The Exclusive Gospel

The life-changing gospel of Jesus is not just a saying, it changes lives.

! When Christ came to Simon Peter and to Andrew, they left the seashore.

When he came to James and John, they left Zebedee, their dad, and the family business.

And followed Christ.

When he came to a Jewish tax collector, contracted to the Romans to rip off the Jews, Matthew

walked away from the tax booth.

All of their lives were changed.

All became disciples of Christ, those intimate twelve that walked with him.

Later, Peter spread the gospel like no other in the days after the ascension of the Lord.

John was used mightily of God.

We've got four books in the New Testament that show that.

He mentions twice among those works the reason why he writes what he does, the purpose behind it.

It's found one time in John chapter 20, verse 31.

John 20:31

He said, I write these events so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God,

and that by believing you may have life in his name.

It was the reason he wrote.

Matthew never returned to the tax booth, but he took his pen with him.

And instead of keeping an account of people's taxes, instead he wrote an account of the works of Christ.

It is the first book of the New Testament.

The gospel really does change lives.

Now, I could go around this room this morning and ask you to share how Christ has changed your life.

And many of you could immediately share how Christ has changed your life.

And many of you would look at me and say, don't you dare stick a microphone in my face.

I understand that too.

However, I will tell you that if you're a child of God this morning and Christ has changed your life,

you need to be ready to give an account of that to any and all that God puts in your path.

The gospel, the real gospel is life-changing.

And others need to hear it, and we need to share it as Christ has commissioned us to,

and we need to hear ourselves sharing it because it reminds us of what we got when we got Christ.

But don't you dare think that when you do that, that everybody's going to be happy with you.

Don't you dare believe that everybody is going to be agreeable or that everybody's going to be celebrating with you.

When Jesus came, lives were changed, and everybody wasn't happy about it.

But we've already seen some of that, and it just keeps building throughout this gospel.

And Jesus has an answer for it.

It's found in Mark chapter 2, beginning in verse 18, and it says,

Mark 2 · chapter mention

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting.

And people came and said to him,

Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

And Jesus said to them,

Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them?

As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast in that day.

No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on old garment.

If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins.

But new wine is for fresh wineskins.

People resist change.

They don't like it.

Mark Twain said,

The only people who like change are wet babies.

And C.S. Lewis said,

Everyone wants progress, but nobody wants change.

Jesus brought change.

Everywhere he went, he brought change.

He still brings change.

And the change in a life given to Christ is the evidence of the reality of Christ in that life.

But that does not mean that everyone will like it.

They won't.

I remember I mentioned last week with all the good news of the gospel

that there also comes the scorn of the gospel from a lot of people.

And I want you to watch this progression that we've already seen in the gospel of Mark.

We'll continue to see it.

Christ comes to Capernaum.

He's teaching.

And Mark tells us that he teaches with great authority, quote, unlike the scribes.

Well, now that's a hint of what's coming down the pike.

One with a demon comes to him.

He casts out the demon.

That draws a crowd.

He heals many in the crowd.

And then he goes out preaching throughout Galilee and the surrounding areas,

casting out demons as he goes from village to village.

The crowd grows as he goes.

More lives are affected.

He comes back to Capernaum.

And when he comes back to Capernaum, the pharisaical scribes come to hear him.

They've heard about him.

They come to hear him.

They're sitting in the front row in that home when he heals a paralytic and takes away his sins.

And when Jesus said he took away the man's sins, well, that's a claim that he's God.

And the scribes, because nobody can take away sins but God.

And so the scribes didn't like it.

He changes Levi, also known as Matthew's life.

And then he sits down with Matthew's friends in a big banquet in Matthew's house with other tax collectors and, quote, sinners.

That really upset them.

Now we get to our passage today and the Pharisees are apparently involved in a fast that Jesus has not acknowledged.

And they want to know why he's not fasting.

Now, I want to be clear.

Jesus fasted.

He fasted in the desert for 40 days.

And he gave instructions to his disciples in Matthew 6 about how to fast.

He did it.

And he expected it to be done.

It is still a great godly discipline to fast for prayerful reasons.

You'll see a pattern of that in the Old Testament of God's people fasting.

Sometimes in preparation, they inquired of the Lord concerning what their next steps would be.

Sometimes they fasted asking God to intervene in their circumstances.

You also see them fasting when they're repenting or when they're mourning over their sins.

There's only one fast that is prescribed in Scripture in the Old Testament.

And that's the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, which is coming up this Thursday.

And that's the only time that they were asked to fast on that Day of Atonement.

But in addition to that, you see all kinds of other fasts that are called for special called reasons.

There's one-day fast.

There's three-day fast.

There's seven-day fast.

There's 40-day fast, as our Lord did in the desert.

They fasted more during the exile than any other time because they wasn't at home.

And they wanted to go home.

And they were asking God to help them in the midst of that.

The Purim fast was established after God used Esther to save the Jews.

And God's people were fasting and praying for Esther in that circumstance.

And God used her for such a time as this.

And after he used her, they established the Purim fast to remember how God brought them out through Esther's obedience.

However, by the time we get to our passage in Mark chapter 2, the Pharisees have added to that.

Mark 2 · chapter mention

They make it a habit to fast.

They fast twice a week, Mondays and Thursdays.

And they want people to know that they do that.

As a matter of fact, they put whitener on their face to make themselves look more pale.

They put a sick look on their faces.

And they walk around in gloom, trying to get people's attention.

Don't do that.

Okay?

Don't do that.

If you're having a colonoscopy tomorrow and you're preparing for it, you can do that.

Okay?

But do it at home.

Okay?

Because it could get ugly.

But I'll hear about that at lunch.

But anyway, we need not look like folks of gloom and doom.

If Christ is within us, it ought to reflect, inform your face of what God's done in your heart.

And that's what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount.

He said in Matthew 6, this is what he's referring to, is this fasting process.

Matthew 6, 16 through 18, he says this.

And when you fast, that's instructions too fast, by the way.

And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.

For they disfigure their faces, that their fasting may be seen by others.

Truly I say to you, they have received the reward.

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others,

but by your Father who is in heaven in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

He also refers to this in a parable that he uses in Luke chapter 18.

Luke 18 · chapter mention

When the Pharisee prays, God, I thank you that I'm not like other men.

And then he starts naming other people that he's, and what they do, and how they act, and all that stuff,

that he's not like them.

And then he says, and I fast twice a week.

That's his prayer.

Apparently our passage speaks of a time when the Pharisees are participating in one of their regular fasts

while Jesus is feasting with the sinners and the tax collectors.

I guess it was on a Thursday or maybe a Monday.

Whatever.

They were very upset about that.

Not only was the Pharisees fasting, but also John's disciples were fasting.

Speaking of John the Baptist.

Now, I want to be clear about something.

The Pharisees and the disciples of John were not partners by any means,

but they're both fasting as well.

John's disciples are fasting in anticipation of a coming Messiah that John had talked about.

Let me explain.

When John the Baptist was preaching in the wilderness of Judea before Christ came,

he drew quite a crowd.

Matthew chapter 3 verse 5 says,

Matthew 3:5

Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan were going out to him.

So there were literally thousands of people that were coming out there.

Okay.

Different people on different days, but they were coming.

You know who else came out to hear him?

The Pharisees.

As a matter of fact, when they came out to hear him,

John the Baptist called them children of snakes.

He confronted them because he saw their hypocrisy.

In addition to that, Jesus went out to John.

And Jesus told John to baptize him.

But I want to be clear about something.

All those people that believe John's message

and all those people who follow John along the way,

they were not there, not all of them, when John baptized Jesus.

And then, it wasn't long after that baptism that John the Baptist is arrested.

He's thrown in prison.

He will be killed.

But by him being thrown in prison,

it preempts him from getting the message out that the Messiah had come.

We see in the book of Acts, there's questions about it from John's disciples.

So either they didn't witness the baptism,

and apparently they didn't witness it,

nor did they hear that Jesus had come,

so they didn't know.

So they're still fasting in anticipation of the Messiah

that John the Baptist proclaimed so loudly.

The combination of these two groups,

distinctive groups, but they have a common bond.

They're both fasting.

The combination of these two groups caused people to ask questions.

And when they asked, Jesus answered.

And he addressed three matters.

The first thing he addressed is the insufficiency of a man-made gospel.

The insufficiency of a man-made gospel.

Listen, religion is what many people rely on,

and religion is empty without Christ.

And if in Christ, it's not religion, it's relationship.

It's relationship with Christ.

Salvation does not come through our actions.

We cannot earn it.

Salvation does not come through our sacrifice.

We cannot buy it.

Salvation does not come through our appearance,

no matter how gloomy or pitiful that we may try to look.

It does not come through our knowledge.

Satan knows about the things of God and knows Scripture quite well.

It does not come that way.

Judaism was to prepare the Jews for Jesus.

However, they missed Jesus.

And without an acknowledgment of Jesus, it is condemning.

Any works-based system is condemning.

Any of them.

No matter how many confessions are made,

no matter how many candles are burned,

no matter how many communions are taken,

outside of a surrender to Christ,

Catholicism is just a man-made religion.

It is empty ritual outside of Christ.

No matter how many missions are served,

no matter how many temples are attended,

no matter how many caffeinated drinks are abstained,

for a Mormon, it's just empty man-made religion without Christ.

And it's not the Christ that they have created

because the Christ that the Mormon church has created

is not part of the Trinity.

Their Christ was not divine while he was on the earth.

And you have to earn it through works and efforts.

Friend, listen, that's not Christ.

That's a cult.

And when they accept Christ by grace through faith,

they'll leave false, empty religion.

However, without Christ, it's just a religion.

Jehovah's Witnesses can knock on doors until the cows come home.

But they'll never know Jesus as long as they believe that he's a mere archangel

and not Almighty God.

And let's just bring it on home while we're here.

Listen, old Baptists.

Good old Baptists.

No matter how much you attend,

no matter how much you give,

and I encourage you to do both,

it does your soul no good without Christ.

You need the Lord Jesus.

You cannot align yourself to Jesus

or buy your way to Jesus.

You must surrender your life to Christ

and let him have his way,

not in some way in your life,

in every way in your life.

The man-made gospel,

even with fasting,

even with sacrifice,

is insufficient for salvation.

That only comes by faith in Christ.

My salvation

does not rest in me.

It rests in the cross of Christ.

And no one can snatch me out of the hand of the Father.

We rest there.

Any man-made gospel is insufficient.

He also says,

he also speaks to and addresses the seamless nature of the real gospel.

And he gives three illustrations in this passage.

And I want to deal with the second two first.

It's in verse 21 and 22,

and it says this,

no one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment.

If he does,

the patch tears away from it.

The new one from the old

and the worst tear is made.

And no one puts new wine into old wineskins.

If he does,

the wine will burst the skins

and the wine is destroyed.

And so are the skins.

But new wine

is for fresh wineskins.

In that day,

juice was stored in pouches

made of goat skin.

A goat was skinned

and the hide would be uncut

except at the legs and the neck.

That skin was cleaned.

It was turned,

usually it was turned inside out.

It was sealed shut at the leg openings.

That left the neck as a spout

that made it easy to pour.

Fresh skins are elastic

and they could expand.

So when you put juice into them

and that begins to ferment,

that skin will expand.

However,

if you have an old skin

and you put new juice in it

and it ferments into wine,

it'll burst

and not only will the skin be ruined,

but you'll lose the juice as well.

The wine will be gone.

He also speaks

of an unshrunk patch of clothing

being sewn to older clothing

and that will not work

because the first time you wash it,

the patch will shrink

and it'll tear away

from the clothing

that has already been washed

and has already shrunk.

What's he saying

when he says all that?

You can't take the gospel

of Jesus Christ

and force it

into old man-made forms

of religion.

That's what he's saying.

God's doing a new thing.

You can't put God in a box.

God does not do patchwork.

He makes seamless transitions

and when one comes to Christ,

the old is gone,

the new has come.

To put it another way,

a new believer

is like a new wineskin

and the Spirit of God

is poured in

through salvation

to that new believer

and God ferments

in our lives.

He also often speaks

of yeast in dough

and the impact of that

and so he ferments

in our lives

and we thank God,

expand for his glory.

Try to fit God

into your ways

and our ways.

Something's got to give.

Listen,

when Christ takes over

your life,

it's because a person

has given in

and allowed God

to stretch him or her

instead of just trying

to piecemeal God

into your lives.

Folks,

don't try to patch Jesus

into your life.

Give him your life.

Don't find some caveat

in your life

that's not going well

and say,

Jesus,

can you handle this for me

and not give him

your entire life.

That's what he's speaking of.

He takes all of our life

and we entrust

all of our life to him.

He makes all things new

and he does it

in a seamless fashion.

Listen,

salvation is not patchwork

over a rough spot

in your life.

That's not what it is.

It's a surrender

of your life to Christ.

It's renewal

of your life

to him.

But not only that,

but he also addresses

the celebration

in the real gospel.

When people

want to know

why he and his disciples

are not fasting,

he states

that it's not time

to fast.

It's time

for celebration.

You fast

in anticipation

and Jesus says,

I'm here.

There's nothing

to anticipate.

I'm before you.

Christ is already

on the scene.

He compares it

to a wedding.

And a wedding

in that day

was a serious thing.

They lasted

about a week.

And as a father

who has a daughter

who's a fiance,

I am thankful today

that our weddings

don't last a week.

Very thankful.

When you were invited

to a wedding,

all other things

were shelved,

by rabbinical law,

one was exempt

from their religious duties

if they were invited

to a wedding.

And you know why

they did that?

Because it would be

inappropriate

to fast

at a wedding.

Don't come in

in your white face.

Don't come in

with your gloom

and doom

into a celebration

of a wedding.

Do nothing

to dampen

the spirit.

This wedding

is not about you.

In our day,

it's all about the bride.

In that day,

it was all about

the bridegroom.

But it's about

the couple

that's getting married.

It's not about you.

And as long as

the bridegroom

is present,

all are to celebrate.

Now in mentioning this,

Christ is saying,

I'm the one

you've been waiting on.

I'm the fulfillment

of everything

that you've looked to.

This is it.

But in the midst

of that,

he also prophesies.

And he says

in Mark 2,

Mark 2:20

verse 20,

he says,

the days will come

when the bridegroom

is taken away

from them

and then they'll

fast in that day.

That term,

taken away,

speaks of a sudden

and violent removal

as in the garden

when Christ

was arrested

and taken to the cross.

It was appropriate

to mourn over that.

It's also like

the ascension of Christ.

And he could have

been referring

to that as well

when Christ suddenly

was lifted

from the earth

and into heaven.

Now,

it's appropriate

for us to fast

today.

It's appropriate

for us to fast

about the condition

of our country.

It's appropriate

for us to fast

about revival

in our church.

It's appropriate

for us to fast

about renewal

and repentance

in our heart.

Let me tell you

something.

This is not

all there is.

And the Lord

Jesus Christ

is coming back

to take his bride,

the church,

to heaven.

Even so,

Lord Jesus,

quickly come.

I heard

this time last week

that the rapture

was going to take place

on this past

Tuesday and Wednesday.

Did y'all hear that?

Well,

I got news for you.

It didn't.

Okay?

If you're wondering,

it didn't.

And you know what?

If they come out

this week and say

it's going to happen

next week,

don't listen to it

because Jesus said

no man knows

the hour or day

but he tells us

to be ready.

I mean,

listen,

we live in a

fascinating time

because we live

in a time

between the coming

of the Holy Spirit

and Acts chapter 2

Acts 2 · chapter mention

when now

because through salvation

we can now

be indwelled

with the Spirit

of God

and at the same time

we come before,

we live now

before the coming

of the Lord Jesus

as emphasized

in 1 Thessalonians

1 Thessalonians 4 · chapter mention

chapter 4.

So now

it's a time

to fast

because we need

prayer that is

real

and intense

and means

something to us.

However,

it's also a time

to celebrate

because thank God

Christ is here.

He walks

among us.

He lives

within us.

We need to live

with joy

in our hearts.

We need to smile,

have smiles

on our faces

and if we

have had an

encounter

with Christ,

if we

have been

changed by Christ

and we have

an anticipation

in our eyes

of Christ,

the free

opportunity

to come to Christ

is before us.

I'm thankful

for that.

Romans 10

Romans 10:13

verse 13

says,

for everyone

who calls

upon the name

of the Lord

will be

saved.

It's not

time for

dead religion.

It's not

time to throw

Jesus in the

mix

or to

sew him

into the

pattern of

your life.

No,

no,

the gospel

of Jesus

Christ

is exclusive.

It's not

mixed in

like patchwork.

It's not

dead.

it's not

gloomy.

It's time

to leave

behind what

needs to

go,

folks.

It's time

for us

to go

with God

with what

he would

have for

us.

Let's quit

being selfish

about the

things that

we're trying

to cling

to and

instead

sell out

and follow

him.

It's time.

The opportunity

is now and

I don't want

us to miss

it.

Let's spend

the rest

of our

days

celebrating

our

Savior

and then

celebrating

with our

Savior

for all

of

eternity.

I got

news for

you.

The greatest

opportunity that

you'll ever

have in your

life

is to give

your heart

and life

to the

Lord Jesus

Christ.

It's the

greatest

opportunity that

we'll ever

have.

And when you

do that,

and I'm not

talking about

God get me

out of a

hole.

God pay

this bill

for me.

God will

you straighten

somebody out

for me.

I'm talking

about lock,

stock,

and barrel

folks.

As

imperfect

as I am

oh God,

I give

myself to

you today.

and I ask

you to

forgive me

for what

I've done

wrong.

And I ask

you to come

into my

life and

to change

me.

Like new

wine in

a fresh

wine skin.

Oh dear

God, will

you implant

your spirit

within me

and help

me to live

this day

forward for

your honor

and glory?

I'll do it

imperfectly,

but from

this day

forward,

I want

to live

for you.

I don't

care if

you've been

in church

all your

life or

you've

never

been

in

church.

I don't

care if

you're a

member of

this church

and in

leadership

or you've

never been

in this

church.

If you've

never surrendered

your life to

the Lord

Jesus Christ,

today's the

day of

salvation.

Just give

up and

give in

faith.

Don't

trust him.

Don't

trust some

frame of

religion.

Don't

trust some

ideology.

Trust Jesus.

He'll

change your

life.

And if he

has, other

folks ought to

know it.

It ought to

show on our

face and we

ought to publicly

profess our

faith.

faith.

And Jesus

by his

example and

by his

commission

tells us to

do that

through

baptism.

That's the

first step of

obedience for

the new

Christian is

to be

baptized.

If you've

never been

baptized as a

believer,

that's a

hindrance in

your life.

You come,

say,

preacher, I

need to be

baptized.

We're not

doing it this

morning, but

we'll line

that up and

we'll publicly

acknowledge your

faith before

others.

Maybe God's

drawing you to

First Baptist

Church.

This is the

place where he'd

have you to

serve.

And if that

be the case,

just obey him,

just trust him.

We'll guide you

through that

process, but

just trust him.

Just be

obedient to what

he tells you

to do.

And then there's

a possibility that

maybe someone

here that says,

you know what?

I've given my

life to Christ,

and I know that

God's calling me to

do more for him.

He's calling me to

serve him in a

ministry capacity.

I dedicate myself

today to surrender

my life to the

call of God upon

my life.

I wouldn't

encourage it of

anybody who don't

have a call upon

their life by the

Lord and clear,

but if it's clear

and you know it,

you'll never be

satisfied doing

anything else

except following

the Lord Jesus.

And I'll be honest

with you, that

goes for anything

and everything that

he's placed upon

your heart and

life today.

If you'll just

trust him, lay it

down here.

Make these steps

a makeshift altar.

Have a pastor pray

for you.

Do it where you'll

stand in a moment.

Whatever.

Whatever it is you

need to give to God.

Let's sell out.

Let's give it all.

I don't need you,

God, to fit into my

framework.

I'm not trying to

patch my life with you.

I give myself to you.

That's the exclusive

gospel of Jesus Christ.

God, to be honest.

And that's what

changes lives.

With every head bowed

and every eye closed,

if God spoke to you

about any of those

matters this morning,

I will never ask you

to do more than what

God tells you to do.

And I'll never,

well, I'll try my best

and I'll never let you

be satisfied with doing

anything less than that.

You just trust God

today.

And do what God

tells you to do.

Heavenly Father,

as we stand and sing

in just a moment,

help us to simply

be obedient to follow

your will and your way

in every way

in all of our lives.

Lead us right now,

oh God, we pray.

In Jesus' name, amen.