Mark 6 — Mark 4-6

0:00 Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we are excited to have this opportunity this morning to be here among your people and with with... In the presence of the holy spirit and having the word open before us. Father, we we look to hear from thee. We'd like to hear you speak.

0:19 We we confess our sin, and we would like to make ourselves available to thee that you might speak through your word this morning to each of our hearts. Father, we pray for good understanding as we as we open the word. We pray for for courage to obey the word. We we again want to learn more about the lord Jesus as he's being revealed in this portion of scripture. And so we pray this now asking for your help, and we pray this in the name of the lord Jesus Christ.

0:49 Amen. Well, this morning, as we get started in this portion, this next little portion in Mark chapter six, I'd like to begin with an Old Testament story. And being that the case, we go back to the days of the kings. Okay? There's one of the one of the kings, his name was Rehoboam, and would anybody like to raise their hand and tell me whose son Rehoboam was?

1:19 Just a little trivia question, you know. You may or may not know this. It's not for extra points or anything. You know, anybody know? Dave?

1:27 Solomon's son. Solomon's son. That's right. And whose son was Solomon? Or whose father was Solomon?

1:34 David. David. Yeah. Alright. So you you make the little the little progression there.

1:39 You got David, you got Solomon, and then there's Rheaboam, okay? So, that's where he fits in the picture and so, little interesting situation occurs in the Old Testament when King Rehoboam or when he was he was recognized to be king to take over his father's throne and and kings you read that Solomon slept and then Rehoboam is being appointed or recognized as king. Now, in the situation, there was... There were there were problems in the country at that time and the... Rehoboam goes to his counselors and well, let me let me back up a minute.

2:21 Get get ahead of myself. When when Rehoboam is designated king, some of the other folks from the other tribes, you know, the the Israelite tribes, they come to Rehoboam and say, hey, in the later years of your father's reign, King Solomon, he started to oppress us. Will you oppress us like your father did or will will you allow us to to serve you with freedom and and and be able to to be a contributing factor to the kingdom. So Rheaboam, he says, let me have three days to think about this. Well, he goes back and he he calls his council together.

3:07 The men that had been faithful counselors or wise men were named elders among the group, and they give him counsel, and they say, if you will lift the oppression from these people and you will hear their reasonable request, they will serve you as king forever. Rehoboam hears what they have to say. Then, they he goes and he calls a he calls upon some of his, the Bible describes it in in first Kings describes it. It says, men of which he grew up with. Some of his friends, some of his cronies, some of the younger men that are his same age and he calls them and he says, what do y'all say about this?

3:55 He lays it out. Says, these people have come and made a request to lift the oppression. What do you, what do you say? And they say, oh, do not lift the oppression. In fact, go out stronger.

4:07 Go out more more fierce and and really suck it to those people. Let them know who's boss and and just drop em and so, now Rhea Bohm's got a decision to make. But I'd like to ask you a question. You as as royal subjects of the land, which council would you rather that Rehoboam take? Alright.

5:12 Right? This... Now, you're in Mark chapter six. Mark chapter six. And we we look at this and just very quickly remind ourselves last week, we're in chapter five and we saw three different acts or scenes if you will where the lord Jesus is is making his way through through the land and teaching and performing miracles.

5:39 He meets a man who's possessed with demons and he is able to address that situation. He meets a husband and wife, a father and mother who have a sick daughter. He's able to address that situation. He meets a woman who has a disease for twelve years. She touches the hem of his garment.

5:58 He's able to address her situation. And so now he's leaving that area of the country. He's leaving really it would be Jairus and Jairus' home where the daughter has been raised raised from the dead. He tells her go get something to eat just like we're going be able to do after a while, you know, get something to eat. He tells her go get something to eat and it says, he departed thence and notice verse one.

6:24 He departed thence out of that country and went to his own country. Now, that would be Nazareth, right? He was he was born and or he was he was there raised in in this country of of Nazareth and so and his disciples followed him. Verse one, his disciples followed him. The first thing that we want to recognize about the lord Jesus this morning is that his disciples followed him.

6:52 Therefore, we recognize the lord Jesus as a leader. Okay? He was a leader. He was a good leader. There was a...

7:07 This has been about five years ago. In fact, Samuel is here. Worth must be in Sunday school. But Samuel... I think it was Samuel Worth and I, we were out...

7:19 Oh, there you are. Hey, didn't see you blended in with Bethany's red dress, with your red sweater. Yeah. But I see you. So I don't know if Worth and Samuel remember this or not, but we were hiking.

7:30 And there was there was... It's not... We were not on a hiking trail, okay? We were blazing our own trail. And...

7:37 But I had, for whatever reason, I had a hiking stick that day like a... It was it was fairly fairly tall and so, like I said, there's no particular trail, but I had a destination in mind. I wanted to take them to this place where I I knew where it was located. It was a it was a... We were on we were on a mountain, and so there was a place off the trail or off the beaten path, so to speak, where a tree had had grown up kind of on a on a ridge, not a cliffs per se, but a ridge.

8:08 And this tree grew up and you could climb up the tree and there was no foliage that were blocking the view, so under this tree you could kind of climb up it and get this really incredible view. Was a kind of a cool place to go to. So I'm taking the boys to there and we're going through there and here Worth was like five years old. So younger than you even Philip, he's younger than you. And so we're going and Worth pipes up and he goes, hey dad, it's like you're the shepherd.

8:40 You know, here's here's Worth and and Samuel would have been like 10 and and Worth is five and and here's dad, you know, walking through this leaves and brush and different things. And that made an impression on me, I was like, yeah, I guess he he had that that concept that he was following. He was following in his mind at the time a shepherd. The lord Jesus Christ is the great shepherd, the good shepherd, he is a leader and look at in verse one, his disciples are following. Now, look, they don't know where they're going, right?

9:33 Now he says, let's go back to my own country. And they're following him. There's been a Culver's that has just been built over in Avon. Has anybody been to Culver's yet? Connor, do you like Culver's?

9:48 Yeah. Now has anybody not heard of Culver's? George, No. Alright, so it's from Wisconsin. And they they use fresh dairy products, cheese that is just out of this world.

10:03 I mean, the milk and things that they use for their cows. They have this thing called a butter burger. Oh! And they've got custard, a flavor of the day. You can you can find out what flavor of the day of the custard is.

10:16 So today, I say to George, George, you ever heard of Culver's? No. I'm telling him about it, he's sold on it and says, yeah, I want to try it. And I say, George, after the meeting, follow me. Okay?

10:30 Now, I've got a big white van. You know, 15 passenger big white van. And so, George should have no trouble following me over to Avon to the Culver's, right? I mean, like, he's going to get in and I'm going to go and if I make a turn, he's going to see that I'm turning. If I stop, he's going to see I stop.

10:53 And so, he's tracking me, he's following me. Now, listen, he's got a motivation. He wants to get the covers, right? So, he's keeping up and I wonder, do we ever follow like that? Sometimes, we we say, okay, if I don't want to use the term Christian, we might say I'm a I'm a Christ follower.

11:19 I'm following Christ. But do we follow? Do we follow like he stopped? I'm going to stop. Oh, he's turning right.

11:32 I'm going to turn right. He's speeding up. I'm going to speed up. He's taking me somewhere I want to go. I'm happy in the journey.

11:43 Do we follow like this? Christ's disciples followed him. And so, this morning as we we consider the life of Christ as recorded in Mark, the first thing we understand is that he is a leader. He's a good leader and we have the opportunity to follow. Let's look at verse two.

12:08 Look at verse two here, and it says, when the Sabbath day was come, he, the Lord Jesus, began to teach in the synagogue, and many were astonished. What's that? Hearing. Hearing. Yeah.

12:26 They were they they heard this man and so, the second thing, let's notice here that he taught, they heard, they were astonished, amazed, wowed, they wondered. And so, second thing we notice, he's a leader. Number two, he's a teacher. Okay? The Lord Jesus is a teacher.

12:50 And so, we have an opportunity to be to be taught by him. He began to teach, they would hear, they were they were astonished. And so we we we we think about before, they were astonished at his actions. Now they're astonished at his teaching. Raise your hand and, you know, just a little little popcorn brainstorm here.

13:28 Think of a teaching of the Lord Jesus. Think of something that you... One of his teachings or one of his sermons, Samuel? The The beatitudes. Okay.

13:40 What else? We've saved some of his parables. The parable about the wheat, maybe? Or how about another one? Palibral of talents, yeah.

13:59 Joey? There you go. Very good. Sowing the seed. So, the lord Jesus is teaching all through his earthly ministry all the time that since the since the the time that he was tested by Satan, he begins to teach to the disciples.

14:18 I think one of the fellows mentioned the the beatitudes, Just hold your finger there in Mark chapter six and go over to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five Remember, we're considering the lord Jesus as a teacher. Just listen to these words in verse three. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.

14:51 Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall they shall see god. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of god and so we just pause right there.

15:13 We're we're we're we're thinking about he goes on for three chapters in the sermon on the mount and and gives this incredible teaching and listen, wouldn't we say as we read these things, we would say, this is different than what man would teach, right? We would say that we hear these and it says, where do these things come from? This has to be from god and we recognize that god has a different system. God has a different economy if you will. God's ways are not man's ways and so here is god in the flesh and he's teaching and these things are like, wow.

15:53 This is a little bit different. Philip mentioned some of the parables that were taught and we we were we remember that the Lord Jesus would would go out and he would say in in one of his teachings he says, there was a man who had two sons. And one of the sons came to him and says, dad I would like all of my inheritance now. And he went out and he squandered it, spent it on himself. And there was another son who remained home.

16:30 And you know, you you start to recognize the the teachings that the lord Jesus gives is this this man would go and come to the end of himself. He would he would have spent all of his substance and he finds himself in the in the pigpen wallowing and has this revelation like even the servants at at my my father's house are in a better shape, in a better place than I am. I will go back and return to my father. This is the the Lord Jesus has given this teaching, this illustration. And the father is there with open arms, welcome arms, willing to reserve, willing to receive his son.

17:09 He tells of another time when when he says that there was there was two men. I like how the King James says it. It's in Luke chapter 15 or I know that that was the parable of the of the lost son. But the, I think it's 16 where he says that this fellow, there was a rich man who fared sumptuously each day. And there was another man named Lazarus who sat at this rich man's table and just will, just hoping to gather some of the crumbs and both men die.

17:48 The rich man goes having, having rejected God, having rejected god's gift, he goes to a place of torment. And the the Lazarus having believed in god, he goes to a place of of waiting or a place called Abraham's bosom in the scripture. And we're given... Then this is the Lord Jesus teaching this and he gives us this little glimpse or insight into put a potential conversation that could happen between these men after this life. And the rich man who refused God is pictured there saying, if I could only have but a drop of water to quench my thirst, please.

18:37 And then he makes a statement where he says, Lazarus, why don't you go and tell my brothers? I've got brothers. Tell my brothers that that don't come to this place. Believe in God. Believe in the message that's being promoted, that's being shared.

18:57 And the Lord Jesus explains that even if even if one would raise from the dead, even if this man Lazarus would raise be raised from the dead and go tell this man's brothers, perhaps they would not believe. He says that they have the prophets, they have the written word, the recorded word, They have the prophets. If they will not believe that, they won't even believe a man who's raised from the dead. And so we're hearing this kind of teaching and we're saying, surely, surely someone would believe if if someone raised from the dead. But this is the Lord Jesus teach...

19:38 He's a teacher. He's teaching. The people are hearing. The people are astonished. And so, we consider him as a good teacher.

20:13 Now we've got a couple of carpenters among, a few actually. Where are they? There's Roger. Bob, where's Bob? Is Bob playing hooky?

20:26 All right. But Bob Buttress that is. I see. Bob's hiding beside his daughter over there. He's not a carpenter.

20:39 Is trying to, is doing some carpentry work. So I mean, Jesus, it says that he was he was... Is not this the carpenter? Now, we are very much reminded of his humanity in this, aren't we? That here he is in his in his life as as he would become of age, as a young man, his father teaches him carpentry.

21:06 His his his father allows him to to work along with him in his trade, in his business, in his livelihood, and he is known, has a reputation as a carpenter. He he is God in the flesh, but yet known as a carpenter. He takes on this role, not as a role to lord over other people, not not in a place of prominence, not in in some type of pomp and circumstance. You know, he came as a babe in a manger. He would live a a common, a simple life.

21:49 He would be known as a carpenter. And so we we really get the sense of his his humanity. And you know what? I believe as a a carpenter, Rob Roger, can you give testimony that when you hit your thumb with a hammer, does it hurt? You think he ever hit his thumb with a hammer?

22:20 I don't know if he did or not. But I I wanna tell you this, the Bible is clear that it tells us that he was tempted in all points as we were, yet was without sin. And we see the the the Lord Jesus Christ in his humanity living in a in a in a role. He he could have been he could have been a doctor, he could have been a a baker, he could have been, I mean you think about as we go through the rows here and recognize occupations, he could have been any of those of the day, right? And we would put all occupations so to speak on this horizontal plane.

23:06 He was a man providing for his own need. He was identifying with mankind. But yet without sin. You know, Paul Harvey tells this story, maybe some of you have heard him tell it, about I won't go through the whole thing, he does an excellent job with it, but you'll understand the gist of the of the story where this man is at home, it's on Christmas Eve, and and he doesn't believe in God. He's rejected...

23:38 His his family are believers. In fact, all of his family have gone to a Christian Chris Eve service as at at the local church and he says, Bah humbug, I'm not going. And yet, while he's sitting there in his living room, a bird comes up and hits the window and and it's it's a it's a blustery, stormy night outside. It's snowing and this bird hits the window and falls falls below, didn't kill itself. It's just kind of sitting there like, okay, what's going on?

24:09 And he he has this compassion toward this little bird and he goes out to his barn, opens the barn, turns on the, turns on the light, makes a little trail of bird feed into the barn and and is trying to encourage bird to go into a safe place for the night. Well, the problem is every time he gets close to the bird, it flutters and runs from him, runs somewhere else. And he's really he's really like absorbed into this trying to save this bird but he can't connect with it and as the as the clock bell rings for the the the Christmas Eve service, it like dawns on this guy. He says he says, if only I was a bird, I could tell him how to get to safety. The Lord Jesus Christ made himself a man, lived among men, was a carpenter, was in all points tempted like as we are.

25:17 And he did that to connect with you and I to show us a way to eternal life. I am the way, the truth, the life, I mean and here he is, what what better way to make the connection than to become one of me, one of you, and to live among us. So we see him as a carpenter and it represents to us his humanity. In verse four, or let me not... Verse three, I wanna recognize something else.

25:56 Is not this this this... Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? So let's also see the Lord Jesus as a son. A son of Mary, here he's called. And we we know, we read about Mary, and and we understand how this came about and would it be correct to say that the lord Jesus is the son of Mary, is also the son of god.

26:28 Mary knew no man but the Holy Spirit had allowed her to be to be expect... An expected mother with with Godly seed. And I think last week, Andy said, I don't necessarily understand all the hype... All the ins and outs of the hyperstatic union of this god and man, but we we read about it in scriptures explained to us that he was he was fully god, he was fully man. He was God's son, he was Mary's son.

26:59 God representing deity, Mary representing humanity, and here is the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, he would he would be here and remember when he was yet but a child, and he was in the streets of Jerusalem, and he would tell his parents, I must be about my father's business. And then we would hear later on, even in in the book of Mark, it's recorded for us in the in the early chapters, when he was baptized by John and and he comes up out of the water and that dove descends on his shoulder. We hear the voice from heaven and it says, this is my beloved son. In whom I am well pleased.

27:50 Let's go a little bit further. When the Lord Jesus is on the cross and he looks out and he sees his mother, Mary, and he says, woman behold thy son. We see the Lord Jesus as a son. And we see the Lord Jesus as the son of God and as the son of Mary. And we see him there on the cross and he is fulfilling the will of the father.

28:29 And and it's recorded for us in Psalms, it's recorded for us in Hebrews where we hear the Lord Jesus say, lo in the volume of the book it is written me, I come to do the will of the father. And the will of the father was for him to climb up on that cross. And the will of the father was for that that father or that that son and mother relationship where Mary is sitting there in pain and agony. The lord Jesus is in pain and agony. God the father is is experiencing pain and agony of a separation of his son because his son is becoming the substitutionary sacrifice for you and I.

29:12 And so look, we see the Lord Jesus as a teacher. We see... Or we see him as a leader. We see him as a teacher. We see him as a carpenter, but we see him as a son doing the will of the father.

29:25 And and so, isn't he altogether lovely? Don't we, don't we, when, when we start, last week, we turned this room into a boat, right? And I asked Scott to come up and stand on a chair and we're trying to direct our attention toward Christ when we're reading the scripture, when we're reading about what he's doing in the in the land, among the people. We see him as a teacher. We see him as a leader.

29:52 We see him as the son. We see him and identify with him as a human being. And so try to see Christ. See Christ. The next verse in verse four, he says, a prophet is not without honor except in his own country.

30:36 Oh, they saw his miracles and they wondered, how how can this happen? But you know what? I'm just going to go on a limb here. These guys are Jews. Watch another Jew do something better than he can do and they're jealous, right?

30:51 They're filled with envy and so, they reject him. He came into his own and his own received him not. Here he is as a prophet. He is prophesying when he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the father but by me.

31:10 He is prophesying when he says, hey, I go to prepare a place for you and if I go, I'm going to come again and receive you unto myself. He is prophesying when he says that that if I go, I will send another, a comforter to be with you. And guess what? Every prophecy in the Bible up until this point in history has been fulfilled. Can we just have a hearty amen about that?

31:43 Amen. Every prophecy in the Bible up into this point in history has been fulfilled. Hey, you know what? God is batting a thousand, right? We we just finished the World Series and and like he's got, his stats are incredible.

32:01 He was a prophet, yet he wasn't received by his own. We see the Lord Jesus as a prophet. In fact, you know, a prophet's like a servant. Isn't Mark giving us that perspective? The prophet is a messenger.

32:18 He's delivering the message and the Lord Jesus is faithful in that. He's the faithful servant and he takes on the role of a prophet servant to communicate the message that his father has for all of humanity. We know him as a prophet, priest, and king, but here we see him as the prophet. Alright, can you handle two more recognitions of what we see here? I think we're in verse five now, right?

32:53 Verse five, and he could there do no mighty work save that he that he laid his hand upon a few sick folk and healed them. We see him as the healer. Even in the midst of their unbelief, even in the midst of their rejection, he he still is is god in the flesh and he still would go and lay his hand on the infirmed. He would steal those that were pleading for him that he would steal and and touch him and heal him. Then, in verse...

33:28 The next verse there, it says... Well, I'll read it just to make sure I'm quoting this this properly. It says there that in in verse six, and he, the lord Jesus, marveled because of their unbelief. And he went around the villages teaching. He marveled because of their unbelief.

33:56 So we we see him as a leader, we see him as a teacher, we see him as a human carpenter. We see him as a son. We see him as a prophet. We see him as a healer. And then the last thing that we recognize is that we see him as one who marveled.

34:20 And this is a good little devotional, if you will, as you ponder this yourself, you know, like why did he marvel? The scripture says right there that he marveled because of their unbelief. Now, let's try... This is this is one of the this is one of the benefits for all of you that are being able to take part in the consecutive study. This is one of the benefits of consecutive Bible study.

35:24 Faith in god's message. Back at the very beginning of the book, he says, I have come. Behold, the time is at hand. The the time is at hand. The time being fulfilled.

35:34 The kingdom of god is here, repent, and believe, have faith, believe, trust, have faith in and so, he's he's given us these different soil types. What are we going to be? Are we going be ones that receive the word with gladness? We gonna be the hard soil? Are we gonna be the stony soil?

35:53 Are we gonna be the weedy soil? Are we gonna be the good soil? We've got those soil types. Then he has the disciples jump in the boat. And then, when the they all fear for their life because they're gonna die and and he calms the storm.

36:08 Remember the question? The question that he asked, how is it that you have no faith? Right? And so, another faith we we're drawing this thread of faith. We see it in the parable.

36:22 We see it in the coming of the storm. Then, we we come into chapter five and what do we see? This this man possessed with demon. He goes and falls down in front of the lord Jesus. He comes to him by faith.

36:34 Jairus, he he comes and begs the lord Jesus to raise his daughter, to heal his daughter. He comes to him by faith and remember when his bad situation goes worse, the lord Jesus says to him, do not be afraid but only believe. He's bolstering. He's strengthening his faith. He's saying, just keep focused on me and and what I can do.

36:57 Have faith. The woman that touches the hem of his garment, he says to her, it's because of your faith that you've been made whole. Go in peace. And so, we have these examples. We we have this teaching about faith.

37:16 We have this illustration of him him calling the water and the fact that he's looking for faith but they they they don't have the faith? Then he gives these three positive examples in chapter five of faith, faith, faith, and a great thing happens as a result. But then he enters into Nazareth, Nazareth. And then what do these people do? They reject him.

37:45 There's no faith there. He gives an example of no faith. We read on and we get to Herod. There's an example of no faith. In chapter six, he talks about Herod and Herod heard the word, he heard John the Baptist, he was getting close to believing, he wanted to believe, he knew something was different, but ultimately he was like that that that seed that had fallen upon the store...

38:13 The stony ground and when the roots sprang up, the heat came, his wife grabbed his ear, his stepdaughter made a pla... Or he made a pledge to his stepdaughter and the plant withered. The faith was gone and he beheads John the Baptist. No faith. The Lord Jesus marveled that these people didn't make the obvious choice.

38:51 And so we're back to Rehoboam. Oh, the the choice was obvious. What should I do in this situation? I can have a kingdom serve me forever. Or I can say to them, you can read about this later.

39:11 He goes back and he says, you thought my father was oppressing you? My father oppressed you like the size of my little pinky. I'm going to oppress you with my whole force. Oh, the the choice was obvious, what he should have done. He chose different.

39:37 Can you can you see this? Here is a person that is connected with his peers as a carpenter. Here is a person who has taught the word as words from heaven, spoke as no man could ever speak. Here is a man who performed miracles not only over the wind and the waves, over other things in nature. He has performed miracles over the spirit world.

40:10 He has performed miracles over humanity and being able to heal diseases. Here is a man who is a prophet who prophesies not only remember when he's in the synagogue, the first time in Nazareth, he says, today, this prophecy is fulfilled within your ears and we would say, we would say, why is the lord Jesus marveling? Perhaps, he's marveling at the fact that like, these people do not notice me for who I am. Why would they not believe? I'm here to help them.

41:24 Don't just be a hearer, be a doer. Recognize him in his humanity and follow his example and know that whatever you're up against, you too can have a success following him. See him as the son, the son of God, the son of man that's made a bridge for you and me to be well, as many as believe him to them gave he the power to become sons and daughters of God. Believe on that bridge. Then see him as the prophet.

42:08 Hear the things that he speaks. Be encouraged and let that encourage your heart. Hear him, recognize him as the prophet. And the things that he's speaking forth, realize they're coming to pass. When he says, get in the boat, we're going to the other side, you're going to the other side.

42:22 When he says, I'm coming back for you, he's coming back for you. When he says, low, I'll be with you always. He's there with you always. Hear him as the prophet. See him as the healer, ask for healing and I'm going to say ask for spiritual healing.

42:35 Ask for emotional healing. And then make the obvious choice in your life. Because you know what? Sometimes we start getting distracted and following our own path. We follow man's thinking without realizing it.

42:54 And so get get a get a a re a reset. Hit the reset button and realize that we're following the biblical principles. We're not following a man. We're not following a creed. We are following God's principles in his words.

43:10 And when he says, the meek shall inherit the earth, we try to understand what that means. When we hear a counselor say, stand up for yourself and fight for yourself. We're like, wait a minute, is that what God wants? When we say, look out... When we hear the world say, look out for numero uno.

43:27 You know, we we gotta... The word says, think of others before yourself. And so we gotta recalibrate our thinking and we have to understand that we don't want to be caught in that same spot where the Lord Jesus would marvel at us. Why didn't Andy do the obvious thing? Why didn't he make the obvious choice?

44:13 But even here as we really get we really get familiar with what's happening in the book of Mark, we we are so thankful for these things that we're seeing. And Father, we we do pray that you would build up our faith. It seems to be such an important matter to you that as you would look and examine our own heart, we pray that you would see hearts that are turned towards you and the ones that are believing. And so we ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.