Book of Mark Lesson 5

Well, welcome to Life in the Word, our verse by verse study of God's Word.

This is Pastor Brian, and we're continuing our study in the book of Mark, and we are tonight in chapter 3, the Book of Mark.

This episode we're about to look at completes a set of five escalating confrontations between Jesus and the religious leaders.

Together they summarize the points of tension leading to Jesus' resurrection and his ultimate death on a cross because the religious leaders, in their eyes, Jesus committed the following indiscretions in chapter 2.

He spoke as though he were God because he forgave the sins of the paralytic man.

He consorted with known sinners at Matthew's house.

He dared to question and challenge the long-standing tradition of required fasting, and he refused to call picking grain on the Sabbath an act of harvesting.

So the Pharisees were watching Jesus' every action on Sabbath days, anticipating that he would do something that would allow them to condemn him.

But in chapter 3, Jesus is going to thwart their plan by involving the religious leaders briefly in a decision about healing a man with a deformed hand.

And the anger of the Pharisees is going to drive them to break the Sabbath by spending time gathered together trying to meet, working on how to kill Jesus.

So look at chapter 3, verse 1.

Jesus went into the synagogue again, meaning most likely the synagogue in Capernaum, and noticed a man with a deformed hand.

Luke tells us in his writing that it was the man's right hand.

Verse 2, since it was the Sabbath, Jesus' enemies watched him closely.

If he healed the man's hand, they planned to accuse him of working on the Sabbath.

So these religious leaders allowed no healing on the Sabbath unless the person's life was in danger.

Healing, they argued, was practicing medicine, and a person could not practice his or her profession on the Sabbath.

But this is just pure foolish.

I mean, I understand the healing by a doctor, but not by God, the Creator, healing something that could never be done by anybody or anyone else.

It never could happen.

So these Pharisees didn't see this man as a man in need.

They saw only an opportunity to accuse Jesus as a Sabbath breaker.

It was more important for them to protect their laws than to free a person from suffering.

They defined the true meaning of hypocrisy.

In Matthew chapter 15, verse 7, Jesus speaks of them.

Matthew 15:7

He says, You hypocrites.

Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote, These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

And in the Greek, the word hypocrite originally meant actor.

They were playing, play acting the role of godly men.

I mean, the Pharisees knew a lot about God, but they had no relationship with him.

And sadly, this is also very prevalent in Christ's church today.

There's a lot of people with their heads full of knowledge, but they really have never had a relationship with God.

The trouble with hypocrites is that a lot of people are fooled by them, but surely God is not.

So now this man's condition was not life-threatening.

I mean, he's probably had it all his life.

He could have waited the next day to be healed.

Jesus could have said, Hey, come back and see me tomorrow, okay?

But Jesus, as Lord of the Sabbath, had the authority to overrule the Pharisees' traditions and regulations.

And if he had waited until the next day, he would have been submitting to the Pharisees' authority, showing that their petty rules were equal to God's law.

But God is a God of people, not rules.

Verse 3.

Jesus said to the man with the deformed hand, Come and stand in front of everyone.

So Jesus didn't avoid a confrontation with his adversaries.

Instead, he made a public display of this healing.

What's his point here?

Well, that he would not be bound by the Pharisees' burdensome laws, and that as God he could perform an act of kindness and healing even on the Sabbath.

Verse 4.

Then he turned to his critics and asked, Does the law permit good deeds on the Sabbath?

Or is it a day for doing evil?

Is this a day to save life or destroy it?

But they wouldn't answer him.

Why not?

Well, many of the religious leaders were so caught up in their human-made laws that they lost sight of what was good and right.

So they said nothing.

He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts.

Then he said to the man, Hold out your hand.

And so the man held it, held it, held held out his hand, and it was restored, completely restored.

So let me ask you, what is hard-heartedness rooted in?

These Pharisees were hard-hearted.

Well, it's rooted in pride.

Pride that can lead a person away from God.

Pride takes away our need for God.

It's the very opposite of servanthood.

And this explained Jesus' anger and grief at the hard-heartedness of these religious leaders.

And when the man held out his hand, it was completely restored.

And notice Jesus did nothing that could be called work.

I mean, this story is also found in Matthew and Luke.

And in all three instances, it says the man held out his hand and it was instantly healed.

See, Jesus didn't do anything.

He didn't start chanting, no hocus, pocus spell.

He said nothing.

He did nothing.

He just didn't start dancing around like the prophets of Baal did when trying to get their God to do a miracle.

It just happened.

His hand was perfect.

Clearly, this is the work of the Creator God.

There's no other options here.

So this man is healed.

He now has his life back.

He could work again.

He no longer had to face the embarrassment of his deformity.

In front of everyone in the synagogue, Jesus had healed him and also embarrassed and angered the religious leaders, revealing that they were more loyal to their religious system than to God.

I mean, if there had been newspapers in Jesus' day, the headlines would capture, would have captured this whole thing.

Superstar performs unbelievable miracle.

Pharisees speechless.

Verse 6.

At once the Pharisees went away and met with the supporters of Herod to plot how to kill Jesus.

So they're outrage.

Jesus had openly confronted their authority and placed himself above them in front of everybody in the synagogue.

Their curiosity about Jesus was now turned to hatred because he exposed their proud attitudes and dishonorable motives.

So in an unlikely alliance, the Pharisees plotted with Herodians, who were a Jewish political party that hoped to restore Herod, the great lion back into the throne of Israel.

Thus, their support of Rome's leadership over Palestine brought them into direct conflict with the Jewish religious leaders who wanted to get rid of the Romans.

And the Pharisees and Herodians obviously had little in common until Jesus posed a threat to them both.

Jesus threatened the Pharisees' authority over the people and thus threatened the Herodians' political ambitions because his talk of a kingdom caused him to think that this was some popular, powerful man that was planning to set himself up as ruler in Israel.

Thus the Pharisees and Herodians, normally enemies, joined forces to discuss how to get rid of Jesus.

In contrast to the rejection of Jesus by certain religious leaders, Mark describes the attraction and adoration of Christ by the crowds in the next verse.

Jesus went out to the lake with his disciples, and a large crowd followed him.

They came from all over Galilee and Judea, Jerusalem, Adumia, from east of the Jordan River, and even as far north as Tyr and Sidon.

The news about his miracles had spread far and wide, and vast numbers of people came to see him.

Verse 9.

Jesus instructed his disciples to have a boat ready so the crowd would not crush him.

So people came from over a hundred miles away to see Jesus.

There were hordes followed by hordes, wave upon wave of needy people, all demanding attention.

So great was the crowd that Christ was in a physic was in physical danger of being crushed.

It was almost riotous.

So Jesus told his disciples, get a boat ready, and only Mark does give us that detail.

So one of his disciples hovered close by in a small boat, which the same way we kind of keep a car running, you know, keep the engine running so I can get out of here.

Just in case Jesus needed it, he needed a boat to get away.

And knowing the apostle Peter, he was probably officially manning the boat and formerly staring down the unruly multitude.

So our Lord's primary motivation at this time was to preach the gospel of the kingdom, the necessity of repentance and belief.

Physical healing was only secondary.

But because of his great compassion, he did it.

But the truth is Jesus' words held little attraction for the multitudes.

What they wanted to experience and see were healings and other miracles that would benefit them personally.

There's a lot of it's just kind of the same reason a lot of people come to churches today.

They're going to church, church, church, looking for a church that preaches a gospel that benefits them.

And there are dozens of gospels out there that they find.

Excuse me.

Anyway, verse 10.

He had healed many people that day, so all the sick were eagerly pushed forward to touch him.

So this explains the reason for the boat standing by.

These people were so desperate to be healed that rudeness made no difference.

But our Lord allowed nothing, not even popularity and success, to divert him from his primary mission of sharing the gospel.

So as we see here, Jesus was under immense pressure, and the pressure came from two kinds of people, the sick and also the demonized.

Verse 11.

And whenever those possessed by evil spirits caught sight of him, the spirits would throw them to the ground in front of him, shrieking, You are the Son of God.

Verse 12, but Jesus sternly commanded the spirits not to reveal who he was.

The evil spirits were drawn, excuse me, by a strange fascination to see Jesus, even though they knew he was their conqueror, the hated Son of God.

These evil spirits brought bodily injury, psychological trauma, and meant spiritual harm to their victims.

And these evil spirits would cast the bodies of their victims before Jesus, crying out with unearthly voices, You are the Son of God.

In response, Jesus forbade them to speak and cast them out.

I mean, there's tragic irony here.

For the demons that Jesus knew, for the demons knew that Jesus was the Son of God, but the multitudes thought of him only as a miracle worker, a healer, whom they could use for their own selfish ends.

So why did Jesus forbid the demons not to tell who he was?

Well, he didn't want to reveal his identity because he didn't want to reinforce a popular misconception about the Messiah.

The huge crowds were looking for a political and military leader who would free them from Rome's control, and they thought that the Messiah predicted in the Old Testament prophet by the Old Testament prophets would be this kind of man.

If they heard that you are the Son of God, this is the Messiah.

He's here.

Let's start a revolt, let's start a rebellion.

And that's not what Jesus wanted.

Jesus wanted to teach the people about the kind of Messiah he really was because he was far different than what they expected.

Jesus' kingdom is spiritual.

It begins not with the overthrow of governments, but with the overthrow of sin in people's hearts.

So now our Lord took three distinct steps to manage the demands and pressures of his ministry.

The first step came immediately.

Look at verse 13.

Afterward, Jesus went up on a mountain.

He needed to get away from the massive crowds of needy people.

Though he came to say, man, at times he needed to be away from man.

And these times are essential to wholeness and well-being.

I mean, as Christ needed, we need that too.

And if we don't follow Christ's example to get away, we may fall apart sometimes.

We live in a very noisy world with lots of people and lots of technology demanding our attention.

But sometimes, my friends, we need silence.

We need to get away from all of that and rest.

We need alone time with God.

So Jesus got away.

This was his first step.

But he always took the second step.

He prayed.

In the parallel to this verse in Luke chapter 12, Luke writes, One day soon afterward, Jesus went up on a mountain to pray, and he prayed to God all night.

Luke 12 · chapter mention

And if Jesus had to do this, being the eternal son, how much more do we, as adopted sons and daughters, need to follow his example?

We need to get alone.

We need to spend time with God.

We need to pray.

Someone once asked George MacDonald, if God loves us so much and knows everything we need before we ask, why must we pray?

Do you have an answer for that?

George MacDonald did.

He answered, What if he knows prayer to be the thing we need first and most?

What if the main object in God's idea of prayer is the supplying of our great, our endless need, the need of himself, our need of God?

What if the good of all our smaller and lower needs lies in this?

That they help to drive us to God.

Communion with God is the one need of the soul beyond all other needs.

Prayer is the beginning of that communion.

And that should be the motive of our prayers.

Our wants are for the sake of our coming into communion with God, our eternal need.

End quote.

Prayer is not pulling God to my will, but aligning of my will, your will, to the will of God.

God uses prayer to most often change us, change our hearts, our will, our desires, our motives.

God uses prayer to mold us into useful vessels to fulfill his mission on planet earth.

The third and final step of our pressured Lord was that he shared the responsibility of his ministry with others.

Look at verse 13 again, the end of it.

And called out to the ones he wanted to go with them, and they came to him.

Verse 14, then he appointed twelve of them and called them the apostles.

They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons.

They were the twelve he chose, or excuse me, these are the twelve he chose.

Simon, whom he called Peter, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, but Jesus nicknamed them sons of thunder.

Andrew, Philip, Bartolomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon, Simon the Zealot, Judas Is Iscariot, who later betrayed him.

So why twelve?

Well, this was highly symbolic.

It corresponds to the twelve tribes of Israel, showing the continuity between the old religious system and the new one based on Jesus' message.

So why did he choose these twelve?

Well, not because of their faith, because it often faltered.

He didn't choose them because of their talent and ability.

No one stood out with unusual ability.

They knew how to catch fish, most of them.

These twelve men represented a wide range of backgrounds and life experiences.

But apparently they may have had no more leadership potential than those who were not chosen.

The characteristic they all shared was their willingness to obey Jesus.

And it's interesting to note that almost complete silence in the Gospels and in the epistles as to the future work of the vast majority of these twelve men.

I mean, we know some about Peter, James, and John in the book of Acts.

Peter, a fisherman, would deny Christ and would also write the letter of 1 and 2 Peter, and he would be crucified for his faith.

James, a fisherman, would become the first martyr for the Christian faith.

John would write the Gospel of John, first of 2nd, 3 John, as well as Revelations.

He was exiled to the island of Patmos, where he died an old man.

James and John were also distant customs of Jesus.

Andrew was Peter's brother and also a fisherman as well as a disciple of John the Baptist.

Philip and Bartholomew were both from Betheda.

Bartholomew at first rejected Jesus because Jesus was from Nazareth.

I mean, we know Matthew was a former tax collector who would later write the gospel of Matthew.

Thomas would doubt the resurrection of Christ.

Jesus was the son of Alpha, excuse me, James was the son of Alphaeus, and that's about all we know about him.

Thaddeus is also called Judas, son of James, in Luke chapter 6 and Acts chapter 1.

Luke 6 · chapter mention Acts 1 · chapter mention

Simon the zealot obviously had great zeal for God's honor and not extreme nationalism.

It was an affectionate nickname given him.

And we know from verse 19 that Judas would betray Jesus and then commit suicide.

He was the only one of the twelve, not from Galilee.

See, the disciples were ordinary people like us.

This reveals to us that being a disciple of Christ takes no special talent and is simply a matter of following Jesus with a willing heart.

Whatever your strengths and no matter what your weakness is, there's a place for you to serve in God's team.

And I love the words of 1 Corinthians chapter 1, starting in verse 26.

1 Corinthians 1 · chapter mention

Remember, dear brothers and sisters, that few of you were wise in the world's eyes or powerful or wealthy when God called you.

Instead, God chose things the world considers foolish in order to shame those who think they are wise.

He chose things that are powerless to shame those who are powerful.

God chose things despised by the world, things counted as nothing at all, and used them to bring to nothing what the world considers important.

As a result, no one can ever boast in the presence of God.

I mean, every time I feel inadequate or unworthy of my calling, this verse reminds me that I am.

But God chose me, God chose us and gave us the abilities and the opportunities because he's first in our lives.

Verse 20.

One time Jesus entered a house, again, probably Peter's house, and the crowd began to gather again.

Soon he and his disciples couldn't even find time to eat.

So the text suggests that at one time, after Jesus had spent some time on the mountain, probably training and teaching his newly appointed disciples, he returned to Capernaum.

Verse 21.

When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take him away.

He's out of his mind, they said.

So there came a time in Jesus' ministry when his family tried to seize him and take him away.

Jesus' brother came down to brothers came down to Capernaum with the sole intention of forcibly taking him under control and hauling him back to Nazareth.

Their reason?

Well, Mark was absolutely clear as to why this was so.

There's people everywhere saying he's crazy, he's out of his mind.

His whole family, those whom he had been caring for as the eldest son since the death of Joseph, thought he'd lost it.

So they were going to haul him back to Nazareth where they could, where he could indulge his delusions without doing any harm to himself, or so they thought.

And the story reminds me how imperfect we are and how we forget, right?

In Luke chapter 1, Mary's told by the angel Gabriel, you have found favor with God.

Luke 1 · chapter mention

You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.

He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most High.

The Lord God will give him the throne of his ancestor David, and he will reign over Israel forever.

His kingdom will never end.

And what about his birth?

The angels, the shepherd, and later wise men came to visit Jesus and left them these amazing, expensive gifts.

About about the time when he was twelve years old and stayed in Jerusalem after the Passover, unbeknownst to his parents.

They later found him in the temple, sitting among religious teachers, asking them the question and answering theirs.

And it says, all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.

Mary seems to have forgotten all this.

But to their credit, his family loved him.

It would have been so much easier just to let him go on his own way.

Keeping him under wraps at home is not going to be easy.

But they risked the trouble because they loved him and won what they thought was best for him.

This is also how those who follow Jesus have been judged throughout the centuries.

When the Apostle Paul preached before Festus, Festus cried out in response, Paul, you are out of your mind.

I mean, have you ever been told you're crazy to believe in Christ?

You're out of your mind?

So the first opinion of an unbelieving world is that Christ is a madman.

The second is far less charitable opinion.

That he was a tool of Satan.

Look at verse 22.

But the teachers of religious law who had arrived in Jerusalem said he's possessed by Satan, the prince of the demons.

That's where he gets his power to cast out demons.

Jesus was, according to these leaders, a son of Satan.

So why would they make such a foolish accusation?

Well, the charge they hoped would reduce Jesus to a demonized sorcerer who majored in the black arts.

They wanted to destroy his popularity.

The Pharisees and scribes could not deny that Jesus had made demons leave the bodies they occupied.

They'd seen it several times.

But while they could not deny it, they would not accept it as being from God, and therefore Christ had to be of Satan.

They created this bizarre accusation to try to get people to believe Jesus himself was possessed.

Verse 23.

Jesus called him over and responded with an illustration.

How can Satan cast out Satan?

He asked.

How is that possible?

A kingdom divided by civil war will collapse.

Similarly, a family splintered by feuding will fall apart.

And if Satan is divided and fights against himself, how can he stand?

He would never survive.

The scribes' charges just didn't hold water.

Verse 27.

He says, Let me illustrate this further.

Who is powerful enough to enter the house of a strong man and plunder his goods?

Only even someone even stronger.

Someone who could tie him up and then plunder his house.

So who is the strong man he's talking to about?

It's Satan.

And his house is the kingdom that he dominates here on earth.

His goods are the helpless victims whom he holds in bondage through his demons.

Only one who is stronger can free the victims, and this is what Jesus has been doing, entering Satan's house, binding him and loosening the hapless captive souls who are possessed, as we've seen, and will continue to see in our study.

Jesus appealed to a lot to a logical argument to answer the scribes' accusations and left them virtually speechless.

Then he gave them a chilling warning in verses 28 through 30.

I tell you the truth, all sin and blasphemy can be forgiven.

So what is blasphemy?

Well, in the Bible, blasphemy is speaking, acting, or thinking with disrespect, contempt, or malice towards God.

It means to curse or falsely accuse God's character or his sacred name.

Verse 29.

But anyone who blasphemies the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven.

This is a sin with eternal consequences.

Verse 30, he told them this because they were saying he's possessed by an evil spirit.

So here we have the so-called doctrine of the unforgivable sin.

And there are a few scriptures so consistently misunderstood as this one and so misapplied.

I mean, nearly everyone, even most unchurched and biblical illiterate, have heard of the unforgivable sin.

I've even had several Christians over the years tell me they're afraid they've committed it.

So the question is, what is this unforgivable sin, this unforgivable blasphemy against the Holy Spirit?

Well, first let me tell you what it is not.

It is not cursing the Holy Spirit.

It is not taking the Lord's name in vain, though that certainly is a sin.

It's not adultery or sexual perversion, it's not murder or even multiple murders or genocide.

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is the permanent, willful rejection of God's grace and the deliberate attribution of the Holy Spirit's work to Satan.

It's the perversion in the heart that chooses to call light darkness and darkness light.

It's continuing rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit, whether that witness be a quiet witness in the conscience, the rational witness of the word, or even displayed miracles and wonders.

The scribes were on the very brink of committing this sin because they were saying that the Holy Spirit's witness to Christ through his exorcisms and miracles were really the work of Satan.

I mean, have there been people who committed the unforgivable sin?

Yes, certainly.

There have been men who women who've rejected the Spirit's testimony regarding their own condition and the person and work of Christ so consistently that their hearts become unable to believe.

Such people have reigned from gross sinner to the charming good person.

Several years ago a pastor visited a hospital at 3 30 AM in the morning to see a man he had known for some years.

The doctor had said the man was dying and knew it, so the pastor asked him how it was between him and the Lord.

Oh, he said, I've always believed in God, and I know everything is ship shape.

Well, what do you believe about Jesus?

The pastor asked.

I've known God all my life, he said.

I've tried to observe godly standards, I've been honest in business, and I've worked hard.

My friend said the pastor, and I would not be here if I weren't your friend.

Answer a straight question.

How is it between you and Jesus?

To which the man replied, I've never made a place in my life for Jesus.

I don't believe in Jesus.

If I were to believe in Jesus, it would upset everything in my phil philosophy about my life.

And I would have to rethink everything about me.

By the grace of God, the pastor said, You have that kind of time.

Rethink it.

No, he said, I will die without Jesus.

Why do you think Jesus died?

asked the pastor.

Oh, I understand he died for sins.

Your sins, said the pastor.

Perhaps, but it's too late in my life to rethink the place of Jesus.

Soon afterwards, the man died.

I mean, this knowledgeable man died resolutely rejecting Christ.

And we must, excuse me, and we must add that the unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, is a sin that requires knowledge.

Understand, it's not the ignorant non-believer on the street who is in danger of committing the unforgivable sin.

But the woman or man in the church who knows the scriptures, has heard the word held forth with accuracy, has seen something of the miraculous power of God and changed lives, and yet rejects it all, even identifying what he or she has seen with the power of Satan.

Such a person calls light darkness and good evil.

The warning is particularly to those who have grown up in the church and may have even some theological education, but have willfully rejected it and in their heart of hearts attributed supposed Christianity, re Christian reality to evil.

To those who are afraid they have committed the unforgivable sin, like I told you many people do, we can say with absolute confidence that their being so troubled about the possibility is infallible testimony that they have not committed it.

So in the chapter, Mark has presented two opinions regarding Christ.

The first was that he was out of his mind, he's crazy.

This is the opinion of those who appreciated him but knew, who knew of his impeccable life, but not did not believe he was God.

And there are many, many today who believe that Jesus was just a good man, a religious genius, maybe a prophet, but are deceived about who he really was.

And the second opinion, and the least charitable, was he's possessed by Satan, the prince of demons.

This was and is the view of the utterly lost, those standing at the edge of the eternal abyss from which there is no return.

So, Jesus was back in Capernaum where he had performed many, many miracles, where the crowds have been so intense that some had even torn a hole in the roof of Peter's home to get to him.

And now, even greater crowds, attracted by subsequent miracles and his words, I mean no man ever spoke as Jesus did, were pressing in on him.

Verse 31.

Then Jesus' mothers and brothers came to see him.

They stood outside and sent word for him to come out and talk with them.

Verse 32.

There was a crowd sitting around Jesus, and someone said, Your mother and your brothers are outside asking for you.

And unbeknownst to the crowd, Jesus' mother and his younger brothers hoped to lure him back so they could privately take him back to Naz outside so they could grab him, take him privately back to Nazareth, where he would be protected from his madness.

Now, there's another major religion that believes the ancient tradition that Jesus was Mary's only child.

That's why they referred to her as the Virgin Mary.

They believed these brothers were possibly cousins because cousins were often called brothers in those days.

Some have offered yet another suggestion when Joseph married Mary, he was a widower, and these were his children by his first marriage.

However, these brothers were Jesus' half brothers.

Mary and Joseph had other sons and daughters.

Mary was not an eternal virgin to be worshiped, virgin to be worshipped.

So anyway, with this massive crowd, the message was passed from person to person in the house that Jesus' family were outside.

And when it reached Jesus, many in the crowd knew the nature of their quest and expected Jesus to defer.

They certainly weren't ready for his startling reply.

Verse 33.

Jesus replied, Who is my mother?

Who are my brothers?

Then he looked at those around him and said, Look, these are my mothers and brothers.

Anyone who does God's will is my brother and sister and mother.

These words would be startling in any culture, but in Hebrew culture, where the family is so sacred, they were shocked.

Mary, who had nursed and dressed Jesus and loved him all the way and demanded, was no doubt crushed.

His brothers were likewise shocked and perhaps angered.

Though we have the advantage of biblical perspective today, we still, as parents of brothers and sisters, kind of would find this difficult too, I think.

So what then does Jesus mean by his answer?

Well, first he didn't mean that he was severing family ties.

In fact, in the final hours of his life, while he hung in agony on the cross, he thought of his mother and made provision for her with the apostle John.

She would be his mother and he would be her son.

Later, his half brother James would become a devoted leader in the Jerusalem church and a martyr.

So what did he mean?

What he did mean was that there was a deeper kinship than flesh and blood, a spiritual kinship that is characterized by obedience to the Father.

And for this reason he said, anyone who does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.

Our obedience does not originate our relationship with God.

Faith does that.

But obedience is a sign of our relationship with God.

Our obedience reveals that our faith is real.

Jesus is saying that there's a new family that is far superior to the human family, for it's eternal.

Its ties are far stronger, it's far more satisfying, it's far more demanding.

Those who are in his spiritual family are far more dear to him than his human family, whom he loved for thirty years.

Put another way, obedience is the key to experiencing family with God.

And that was true for Jesus.

I mean, early in his ministry, Jesus told his followers, My food is to do the will of him who sent me, John chapter 4.

John 4 · chapter mention

And at Gethsemane in the garden, in a bloody sweat, he cried to his father, Ah, but Father, all things are possible for you.

Remove this cup from me, yet not my what I will, but what you will.

Every beat of Jesus' heart was given to performing his Father's will.

And if that was so for Christ, how much more for us?

The key to discipleship in Mark's gospel is radical obedience to God's will.

Knowledge is not enough.

The religious leaders had tons of it and they still missed salvation.

Following is not enough.

The crowd did and still missed salvation.

So what is God's will for a believer?

It's hearing God's word and putting it into practice.

We can see that in Matthew chapter 7, verses 24 through 27.

Matthew 7:24–27

God's will for the believer is to live a life of personal holiness, active love, and obedience to his revealed commands in Scripture.

And his commands, trust me, are not options.

When we do this, we come to an intimate relationship with our Father.

We're not saved into facts or rules or a system of worship or a cult of followers.

We're saved into a family.

We're not saved and made to change our lives.

We are saved and then have our lives transformed.

Anyway, that's the end of chapter 3.

I trust that you get something from that, that you uh something stands out to you and challenges you, encourages you.

So, anyway, I hope you'll join us next week as we'll get into Mark chapter 4.

Mark 4 · chapter mention

And until then, have a blessed week and keep your eyes focused on Jesus.