Follow Me (Mark 1:14-20) with Pastor Andrew Courtis

Or please join me in a time of prayer.

Let us pray.

Our gracious and loving Heavenly Father, we thank you for your great kindness that you show toward us every moment, every day.

We thank you for the blessings that you have granted us in Christ, every spiritual blessing.

I pray that as we open your word this evening, that you would encourage us all the more, help us to draw near to you.

Minister to us, I pray, in Christ's name.

Amen.

Well, do turn with me in your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, Mark chapter 1, and our reading tonight will be from verses 14 through to 20.

Mark 1 · chapter mention

Mark chapter 1, verses 14 through to 20.

Mark 1:14

Let us hear the word of the Lord.

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

And as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

Then Jesus said to them, Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

They immediately left their nets and followed him.

When he had gone a little farther from there he saw James, the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets, and immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after him.

Not every historical life-changing moment begins with the feeling and sight of great drama and excitement.

In fact, more often than not, history-making moments begin in the ordinary.

Imagine fishermen just casting their nets into the ocean, and then somebody walks up to them.

It's this breaking into the ordinary that we're going to be learning about in Mark 1, verses 14 to 20 this evening.

Mark 1:14–20

At his usual pace, Mark is moving quickly.

I want you to have a quick look in verse 14 and just go back to the previous verse.

Six months to 12 months has gone by in just those little gaps between those verses.

Mark is moving rapidly through the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And one of his favorite words that's already come up, and it will appear two more times in our passage tonight, is the word immediately, is going to swiftly walk through a series of events.

But what's incredible about the chapter, or the section rather, that we're going to be looking at tonight is we could liken the events in this passage to the public press conference of the King of Kings.

I'm not sure if you can think of a number of events where an individual makes a public announcement by calling a press conference.

I remember a number of events that I can think of in my mind in Australian politics, where an individual has defected from a party.

He has called the press together, and he's there to make the announcement of a new political party is going to form.

Or even that image might be etched in your minds.

I think it was just over ten years ago.

He likes to repeat the story.

There was an individual in New York coming down that golden lift.

And as he came into the foyer of his tower, he announced the news that he was going to run for president.

There's been some very significant press conferences throughout the world.

And generally speaking, a good press conference is done very strategically.

It's done in an area where there is going to get lots of attention.

Important people will be pres uh will be uh present in the moment of the press conference.

Well, our Lord Jesus issues a press conference.

He is going to announce that he is the king and he's arrived.

But what's significant about this incredible moment in the life and ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is that it takes place in an ordinary location.

I want you to have a look at the repetition of a name in this narrative.

You see it in verse 14, you see it in verse 16, and that is Galilee.

This is not a random mention.

This is not a neutral location.

But if your mind was to go back to the Old Testament, you would read in Isaiah 9, verses 1 through to 7, with particular focus on the first two verses, that Galilee is referred to as Galilee of the Gentiles.

Isaiah 9:1

And the time in which Isaiah issued that prophecy in Isaiah 9, it was a bleak time in the northern kingdom.

The Assyrians had invaded the northern kingdom.

It was not a good moment in the history of Israel.

Yet it was in the midst of that very darkness that Isaiah the prophet refers to Galilee as Galilee of the Gentiles, showing a plan, a plan that is going to go beyond that mere geographical location.

And in the midst of the bleakness issues the dawn of hope, as he promises light will break into Galilee.

If you continue to read through Isaiah 9, you'll come to that famous passage in verses six and seven.

For unto us a child is given.

It is the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, I want you to note that that is at the backdrop of this passage.

Jesus chooses to make his ministry public in Galilee of the Gentiles.

And not only does he choose to announce the kingdom in Galilee, he chooses to assemble his people in Galilee so that they would be dispatched to become fishers of men.

And what makes this all the more dramatic is that the imagery of fishing for men in the Old Testament is one of the most negative of images.

It's used in the context of judgment.

But in Jeremiah 6, it's used in re in Jeremiah 16, it's used in reference to a work in which God is going to draw people to Himself in a context that even speaks of nations.

So what I want you to see going on in the background of this passage is something very restrict strategic.

But it takes place in an ordinary location with ordinary people doing ordinary events, yet God breaks through in the midst of the ordinary and performs the extraordinary.

Well, what I want you to see going on in this passage is two royal themes.

Mark is announcing for us the arrival of the king.

There has been the preparation, the herald of the king has spoken.

John the Baptist has been preaching, proclaiming, heralding the news that the king is coming.

But now the sound of John the Baptist is fading into silence as he's been imprisoned.

And it's in the midst of that silence.

In the midst of a time of conflict, conflict seen in that the Lord Jesus had been led into the wilderness.

He was tempted by the evil one.

The fiery darts of Satan were flung into his direction.

John the Baptist, the great herald and preparer of the king, has been imprisoned.

And it's in the midst of this conflict that the king conquers.

And oh, what a wonderful thing that is.

And we'll see the significance of that as we work our way through this passage this evening.

Well, what are the two royal truths that I want you to see tonight?

I want you to see, first of all, in verses 14 to 15, the king announces his kingdom.

And he does it in Galilee.

Secondly, I want you to see the king assembles his people.

Verses 16 to 20, and he also does it in Galilee.

This is an incredible moment of history.

But as I said at the start, quite often, historic changing moments don't look dramatic when they're happening.

But when you look back, you can see its significance.

And what's happening here is truly significant.

It is life-changing.

Well, let's begin first of all with the king announces his kingdom.

In his customary, speedy, fast-paced way, Mark writes, Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee.

Time has marched on by, and Jesus enters into this region that is filled with prophetic significance.

As he steps upon the region of Galilee, Mark tells us that he is there preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God.

Jesus is preaching.

He is heralding, he is announcing good news.

And the good news is the good news of the kingdom of God.

And when we see that phrase kingdom of God, we need to understand that the Lord has always been king.

We see this throughout the Old Testament.

It's repeated countless times.

But what we need to understand here in reference to the kingdom of God is that this is the revealing of God's sovereign rule that brings redemption to the people that have been given to the Son of God.

Jesus is announcing the good news of this kingdom that will be inaugurated by means of his ministry, and it will be a kingdom that will grow and expand, and it will go beyond Galilee.

It will reach the utmost parts of the world, and it will be finally consummated at his glorious return.

Jesus has entered into Galilee and his preaching.

Imagine this moment.

See how significant this is in the history of the world.

The Son of God, who has come into this world, taking upon himself a human nature, in this strategic moment at this particular place, begins to preach.

And his first sermon is simple.

The content is found in verse 15.

Kings had come.

Kings had failed.

Prophets spoke.

Four hundred years of silence had broken upon the people of Israel.

People were born.

They lived.

They died.

Waiting and waiting.

But then suddenly, out of the silence comes the words.

This is a significant phrase.

The word time here is really referring to the opportune moment.

It's referring to a season.

The moment of redemptive history has arrived, is the idea here.

The Lord Jesus Christ is making the announcement, and what is this fullness of time?

The kingdom of God is at hand, says Jesus.

Jesus is standing there saying, The kingdom of God has drawn near.

He is making an announcement.

The Lord Jesus Christ is announcing the good news of the kingdom.

And the good news of the kingdom is standing right in front of them.

The king has arrived.

He is broken into the human experience.

He is standing there in Galilee of the Gentiles, and he is making this incredible announcement.

When the Lord Jesus Christ announces that the kingdom of God is at hand or the kingdom of God is near, we must not think of the kingdom of God in a geographical location.

But instead, we must view the kingdom of God as something that is present wherever the Lord Jesus Christ is at work.

The Lord Jesus Christ carrying out the mediatorial role as the Messiah is now performing a kingdom work.

And this kingdom work is going to manifest itself.

It's going to be revealed in some truly remarking, remarkable ways throughout the Gospel of Mark.

He is going to show his kingly dominion over the demonic.

He's going to show his dominion over those who have diseases by issuing healing.

He will show that dominion even over nature itself as he calms the storm.

All of these are showing that the kingdom of God is broken into the human experience.

The king has arrived and he is announcing that it is before you.

Colossians 1 and verse 13.

Paul reminds the Colossian believers that they who were once in the domain of darkness have been conveyed into the kingdom of God's Son.

Those who enter into this kingdom have not only been removed from darkness, they have been adopted into the family of God, forgiven of all of their sins, granted the blessing of assurance, and hold out the greatest of hopes.

They're citizens of the greatest of cities.

And this kingdom is a kingdom that is expanding, and one day will be a kingdom that will be seen by all.

It is near because the Lord Jesus Christ is in their midst.

But how do people enter into this kingdom?

No one enters this kingdom by means of their own works and efforts.

Nobody can contribute.

Nobody can inherit that by their own doing.

It doesn't come by means of the family that you're from.

But the Lord Jesus clearly announces that you enter this kingdom by repenting and believing.

To repent means to recognize that we have rebelled against God.

We are repulsed by the transgression we have committed.

We remove ourselves by returning unto him.

And that's seen positively by means of faith, belief, and trust, leaning wholly upon the Lord Jesus Christ, clinging to him, looking to him, setting our eye upon him, trusting in him.

Repent and believe in the gospel.

The gospel here is the good news concerning Jesus Christ and the work that he and he alone will accomplish.

It is a work that he accomplishes because of who he is and what he will do.

He is the glorious Son of God.

We saw this back in verse one.

He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

He is Savior.

He is Messiah, prophet, priest, and king.

He is the eternal Son of God.

He is righteous and holy.

And he has come to bring people into his kingdom.

So what I want you to see just to begin with in this passage tonight is in these first two verses, we have the King's announcement concerning his kingdom.

This ought to remind us of at least two things.

Number one, this should remind us that it is the responsibility and duty of every minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ to preach the gospel of the kingdom.

No preacher has the right to dilute the message of the gospel of the kingdom.

None can soften it and make it something that removes the idea of repentance and faith.

Any preacher that does not preach the reign of Jesus Christ, his glory, his power, his honor, does disservice to the message of the King himself.

Just as the King entered into the human scene and proclaimed the good news of the kingdom and told people how to enter it, so it is the responsibility of every preacher today.

Woe unto anyone who calls themselves a preacher and does not preach the ruling, reigning Christ.

Woe unto those that do not preach repentance and faith.

A faithful minister of the gospel will proclaim the message that Christ preached.

May the glory of Christ, may the blessing of repentance and faith always be preached from this pulpit.

But secondly, this passage teaches us something about us.

It's a reminder that none of us have any grounds to ever boast.

You are either a part of the kingdom of God or you're not.

And the only way for you to be a part of the kingdom of God is not to rely on the family that you're a part of.

You are not to rely on the On your attendance in this church or in any other church?

You're not to look at your intellect, you're not to be able to look at how vast your Bible knowledge is.

The question is, have you repented of your sin and believed in the Lord Jesus Christ?

Because without repentance and faith, no one enters the kingdom of God.

Have you repented of your sin?

Have you believed in the Lord Jesus Christ?

This is the only way.

And this is the message that we are called to not only embrace ourselves, but it is the message that we are called to proclaim to others.

Of course, repentance and faith is only possible by means of a sovereign work of the Spirit of God, for our Lord Jesus will go on to teach in John 3, verse 3, and verse 5 and verse 8 that without being born again, no one will enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:3

The new birth is a sovereign work of the Spirit, and in this sovereign work of the Spirit flows these blessings of repentance and faith.

And without the exercise of the recognition of sin and the running and clinging to Jesus Christ, there is no life.

So in these first two verses, the king announces his kingdom.

We have incredible insight in that in the midst of conflict there is one who conquers.

It is Christ.

And that ought to actually bring us encouragement even this day.

Think about it like this.

If the Lord Jesus Christ could step into a location that experienced the most dark of moments in their history into Galilee, and there he could actually be the light that dawns that brings hope.

The kingdom is announced in the midst of conquering, is a powerful thing because it says so much about the king.

The king doesn't need to stack the circumstances so they look favorable.

The king doesn't need good optics so that people will then hopefully follow him.

The king comes into conflict and darkness and he conquers.

And I want you to know that the same king that came in on the scene in that moment is reigning now.

Are you experiencing conflict?

Are you experiencing hardship?

Are you in a moment of uncertainty?

Are you in a moment that is difficult?

Then look to the king.

Look to the conquering king, for he is the only one that we can have our deliverance by.

But we come to a second point in this passage, and it's found in verses 16 to 20, and that is the king assembles his people.

The king has announced his kingdom.

The time has come now for the king to assemble his people.

These are the citizens of his kingdom.

But this kingdom will start off small, but it'll grow.

It will expand.

And by the time we get to the end of Mark's Gospel, we will see that those that he has been assembling will be dispatched to go.

And in line with the end of Matthew's gospel and with what Luke writes and what John writes and what Luke also records in Acts, we see that there is this collective great commission that will be given in which the disciples of Jesus Christ are to go into all the world preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ.

And they are to be the Lord's witnesses, beginning in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and to go to the utmost parts of the world.

But it begins with an ordinary day in Galilee.

There were two sets of brothers fishing.

That's just what they did.

They were fishermen.

It was their trade.

And for them it was no different day.

They started off early.

They got in their boat.

They cast out their nets.

They pulled in their hall.

They counted them.

They were fishermen.

They got out of their boats, they cleaned their nets, and they began to mend them.

It was just an ordinary day.

It was just another day for these fishermen.

But then suddenly we read in verse 16, and as he walked by the Sea of Galilee.

As Mark writes this just casually, again you must think of Isaiah 9 in the background.

In narratives in the Bible, you often need to note when names are mentioned.

Names will often highlight some significant events, some redemptive moment.

And so it is with this passage.

Galilee is loaded here.

We are about to see that light is about to dawn in darkness.

And what happens is as the day ends, the light comes.

And the light is the king.

He's made his announcement.

He is coming to these men, and he meets these two sets of brothers.

First of all, in verse 16, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen.

Notice what he says to them in verse 17 Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

Go down to verse nineteen.

He went down a little further from there, and he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending their nets, and immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with their hired servants and went after him.

A very simple call.

Jesus meets these two brothers in the midst of the ordinary, ordinary men doing ordinary jobs on another ordinary day.

But the king arrives and he summons them to himself.

It can be summarized simply by the words follow me.

I want you to see something truly beautiful here.

God delights to interrupt ordinary days with extraordinary grace.

These men did not know what was coming.

But what Jesus does here is just completely different and just flips on the head what was normal in those days.

Jesus, of course, is the master teacher.

He was a rabbi.

But unlike other Jewish rabbis, the way that Jesus assembled his disciples was completely different.

It was the usual custom in the first century, in order for someone to be a disciple of a rabbi, you had to put in an application.

You would apply to be a rabbi of rabbi so-and-so.

You would share your desires and the reasons why you wanted to follow him.

But Jesus turns it all on the head here, doesn't he?

And I want you to notice two things that take place as a result of this incredible moment as he assembles his people.

It can be summarized by the word initiation and the word transformation.

The first thing is initiation.

We see that he goes to these men.

Look at verse 16.

He saw Simon and Andrew his brother.

And then down in verse 19, he saw James, the son of Zebedee, and John his brother.

Jesus saw them.

And Jesus went to them.

And Jesus called out to them and said, Follow me.

I want you to become my disciples.

I want you to walk with me.

I want you to spend time with me.

I want you to come along my side.

I want you to come under my leadership, under my lordship, under my mastery.

Come follow me.

The first thing I want you to see here is what makes Jesus different to any other rabbi is that his kingdom is one marked by sovereign initiation.

He is the one who initiates the relationship.

And that's an absolutely necessary thing because left to ourselves, not one of us would follow the Lord Jesus.

We would follow after our passions, our dreams, our desires.

We would follow after whatever pleases us.

And when we grow tired of it, we will just move on to something else.

But Jesus broke into the lives of these men, showing the initiative, and called them to himself.

I want you to know that the same Jesus who sovereignly initiated the call to these men to follow him is the same Jesus that has called you and me into his kingdom today.

If you're sitting here tonight as someone who loves Christ, someone who has been forgiven of their sins, who knows what it is to have the indwelling presence of the Spirit, and has the hope of eternal life, that has all happened because of God's sovereign initiative.

Jesus would later on teach that no one would come to the Father unless the Father draws them.

Again, using fishing terms.

No one's coming to the Father unless the Father drags them like a fisherman would drag fish from a net into the boat.

This is a tender, sovereign, effectual, powerful calling that the Lord does.

These disciples followed Jesus because Jesus came to them.

He took the sovereign initiative.

Allow for a moment the wonder of the initiative of Christ that called you to saving faith.

He didn't leave you in the darkness you once were.

He didn't leave you in that helpless place that you were in.

He didn't leave you to wallow in your sin and to go in the direction of final destruction and fury and judgment.

He sought you, he found you, he called you, he drew you near.

But secondly, Jesus not only initiated this discipleship relationship with these disciples, but in this discipleship relationship, he promised transformation.

We see that in verse 17.

Follow me, and I will make you become fishes of men.

I will make you.

Again, the Lord Jesus continues to do this.

Philippians 1 6, he who has begun a good work in you will complete that work.

God is working in us.

He is working in us, he is growing us in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

To be a child of God is to be a work in progress, but it is to be somebody who is being fashioned by the King of the universe.

The same voice that spoke the universe into existence, called you into his kingdom, and he is fashioning you, shaping you into what would be pleasing unto him.

Here we see in these verses that God delights to interrupt ordinary days with extraordinary grace.

And God has been doing this throughout the ages.

There is somebody sitting in their workshop, and then they called to follow me.

There is somebody at home pouring themselves into raising their children, cleaning the house, and they hear the words follow me.

There is someone sitting at their computer, just doing their ordinary tasks.

Follow me.

There is the school student who's at school just trying to get through, just trying to get their subjects done, and there is the voice again, follow me.

The Lord breaks into the experience of the ordinary and brings his extraordinary grace.

And when the Lord calls, those who he calls come.

And those who come, he will not cast out, but he will raise them up on the last day.

This is a sovereign transforming work of the sovereign savior.

What he did then, he continues to do today.

Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.

It was the Scottish Presbyterian minister, Thomas Boston.

He was only 22 years old when he wrote this tiny little work.

It was entitled in around 1699, The Art of Manfishing.

If you ever see that work, um pick it up and read it.

It's probably only 50 to 60 pages long, not very long at all.

And in this work, he explains the importance of applying what our Lord Jesus taught here in Mark 1.17, although he's expositing Matthew 4.19, where we have the parallel passage.

And what Boston explains in this text, he particularly applies this to ministers of the gospel, but the principle would apply to any Christian.

But he makes the strong point that when it comes to gospel ministry, we can only be in gospel ministry because of God's sovereign working.

He's the one who comes to us, he's the one who transforms us.

But then he goes on to say, because God is the one who places us into this gospel ministry, it is not our business to make use of techniques that we think will work to our advantage in proclaiming the gospel, but instead our task is to simply follow the Lord and be faithful to him in carrying out the task of proclaiming the gospel.

In summary, Boston argues that manfishing, which is the act of evangelism, should never be driven by techniques, but always driven by faithfulness and union with Christ.

As we faithfully lean unto him, we live for him, and we proclaim his glory and grandeur, and let God do the work.

Well, that must be true because the men that Jesus assembled to enter into his kingdom, men who he assembled to be dispatched to be fishers of men.

Fishers of men is a metaphor used to say he's playing off their trade, you're fishermen of actual fish, but I'm going to turn you into men who will catch men.

You're going to cast out the net of the gospel, and this net of the gospel is going to go wide and far into all the world.

The world is the ocean.

And I want you to cast out the net into the ocean, and I want you to pull it back in, and there will be fish that I will sovereignly draw in.

And I want you to be fishers of men.

The men that he chose weren't the princes of this world.

They weren't the politicians of this world.

They weren't the renowned.

They weren't necessarily the highest intellects when it comes to education.

These were just ordinary guys.

And as we track through the Gospel of Mark, we're going to see that they're going to mess up.

And their chief spokesman is going to deny their king.

They're going to look like a big mess.

One stage, we're going to see in a dramatic event that they're all going to be in a boat together.

And this boat is going to be a mini drama of what their responsibility is and where their success is ultimately going to come.

As they're in the boat, a storm will break loose.

It will beat upon them, and they will be scared and frightened by the storm.

And Jesus will then do something that is the solution to everything.

And that is, he will calm the storm, and they will now fear not the storm, but the one who's inside the boat.

And this little boat of failures is going to become the beginning of a missionary movement that is going to go around the world because light has dawned in Galilee of the Gentiles.

This is remarkable.

Well, as we bring this to our close this evening, I want us to be encouraged by this passage.

I want us to be encouraged by it because the one who made the announcement, the one who assembled his people, continues to reign.

And what he had begun in this moment has continued to expand through the centuries, and he is still reigning and he is still working.

But what we need to remember is that one day the king who walked in Galilee will return in glory.

The question is, are you living under his lordship now?

Are you honoring him now?

Well, as we take this brief moment to prepare for the Lord's table, I want you to consider these questions.

Is the lordship of this king seen in your life today?

Is he truly reigning supreme in your life?

Are you living as a kingdom citizen?

Is Christ first in your time?

Is he first in what you do with your treasures?

Is he first in how you use your talents?

Is his kingship seen in your life?

Are you living as somebody who is a part of this kingdom?

Well, I think we'll do well this evening to quieten our hearts.

Just before I close in prayer, and then invite Pastor Matt to lead us in a time around the table of the King.

Let's pray.

How gracious, Lord, I thank you for the powerful announcement and assembling that the Lord Jesus Christ had performed on that beautiful day in Galilee.

And we thank you for what he began in that moment, has continued to build and grow.

And here we are tonight, as individuals who've entered into this glorious kingdom of Christ.

We thank you.

Help us to draw near to you.

Help us to live out the life that we now have in Him.

Forgive us of our sins.

Forgive us of those things that bring you dishonor.

And help us only by means of our union with Christ that we would commune with Him.

I pray this now in Christ's name.

Amen.