to the Book of Mark, Chapter
1. Mark, Chapter 1, reading the
first eight 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 thee. 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 preach the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins. 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
locust and wild honey. and preach saying, there cometh
one mightier than I after me, the latchet 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. I want to take this opportunity
to say a few words about the author of this gospel. that is
Mark. Now it's true to say that every
book in the Bible has two authors, saying that all scripture is
God-breathed. We have the divine author, and
we have the human authors. I have a definite purpose in
saying a few words this morning about Mark. What is my purpose? Well, it's not to glorify Mark.
My purpose is actually twofold. First of all, I want to praise
Mark's Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ. And secondly, I want to encourage
some child of God here today, a child of God who cannot maybe
forgive himself for some past failures. I've said this before,
but it bears repeating. Many, or some at least, of God's
children cannot forget what God will not remember. They carry
guilt and allow that guilt to rob them of the peace and the
joy and assurance of salvation. The gospel is the good news of
the forgiveness of sins. Not most sins, but all sins. It's the good news. What are
we told about Mark in the scriptures? Well, I have several things here
I want us to see about Mark. First of all, and I want us to
turn to these passages, most of them are in the book of Acts.
But if you will, turn with me to Acts chapter 12. In Acts chapter
12, and we're going to read a few verses here, the first thing
we find out about Mark is, that he was the son of the sister
of Barnabas. He was the son of the sister
of Barnabas. Verse one of chapter 12, we read,
now about that time, Herod the king stretched forth his hands
to vex certain of the church and he killed James, the brother
of John with the sword. This wicked king would vex the
church of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the first thing that we read
that he did is that he killed James, one of the apostles of
the Lord. And then in the next verse, we
read that because he saw it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further
to take Peter also. These were the days of unleavened
bread. And when he had apprehended him,
he put him in prison and delivered him to four quaternions of soldiers
to keep him, intending after Easter to bring him forth to
the people. Peter, therefore, was kept in
prison, but prayer was made without ceasing of the church unto God
for him. And when Herod would have brought
him forth the same night Peter was sleeping between two soldiers. I want you to see before we read
on, what we're going to see here is that this Mark who wrote the
gospel, that he was a son of the sister of Barnabas. But as
we read through here, it's interesting and it's necessary for us to
recognize the peace that a believer may have. the peace that a believer
may have. Here's Peter asleep with these
guards around him, knowing full well that his fellow apostle
just before this had been put to death with the sword. And
that's what the king has intended to be his end, that he also be
put to death. Well, you would think he'd be
awake, wringing his hands, walking the floor of the cell, but no,
he's asleep. You see, a believer, a child
of God, when we come to understand the truth about God's providence,
how that God's providence concerns every little thing that happens
in God's world, that what God has ordained from before the
foundation of the world, yes, it's going to take place. The
Lord said, I have purposed it, I will also do it. You see, the
God of creation, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
is not some wannabe God, but He is the eternal God who reigns
and rules in all of creation, and it's His creation. And there's
nothing that may take place in this world that God Himself has
not ordained. And for God's children, we know
this about our Heavenly Father, that He's too good and He's just
in everything that He does. And not one sparrow, our Lord
said, not one sparrow, one little bird that wasn't worth hardly
anything may fall to the ground without your Heavenly Father
and then to show that his people, God's people, are of much more
value than a sparrow, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. The child of God, in the midst
of pandemics and all the chaos that we see in this world, we
may rest in the truth of our Heavenly Father. that He knows
what we have need of, and that He will take care of His own. And whatever He has ordained
for me, whatever He has ordained for you, if you are one of His
children, know this, know this of a certainty, it's for our
good and it's for His glory. That's just so, my friends. And
I think we can see that in this Apostle Peter here, sleep, knowing
full well that his execution was planned. Well, if God allowed
Herod to execute James and he allowed Herod to execute Peter,
what would that accomplish? It would just be ushering them
into the presence of God. Read on. And behold, the angel
of the Lord came upon him, and a light shined in the prison,
and he smote Peter on the side, and raised him up, saying, Rise
up quickly. And his chains fell off from
his hands. You see, this was an angel of
the Lord. Are not angels ministering spirits
sent forth to minister unto the heirs of salvation? How many
times, we probably have no idea How many times an angel has delivered
us from some awful thing? They're ministering spirits.
They're not to be worshipped. They're not to be worshipped.
And that's always a danger that fallen man would do, is to worship
a creature rather than the Creator. Even John the Apostle, you remember
in the book of Revelation, two times he would fall down and
worship an angel. And what did the angel say? See
thou do it not. Don't do it. Why? An angel's
not to be worshipped. No, no. An angel's creator is
to be worshipped. And they are servants of the
mighty God and they are sent forth to serve his people. And
he went out And as Peter went out and followed
him, he followed the angel and wished not that it was true,
which was done by the angel, but thought he saw a vision.
When they were past the first and the second ward, they came
unto the iron gate that leadeth unto the city, which opened to
them of his own accord. And they went out and passed
on through one street and forthwith the angel departed from him.
Now, Peter, you're on your own. You're on your own. Where are
you going to go? Where are you going to go? Notice, when Peter was come to
himself, he said, now I know of a surety. I think he pinched
himself. And I'm not dreaming. This isn't
a vision. Now he knew, now I know of a
surety that the Lord hath sent his angel and hath delivered
me out of the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the
people of the Jews. And when he had considered the
thing, now here's the point, where did he go? He came to the
house of Mary, the mother of John, whose surname was Mark. where many were gathered together
praying. This house to which Peter went
was the home of Mark's mother, his home, no doubt. This is where
he went, and do you see that there were many people there
gathered for prayer? In the early days of this dispensation,
we know that the churches didn't have houses like we have today,
temples in which to meet, and so they met in private homes. And so this was a place where
the believers were gathered together, not only to pray, but I'm sure
many times that Peter preached the gospel in this house. The second thing that I want
to point out about Mark is, The first thing, that he is the son
of the sister of Barnabas. The second thing, if you notice
in the next chapter, chapter 13 and verse 5, that he was chosen
by Paul and Barnabas to go with them on their first missionary
trip. Now God the Holy Spirit chose
Paul and Barnabas. They were ministering in the
church there in Antioch and God said, separate them to the work
to which I have called them. But if you notice in verse five,
as they go on their journey, and when they were at Salamis,
they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews.
Notice, and they had also John to their minister. In other words,
John Mark was chosen to go with Paul and Barnabas on this first
missionary trip. What an opportunity, what an
opportunity for this young man to follow along and go along
with these two men of God as they preach the gospel. What
an opportunity to set at their feet and learn, to learn the
truth. And yet, if you notice in verse
13, Now, when Paul and his company loosed from Paphos, they came
to Perga and Pamphylia, and John deported from them, returned
to Jerusalem. He deported from these apostles. The work wasn't ended. The trip
wasn't over. And yet, he left them. We're not told why. But I believe
we're given a hint of why it was that John left them, why
Mark left Barnabas and Paul. If you look now in chapter 15,
Acts chapter 15, in verse 36, they're going to take
another missionary journey, Barnabas and Paul. Verse 36, it says,
and some days after Paul said unto Barnabas, let us go again
and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the
word of the Lord and see how they do. And Barnabas determined
to take with him John, whose surname was Mark. Now this was
his nephew, remember. This was his sister's son. And
they had taken him with them on the first trip, but He did
not end the trip with them. He left them along the way. Now,
on this second trip, Barnabas was determined to take him again.
But notice verse 38, but Paul thought not good to take him
with them, who departed from them, from Phamphylia, and here
it is, and went not with them to the work. I think we see here
a hint as to the reason why he deserted them, why he turned
back and went back to Jerusalem. It was he went not with them
to the work. You see, preaching is a work. It's a work. Paul in 1st Timothy
told Timothy, if any man desire the office of a bishop, that
is, a preacher, he desireth a good work. And you see this in Ephesians
4, when Paul writes about the Lord Jesus Christ, the ascended
Lord, that gave gifts unto men, and then he names those gifts,
apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, And he explains in
that passage of scripture that this is a work of the ministry.
It's a work. And if a person enters into the
ministry for any other reason than to serve the Lord, to be
a servant, then most likely he's going to be disappointed. Very
quickly, he's going to be disappointed. And I see that in Mark, that
he went not with them, for the work. But the reason I'm bringing
this out about Mark is to show that Mark's God is a God of mercy. And he's a God of forgiveness. Do you think that he might well
have felt that he had failed? That he had made an awful mistake? Have you ever felt that? Have
you ever felt in serving the Lord that you've made an awful
mistake? That you've let the Lord down?
That you've disappointed him? You've disappointed yourself?
You've disappointed other believers, maybe? Have you ever felt that? And I know that most of us probably
have. I know I have. And I know this,
too, that Satan is always close by to whisper in our ears, you've
blown it. It's all over now. No use now. Forget about it. Forget about
it. But that's not true, is it? Not
for God's people. If this was a backsliding, you
know, we hear that term sometimes, but if this was backsliding on
the part of Barnabas, I would just remind us that in the scripture
we read, return you backsliding children and I will heal you're
backsliding. There's forgiveness with the
Lord, the scripture says. There's forgiveness with Him. The Apostle Paul later, now on
that second journey, he said, Barnabas, he's not going with
us. And the dissension between the
two became great. And so Barnabas took John Mark
and went in one direction, and Paul took Silas and went in another
direction. God overruled that, didn't he?
Even their dissension, God overruled that for good. Because now instead
of one missionary group going out, we've got two going out. And they both preach the same
gospel. They both preach the gospel of
the grace of God. You know, it was Barnabas who
introduced Paul to the church at Antioch. When he came and
saw the grace of God among those in Antioch, he knew there was
one man, there was one man in particular for this job. And so he went to Tarsus to find
Saul and brought him. But now there was a division
in that hymn that I asked Kevin to sing earlier today. on Zion's
Hill. One of those verses, I can't
quote it exactly, but it talks about the misunderstandings among
believers. That's all going to be over one
day. I look forward to that day because none of us are perfect. We all still have sin dwelling
in us. And the easiest thing in the
world is for one believer and another believer to have some
dissension. We see it in Paul and Barnabas.
But one day that's all going to be ended, isn't it? I look
forward to that day. I really do. Paul later commended
Mark. In fact, he wrote this in 2 Timothy
chapter 4 and verse 11, he said, Mark, is profitable unto me for
the ministry." In other words, he's a servant of the Lord and
he's profitable. He's a profitable servant of
the Lord. One other thing I want to mention
about Mark before we go back to our text is, I pointed out
to us and I tried to emphasize the fact that the first place
Peter went when he was released from prison was to the house
or to the home of John Mark. And surely Peter went there because
that was a place where believers assembled. That's a place where
he had gone many times, no doubt, had preached there, had prayed
there with other believers. And I want you to look with me,
if you will, in 1 Peter chapter 5. In 1 Peter chapter 5, verse 13, we read, The church that is at
Babylon, elected together with you, saluted you, and so doth
Marcus, my son. Now, Peter was married. We know that. We read about his
mother-in-law. He was a married man. And it
is possible that this Marcus here was his natural son. But
most commentators believe that this is the Mark who wrote this
gospel that we are looking at this morning, that he was Peter's
son in the sense that Titus and Timothy were Paul's sons. Not their natural sons, but their
sons in the faith. And so many people believe that
the narrative that Mark writes that he has Peter with him because
Peter had accompanied with the Lord from the very beginning. And so his gospel The gospel
of Mark is a little different from the other three gospels,
as would only be natural. But his gospel is more of action. There's very few discourses,
no long discourses of the Lord Jesus Christ here in the gospel
of Mark, like in Matthew. His gospel is more of action.
And those four creatures that are sometimes used to represent
the gospel, the eagle, John, and the lion, Matthew, and man,
Luke, the son of man. But the animal that's used for
Mark is the ox, the ox for labor. And in looking in the gospel
of Mark, we see action. We see the Lord Jesus Christ.
especially his miracles performed more so than the discourses,
the sermons of the Lord Jesus Christ. Go back with me if you
will. I want to mention three things
here in Mark chapter one. Three things that I trust the
Lord will bless. We know The first thing we read
here, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Now we know
that there's only one gospel. Now we know that. The word itself
means good news. And the gospel, the gospel, has
several names in the New Testament, such as the gospel of salvation,
the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel of peace, the gospel
of the kingdom, and the everlasting gospel. So we know there's only
one gospel, that is good news from heaven. And this is the
gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ was anointed to preach. Remember? That day in Nazareth, after he
had been baptized, he goes back to Nazareth, he takes the scroll
of the book, finds that place where it's written in our Bibles,
in Isaiah, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, for he hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. There's only one
gospel, one message of good news, and it's good news from heaven,
isn't it? From a far country. One of the
Proverbs says, there's good news from a far country. Well, the
gospel is good news from a far country. It comes to us from
heaven itself. The word means good news, but
these narratives, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, that were written,
they concern the life of Jesus Christ. And Mark begins his,
he doesn't mention his birth. He begins his with when the Lord
Jesus Christ entered into his public ministry. The first thing,
here's the first thing I want you to see in the first verse,
the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
the Son of God. He is God's only begotten Son
of the same essence with the Father and with God, the Holy
Spirit, uncreated. He is the eternal Son of God. Great is the mystery of godliness,
the Apostle Paul wrote. God, God was manifested in the
flesh. This is a truth that you and
I, we would call, this is the bedrock. This is the bedrock
of the gospel here. the Son of God. Jesus Christ
is the Son of God. This is true of Him, and therefore
what He did, this is where Mark begins, the beginning of the
Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and get this right and
get this at the very beginning, because if He's not the Son of
God, He is, but if He's not, then His teaching, and yes, His
death even, has no more value than it would if some other man
were to teach and were to die upon a tree. What is authoritative
and what is true about the teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ is He
is the truth. He is God Almighty in the flesh. And as far as His death is concerned,
how could the blood of one man atone for the sins of the many?
Because of who He is. He's God manifest in the flesh. Remember when Peter confessed
him to be the Christ, the son of the living God, the Lord Jesus
Christ said, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and
blood hath not revealed this unto thee, but my father, which
is in heaven. And he said upon this rock, not
Peter is a Petros, a small rock, but upon this mass of a rock,
God is our rock. How many times in the Old Testament
has God spoken of as our rock? Those heathen nations who worshipped
other gods, their God, their rock is not like our rock. Why? Because our rock is firm. Our rock is stable. Our rock
is certain. upon this rock." What? The confession
of Peter. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. I will build my church. And the
Lord Jesus Christ, every stone that he adds to his church, he
builds upon himself. It's not faith in the church,
it's not faith in the pastor, it's not faith in anything that
man may do. It is faith in Jesus Christ and
in Him alone. Here's the second thing that
we see here, the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. As
it is written in the prophets, Now, he quotes two Old Testament
prophets, Isaiah and Malachi. One lived 600 years before this,
one lived about 400 years before. But they both prophesied of the
ministry of John the Baptist, that he would come before the
Lord's messenger. Isn't it strange that John is
a messenger? He's a messenger. But he comes
before the messenger, the messenger of the everlasting covenant.
And John came, and we see the continuity, don't we, between
the Old Testament and the New Testament. And let me just point
this out. John's ministry, it produced
quite a stir, as we would say. Notice what it says. There went
out unto him all the land of Judea. Now, we know that all
doesn't mean each and every solitary person. Some people want to say
that, don't they? When they see the word all, well,
all means all. Well, does it? When we read here
that all Judea went out and they were all baptized of him, does
all mean all? That the Pharisees and the Sadducees,
they too were baptized of John? Not hardly. Not hardly. They went out, all right. They
went out to question him. Who are you? Where'd you come
from? Who gave you this right to be
out here baptizing? Our Lord asked him one day. He
said, well, they asked him a question. He said, I'll answer that question,
but you answer this question. John's baptism, was it from heaven
or from earth? We don't know. Why did they say
they did not know? Because of their fear of the
people. Because all the people took John
to be a prophet of God. In fact, the Lord Jesus said
this one time about John later. He said, he was a burning and
a shining light. And you were willing for a season
to rejoice in his light. He was a light. But again, he
was not the light, the light the Apostle John writes about,
who was the true light. The Lord Jesus Christ said, I
am the light of the world. And then the third thing I wanted
us to say, first of all, that the Lord Jesus Christ, he is
the Son of God. And second, that John fulfilled
the ministry of these Old Testament prophets. And third, the preeminence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. John the Baptist was a witness,
a voice, as the scripture says. But his witness was of Christ. He said, I baptize you with water.
Anybody can do that. I can do that. I've baptized
people with water. I love to baptize. People that
confess Christ as their Lord and Savior, I can do that. But
I cannot baptize anyone with the Holy Spirit. The preeminence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. John confessed that he was inferior,
so inferior to the Lord Jesus Christ, he said, listen, I'm
not even worthy to bow down and unloose his shoe strap, untie
his shoes. Comparison is so great. He's showing the preeminence
of Christ and the Lord Jesus Christ must have the preeminence
in all things. This is what the Apostle Paul
wrote by inspiration of God, that in all things, he might
have the preeminence, in all things. In our worship, in our
faith, in our lives, Lord Jesus Christ, he must have the preeminence
in all things. I trust the Lord would bless
this word to all of us here this morning. We're going to sing
a hymn number 466, and then we'll be dismissed in prayer. Number
466.