Thank you, Kara. Paul said in 2 Timothy chapter
2, verse 9, the word of God is not bound. And these are not
the best circumstances. It's going to last, Lord will,
and hopefully a few more weeks, but the word of God is not bound. And the Lord takes his word and
always accomplishes his purpose. And we're thankful for that.
And as I'm trying to bring this message, I get a lot of comfort
from knowing this, the word of God is not bound. I'm going to be speaking from
Mark chapter six, And I've entitled the message for this evening,
Christ marveled at unbelief. And you'll see where I got that
title as we read these first six verses of Mark chapter six. And he went out from thence and
came into his own country. That's talking about his own
town where he grew up. And his disciples followed him,
and when the Sabbath day was come, he began to teach in the
synagogue. And many, hearing, were astonished,
saying, From whence hath this man these things? And what wisdom
is this which is given unto him, that even such mighty works are
wrought by his hands? Is not this the carpenter? I can hear the way they said
that. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother
of James and Joseph and of Judah and Simon? Are not his sisters
here with us? And they were offended at him. But Jesus said unto them, a prophet
is not without honor but in his own country and among his own
kin and in his own house. And he could there do no mighty
works save that he laid his hand upon a few sick folk and healed
them and he marveled because of their unbelief. And we went
round about the villages teaching. He marveled because of their
unbelief. Our merciful Heavenly Father,
we ask in Christ's name that your word would not be bound,
that you would speak to our hearts according to your will, reveal
thyself to us. May we be found in Christ. Our
sins be forgiven for his sake. Give us grace to love you more,
love one another more. And Lord, accept our thanksgiving.
We thank you for who you are and we thank you that salvation
is what you do. Now, bless this message for Christ's
sake. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together and be with our leaders and give them the
wisdom and understanding to do what's right at this time. Bless
us for Christ's sake. In His name we pray. Amen. To say that Christ marveled at
anything is a very remarkable thing. You see, He knows everything
already. And nothing ever takes Him by
surprise because everything that takes place is His will being
done. He is sovereign over everything. And yet this scripture says he
was amazed. He was astonished. He was astounded
by their unbelief. Now he had gone back to his hometown,
verse 1 of Mark chapter 6, and went out from thence and came
into his own country, and his disciples followed. He went back
to the hometown of Nazareth where he'd grown up for 30 years and
he brought his disciples with him. Now, when he had left Nazareth,
as far as they knew, all he was was a carpenter. And he has been
gone and he's become famous and done many mighty works and had
disciples coming back with him when he comes back to his hometown. They'd heard of his miracles,
they'd heard of his healing, and they've heard of his teaching,
and they're excited about hearing this one come home. Verse 2, and when the Sabbath
day was come, he began to teach in the synagogue. Now remember,
these were people who had known him all of his life. They knew him when he was a toddler. They knew him when he was a young
boy. They knew him when he was a teenager. They knew his family. They knew
him. And I think it is so enlightening
that although the Son of God was before them and though true
holiness walked before them, they didn't get it. They didn't
really understand who he was. And they heard him speak and
the scripture says and many hearing him were astonished and this
is not the astonishment of admiration in any way and here's what they
said from whence hath this man these things and what wisdom
is this which is given unto him that even such mighty works are
wrought by his hands We just can't receive this. We can't
get a hold of this. Is not this the carpenter? A run-of-the-mill carpenter. He has no education. He has no wealth. He has no status. He's a run-of-the-mill carpenter. He frames houses. He works with wood. carpenter,
how from him come these mighty sayings and these mighty acts? Now, let's go on reading. Is
not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? I think Joseph must
have been dead by this time. Joseph is not mentioned. The
son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and of Judah and Simon.
The Catholic church says Mary remained a virgin, no she didn't,
she had other children and they're mentioned here. And are not his
sisters here with us? And they were offended at him. I want to look at a passage of
scripture in Matthew chapter 11 verse 6. The Lord says, blessed is he. Oh, when the Lord makes this
statement, this is the person who is truly blessed. Blessed is he whosoever shall
not be offended in me. Now let's look what led him to
make this statement. Verse one, and it came to pass
when Jesus had made an end of commanding his 12 disciples,
he departed thence to teach and to preach in their cities. Now,
when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent
two of his disciples and said unto them, Art thou he that should
come, or do we look for another? Now, was John really doubting? I mean, after all, he had seen
the Spirit of God come down upon him. He heard the voice of the
Father when he baptized him, This is my beloved Son, in whom
I am well pleased. He's the one who had the Holy
Spirit from his mother's womb, and he is the one who jumped
in his womb when he heard of the Lord Jesus Christ. Could
he have doubted? Yes. He was like you and I, a
man. And he was in prison, probably
all kinds of things going through his mind, and he was wondering,
is this all a dream? Are you the one? And he sent
two disciples. and said, are thou he that should
come or should we be looking for somebody else? Jesus answered
and said unto them, go and show John again. John needed to see
and hear again, just like I need to hear the gospel again. Yes, I was thankful for what
I heard yesterday, but I need to hear again today. The gospel never grows old. You go show John those things
again which you do here and see the blind receive their sight,
the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the
dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached unto
them. Now here's the people who are not offended, the blind who
can't see why God would have any favor upon them, the lame
who can't walk in God's commandments The lepers defiled by sin, the
deaf who can't hear, those who are dead in sins, those who are
poor and have nothing to bring to the table. Oh, they're not
offended in the Lord Jesus Christ and what he does. But these people
were offended. So he says in verse four, but
Jesus said unto them, these people who had seen him grow up, a prophet
is not without honor. but in his own country and among
his own kin and his own house. What a shame when there's a true
prophet and people refuse to see it. They didn't see the Lord
as that prophet. He was just the carpenter. He
was just Jesus of Nazareth. And look what verse five says.
And he could there do no mighty work. save that he laid his hands
upon a few sick folk and healed them. Now that doesn't mean that
he was prevented from doing something because they didn't have great
enough faith. Doesn't mean that at all. He could not do any mighty
work there because he would not do any mighty work there. He is not going to work through
this atmosphere. He could there do no mighty work
save he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. And then the scripture says that
he marveled because of their unbelief. He was amazed by their
unbelief. He knew who he was, and he knew
what they had seen, and he was amazed by their unbelief. You see, unbelief is the most
groundless, excuseless thing in all of the world. Now, what is unbelief? Now, the
best way to answer that is by asking, what is faith? Unbelief
is the opposite of faith. What is faith? Faith is believing
God. Abraham believed God. God made these promises to Abraham. Abraham didn't have any empirical
tangible proof that any of this would ever take place except
the word of God and that was enough. You see God can't lie
and he believed God. All you have is a word from God
with no other evidence and you believe. That's what faith is.
You believe what God says. You see, he's utterly trustworthy.
He doesn't need to have verifications and proofs because of what he
says. He says it and it is so because of who is speaking. And
every believer is wrapping the entire salvation of their soul,
resting upon, believing, relying upon what he has said. To him that worketh not. but believeth on him that justifieth
the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness.
I'm counting on that. What must I do to be saved? Sirs,
what must I do to be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. I'm relying on that. If thou
shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in
thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be
saved. I'm relying on that. Whosoever
shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Lord, I'm calling. Save me. Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am the
chief. Lord, I'm the chief of sinners.
That means you came to save me. I am relying on what God has
said in his word. Now, unbelief does not believe
God. You've all been around someone
where you've kind of maybe questioned what they said, questioned the
truthfulness of what they said. They said, are you calling me
a liar? Uh, yeah, I don't say it that way. I don't want to
appear so rude. It might be somebody who is trying
to pick a fight, but that's what you're thinking. Yes. Yes, you
are a liar. All men are liars, but he's not. He cannot lie because who he
is and we believe him explicitly to fail to believe him is to
call him a liar. Let me give you an example. 1
John 1, verse 10 says, if we say we've not sinned, and that
word is a verb, and it's in the present tense, right now, whatever
I'm doing, if I look at you right now, even while I'm preaching,
and say, I've not sinned, you know what I do? I make God a
liar, is what the scripture says. And his word does not abide in
me, because he says I have sinned. And God saw that the wickedness
of man was great in the earth and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Now, if I deny that, I'm calling
God a liar because that's God's testimony. Isaiah 64, 6 says
our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. Romans chapter 3, verses
10 through 12, there's none righteous, no, not one. There's none that
understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Now, in unbelief, understand
this, understanding is not the problem. In unbelief, understanding
is not the problem. No, you understand, and I understand
exactly what's being said. For instance, to say that the
Bible is the word of God, Every word inspired? Who doesn't understand
that? It means every word is inspired. Now, you might not
believe it because you don't like the implication to that.
That means if it is the inspired word of God, I've got to believe
what it says, and I've got to believe exactly what it says,
and it might run contrary to what I think. To say that God
is sovereign means He's the first cause of everything, and that
means everything. He is in control of everything.
Now, what's hard to understand about that? You might not like
it. You might disagree with it because The implications of it
you can't go on with, but you understand it. To say that men
are dead in sins, you know what that means. Somebody's dead can't
do anything. Can a dead man believe? Can a dead man repent? Can a
dead man love? No, you understand what that
means. Now, you might not like it. You might not like the implications
of it. You might not like what it says about you, but you understand.
To say that God chose who would be saved before time began. There's
nothing hard to understand about that. Everybody that hears that
knows exactly what it means. You might not like it, but it's
not hard to understand. To hear that Christ actually
saved the elect when he died, when he said it is finished,
their salvation was accomplished. Nobody says, well, what's he
mean by that? You know exactly what that means.
That means if Christ died for you, you must be saved. It means
he's everything in salvation. Now, you can find things you
disagree with because of the implications of that. Well, that
means he didn't die for everybody. That doesn't seem fair. And all
of a sudden, we become God's judge. That doesn't seem fair. God shouldn't be that way. To
say God's grace is irresistible and invincible. His grace actually
saves. Everybody listening knows exactly
what that means. You might not like it to say
you have to persevere all the way to the end to be saved. Only he that endures to the end
shall be saved. Everybody knows what that means.
You see, this thing of unbelief is not a lack of understanding. It's a hatred for what is said
and a rejection of what is said. It is a willful Rejection. There is no love for God as he
is rather enmity and nice people turn mean when they hear the
gospel. No love for the message of the
gospel, quite frankly, because in their own mind, they do not
need it. And the gospel destroys what
they are hoping in. Unbelief is a willful choice. You hear what you, you hear,
you understand, but you don't like it. Now, when you believe,
you don't choose to believe. You believe something because
it's the truth. You don't say, well, I couldn't choose to believe
that. No, you believe something because it's the truth. But if
you don't believe, there's a willfulness in it. Now, all who believe have
this in common. The gospel is good news to them. Every aspect of the gospel is
good news. It's good news that God's given
us a written revelation. What do we have if we don't have
that? It's good news that God is sovereign, that He's in control
of everything. If He's not, oh, we're in trouble.
It's good news to know that God elected a people, that Christ
accomplished salvation for those people, God's grace is invincible
and irresistible. That's good news. It's good news
to know that he preserves his people. Good news. Now, to an
unbeliever, this is not good news. It's good news to sinners. Now, anything that will keep
this from being good news to you, here's the only reason.
Self-righteousness. That's it. It's only self-righteousness
that will keep a man from rejoicing and finding the gospel as offensive. Now, unbelief is the chief sin. The Lord looked at these people
and he marveled at their unbelief. Unbelief is the chief sin. When Christ says, when he shall
come, speaking of the Holy Spirit, he shall convict the world of
sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, he said of sin, because
they believe not on me. That's his definition of sin,
believing not on him. And you know when you're convinced
and convicted by God the Holy Spirit of sin. You quit thinking,
well, I get things straightened up one of these days when I want
to. You find out faith is out of your reach. You don't even
know what it means to believe. And the only way you can believe
is by the grace of God giving it to you. And you start asking,
Lord, give me faith. But unbelief is the chief sin. Now, the reason it's the chief
sin is it's the mother of all other sins. What did Eve fail
to do in the garden? Satan said, you'll not surely
die. You don't have to believe what
God said. And she bit the hook. She failed to believe God. And she ate of the fruit. And that is what brought every
other sin that's ever been committed. That's what brought the fall
of Adam. That's what every sin comes from, the sin of unbelief. And unbelief will damn a man. The Lord said, he that believeth
and is baptized, the same shall be saved. He that believeth not
shall be damned. Now somebody says, can somebody
be unbelieving when they've never heard the gospel? Yes. As a matter of fact, every man
that's damned is damned because of unbelief. There's some aspect
of God that they could have known that they rejected. Let me read
you a passage of scripture from Romans chapter 1. Paul says in
verse 18, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in
unrighteousness because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them, for God hath showed it to them. This is every
man, woman born into this world. They've got the light of nature.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
even his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Everybody is born with this knowledge. God's eternal. Nobody made him.
He's all-powerful. He made the world. And He is
God. Only God can do this. His eternal
power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. Because when
they knew God, they glorified Him. Not as God. Neither were
thankful, but became vain in their imaginations and their
foolish heart. was darkened, professing themselves
to be wise, they became fools and changed the glory of the
incorruptible God into an image made like an incorruptible man.
They took God and made him like me and you are, or four-footed
beasts, or creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them
up. Now, what did they do? They failed
to live up to the light that God gave them and God turned
the lights out. If a man is damned, it will be
because of his unbelief. Even if he's never heard the
gospel, if he lived up to the light that God gave him, God
would give him more. But men reject the truth. It was unbelief that prevented
the children of Israel from entering the promised land. You remember
only two out of that whole bunch that left Egypt, only two entered
the promised land, Joshua and Caleb. The rest that were over
20 years old when they left, they died in the wilderness and
they didn't enter in because of unbelief. You see, unbelief
does not believe His Word. Now somebody says, I believe
the Bible is the Word of God, but do you pay any attention
to what it says? That's the question. In John chapter 5 verse 37, And
the Father himself which has sent me hath borne witness of
me. You have neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his
shape, and you have not his word abiding in you. For whom he has
sent him you believe not. Now they fought for the inspiration
of the scriptures, but they didn't believe him. Therefore, they
didn't really believe the word. Look what the Lord says in John
chapter 5 verse 45. Do not think that I'll accuse
you to the Father. There's one that accuses you,
even Moses, in whom you trust. For had you believed Moses, you
would have believed me, for he wrote of me. But if you believe
not his writings, and in reality they didn't, although they would
have said they did, how shall you believe my words? The difference between a sheep
and a goat is this thing of belief. He looked at the Pharisees and
said, you believe not because you're not of my sheep. As I
said unto you, my sheep hear my voice. I know them and they
follow me and I give unto them eternal life. My father which
gave them me is greater than all and no man shall pluck them
out of my father's hands. Now, he didn't say, You're not
a sheep by not, he said, you believe not because you're not
of my sheep. He didn't say you don't become
a sheep by believing. All sheep believe. And that is
the evidence of someone that God has done something for. They
believe the gospel. They believe the word of God. Now, if you're a believer and
you know this by painful experience, If you're a believer, you still
have unbelief. Your cry is always, always, as
long as you have an old nature, your cry is always, I believe,
help thou mine unbelief. You see, the old man never believes
and the new man always believes. And I think it's amazing. Even
after his resurrection, he upbraided the disciples for their unbelief
and hardness of heart. If you're a believer, unbelief
is your biggest problem. The disciple said, why could
we not cast them out? He said, because of your unbelief. Christ marveled. He was amazed
it's so excuseless, it's so groundless, it's so wicked, it's so debauched. Christ was amazed at their unbelief. But did you know there's something
else that it says he marveled at in the scripture? In Matthew
chapter 8 verse 10. When Jesus heard what this man
had said, when Jesus heard, he marveled. Now remember, it's
an amazing thing for Christ to marvel at anything because of
who he is. But when he heard what this man
said, the scripture says he marveled. He was astonished. He was filled with admiration. When Jesus heard it, he marveled
and said unto them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have
not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. Now he marveled
at these people's unbelief, but here he marvels at what he calls
great faith. Now let's read what it was said. by this man that he marveled
at and commended his faith as the greatest faith in all of
Israel. Verse five, and when Jesus was
entered into Capernaum, there came unto him a centurion, beseeching
him, this man was not Jewish, he was a Roman centurion, saying,
Lord, my servant lieth at home, sick of the palsy, grievously
tormented. And Jesus saith unto him, I will
come and heal him. Now look at this man's response.
I would have said, well, come on, this is great. I'm glad you're
coming. But look at this man's response. The centurion answered
and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou should come under my
roof, but speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. For I am a man under authority,
I understand authority, having soldiers under me I say to this
man go and he goes and to another come and he comes and to my servant
do this and he doeth it. I understand authority And I
understand that you have such authority that all you have to
do is speak the word. You don't have to make a move
to my house. All you have to do is speak the
word because of your absolute authority as the God of glory. All you have to do is speak the
word and my servant shall be healed. When Jesus heard, he
marveled. and said to them that followed,
verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith. No, not in Israel. Now, on the surface, I would
not have called this the greatest faith in Israel. I think of Noah
spending 120 years building Ark because he believed what God
told him was going to take place. He was the butt of jokes everywhere.
Look at that crazy idiot building that ark. But he kept building,
kept building, 120 years, knowing the flood was going to come,
and he believed God. Now, I would have called that
great faith. Or what about Abraham? When God
called him to go out to a place that he didn't know anything
about, and he just started walking, not knowing what was behind it,
simply believing what God said. offered up his son on the altar
believing that God would raise him from the dead. I call that
great faith. What about David running at Goliath
fearlessly with that sling and stone and saying you've defied
the armies of the Lord of hosts and he told him he was going
to take his head off and he came running at him without fear.
I call that great faith. But look at this man's faith. Lord, my servant lieth at home,
sick of the palsy, grievously tormented, and Jesus saith unto
him, I'll come and heal him. And the sorditorian said, Lord,
I'm not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof. I'm not worthy to have you come
into my house. You don't need to go to my house.
I'm not worthy. This man had such a low opinion
of himself. He didn't think he had anything
to bring to the table. He was a sinful man and he knew
it. I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy to even speak
your name. You know, great faith always has low views of self. And those low views of self are
founded in a high and exalted view of the Lord Jesus Christ. If you speak the word only because
of your authority, because of who you are, the God man, I have
no doubt that he knew who Christ was because of who you are. You
speak the word only and my servant shall be healed. Now the Lord marveled. And you
know, really, he's the only one who is qualified to know what
great faith is. And what does he say about this
man who we're not all that impressed with? He saw himself as utterly
unworthy, and he saw Christ's ability. And the Lord said, this
is the greatest faith in Israel. Do you know this is attainable?
to you and me, by the grace of God, this same faith. Have a low view of yourself.
You know, however low your view is, it really isn't low enough,
is it? Oh, we're so sinful and needy. Have a low view of yourself
and have a high and exalted view of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
can't think of him high enough. He's God the Son, the wonderful
Counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father and Prince of Peace. He's
the one who is the Lord. He's Lord of all. He's Jesus. Thou shalt call His name Jesus.
He shall save His people from their sins. He's the Christ.
He's God's prophet. He's the very Word of God. He's
God's priest who brings His own blood. He's God's King who rules
and reigns. You can't think of him highly
enough. Great faith believes his ability. Abraham staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God being fully persuaded that what God had promised
he was able also to perform. Now this faith that Christ called
the greatest in Israel by his grace is attainable to me and
you. All we have to do is see ourselves
as utterly unworthy That all he has to do is speak the word
and it takes place because of his ability. That is great faith. And the Lord marveled at it. He didn't see this very often. May the Lord give you and I this
great faith. Let's pray together. Lord, we ask in Christ's name,
that name which is above every name, that we would exercise
this great faith, seeing our own unworthiness, sinfulness,
and the power of thy son and his ability to save. Grant us
this faith for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Lord
willing, I'll see you