Now, if you will, I'd like for
you to turn with me again to the first chapter of the Gospel
according to Mark. I want you to read with me again
and consider these two verses of Scripture beginning with Mark
1, verse 14. Now, this happened after John, who was the forerunner
of Christ. He is that prophet of whom the
Old Testament spoke specifically of, saying that he was going
to come before the coming of Christ. And there was going to
be a reformation of the ways of God preached clearly, plainly
to the people. People were going to be called
to see what the coming of Christ was all about. The truth concerning
His person, His ordination, His purpose, His coming, His appearance
in this world as a man, His accomplishments, all of those things John preached. I can remember when I was in
religion, listening to them talk about John They talked about
John in comparison to their so-called evangelist who basically just
come in and pumped them up and got them excited about the coming
of the Lord. That's not John's ministry. John
come and said, make the Lord's ways, His paths straight. Get it straight. And he preached
those doctrines of grace to the people. So this is after John had been
taken out of the way. His preaching had been accomplished.
The Lord took him out of the way, and now he's in prison. And the Lord comes into Galilee
and begins His ministry. Now verse 14, Mark chapter 1,
After that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee preaching
the gospel of the kingdom of God and saying, Here's the outline. Here's what he preached. Not
word for word, but this is the outline. This is what he preached
to the people. The time is fulfilled. And the
kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. That's what Christ preached. And he preached it everywhere
he went. Everywhere he went. Now there are three things in
these two verses that the Lord seemed to impress on me as I
read them. And the more I thought about
these things, the more I was convinced that this was what
the Lord would have me to say to you this morning. These three
things. First, He speaks of a fulfilling
of time. Something significant about the
time. a coming of an end of something,
the ushering in of a new something, of a new age. And then secondly,
He gives us a sobering declaration. The Kingdom of God is at hand. And then thirdly, as a result
of these first two things, a divine command is given. Repent and
believe the gospel. All right, let's consider first
what He says about time. He said, The time is fulfilled. Everything in this life is relevant
to time. That's why we have such a struggle
when we talk about spiritual things. Spiritual things are
eternal things. They're eternal things. These
are things which God purposed before the foundation of the
world. Don't you have a hard time connecting to that? I mean,
I believe it to be so. I believe the Declaration. But
I've got nothing to compare it to. I've got no way to... We're
talking about eternal things. Things without a beginning. Just
keep going back as far as your mind can go and it's infinitely
before that. Eternal things. We've got no
concept of that. But everything in this life is
relevant to time. Solomon tells us in Ecclesiastes
3, verse 1, to everything there is a season and a time to every
purpose under heaven. Everything you do, everything
you purpose to do is relevant to time. That's what he's telling
us. There's a time to be born and a time to die, a time to
plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted. A time
to kill, a time to heal, and a time to break down, and a time
to build up. A time to weep, and a time to
laugh, a time to mourn, and a time to dance. A time to cast away
stones, and a time to gather stones together. A time to embrace,
and a time to refrain from embracing. A time to get, and a time to
lose. A time to keep, and a time to
cast away. A time to rend, and a time to
sow. A time to keep silence, and a
time to speak. A time to love and a time to
hate. A time of war and a time of peace. Everything in this life is relevant
to time. In Genesis 1, verse 14, God said,
Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day
from the night, and let them be for signs and seasons for
days and years. Because God had something that
He purposed to do in this world, That's what time is all about.
He said a space in eternity that we call time. He talks about the end of time,
doesn't he? And he talks about before time
began. He put these lights in the firmament
of heaven to give for signs and for days and months Something
to measure this time by and to give light upon the earth. That
is light. Talking about the light of God.
The light of what these things is all about. The light of what
time is all about. Everything made relevant to time
is created and governed and preserved for the purpose and glory of
God. It says in Ephesians 1, verse
11, that God worketh all things after the counsel of His own
will. Everything that happens in time
has behind it a divine purpose. A divine purpose. He worketh
all things. What is this will of God by which
He works and arranges all things? It is the redemptive will of
God to save a people in Christ for the glory of His name. That's
His purpose. That's what He's doing. That's
what all these things are about. That's what Israel was about.
That's what Abraham was about. That's what Isaac and Jacob was
about. That's what David was about,
and Solomon, and all the prophets, and the coming of Christ, and
John the Baptist, and all these things, all these religious ceremonies
that the Jews practiced, all of these things were about this.
It was concerning this divine purpose of God. And God arranged
these things and worked these things after the counsel of his
redemptive will. In Colossians 1, verse 15, Paul
said of this One in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of
sins, that He is the firstborn of every creature. Now, every
other translation read this way, He is the firstborn of all creation. You'll find that same word, creature,
in Romans chapter 8, where he talks about the creature being
made subject unto vanity. The word is creation again. Creation. For by Him, verse 16, were all
things created that are in heaven, that are in earth, visible and
invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers, all things were created by Him, watch it now, and for
Him. and for Him. That's what these
dominions are about. Why is Russia, Russia? Why is
the United States, the United States? What are all these islands
out there? What are all these kingdoms?
What are all these principalities and powers? What are all these
things about? What are they all about? Here's
what they're all about. They're about the redemptive will of
God. It says He is before all things. And by Him all things consist. Everything that has happened
in time and will yet take place before the great and terrible
day of the Lord has an inseparable relevance to Christ and His redemptive
purpose. But in particular, our text here
in Mark chapter 1 has to do with a particular matter in time of
which the Lord tells both them and us is fulfilled. It's fulfilled. It's done. It's done. And this time is in reference
to all the Old Testament prophecies and promises concerning the coming
Redeemer. The message of the Old Testament
is Christ. I don't have time to go in and
give you reference after reference, but in Acts chapter 10, verse
43, it says, to Him give all the prophets witness. That ought
to be enough, shouldn't it? What were they talking about?
Were they talking about these wheels with eyes and these so
many weeks and all of these things? What were they talking about?
They were talking about Christ. Talking about Christ. They were
talking about His coming. They were talking about His offices.
Talking about His work. Talking about what He's coming
to do. Describing Him. Describing His coming. To him give all the prophets
witness that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall
receive remission of sin." Stephen, the very first martyr, recapped
the Old Testament prophecies to the unbelieving Jews. And
he said this to them. Everything that he told them,
they rejected. They were standing there doing
this while he was talking. They were standing there shaking
their heads. Laughing him to scorn. There was a man who had
the power of the Holy Spirit, the gifts of the Spirit, and
he stood before these men, and without any notes like I have
this morning, without any outline, without any anything, just the
power of God's Spirit resting upon him. He went back in the
Old Testament and began at Genesis and went all the way through
to Malachi. And he recapped their history, Russell, and he showed
them who Christ was. He went all the way through there,
and he showed them who Christ was. And then at the end he said,
you stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you do always
resist the Holy Ghost. As your fathers did, so do you.
Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted, and
they have slain them? Now listen, which showed before
the coming of the just one. That's what their message was.
That's what their ministry was all about. That's what their
calling was. It was to foretell of this coming
Redeemer. Turn with me to Galatians chapter
4. I'm saying that this time to
which our Lord refers to in Mark chapter 1 is the very pivotal
point in all time and eternity. Galatians chapter 4 verse 4.
Now listen to this. But when the fullness of the
time was come, that time purposed of God, that time when this redemption
that he talked about would be accomplished, when this man of
whom he prophesied would take upon himself being, and appear
on this earth as a man, and walk, and talk, and preach, and eat,
and drink. When the fullness of the time
was come, God sent forth His Son, the second person of the
Godhead, made of a woman, my soul." We love to argue about
doctrine, don't we? When you get a full understanding
of that, then we'll argue about doctrine. God Almighty, in whom the universe
exists, took upon Himself the form of
a man and was made in a virgin's womb. And He did that that He might
be made under the law, that is, as a representative man. He put
himself in the position of God's elect as a representative, the
way Adam represents the whole world. Christ came in the same
way as a representative man, representing God's elect. And
he was made flesh and blood just like we are, took upon himself
the seed of Abraham. Now to Abraham and his seed were
the promises made. He saith not unto seeds as of
many, but as of one, unto thy seed, which is Christ. He took
upon him that seed, that representative seed, and was made of a woman,
appeared as a man, made under the law. Why? Because those that
he is going to redeem were under the law. And He did that to redeem
them, verse 5, that were under the law that we might receive
the adoption of sons. And the Lord said to them, the
time is fulfilled. He was not just talking about
another Scripture being fulfilled or another prophecy being fulfilled,
but He was talking about that pivotal point in time around
which everything else finds its orbit and its place in God's
creation. Everything in time built up to
this. Everything after that looks back
and pivots on that. Everything in time and eternity
pivots, finds its orbit concerning what took place back there. All
things purposed of God will stand or fall by this man. You think about that. God purposed
to save a people for His glory. How do I know He's going to accomplish
that? It stands or falls in this man. The purpose and character of
God hangs on these events in time, on this man. The destinies
of men hang on what this man can or cannot do. If this man
fails, there'll be no other. There'll be no other. If this
man is defeated, all hope is lost. If this man does not succeed,
then everything's lost. And our Lord said, the time is
now. It's fulfilled. It's fulfilled. All right, here's the next thing.
He said, the kingdom of God is at hand. That word kingdom has to do with
God's sovereign reign of grace. Turn with me to Romans 5. In
Romans 5, we have a brief outline of the history of this world
and the restoration of God's elect by way of God's mediatorial
king. He tells us in verse 12, in chapter 5, verse
12, he tells us, by this first Adam, by one man, sin entered
into the world. He is talking about this Adam,
this first man. Sin entered into the world, and
death was the result of it. And that because Adam was a representative
man, this first man was the representative of all men, that sin passed,
that death, because of his sin passed upon all men. Not only Adam fell in the garden,
but all his posterity fell in the garden. because he was a
representative man. Now the proof of that fall is
in this. See it there in the verse in
the very last part of it? For all have sinned. All have sinned. And this death
reigned. It reigned over adults, and it
reigned over children, and it reigned over every son and daughter
brought into this world by Adam. It reigned. Verse 15. But not as the offense, so also
is the free gift. For if through the offense of
one many be dead, much more by the grace of God, and the gift
by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto
many. Now let me take this just a little
at a time. Not as the offense, so also is
the free gift. Adam's sin was passed physically. His nature was given to his sons
and daughters by natural generation. He brought forth seed just as
the law of God was in the beginning that in these things that he
created was a seed that would bring forth after their kind.
And so the seed of Adam brought forth after his kind. It was
passed physically by natural generation to all his seeds. But the free gift of God's grace
in Christ is not passed that way. Now Paul was saying this
because the Jews believed that. They believed that their natural
sons and daughters, because they were passed down from Abraham,
were going to receive those benefits by blood, by blood inheritance.
And he said this free gift don't come that way. Don't come that
way. Christ conveys His righteousness
and His justification and His salvation by grace without any
additional works done by His elect. And therefore He said,
which is by one man, Jesus Christ. It's all accomplished. It's all
fulfilled. It's all given and transferred
to you by this one man, Jesus Christ. There was great grace. I love
that song, Grace, Grace. There was great grace bestowed
upon all God's elect in Christ. And this grace predates the creation
of Adam and the fall of man. It supersedes his representative
office and the glory of his person. And it abounds in its effects
and in its ends on all them upon whom it comes. It incorporates
God's election and predestination. Now I'll tell you, you may not
believe what I tell you about election and predestination,
but you better get a hold of those two things because they're
in the Bible. And they're not used in some unrelated thing
that doesn't make matter to a hill of beans. It's not somebody told
me one time this. All this stuff has to do with
Abraham and his children. That's not so. Paul uses these
words in Ephesians chapter 1 when he's stating our salvation in
Christ, and how it was accomplished, and how it's given, and how you're
sealed as His sons. God the Father blessed us with
all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ according as
He had chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world,
that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to
Himself. Isn't that what that says? And
He did all this stuff, it said, to the good pleasure of His will.
It wasn't based on something that somebody was going to do
or say in time. It's based on God's free will. It incorporates God's election
and predestination of His elect. It takes in all the offices and
titles given to Christ. It contains all the providence
of God in creation, the calling and ministry of the prophets,
and the whole of the foundation of Holy Scripture. It has to
do with the incarnation of Christ as a man and His obedience to
the law, His subjection to the Father, His submission to the
suffering and death of the cross. Grace takes in His resurrection,
His ascension to the throne of glory and His mediatorial reign
right now. Now here's the end result, Romans
5 verse 21. You can go through and read all
these individual verses. You'll find half of them in parenthesis.
That is, they're explanatory of something Paul said just before.
That's the verse I read to you. But here's the summation of it. We'll just cut through the chase
and get to the end of this thing. Verse 21, that as sin hath reigned
unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto
eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Now when our Lord said,
The kingdom of God is at hand. That's what he's talking about.
The rule of grace has come, and it stands before you. This is
the kingdom. There's no kingdom without a
king. I'm the king, he said. I'm the king. The power of God's
kingdom is in my hands, in my authority, in my person, in my
accomplishment. The King of Glory stands before
you. The Kingdom of God is here. It's
not there. It's not out there somewhere
where you can't see it. The Kingdom of God cometh not
with observation. You can't see it. The Kingdom
of God is in here. It's in here. Where the Holy
Spirit of God takes those things of Christ and shows them unto
us. Where does He show these things?
Right here. Where does He write His laws?
He writes them in the heart. in the heart. That as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness. It's going
to reign through righteousness by one man, Jesus Christ. He
is the Lord Jesus Christ. God said, I've set my King upon
my holy hill in Zion. And the nations are mad and stomping
and cussing opposing and religions jumping up and down and mad.
And he said, I did these things in spite of Satan and in spite
of fallen, depraved man and in spite of ungracious religious
hypocrites. I did it in spite of a depraved,
rebellious world. I've sent my king on my holy
hill in Zion. Be wise, therefore, O ye kings,
and be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord
with fear, and rejoice with trembling, and kiss the Son. Why? Because He's the King. He's the
King. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry,
and you perish from the way when His wrath is kindled but a little. The kingdom of God is the reigning
King of glory, whose victory in person and office and power
govern all things to give eternal life to as many as the Father
has given Him. Ain't that what it says there
in John chapter 17 when the Lord prays His high priestly prayer?
Glorify Thou me, Father, with that glory which I had with Thee
before the world was. Glorify me that I might glorify
You. according as you have given me
power over all things, that I should give eternal life to as many
as thou hast given me." That's that power I'm talking about,
that authority, that reign of grace established in Christ.
While sin reigns unto death over this world, God the King has
made His grace to reign unto life eternal in all those that
believe. And He uses even the most evil
acts of sinner to accomplish His good. Isn't that what He
said in Romans chapter 8? Paul said, And we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He did
foreknow, He also did predestinate. Ain't that what that says? How
do we know all these things work together for good? Because we
know who has the power. We know who does the arranging. We know who sits on the throne. What a sobering declaration this
is. The Kingdom of God is at hand.
Does that have any impact on you at all? The Kingdom of God
is at hand. God's King. for whom all creation
has its being, for whom all creation is being preserved. This man
came and appeared on this earth and stood before men and said,
the kingdom is here. It's here. Oh, my soul, what
an impact this ought to have on my life. Seated at the right
hand of God is a man whose person and glory and power are there
to guarantee the salvation of God's elect and the eternal reign
of grace. This is the fire that fueled
the early church, Christ sitting and reigning at the right hand
of God. This same one that you crucified and rejected and spit
in His face, God has made Him both Lord and King. What did our Lord tell His disciples
when He sent them out to a world that just crucified Him on a
cross and wouldn't have anything to do to them? And He's sending
them out to preach. You know what He told them? All
power is given unto men, heaven and earth. Now you go preach. Now you go preach. And then last of all, and as
a result of these two things, a divine command is given. Look
back here at our text in Mark 1, verse 15. Look down at the
last part of that verse. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Please. Now don't say that. Huh? Don't say that, does it? It said repent ye. and believe
the gospel. Repentance and faith are commanded
of the Lord of Glory. What does that mean, repent?
It means to turn. To turn. I know what we think
it means. We think it means to be sorry,
to walk around all the time being sorry. That's not what repentance
is. Certainly, if you know you've done a wrong, you're sorry for
what you've done. And we pray and ask forgiveness
for those things. But that's not what repentance
is all about. Repentance is a turning. Turn. That's what he's telling us.
Knowing who Christ is, and the glory of His person, and the
authority of His power, and the goodness of His intentions, and
the impossibility of His defeat. And then knowing the condition
of this world, depraved and fallen and under the judgment of God
and exposed to the influence of higher powers, the rulers
of the darkness, believers obey His commands. I'll tell you,
if the command of God comes to you to believe and repent, you'll
believe and repent. Yeah, you will. If He ever opens
your eyes to see His glory and where He is and the glory of
the things that I've just read to you and talked to you about,
you obey His voice. You won't go down to the library
and debate with the barber about it. I'll tell you what you're
going to do. You're going to believe God. That's what you're going
to do. If He opens your eyes to see. Believers begin a lifelong turning. We want to look back to that.
Boy, I remember the spot. I remember the time. I remember
my decision. I remember all those. That's
not repentance. Repentance begins. It has a beginning, but it's
a lifelong turning. We continue to turn. Every day
we turn. We turn from this world's principles
and philosophies. Paul warns us of this over in
Colossians 2.8, calling it vain deceit. Vain deceit. After the tradition
of men and the rudimentary or basic principles of the world.
We turn from this world's worthless religion too. What is that? That's free will works religion. That's what that is. Worthless.
Worse than worthless. It denies the fall of man. God
said man fell. I read it to you in Romans chapter
5 verse 12. That denies that. That says man's
free. He can do whatever he wants to
do. No, he's not free. He's in bondage. Death passed
on him. He's in prison. What do you think
the Lord was talking about when He said when He came, He led
captivity captive? Who was captive? What's the captivity? He's talking about men in bondage,
in darkness, under the judgment of God. Self-righteous, self-centered,
and self-glorifying religion. Religion that looks to man for
that which it cannot produce. By this world's religion, I mean
any group or any denomination that denies salvation by grace. There's only one way to be saved,
brethren, and that's by grace. By grace are you saved. Ain't
that what the scripture says? Then why are we talking about
works and decisions and free will and all this other mess?
Talk about grace. That's how men are saved. What's
that mean? That means God gives you something
you don't deserve. Why do men fight about that?
Anybody here think they deserve heaven? Anybody here think they
deserve God's favor? Then why are you fighting about
grace? Rejoice in it. Rejoice in it. Any group or denomination that
denies salvation by grace, that's this world's religion. Any religion
or group of men that denies the full accomplishment of salvation
by Christ and His The present reign and glory of God the King
is Antichrist. That's what the religion of this
world is, Antichrist. It's opposed to the things of
Christ. It's opposed to His authority.
It's opposed to His rights. It's opposed to His divine authority
as King. He can save men or pass men by.
That's what He told Moses. Moses said, show me your glory.
He said, okay. I'll be gracious to whom I will
be gracious, and whom I will I'll harden. That's my glory.
That's who I am. Are you upset with that? No,
that's just who God is. It doesn't matter if I'm upset
or not. Men oppose His absolute rule. It opposes His eternal offices. It opposes His divine ways. It
denies the sufficiency of His work and power. It says we have
to add to it. Huh? Boy, you're going to have
a hard time. I'm telling you, I've heard men
say, now we're saved by grace, but we walk by law. Huh? What did Paul tell those Galatians?
He said, you began in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the
flesh? We're saved in Christ. It denies His blood is sufficient
to put away our sin, and it denies His righteousness is adequate
to cover our naked soul. Believers turn from the lust
of the flesh. They know where it comes from
and where it leads them, and they guard against it. Believers
turn from the treasures and empty promises of this world, knowing
that they cannot find peace and rest and happiness and joy in
these things. Repent you, you see what he's
saying? Turn. Turn from these foolish notions.
Turn from this traditional religion. He was talking to scribes and
Pharisees and men who were sold a false bill of goods by them.
And this is what he's telling them. A determination has to
be made who I am. Now turn. Now turn. And believe. Ain't that what
he says? What? Believe what? Believe the
gospel. My friend, the Lord Jesus Christ
is the gospel. He's the good news. He's the
way. He's the life. He's the light. He's the food
and water for the soul. And we're living in the gospel
age right now. The last days. The kingdom of
God is at hand. The King sits at the right hand
of God. How much longer is this time
going to go on? Let me tell you what's relevant
right now. That time was fulfilled. The Lord appeared. He accomplished
what He came to do. That pivotal point around which
everything else finds its orbit. All that was done. What about
your time? What about this time? He said today is the day, didn't
He? That's all you got today. How many young people have I
talked to in my lifetime? Well, when I get a little older
and get married and settle down, then I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm,
I'm. You got today, that's all you
got. All you got. He may give you tomorrow. I ain't
no promise of that. And I'll tell you something else.
You're here this morning hearing the truth. And I double dare you, go up
and down here to every church in all directions from here,
and you sit, and you listen to what they say, and you come back
and tell me if they're preaching Christ. What I'm preaching to
you this morning. And accomplish redemption in
the Son of God. Freely given, freely bestowed
upon men. Even unto the chief of sinners.
See if they're preaching that. If they are, I'll go with you
and we'll go over there. I'll pack up and go with you.
I can't find anybody anywhere preaching these things. I'll
find them where they want to talk about them, behind men's
backs somewhere, back in the shadows or down at the barber
shop. They want to talk about it. But when they go back to
the pulpit, they preach works, man's works and man's glory and
man's this and man's that. You won't find anybody preaching
Christ. And you look at this place, this
ain't a big church. This ain't not a well-known church.
How did you get here this morning? I'll tell you how you got here,
by God's providence. He's given you a time of grace,
a space and time of grace. And I've told you how great a
grace that is and who it's in. It's in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now he said, repent, turn, and believe. Believe. Oh, He is the brightness. There
has never been a time before or since when the Gospel was
more fully revealed than it is to you today. Jesus Christ is
the brightness of the Father's glory in the express image of
His person. And He has appeared in this world
before the eyes of faithful witnesses and accomplished the redemptive
will of God. He said, Lo, I come in the volume
of the book it's written of Me to do Thy will, O God. Did He
do it? He said He did. What did He say? What was His last words on the
cross? I know He said, Father, into
Thy hand I commit My Spirit. I know He said all those things.
Let me tell you what He said. It's finished. That's what He
said. It's finished. Is it? Is it? then my friend rejoice in it,
receive it, and give God the glory for it. He was raised from
the dead, seen by hundreds of men and women, and then received
into heaven where He now reigns. I know folks want you to counsel
them and come and answer their questions and do all these things.
I'm telling you this, if what I told you this morning doesn't
have an impact on your life, you're beyond help. Counselors
ain't going to do you any good. Preachers ain't going to do you
any good. Direction ain't going to do you any good. This is it. This is the King of Glory stood
before men, and He said, Turn. Turn. Why? Because the time is
fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. This is all you're
going to get. And I tell you, it's all the
believer wants. All He wants. Hear about His glory. Hear about
His power. And if you hear those things
and believe those things, you'll find rest for your soul. Rest
and peace. And that doctor comes in doing
this. And he has for us. And I've told you about it many
times. He's going to come in one of these days and he's going
to be doing this. And boy, I tell you, everything that you found
hope in in this life goes right out the door. Right out the door. The only place you're going to
find any rest is in Christ. In Christ. Death is just an open
door into glory after that.