Sermon

When Jesus Was Angry | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Gospel of Mark Bible Study Series)

Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

Open publisher episode ↗

Publisher transcript

Transcript

View source ↗
  1. Jesus said, when you see these things begin to take place

  2. straighten up, Lift up your head for your Redemption draws, nigh.

  3. And so, I am not among those who sees the calamities of our time

  4. and say, yeah, we've been through this before, actually,

  5. we haven't. Paul told Timothy to things

  6. would be bad and they would only get worse.

  7. And so though, they may have familiar themes.

  8. They will intensify in their evil and in their influence.

  9. And so you and I have every right to say, my Redemption is

  10. coming near. My Redemption is almost 9:00 it

  11. is here. Very soon.

  12. And I want to be found faithful, I hope you feel the same way and

  13. so let's equip ourselves by God's word and Mark chapter 3

    Mark 3 chapter mention

  14. together. We read this passage last week.

  15. We're revisiting it this week. Because there's just so much in

  16. it for us to contemplate. Lord, as we come to this chapter

  17. in The Gospel of Mark. Sanctify us.

  18. Lord. Our hearts need you.

  19. Our minds need you. We are so weak and we confess it

  20. gladly because you are strong in our weakness.

  21. And you are gracious. Help us, learn help us.

  22. Apply help us worship. Help us obey and Jesus name we

  23. pray. Amen.

  24. First one again, he entered the synagogue and a man was there

  25. with a withered hand and they watched Jesus to see whether he

  26. would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him and

  27. he said to the man with the withered hand come here and he

  28. said to them is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm

  29. to sit to save life, or to kill, but they were silent and he

  30. looked around them with anger. Grieved at their Hardness of

  31. Heart and said to the man stretch out your hand, he

  32. stretched it out and his hand was restored, the Pharisees went

  33. out and immediately held counsel with the herodians against them,

  34. how to destroy him. The synagogue is more full than

  35. it was a custom to the miracle-working rabbi from

  36. Nazareth is in town and he is standing in the midst of this

  37. assembly who have gathered for the Sabbath, his disciples.

  38. Excited sitting by him closely anticipating that he is going to

  39. do something wonderful. They've been used to his

  40. leadership up to this point when Jesus comes to a place he is

  41. unafraid of speaking the truth and he has unparalleled power

  42. And across from their leader sits a man sheepishly. as he is

  43. there to worship but his hand is withered handicapped disabled

  44. broken and he does not realize that in a brief moment, his life

  45. is going to be radically altered And so on.

  46. This sabbath day, in this specific congregation, there was

  47. a particular atmosphere a strange one.

  48. The air was filled with excitement and yet, it was also

  49. mingled with tension because on the scene were the Pharisees

  50. sitting on the edges of their seat hoping and waiting for

  51. Jesus to do something that in their minds would break the law

  52. so that they can smear his Reputation.

  53. And hopefully even indict him. And so with the see now before

  54. us a fresh, I hope that you are prepared to behold something of

  55. the Majesty, magnificence of the Lord Jesus Christ.

  56. Last week, you and I took this text and we saw how the three

  57. parties who were in that house of worship.

  58. Provide, a wonderful illustration of just, some of

  59. the reasons why people come to houses of worship today and what

  60. they should be doing in some cases when they come to the

  61. house of worship and so like Jesus, we must Just come to the

  62. Fellowship of the Brethren ready to serve.

  63. Not looking for the best seat, like the Pharisees, but looking

  64. for the best in others. And for others, and we ought to

  65. come to the house of worship. Just like this man who was

  66. withered, but he was worshipful. Come in your Brokenness.

  67. Don't isolate yourself, don't Reserve yourself, don't hide

  68. yourself. Throw yourself into the presence

  69. of God's people and allow the hands and feet of.

  70. Jesus to bring healing to your soul, our Brokenness varies, but

  71. our solution is the same Christ Works in and through his body.

  72. Therefore, you must be with his body to know his power.

  73. And lastly, I pray that there is not even one person in this

  74. place who will ever remain in the place of what being like the

  75. Pharisees, who knew enough about Jesus, who watched Jesus, who

  76. studied Jesus, who knew the ways of Jesus enough to be saved a

  77. thousand times over but never came to saving faith.

  78. I hope that you are now among those who will say to Jesus on

  79. that day, Lord, we ate and drank in your presence, you taught in

  80. our streets. And he will say, I do not know

  81. where you came from, just because you hang out with

  82. Christians and you like to have potlucks at churches, doesn't

  83. mean that you will be saved. With all of this here before us,

  84. we still have much more to learn.

  85. The Holy Spirit has so much yet to say in this text, especially

  86. with the gospel of Mark because in Mark's gospel, he has a

  87. detail significant detail about the Lord Jesus Christ that Luke

  88. and Matthew have not etched in their versions and we will

  89. discover that today it's something about Jesus that that

  90. we for some reason do not see clearly in the word of God and I

  91. believe it's because of an imbalance view of who God is.

  92. We will do this by coming to this tax and looking at three

  93. things about the Lord, Jesus Christ, three things about his

  94. heart and the first thing is the heart behind his commands.

  95. The second thing is the heart behind his confrontation.

  96. And lastly, his heart. As he sees the callousness and

  97. some. And so, we looked at verse 1 and

  98. 2. Last week, let's look at verse 3

  99. and 6. We see here that Jesus said to

  100. the man, with a withered hand, come here in this place, not

  101. knowing how much time has passed.

  102. Jesus now breaks, the silence. He breaks the Silence by

  103. speaking up and took control of the situation and the Lord did

  104. not give a length. Discourse.

  105. You didn't give a powerful Parable at least at this point.

  106. Mark tells us that he turns his attention to this man with a

  107. withered hand. And he says, two simple words

  108. come here That is a command and that is a command worthy of

  109. reflection. But before we go into that

  110. realize that in these verses in this scene, we actually have two

  111. commands. Jesus gives to commands to the

  112. same man and when we actually just just look at what these

  113. commands say and what they mean we will know something about the

  114. nature of the lordship of Jesus Christ.

  115. Even over us the first we saw it in verse 3.

  116. He said come here. Then you scroll down to verse 5

  117. and we see in the middle of verse 5u says, stretch out your

  118. hand to commands for the same person and again, it would do us

  119. good to realize that there's something behind these commands

  120. that deal with us. And if we would respond

  121. appropriately and understanding the nature of Jesus lordship, we

  122. will know what this man knew. What did he know, healing, what

  123. did he know, wholeness? What did he know life?

  124. This is what's available. This is surely for you.

  125. And I Now, when we understand that behind Christ orders and

  126. his charges is our good, our blessing, his glory, and he

  127. seeks to heal you, he seeks to heal you and what way?

  128. Well, look at Matthews version. Go to Matthew chapter 12 and

    Matthew 12 chapter mention

  129. look at verse 13, So it shall be the same for us who trust and

  130. obey. In Matthew 12 13, we read after

  131. the man was healed. Look at this.

  132. Then he said to the man stretch out your hand and the man

  133. stretched it out and it was restored healthy like the other

  134. Matthew includes that detail healthy, like the other,

  135. implying, what? What, why would that even be

  136. given to us? Why is that even necessary?

  137. Because it's a statement that Jesus wants us to be completely

  138. whole. Completely whole, not partially

  139. Sanctified, not some aspects of your life that had been

  140. influenced by the work of the spirit and others that are still

  141. dead and by the flesh Christ wants to complete his work in

  142. you, he wants to bring fruit in every aspect of your existence

  143. and every Arena of your day-to-day life.

  144. And so if you long for that, if you yearn for that, if you're

  145. tired of saying, you know, yeah, like since I became a Christian

  146. this change but I could not shake this off.

  147. This is just something it's I guess.

  148. My nature to my culture. This is how we are.

  149. Forget that. Christ wants to come and do a

  150. complete work, make you completely whole and what that's

  151. going to require, is us to understand his commands and what

  152. is required of us and responding to those commands.

  153. And we will arrive to the fullness of the life of the

  154. spirit. And so, let's examine these two

  155. commands. Shall we the first one in verse

  156. 3, come here, What's so significant about that?

  157. Well, this man was obviously sitting in a way in the

  158. synagogue that he was outside of the full view of the

  159. congregation and so Jesus and wanting to display his power

  160. before all, who were there brought him into the center of

  161. the room, come here and what's amazing is when Jesus says, come

  162. here, he did not see it necessary to explain what he was

  163. going to do. You didn't say come here because

  164. he just told them what to do come here and this man who has

  165. silently compliant gets up, and I'm sure there was thoughts

  166. going on in his mind as he was taking those few small steps,

  167. what's this all about? He listened.

  168. And I wonder if it's because Jesus taught in the synagogue

  169. and this man realized there's something different about this

  170. man in comparison to the teachers who have walked through

  171. this place. And I wonder if it was the

  172. authority and the compassionate with the power that compelled

  173. and convince them to trust in his voice, come here.

  174. All right, and so he comes and he approaches Jesus and Jesus is

  175. going to do something wonderful for him.

  176. And I want you to understand that there is a lesson here,

  177. even in these two words, when we understand the lordship of Jesus

  178. Christ, Our obedience to him, should never ever be influenced

  179. by our inability to perceive what will happen on the other

  180. side of that. Yes.

  181. Our obedience to Jesus should never be influenced by our

  182. inability to see what will this bring about in my life?

  183. If I say yes. Or if I say no, there are many

  184. who feel this Unholy, hesitation to actually follow Jesus and

  185. particular, instructions for their lives and they'll

  186. Christians have this General understanding.

  187. Yes, trust and Obey for, there's no other way.

  188. God will bless your life if you walk in his ways.

  189. For some reason, that's not enough to give him the

  190. confidence to actually move forward when it comes to real

  191. life situations. And so these crashing thoughts

  192. come in different ways. Well what if what if my friends

  193. see me as a fanatic? What if my co-workers realize

  194. that I'm so serious about Jesus that they begin to criticize and

  195. even determine the environment of my day-to-day job?

  196. What if, what if I do, what Jesus said and lovingly

  197. confront, a brother or sister, that I will make this

  198. relationship that I cherish awkward.

  199. Right? What if my faithfulness cost me,

  200. fine? She lost what, what if I preach

  201. in a certain way and people don't come like the church,

  202. right? All these thoughts.

  203. All these hesitations but I want to tell you something, Jesus

  204. does not owe us a personalized outline of what will happen if

  205. you just trust him. He doesn't.

  206. He doesn't owe us anything. He doesn't have any reason to

  207. tell us this will play out in this way because that's not what

  208. obedience is about. The sole motivation for our

  209. total submission to the sovereignty of Jesus and the

  210. Simplicity of his word is what I'm just doing.

  211. What he told me to do. It's a simple as that.

  212. No matter what comes out of it, no matter what comes out of it,

  213. knowing that I've done my part in obeying him suffice us

  214. whether it's praise or persecution promotion, or

  215. eviction life or death, Smiles, her frowns.

  216. When Jesus has come here, I will come.

  217. And when he says go there, I will go. and I will trust that

  218. the reward or the lack thereof, in this life will be his

  219. bidding, his doing, not mine, You see that in so many ways in

  220. the Bible, I think of the Apostle.

  221. Paul one day, he's thrown into prison with Silas.

  222. There they are chained hand and foot and they begin to pray and

  223. sing and that Midnight Hour. And what does God do?

  224. He brings an earthquake. I would like a few earthquakes

  225. in my life, he shakes things up the prison doors, swing open and

  226. the Jailer who was on shift that night gets saved and not just

  227. him but his household Glory. And another time he gets

  228. arrested by me, Paul was a frequent visitor to prisons, but

  229. this time he's not leaving prison According to second

  230. Timothy without his head being cut off.

  231. God was glorified in both ways. I loved that story goes, He

  232. three Hebrew boys. We were talking about them.

  233. We're hearing about it through Pastor, Daniel just a couple

  234. weeks ago and I'm paraphrasing, but they looked at

  235. Nebuchadnezzar, they said, okay, do what you want.

  236. We're not doing what you say, throw us in the fire, and if God

  237. Saves us, he says he doesn't. We're not doing what you're

  238. going to tell us to do those. Men were worried to be those

  239. guys were ready to be rather cooked alive.

  240. And instead, they were promoted. You can't determine these

  241. things. All you can determine is, I will

  242. trust what he says. He does have to explain what my

  243. life is going to look like if I do it.

  244. I will just trust and Obey but we come back here to the second

  245. command in verse 5, stretch out your hand.

  246. Stretch out your hand, what a strange command to give somebody

  247. who is incapable of doing the very thing that was asked of

  248. him. This man's hand was paralyzed.

  249. And here's, Jesus telling him to move and extend it Forward

  250. impossible. It doesn't make sense.

  251. The man doesn't have life, he doesn't have ability.

  252. He doesn't have the grace to be able to do this simple thing, no

  253. matter how much he wanted to do it.

  254. And yet Jesus in his lordship in his Is them in his grace.

  255. Looks at this man and he says, would you stretch it out?

  256. and we look at this, and we think, How can Jesus asked this

  257. man to do something that he could not do?

  258. And that's how many Believers feel about many of the commands

  259. of Jesus. Impossible.

  260. Lord, how is it that I look at these truths and I hear what the

  261. preacher saying you're asked me to live like this.

  262. You're asking to be sexually pure, I can't even walk a week

  263. without indulging in filth. You're asking me to, to be

  264. genuinely free from bitterness and to forget what people have

  265. done in the sense of forgiving them.

  266. Though, I may rehearse it in the paint is still really asking me

  267. to actually go beyond just forgiving but loving such people

  268. that if they're in the shop at my front door and ask for a

  269. meal, or ask for help because their car broke down.

  270. You want me to actually extend Greys?

  271. You want me to Rejoice? Always, I can even Rejoice at

  272. all. Rejoice.

  273. Always. I'm trying to be a Godly mother.

  274. I'm trying to be a Godly wife, but it would be really easy.

  275. If you gave me a better husband or better children, And you're

  276. asking me to do this with nothing in view of return with

  277. no help here. Huh.

  278. But here's the hoping this miracle that applies to our

  279. spiritual paralysis. The glory of Jesus Christ being

  280. Lord, is that he always enables us to do that which we cannot

  281. exercise in our own strength. That's the point of this miracle

  282. stretch out your hand and this man.

  283. As he did it, with the little effort of faith that he had

  284. would sense, an infusion of power that would make it

  285. possible. Jesus is not a cruel master that

  286. dishes out unrealistic, prescriptions and smiles while

  287. you painfully perform. He is an empowering Savior and

  288. all he says is give me your faith and I will give you my

  289. power. That is the glory of the Gospel

  290. of Jesus Christ. And it's it's a truth woven from

  291. cover to cover in this Bible, especially when you seek to

  292. understand your inheritance in the New Covenant, what Jesus,

  293. blood purchase for you and tapping into that power to live

  294. and walk as he walked as we sang.

  295. And here's an example that we have before us.

  296. Let me give you another one, not with a man with his hand.

  297. But with a man with his feet in the Old Testament, want to this

  298. bless me when I read it and I just chewed on it for days.

  299. How is it that this man? Experience is disgrace in the

  300. old Covenant and I myself would dare to even complain that these

  301. things in the Christian Journey are not realistic.

  302. Go to Ezekiel chapter 2 verse 1. I want you to see this with your

    Ezekiel 2:1

  303. own eyes Ezekiel's in the presence of God.

  304. And a measure that was overwhelming.

  305. Like an unimaginably, holy atmosphere, and Ezekiel to after

  306. being thrown to the ground laying prostrate by the glory.

  307. That was before him. God calls us profit to do

  308. something so simple, but yet so impossible.

  309. Is he go to one? And he said to me, son of man,

  310. stand on your feet and I will speak with you.

  311. And as he spoke to me, the spirit entered into me, And set

  312. me on my feet and I heard him speaking to me.

  313. Stand on your feet and this servant of God cannot even lift

  314. his face. From the dust that his nose was

  315. buried in because of the Blazing Majesty of God.

  316. And yet God would say and commissioned him, get up.

  317. And here's how Ezekiel rights of his experience.

  318. Once I heard that command, that seems so impossible in that same

  319. moment. Immediately came a supernatural

  320. help that entered into me and lifted me up and place my feet

  321. on Solid Ground. And when you see that, you have

  322. to understand that that is a picture of what you and I have

  323. permanently in Jesus Christ. See what we celebrate as

  324. Christians. Is that the spirits enabling

  325. work is not reserved for some profits, or special Servants of

  326. God. Jesus purchased this access for

  327. all of us to know the energizing assisting work of the third

  328. person of the godhead, the holy spirit of God.

  329. This is what we have. This is what we sell, this is

  330. what we rejoice in Christ. Now made a way for the spirit

  331. not just to enter into me but the live in me, he sealed me and

  332. he's always ready to fill me and to help me.

  333. And to meet my meager efforts by bringing about such a Grace that

  334. I myself would give him glory for any kind of stride of

  335. Holiness and that's something that you have to believe.

  336. We need to recover the supernatural ality of our faith.

  337. We got so caught up with people criticizing us for not being

  338. rational or scientific. I believe we went to the Other

  339. Extreme and now we promote psychology and philosophy and we

  340. have almost drained this thing from the supernatural element of

  341. it. Christ can set you free, he

  342. really can. So here's my question to you

  343. brother. Here's my question to you,

  344. sister. What part of you is withered

  345. Yes, Christ. Did a work in.

  346. You praise the Lord, he saved you, Hallelujah.

  347. But what part of you is still lifeless that can't seem to

  348. become a branch where there's fruit hanging off of it, is it

  349. your lack of love. Is it your lack of patience?

  350. Is it your rage is your Purity? Is it your humility?

  351. What is it? That you need God to do.

  352. Well here's what I say to you. Stretch it forth by faith and

  353. choir of the spirit of God and ask him to infuse the power that

  354. you yourself. Could never ever, ever come to

  355. on your own and he will meet you there, he will meet you there.

  356. I'm not ashamed. To give such simple advice.

  357. I'm not ashamed because I see the simple promise here.

  358. I believe that Jesus. Purchase that for you and I that

  359. he can actually change you. It does not matter what your

  360. history is. It doesn't matter what

  361. generationally a pattern might have been, doesn't matter if

  362. you're a hot-blooded, middle easterner, doesn't matter.

  363. Christ can change. He sanctifies our personality,

  364. he can do something with your attitude, he can do something

  365. with your mindset. He can do something with your

  366. habits believe. Believe, we believe him by

  367. faith. And justification.

  368. Is that where it stops in Galatians, 3?

  369. Know your faith continues in your sanctification.

  370. What you have begun in the spirit?

  371. Continue in the spirit. Paul says, don't rely on the

  372. power of the flesh. There is no power in the flesh.

  373. Give yourself to the holy spirit's work.

  374. A great price has been paid for us to tap into such a mercy.

  375. So we see these things with these two commands.

  376. Do we not? Come here, availed command.

  377. That doesn't, give us all the details, but such as the nature

  378. of Christ leadership. He doesn't owe you any

  379. explanation. Just know who he is, and let him

  380. lead the way and it stretch forth your hand.

  381. Whatever, you deem impossible. Whatever you see that seems to

  382. be such a challenge. He is right there behind every

  383. command. With a promise to help you.

  384. Every single time, this is the heart behind Jesus commands.

  385. As we see here, let us now move forward to the heart behind this

  386. confrontation. In verse 4 of Mark chapter 3 and

    Mark 3 chapter mention

  387. he said to them. Now he's looking at the

  388. Pharisees. He takes his attention away from

  389. this man. I wonder if he was hiding his

  390. hand. I wonder if he was showing his

  391. hand to give Jesus a clue that he wants to be healed regardless

  392. Jesus. Oh, with that Authority.

  393. But that Authority. What a man Jesus was come here.

  394. This man moves into the crowd and he comes forward and he

  395. looks at this man oozing with compassion.

  396. Then he looks at the Pharisees, I'm sure they were maybe sitting

  397. on either side and he asked them a question, is it lawful on the

  398. To do good or to do harm to save life or to kill and Luke 68.

  399. You'd have to turn. There we are.

  400. Told that Jesus knew their thoughts.

  401. So he knew why they were sitting there.

  402. He knew exactly why they attended on that day to witness

  403. a miracle. Yes.

  404. But not for the same reason that you and I would want to see

  405. Jesus heal somebody, right that's out of desire and love

  406. and compassion. These men wanted to try to find

  407. a reason. To criminalize him evil,

  408. ambition to condemn him for breaking one of their silly

  409. traditions. And so the Lord asked the

  410. question. It's really a brilliant

  411. question. He says, is it lawful on the

  412. Sabbath to do good or to do harm to save life or to kill you?

  413. Can't like either way you answer that you're gonna look like a

  414. fool, what you gonna say? It's evil to do good.

  415. It's evil to save lives, they don't know.

  416. They can't and that's why they are literally silent.

  417. The breath has been sucked out of them, but it's even deeper

  418. than that. Deeper than that.

  419. Because this is what Jesus is saying, knowing their thoughts.

  420. He knows that they're there to kill him.

  421. Are these trying to reason, find a reason to kill him?

  422. And so, in essence, what he's saying in this question is here,

  423. I am on the Sabbath wanting to heal this man and to do good to

  424. him. And here you are on the same

  425. Sabbath. And you want to kill me.

  426. Who's really fulfilling the law of God here?

  427. I want to restore this man. You want to destroy this man.

  428. Me. So who's really observing the

  429. heart of God behind the Sabbath? You are me?

  430. You can imagine that this simple question, created a deafening

  431. silence. I mean, if you thought it was

  432. tense before this, add the awkwardness, add the

  433. embarrassment on their part, add the fury and the anger that was

  434. just coming out of their ears. Actually, do you want to know

  435. how I know? They were angry.

  436. Go to Luke, and I'll tell you exactly why.

  437. And it's enlightening for us because I want to make a strong

  438. point with this. Luke 6.

  439. This is Luke's version and he says, and says, in verse 9 to 11

  440. And Jesus said to them, I ask you.

  441. Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good, or to do harm to save

  442. life, or to destroy it. And after looking around at

  443. them, notice you didn't mention the anger of Jesus will get to

  444. that in a moment. After looking around at them, he

  445. said to him, stretch out your hand and he did.

  446. So, and his hand was restored, but they were filled with Fury.

  447. They were filled with Fury and discuss with one another what

  448. they might do to Jesus, anger, frustration, vexed.

  449. How can this man speak to us in such a way?

  450. And I love it because what Jesus does here is what these guys try

  451. to do later on. Remember they try to Corner him

  452. it was so cute. And try to try to trick him and

  453. put him in a place where he couldn't answer.

  454. Like he did that to us as try to do it to him.

  455. Jesus did it so gracefully. So powerfully.

  456. So effortlessly, then when they try they just they just fail.

  457. It was embarrassing part 2. you know, I was reading this and as

  458. many ways you can go about this verse, but I was thinking about

  459. this, I made a comment last week, I don't know if you heard

  460. it. As you study the gospels you'll

  461. realize how much real estate, the Pharisees, take up and God's

  462. word. It's really interesting.

  463. I mean, the encounters with Jesus, even let the woes that

  464. Jesus has, I mean, they're they're from the, almost the

  465. beginning of his ministry to the end of it.

  466. And I thought to myself a very simple question, why why did the

  467. Holy Spirit Reserve so much about the details of what?

  468. Ferris, Liam looks like and and, and how it was so real in Jesus

  469. time. And so obvious in our Bibles And

  470. I came to think about in there are many reasons, but there is

  471. one clear statement that Jesus makes that proves to me, why the

  472. Holy Spirit has decided to enclose and keep these things

  473. for generations to come. You don't have to turn there,

  474. but just listen at one point in Mark, he doesn't in different

  475. gospel accounts, he looks at his own disciples Jesus and Mark 8

  476. and verse 15. And he says, watch out.

  477. This is what Jesus says, watch out for what, Beware of the

  478. leaven of the Pharisees and of the leaven of Herod.

  479. Jesus warned his own disciples don't let the leaven creep into

  480. your life. The leaven of the Pharisees and

  481. that leaven is not just speaking about false Doctrine.

  482. A speaking about hypocrisy hypocrisy, He's warning his own

  483. people. I'm telling you to be careful.

  484. It is easy to slip into. Superficial spirituality, it's

  485. easy, my disciples for you to become frauds.

  486. To adopt external religiosity but to have no power of

  487. godliness in you. So watch out.

  488. And so I look at that statement, I think to myself, is it

  489. possible that the reason why we have so much about Pharisees,

  490. what they do, how they think for the reason that Jesus stated,

  491. because he wants to warn his people not to be like them.

  492. And if we want to know whether we are like them, he has all

  493. these examples, all these interactions all these insights,

  494. so that throughout the generations, I would look at my

  495. Bible and see. Am I a Pharisee?

  496. Am I a Pharisee? You know what the common picture

  497. of a Pharisee is two people long robes.

  498. Long beards incense, Bells Traditions over God's word,

  499. okay? But have you ever thought about

  500. this concerning a Pharisee? One of the marks of somebody

  501. being a Pharisee is that they are easily offended by the

  502. truth. Oh yeah, so now the picture is

  503. enlarged, right? You don't believe me.

  504. That's okay. Don't believe me.

  505. Believe Jesus, in Matthew, 15 turn there with me because what

  506. you see here in Mark chapter 3, is a common characteristic of a

    Mark 3 chapter mention

  507. Pharisee. so, we think Pharisees are those who come from

  508. traditional backgrounds, I'll show you what the Holy Spirit

  509. tells us what a Pharisee looks like.

  510. In Matthew 15 12. Then the disciples came and said

  511. to him. Do you know that the Pharisees

  512. were offended? When they heard the saying, He

  513. answered every plant that my heavenly father has not planted,

  514. will be routed up, let them alone, I love that.

  515. Jesus didn't go around chasing offended, people, let them

  516. alone, they are blind guides. And if the blind lead, the

  517. blind, both will fall into a pit.

  518. There it is. One of the marks of being a

  519. Pharisees that you are easily offended by a truth that you

  520. don't like. Disciple said, Jesus, probably

  521. concerned that perhaps Jesus should be on good terms with the

  522. religious leaders of his day. Hey, Jesus.

  523. Do you realize after Sunday morning the whole roll of

  524. Pharisees left upset, after what you said in your sermon?

  525. They're all talking to you see the fuming, there they're upset.

  526. She's like, yeah, let him alone. They're blind.

  527. And whoever follows them is blind also.

  528. And I look at this and I thought, wow, maybe there are

  529. more Pharisees than I thought. Because a Pharisee claims to

  530. know the truth and love the truth.

  531. But is agitated when the word exposes a particular wrong that

  532. is found in a habit or a belief that they've held on to for so

  533. long. That's a Pharisee.

  534. The Pride cannot acknowledge that they're wrong.

  535. My brother my sister, how do you respond?

  536. Never mind from a sermon standpoint but when a brother or

  537. sister sits with you and opens God's word and says this is out

  538. of line. They cannot accept how God would

  539. ever disagree with them, especially with the things that

  540. they think is harmless or tolerable Pharisee.

  541. The mark of a true child of God and relationship to the word is

  542. that whatever is presented before them.

  543. If they know, it's God's will, if it's clear then they joyfully

  544. accept it even if it stings at first.

  545. I embrace it. If it's God's will God's word,

  546. God's wisdom, God's precepts. I embrace it, I want it, I will

  547. surrender to it. One of the ways that you and

  548. we've talked about this at Maranatha that you can actually,

  549. decipher between false and true. Spirituality is very simple.

  550. How does that person engage and respond to the word of God?

  551. That's all you need to know, because that's the foundational

  552. thing. Even when Paul is teaching the

  553. church in Corinth, he ends one of his arguments that would

  554. today be deemed as controversial.

  555. And you know what he says? And First Corinthians 14, don't

  556. turn their verse 37. Listen to these words.

  557. He says if anyone Things that he is a prophet or spiritual, he

  558. should acknowledge that these things.

  559. I am writing to you are a command of the Lord because so

  560. so yes. Some people in Corinth that were

  561. going around saying what Jesus told me and I'm and look at my

  562. gifts. So this this is this has to be

  563. right? And Paul says, hold up.

  564. Let's just, let's just deal with this.

  565. If anybody is really a profit. If anybody is really spiritual,

  566. they will hear what I say from this letter and they would

  567. acknowledge that this is from God and then they I will submit

  568. to it. And you know what, the context

  569. of this is when Paul said it woman's role in the church.

  570. That was the context. And I think that is a very, very

  571. applicable truth in our day. Today, when you have so many

  572. people are going around saying, well, Jesus appeared to me in

  573. Jesus told me, and Jesus did this.

  574. And Jesus, if you're really spiritual, the word is what you

  575. will submit to. No matter what, what your

  576. experience was, no matter what your denomination says, no

  577. matter how much you were requested, this not matter.

  578. Pharisaism and Pharisees are offended by the truth.

  579. They cannot tolerate it. Do they?

  580. Yes with lip service, acknowledge it.

  581. But when it touches a nerve, haha, They pull back, Jesus

  582. heart behind his confrontation. You know what?

  583. The Lord wants to do in you and me, I believe that there is

  584. something here. About the Heart of Jesus behind

  585. his teaching, he always wants to save us from hypocrisy really.

  586. And I want to be like Jesus, if Jesus was at leader and a

  587. teacher, I want to be like Jesus.

  588. And what way I want to first look at my own life and make

  589. sure there's no leaven of hypocrisy and I want to exhort

  590. others to do the same. Be free from it flee from it.

  591. So you want to know God's heart. Whenever you hear a word that

  592. might be strong, he wants to save you.

  593. And I from the leaven of the Pharisees, he absolutely hates

  594. hypocrisy. I You Don't See Jesus.

  595. Dedicating a chapter in Matthew woing over prostitutes and tax

  596. collectors, but religious people.

  597. Oh, woe to you woe to you. That says something there's

  598. Greater Grace for prostitutes and drug dealers and gang

  599. members and pimps. Than people who put on a

  600. religious face when in reality they're fake.

  601. The heart of Christ in its confrontation lovingly is to

  602. save us to cleanse us, to wash us from that Levin that so

  603. easily can come in and make us like a Pharisee, and you don't

  604. need the robe with a long beard. Either the heart of Christ

  605. behind his commands, the heart of Christ behind his

  606. confrontation, the heart of Christ.

  607. When he sees callousness in our hearts, First 5 of Mark, 3.

  608. And he looked around at them with anger.

  609. Grieved at their Hardness of Heart.

  610. I'm sure you would agree that marks writing style up to this

  611. point has been very fast pace, he loves to jump from one scene

  612. to the next. She loves to use that word

  613. immediately but it's as though the Holy Spirit does something

  614. in this one verse. It says though he puts this on

  615. slow motion, And he slows the vehicle down so to speak so that

  616. we can look into the window and through the window of God's

  617. word, and take our time to digest the details of this

  618. portrait. Jesus looked at them.

  619. Angry And he was grieved. You know, I read that, and I

  620. read that, and I read that in every single time I read that I

  621. cannot help, but feel the force of that picture, it almost makes

  622. me just step back and I wonder what his face look like.

  623. Doesn't look like the common paintings that you see on walls

  624. today, I could tell you that Jesus just staring out into the

  625. distance. Know when you see Jesus here,

  626. whoever the eyewitness was the help Mark, right this.

  627. Yes by the spirit that person knew hey Jesus on that day

  628. didn't say a word and we all knew he was angry.

  629. He was angry that his eyes, widen that his nostrils, they

  630. extend. That is the the something

  631. happened with his face that had become a frown.

  632. What was it? All I know from this is that

  633. there is a penetrating gaze that pierced in that synagogue and as

  634. I look at this, I think to myself What we're going to hear

  635. today is probably some of that you're not going to hear very

  636. often on a Sunday morning service especially in any

  637. service for that matter. Jesus gets angry.

  638. Jesus gets angry and we could praise God.

  639. That isn't get angry for the reasons that we do generally

  640. speaking, but that doesn't make his anger, any less intense, if

  641. anything, it makes it more Fierce because his anger is

  642. Holy. It's pure.

  643. It's a reflection of his righteousness.

  644. There is a fine line between righteous anger and unrighteous

  645. and a very fine line. But when it's righteous anger is

  646. actually to a degree a manifestation of what you love.

  647. What you're angry about can reveal either your pride your

  648. selfishness, you're undisciplined attitude, your

  649. lack of dependency on the Holy Spirit or it can show that you

  650. hate what? God hates.

  651. And it moves you to action righteous action.

  652. And I want to tell you that although hearing on a Sunday

  653. afternoon especially as we heard earlier that, this world is very

  654. angry may be hearing that Jesus gets angry is not the most

  655. edifying thing. But I can guarantee you, if you

  656. understand why he gets angry, you'll love him even more,

  657. you'll love him even more. Why did Jesus get angry?

  658. We're told at their Hardness of Heart.

  659. He saw their thoughts, he read their minds.

  660. And his heart was angered by their heart, and here's the

  661. thing, unfortunately, the majority of our anger is stirred

  662. by our selfishness, right? We don't get our own way.

  663. We get upset at minor inconveniences.

  664. We don't get the attention that we think we deserve.

  665. There's a, there's a sense in which it's my way or no way.

  666. And if it doesn't happen my way, I get all flared up.

  667. That's not Jesus. Rarely do people even God's

  668. people get angry for the same reason Jesus Does.

  669. And one of the most explicit versus of Jesus being angry.

  670. And we're we being told informed that Jesus was angry was

  671. connected to an insensitive and on an unbelieving heart of

  672. another. This is, this is what this is

  673. what caused him to look with such a fierce penetrating stare.

  674. I wonder if it was for an extended amount of time that

  675. made them feel uncomfortable, but understand this, Jesus is

  676. anger. He's very patient.

  677. This was not his first interaction with these

  678. Pharisees. How many times has he rebuked

  679. them? How many time has he taught him?

  680. How many times has he displayed his power before them?

  681. And yet, time and time? Again, resist time.

  682. And time again, reject, refuse and it's come to a point now

  683. where Christ and seeking to even redirect the Pharisees Minds?

  684. Do you think Jesus was Engaging with these Pharisees, just to

  685. win an argument. We read an ax last week that

  686. Jesus and his gospel Sate, some who belonged to the party of the

  687. Pharisees. Yes, Christ even wants to save a

  688. Pharisee. And Jesus here, with his anger

  689. has reached a point where their unbelief was was dangerous.

  690. Very dangerous because when a person grows in their rejection

  691. to a truth, the truth that they are continually exposed by and

  692. to their only in curing a growing anger on The Lord Of

  693. Love who desires to woo, their souls to be saved.

  694. There just comes a point where after all that God says, and all

  695. that God does in your life and you continue to say no to him

  696. and turn your back on him, that are righteous anger arises.

  697. And there is something called it's a theological term in the

  698. Bible called the judicial hardening Israel's going through

  699. it right now that when you continue to refuse refuse,

  700. reject reject, that God will accompany that personal Harding

  701. that you are responsible for by finishing the job for you.

  702. You want to stay there? Stay there.

  703. We don't know where that line is.

  704. I wouldn't play with it. That's why the Bible says today

  705. is the day of salvation. Jesus looks at their hearts and

  706. he's angry angry at their unbelief, but angry at the

  707. unbelief that caused them to be insensitive to others in

  708. Matthews version, Jesus gives a little teaching.

  709. He says, you're willing to actually go and help a sheep

  710. that falls into a pit on the Sabbath, but not help a brother

  711. who's suffering. How skewed can you be in your

  712. religiosity? And so what angers Jesus that

  713. also is when we lack that compassion for others and and

  714. our faith, cause us to be more self-righteous and treat others

  715. with contempt, this angered is hard, Jesus gets angry at evil.

  716. And we should be to, this is the plague of Our Generation.

  717. This is the plague of modern Christianity, don't get upset,

  718. be neutral, don't call things out.

  719. Jesus intentionally. Disrupted their tradition.

  720. He intentionally did it. If you wanted to heal and

  721. secret, he would have met the man behind the synagogue and

  722. heal them uses a a come here. Come here, he was

  723. confrontational and he was holy and doing it.

  724. And we have to understand that there is something that is

  725. needed today. That same holy confrontation.

  726. So Jesus here is angry at evil and there's nothing that can be

  727. more evil than rejecting, the gospel that seeks to save evil

  728. men. And so we see the reason for it.

  729. But look notice the grief with it.

  730. And he looked around at them with anger grieved at their

  731. Hardness of Heart. You know what that means?

  732. There is genuine deep sincere sadness, That seems like a

  733. contradiction. But it's not for Jesus, at

  734. least, because he's holy, he's filled with love with this

  735. anger. There was a sorrow and I believe

  736. the sorrow is because in realizing the hardness of their

  737. hearts, he also knew the fate of their constant Rebellion against

  738. God. He knew what this was going to

  739. lead to. He knew the Eternal damnation

  740. that they would receive because of the attitude that they were

  741. entertaining in that moment. And so, as much as he was angry,

  742. he was also broken. There was a Pity there was,

  743. there was a deep sense of Mercy because he knew the cost of not

  744. following Jesus Christ. We always talk about the cost of

  745. following Jesus Christ. There's a greater cost of not.

  746. And limitations 3 verse 33. It says about the Lord for he

  747. does not afflict from his heart. He does not afflict from his

  748. heart or grieve. The children of men.

  749. You know what that means down deep inside God's ultimate

  750. desires for us to turn to him and be saved.

  751. He finds Greater Joy in redeeming than in judging.

  752. He finds greater Delight in seeing people saved from

  753. suffering than seeing people suffer even under his wrath.

  754. That is his preference. That is his desire, that is not

  755. to say that he will not judge, he will, and it will satisfy his

  756. Justice. But we do have an understanding

  757. the complexity of all of this. That if there was a choice on

  758. God's part, it would be to save and to see all come to

  759. repentance Spurgeon had a wonderful way of describing this

  760. moment and it's interesting because it sounds almost sounds

  761. almost unfamiliar. Spurgeon says, even when he

  762. grows angry with men, he is angry with them because they

  763. will not let him bless them. Interesting, isn't it?

  764. Because they will not let him bless them, because they will

  765. persevere in opposing him for reasons, which they cannot

  766. themselves support. And dare, not even own, you

  767. know, what made this even worse. I mean, Jesus presents a truth

  768. and they could not even defend their position and they still

  769. refuse Jesus Christ. Even when their arguments fell

  770. in, there was nothing to stand on.

  771. They still resisted him and this is what made him angry.

  772. How much more do I need to prove to you that you're wrong.

  773. And that I'm right. But Spurgeon goes beyond that

  774. and he says that the sorrow that Jesus knew was because he really

  775. wanted to bless them and their rejection of his lordship

  776. canceled that possibility and only encouraged judgment

  777. instead. That's that's God's heart.

  778. Can you imagine that? You might disagree with Spurgeon

  779. but I think he has something going on there.

  780. But I see something else in a very, very powerful way that is

  781. applicable to us. I don't just see the reason for

  782. his anger or the grief of his anchor.

  783. I see the control of his anger. Notice what he's what happens

  784. here? He looked around at them with

  785. anger grieved at their Hardness of Heart and then what happens

  786. and he said to the man stretch out your hand.

  787. Majestic control Mastery over his emotions.

  788. He did not lose his composure. Be angry and sin, not be angry

  789. and sin. Not and here's the Lord standing

  790. before these men infuriated by their unbelief and by their

  791. resistance and you know what Jesus doesn't do.

  792. It doesn't look at them and He doesn't curse underneath his

  793. breath. It isn't cussed them out, didn't

  794. give them a Unholy attitude or an Unholy.

  795. Look He channels that and he directed towards even greater

  796. compassion to this man. Here's the thing, I look at

  797. Jesus and I think to myself, if I'm going to follow him in all

  798. of his ways and I want to know how to be angry like him.

  799. Have you ever thought about that being angry like Jesus?

  800. No, emotion of Jesus ever interfered with his testimony or

  801. his obedient to the father. Remember that man, who was a

  802. leper? Jesus healed him says, don't go

  803. tell anybody. Just go to the priest and he

  804. goes tells everybody and doesn't go to the priest and we try to

  805. figure out why. That was maybe he was excited,

  806. maybe he was thrilled. Maybe you couldn't contain

  807. himself out of Joy but it's still led to Disobedience.

  808. Our emotions can lead us to Disobedience, especially the

  809. emotion, the feeling of anger. And yet Jesus here, We can feel

  810. that anger in that room without a word being said.

  811. Was also radiating, the fragrance of the spirit.

  812. I want to say something to you. I work of the spirit is seen

  813. here just as much as in the man who stretched forth his hand and

  814. in Ezekiel being stood on his feet.

  815. As full circle as a knot. As Christians.

  816. We feel I know some Christians don't like feelings and they

  817. don't want people to have feelings.

  818. I don't know what's wrong with you.

  819. Feelings are a gift, they're engaged.

  820. They shouldn't guide us, but they're a gift from God.

  821. Jesus felt very powerfully but he never permitted.

  822. What he felt to determine from pleasing, his father or

  823. dishonoring the father. He was in control.

  824. And this was a man who is as we know from The Book of Mark and

  825. example, of strew servanthood and the name of God. and I want

  826. you to know that in these days if you feel angry if you feel

  827. angry, why they ingest this and the evil around us and the

  828. corruption Be like Jesus and allow that feeling to lead you

  829. to do something of good service. Let that channel into something

  830. where you bear fruit just as he does here.

  831. And what happens the Pharisees and verse 6 went out and

  832. immediately held counsel with the herodians against them, how

  833. to destroy him. I don't want to speak about the

  834. herodians too much. But do you notice what I said

  835. about mark 8:15 that there isn't just a leaven of the Pharisees?

    Mark 8:15

  836. There's a leaven of Herod 11 of Herod.

  837. You know what the leaven of Herod is, you got to come to

  838. church next week and find out. Let's pray.

  839. I encourage you in this moment in silence.

  840. Not the silence like the Pharisees, who were infuriated

  841. with the truth. That was preached to them, but a

  842. Silence of adoration. To just meditate on these

  843. things. It's speak to the Lord as a

  844. response and ask him, maybe you don't even need to ask him for

  845. anything. Maybe he's just to worship him.

  846. Lord, you are beautiful. You are perfect in all of your

  847. ways. I thank you that you are angry

  848. at evil and that you will one day do something about evil.

  849. But I thank you. That even in your anger, you

  850. long, you long to see men and women turn to you and when they

  851. don't It Grieves, you. Because you want to save them

  852. and bless them. Lord.

  853. We thank you for this service. And we are moved by.

  854. By Your Word. It Lord in silence.

  855. We worship you. But we want to obey you when you

  856. say come we want to come when you say stretch out we want to

  857. stretch out, help us trust your word.

  858. Even though it might be a scary thing to move in obedience,

  859. especially in this day, help us believe and trust in your word.

  860. For the weak brother or sister. Let them know that your powers

  861. ready to meet their faith. So that they can walk and

  862. wholeness. Thank you, that Lord you love us

  863. enough to confront us to continually confront us to save

  864. us from the leaven of the Pharisees.

  865. We are not offended by your truth.

  866. We love your truth. It is honey to our lips water to

  867. our souls finer than gold. Even Feingold more precious than

  868. silver. Thank you that your word whether

  869. it's a rebuke or Comfort is our Delight.

  870. Save us from unrighteous anger. Help us be angry for the things

  871. that anger you and may it lead us to Greater Holiness, greater

  872. sacrifice, greater compassion, May our anger at the evil around

  873. us only cause us to preach this gospel more. at the serve, those

  874. who are undeserving even more Help us know a grief of

  875. Brokenness for sinners. Even a Brokenness for those who

  876. are in the church, but not in Christ to feel to feel

  877. absolutely sad. And for that to lead us to pray

  878. and to be faithful and preaching, truth, regardless of

  879. the lack of fruit. Low.

  880. It's so much before us today at this Feast.

  881. We thank you and we worship you. In Jesus name.

  882. Amen. Let's stand and Worship the Lord

  883. together.