. It's free. Secondly, secondly, and lastly,
looking at these words, one mightier than I, Oh brothers and sisters
in Christ, isn't that good news to you? The Bible describes us
believers as being pilgrims and strangers in this world and so
we are, so we are. God help us to be so more and
more. But pilgrims and sojourners get
tired. They get weary, don't they? Dealing
with that which is without and perhaps more so that which is
within. Oh, wretched man that I am. When
is this going to end? Brother Lloyd told me a couple
times over the past month. He said, Larry, I'm just tired
of this. He said, I want to go home. He
didn't mean down there. at that house. He said, I want
to go home. He said, maybe I shouldn't feel
that way. And I said, oh brother-in-law,
I don't blame you for feeling that way. I'd be surprised if you didn't
feel that way. But I said, even in all this,
you're in the hands of one mightier than you. You're in the hands
of that one who said, all power is given unto me in heaven and
in earth. You're in the hands of that one who said, Father,
you've given me power over all flesh. And he perked up. He said, Larry, that's right.
That's right. He's sovereign over everything. Over everything. And one day
he said, I'll understand. I'll understand all this. Are
you still in the gospel of Mark? Look at one more verse here in
Mark's Gospel, chapter 7. After a day of preaching, after
a day where the Son of God went about doing his Father's business,
after a day of healing death and blind and halt and maimed
and of casting out devils, the people are astonished to be on
measure in verse 137. And they said concerning the
Son of God, He hath done all things well. He hath done all
things well. And child of God, though we fail
to see it many times, and fail to believe it as we should, especially
this man talking to you now, God for grace to trust him. He had done all things well.
That one who bought us with his blood now reigns on high the
Son of God. This fact our every fear should
quail. Christ Jesus has done all things
well. How sovereign, wonderful, and
free is all his love to sinful me. He plucked me as a bran from
hell. My Jesus has done all things
well. He plucked me as a bran from
hell. My Jesus has done all things
well. One mightier than you and me
has pledged himself, has pledged himself to God to bring you to
glory. Wow! Wow! The Son of God before He
even created the heavens and the earth. The Son of God from
eternity stood before His Holy Father. And in the covenant of
grace, He promised His Father that in the fullness of time,
He would come to this earth, sent by God Himself, and do everything
necessary to fulfill all righteousness as the substitute of his people.
He pledged, Father, all that you give me, I've lost none. The Son of God, the Son of God,
that one who is mightier than I, has made it a matter of his
own honor to bring this sinner to glory. Man, that will float
my boat. That will give me comfort. I
cannot imagine. I cannot imagine. Can you? The
Son of God standing before the Father and saying, Father, I
and the children that you've given me, none is lost but one. But one. Oh, no. Never, never, never. That would
mean he failed. That would mean he died in vain. That would mean if one sheep
could be lost, why not you and me? No, never, never. That one mighty ear and eye speaks. Listen, children, listen. He says concerning you, they
shall never perish. None shall pluck them out of
my hand, the captain of our salvation, never abandons the vessel of
grace in which his church sails." Never. In chapter 4 here in Mark, you
know the story. Here's a very Very good illustration
of his words, upon this rock I'll build my church and the
gates of hell shall not prevail against it. You know the story. He's asleep and a great storm
arises. His disciples wake him up with
these thoughtless, unbelieving words. Master, don't you care
that we perish? He that loved us and gave himself
for us. But we've all had those moments,
haven't we? Does Jesus care? Master, cares
thou not that we perish? And oh, he raises up and rebukes
the wind and says to the sea, peace be still. And the wind
ceased and there was a great calm. I imagine the disciples
looked at one another and they said, what happened? What happened? Where did the storm go? What
happened to the storm? What kind of man is this? Even
the wind and the sea obey him. What kind of man is this? He's
the master of the sea. He's that one who is mightier
than I. Oh, for a heart prepared to sing. to God my Savior and my King,
to all the saints I'll join to tell, my Jesus hath done all
things well. Soon, soon I shall pass this
veil of death, and in his arms shall lose my breath. Yet then
my happy soul shall dwell, or rather shall tell, my Jesus hath
done all things well. And when to that bright world
I rise, and join the anthems in the skies. Among the rest
this note shall swell. My Jesus has done all things
well. God bless you.