in our Bibles today to Mark chapter
4. Several months back, I began
speaking to us on Sunday mornings from the Gospel of Mark. And
today we have come to this passage in Mark chapter four, beginning
with verse 35. Today is also the Sunday before
the day that the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ is celebrated
in this world. And I would normally speak about
his birth. But to do both, we're going to
look at a question that is asked in the scriptures that we are
reading today. The question is, and we will
see it, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the
sea obey him? What manner of man is this that
his birth is celebrated all over the world this week? What manner of man is this? beginning in verse 35. And the
same day, when the even was come, and we have seen how that the
Lord Jesus Christ has been teaching, how he has wrought miracles and
explained parables to his disciples. The same day, when the even was
come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship. And there
were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great
storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it
was now full. And he was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose
and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace, be still. The wind ceased and there was
a great calm. And he said unto them, why are
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, what manner
of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? What manner of man is this whose
birth is celebrated the world over? I have six truths about
the manner of this man I want to bring to us today. And with
each one of these truths, I want us to notice the word alone,
alone. Remember with the Reformation
in the 16th century, The word alone, sola, was the watchword
of the Reformation. The scriptures alone, Christ
alone, grace alone, faith alone. But let's look at these six things
today about this man. What manner of man is this? First,
this man alone. came into the world in the way
in which he did. This man alone came into the
world in the way in which he did. In this singularity, he
was like the first man in the singularity of coming into the
world in a way that no other man ever has. The first man,
Adam, came into the world in a way unlike all others. He came into the way as God created
his body from the dust of the ground and breathed into him
the breath of life. No one else has ever come into
the world like Adam did. You and I, while we have all
come into the world and we are all God's creatures, But none
of us came into the world in the way Adam did. God created
us, but not from the dust of the ground like He did Adam.
And God breathed into us the breath of life, but not as He
breathed into Adam the breath of life. In this way, this man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, is unlike all other men in the way that he came into
the world. He was born of a virgin. No one else ever came into the
world this way. Now the virgin birth of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a revealed truth. It's revealed to us in the word
of God. And it's revealed to us in the
Word of God from the very beginning until he came. That is, on the
very first day that sin entered into this world, when Adam disobeyed
God, God spoke. And God said, the seed of the
woman shall bruise thy head, speaking unto Satan the tempter. From the very beginning, from
the head of the book, it was spoken of him, it was written
of him, that he would come into this world in a way unlike all
other men come into this world. He would be born of a virgin. Six to 700 years before his birth,
the prophet Isaiah said, behold, a virgin shall be with child,
and thou shalt and she shall bring forth her son, and his
name shall be called Immanuel, which being interpreted, as it
says in Matthew chapter one, means God with us. Men ask, how's that possible?
The virgin birth, how's that possible? Well, that's the same
question that Mary asked. The same question that Mary The
mother of the Lord Jesus Christ, she asked that question when
the angel Gabriel spoke to her and told her that she had found
favor before God and that she should bring forth a son. And
she said, how is that possible? Saying, I know not a man. And
the angel told her how this would come to pass miraculously. The Holy Ghost, he said, shall
come upon thee, and the power of the high shall overshadow
thee. Therefore also that holy thing
which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. The Son of God. Now Mary was
in the lineage of David, as was Joseph, her supposed husband. Both of them were in the lineage
of David. And his name would be called
Jesus, she was told. Both Joseph and Mary were told
by the angel what her son's name would be. Jesus, which we know
means Jehovah Savior. Jehovah Savior. And as a descendant
of David, in that lineage of the royal tribe of Judah, In
that lineage, he would have the right to the throne of David,
and the angel told Mary that he will sit upon that throne,
an everlasting throne. Where is he that is born king
of the Jews? We just sang that hymn. Come
and worship, come and worship, come and worship him that is
born this day king. He was born king. And he sits
upon the throne of his father, David. He shall reign. He's not there
wanting to reign. He's not going to reign sometime
off in the distance. That's what most religious people
believe. There's going to come a time
when he's going to reign. Oh, no. He's reigning today. He is upon the throne of David,
and reigns over the house of Israel." The house of Israel
here, of course, referring to spiritual Israel. What manner
of man is this? Well, this man alone came into
the world in the way in which he did, alone. Second, what manner of man is
this? This man alone, now listen, this
man alone was born into this world without sin. You might
say, but Adam, Adam also was at first without sin. That's
true, but Adam wasn't born into this world. He wasn't born of
a woman, he was created by the hands of God. No, this man alone,
of all the billions of individuals who have been born in this world,
this man alone has a preeminence in all things and in this, that
he alone was born into this world without sin. As I said, Adam
was created holy, but he was not created immutable. Immutable
is a characteristic of God. God cannot change. Now there
are some of the attributes of God, the characteristics of God
that men may inherit, but there are some that are peculiar and
only true of God Almighty. Only God is all-powerful. Only God is omnipresent, present
in every place. Only God is omniscient. He knows
all things. He knows every thought, not only
that men have, but every thought that men could have had. He knows
all things. And only God is immutable. He
cannot change. There's no variableness nor shadow
of turning in Him. This man alone was born into
the world without sin. In Hebrews chapter 7, the apostle
says, concerning him as our high priest, he said, who is holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Now what does that
tell us about this man? In coming into this world in
the manner in which he did, that is, born of a virgin, He partook
of all the sinless infirmities which are common to men. Sinless infirmities. It's not
sinful to be tired, but that's one of the infirmities that we
have. We work, our bodies grow tired. It's not sinful to be thirsty. We are made in such a way that
we need water. We need drink to exist. It's not sinful to be hungry.
Body has to, has to eat to produce power to live. He inherited all
the sinless infirmities which are common to all men. And this
is so important. You say, why is that important?
Because it reminds us and it tells us that our high priest
is not one who cannot be touched with the feelings of our infirmities. Because you see, he too was in
all points tempted like we are, yet without sin. He was born into this world without
sin. And that's what the writer said
when he said he was separate from sinners. It is more important, as far
as I'm concerned, it's more important to know that because he was born
of a virgin, he did not partake of Adam's sin, separate from
sinners. He was not represented by Adam
because he was not a son of Adam. He is a son of Mary, the seed
of the woman. To be the Savior and offer himself
a sacrifice to God for the sins of his people, he had to be sinless. You know, this was pictured in
the Old Testament. That's how the gospel was preached,
wasn't it? You know this. There's only one
gospel. There never has been but one
gospel. There's only one Savior. And
that Savior is Jesus Christ our Lord. There's one God and one
mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's
no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be
saved. He was separate from sinners,
pictured The gospel was taught to those Old Testament saints
in that dispensation before the kingdom of God. Lord Jesus Christ
came announcing the kingdom of God, the kingdom of God is at
hand, that old dispensation. They had the same gospel, but
it wasn't as clearly revealed as it has been since Christ came. And it was revealed to them in
types and pictures, shadows I should say, and no greater revelation
in the Old Testament of salvation do we have than in the Passover. The Passover, when God passed
over the houses of the Israelites upon which the blood had been
applied. And that blood which had been
applied that caused God to pass over that house and not slay
the firstborn in that house, it was the blood of a lamb and
that lamb had to be perfect. It was a lamb of one year old
and it had to be perfect. It could not have any blemish,
could not have any spots. Why? Because it was a type, a
picture, of Christ who is our Passover lamb. He had to be sinless. In fact, in the law, the Lord
said concerning those animal sacrifice, it must be perfect
to be accepted. You bring an animal that has
spots and blemishes and sickly and bring that and offer that
blood on the mercy seat, that's not going to be accepted, God
said. It must be perfect. Why? Because
it was a picture, it was a type of this man who alone was born
into this world sinless. Number three, what manner of
man is this? This man alone has power to rebuke
the wind and the sea. Seeing that as the eternal son
of God, he's the creator of the wind and the sea. When he rebuked
the wind that night on that ship, he was speaking to his wind. When he said, peace be still,
he was speaking to his sea. Because we know the scriptures
tell us he is the creator of all things. Without him was not
anything made that was made. This man alone has power to rebuke
the wind and sea. When this man was born into the
world, God said, let all the angels of God worship him. And that's exactly what happened
that night when Mary brought forth her son, her firstborn
son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger.
Suddenly, we read this at the beginning of the service, suddenly
there was with the angel, the angel who told the shepherds
unto you, this day in the city of David, a savior is born. But suddenly there was with the
angel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, that is the heavenly angels,
praising God and saying, glory to God in the highest and on
earth, peace and goodwill toward men. This man alone had the power
to rebuke the wind, he had the power to rebuke the sea, and
he also had power to forgive sin. Now we saw this a few weeks
ago. If you turn back to Mark chapter
two, This man alone had the power
to forgive sin. Mark chapter two, beginning with
verse one, we read, and again, he entered into Capernaum after
some days and it was noise that he was in the house. Straightway
many were gathered together and so much that there was no room
to receive them. No, not so much as about the
door. And he preached the word unto
them, and they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy,
which was born afore. And when they could not come
nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where
he was. And when they had broken it up,
they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay. When
Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Those are the greatest words
any man can ever hear, aren't they? Thy sins be forgiven thee. Well, we read on. Immediately
when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they so reasoned within
themselves and said unto them, why reason ye these things in
your hearts? Let me go back. But there were
certain, verse 6, certain of the scribes sitting there and
reasoning in their hearts, why did this man thus speak blasphemies? And notice their question, who
can forgive sins but God only? Now they were right. They were
correct. They didn't realize that he is
God. And they thought he was speaking blasphemy because he
told this man, son, thy sins be forgiven thee. Well, who can
forgive sins but God only? This man. What manner of man
is this man? He not only has power to rebuke
the wind and the sea, but he has power to forgive sin. And we know that without an acceptable
sacrifice, You know, someone may do a wrong
to you, and because you are a sinful person like me, you might say,
well, forget about it. Forget about it. I forgive you. Even if you don't ask, I forgive
you. Why would we do that? Because
we are humans. God cannot forgive sin in that
way. for him to forgive sin, his justice
must be satisfied. It must, no doubt about it. God
will never forgive anyone at the expense of his holiness,
his justice, his righteousness. He is pure, holy, and without
an acceptable sacrifice, no sin. could ever be forgiven. This
man had power to forgive sin because he himself is that one
sacrifice. And the scripture is so clear,
isn't it? Hebrews chapter 10, for by one offering. Those who
teach that in their ceremonies they are continually offering
up the Lord Jesus Christ for sin, What a blasphemy, my friends. What a blasphemy is that? He, by one offering, offering
up himself, his blood, offering up his soul, his body, all unto
God, has satisfied God, has perfected those whom God has set apart. There's not two sacrifices or
three sacrifices, a thousand sacrifices. They tell us all
over the world that they're offering up Christ in sacrifice, an unbloody
sacrifice. They say yes, but still, a sacrifice,
oh no. Oh no. This man, this man alone
has power to forgive sins because he offered that one acceptable
sacrifice. Number four. One manner of man
is this. This man alone divides all time. Most all the world live under
a calendar which is marked B.C. and A.D. Most all the world. B.C. Before Christ. Before his advent. before he
came into this world. A.D., in the year of our Lord. Anno Domino. In the year, this is 2020, the
year of our Lord. This man alone marks all time. All time is divided by him, by
his entrance into this world. just as He is the divider of
all men. When He was crucified, you remember,
they put Him on that middle cross. Men say they did that to show
that He was of the three, the two criminals. They considered
Him to be the chief of criminals, the chief sinners, but He divided
these two men. One man, died on that cross and
went to hell. One man died on that cross and
went to glory that same day. Jesus Christ is the divider of
all men, all men. Number five, what manner of man
is this? This man alone is the one that
all, now listen, This man alone is the one that all of God's
elect are predestinated to be conformed to his image. This
man alone. The apostle in Romans 8 said,
For whom he did foreknow, That is, whom He set His love upon,
He did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son, that He, that is Christ, might be the firstborn among
many brethren. This man alone, all of God's
elect are predestinated to be conformed to His image. Turn with me to 1 John, just
a moment, 1 John chapter 3. We look forward, don't we, to
being with the Lord, to being in glory, to residing in one
of those mansions He has prepared for us. But we also look forward
not only to being with Him, but to be like Him. Don't we? To be like Him, predestinated
to be conformed to His image. without sin, holy, with no blemish,
no spot. 1 John chapter 3, Beloved, nor
behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us.
What manner of man is this? We're talking about that. What
manner of love is this? God so loved us, what manner
of love is this? That God so loved that he gave
his only begotten son, gave him to be the sacrifice for the sins
of his people, to be the propitiation, to be the one atonement, the
one expiation of sin. What manner of love is this?
That we should be called the sons of
God. Therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. The world didn't recognize Jesus
as the son of God. He came unto his own, and his
own received him not. But to as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on his name, which were born, not of blood, not
of the will of man, Not of flesh, but of God. Beloved, now are
we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what
we shall be, but we know that when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And number six. This man alone
shall come to receive his bride. First Thessalonians, if you will. Turn with me to First Thessalonians
chapter four. This man alone shall come one
day to receive his bride. And don't we say with the apostle
John, come Lord Jesus, come. First Thessalonians chapter four. And verse 16, for the Lord himself,
this man, this man, the Lord himself shall descend from heaven
with a shout. I tell you that shout. Barely, barely, I say unto thee,
the hour shall come in which the dead shall hear the voice
of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. Their bodies
lie smoldering in the ground. But with that shout, with that
shout, they come forth with the voice
of the archangel. That's his voice. He is the archangel. And with the trump of God, the
dead in Christ shall rise first. Those whose bodies have turned
back to dust, They are with the Lord. They come with the Lord.
Their souls are now with Christ in heaven, but they come back
with him and their bodies are raised and they're reunited with
their bodies. And then those who will be alive
at that time, then we, which are alive and remain, shall be
caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord
in the air. And so shall we ever be with
the Lord. You men, when you married and
you took your bride home, you wanted to be with her forever. But that was not possible. You
had to work, you had to, things had to be done in this world.
But Christ has a bride, it's his church. And when he comes
for her, this man, what manner of man is he? He's this man who's
going to come for his bride and he's going to take us to be with
him, not for a few days, not for a few hours, no, no, forever,
forever to be with the Lord. Nothing better than that, nothing
better. I pray the Lord would bless this
word to all of us here today that we might go away thinking
more of Christ and rejoicing in him if we know him as our
Lord and Savior. What a blessing. What a blessing. We're going to sing a hymn before
we're dismissed. Hymn number 90. It came upon
a midnight clear. glorious song of old, number
90. And let's stand as we sing.