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[0:00] The Gospel according to Mark and chapter 1, and again reading verses 14 and 15. After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the Gospel of God and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the Gospel, or believe in the Gospel.

[0:34] Amen. For 400 years before this was written, the Lord had not spoken through any of his prophets.

[0:59] He had spoken through Malachi, the last prophet of the Old Testament. And Malachi, at the beginning of chapter 3 in that prophecy, indicates that the Lord was sending his servant into the world.

[1:19] And we see that when John the Baptist came, that he was the one who had been highlighted as the forerunner of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:38] And we see that at the beginning of this chapter, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, verse 1.

[1:50] This was now good news coming into this world. There had been no word from God, as I said, for the previous 400 years.

[2:02] Now, good news is coming. And it's always good to hear good news, isn't it? Every time you open your newspaper, it's almost invariably bad news.

[2:16] When you turn on your radio to a news bulletin, it starts with some problem or other that people are having to tackle and try and solve.

[2:28] When you put on your TV and the newscasts there show tragedy after tragedy and describe problem after problem. But here we have good news.

[2:41] That is the meaning of the word gospel. Good news for fallen man, for a world full of problems. The gospel. And that's what Mark begins his gospel message with.

[2:55] The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Jesus Christ is the center, as it were, of the message. He is the whole of the message.

[3:06] Because Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. He came to seek and to save the lost. To bring peace where there is turmoil and animosity.

[3:19] To bring blessing where there is cursing. To bring light where there is darkness. To bring answers where there are questions. To bring eternal life to perishing mankind.

[3:33] And we see that John the Baptist is the one who came as the forerunner of the Lord Jesus.

[3:44] And as he came, he wasn't talking about himself. He was pointing out Christ to the people. We see there in verse 7.

[3:56] John preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I, The strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.

[4:08] He says, I have baptized you with water, But he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. He is telling them about this great person who is coming.

[4:20] And if you read in John's Gospel, chapter 1, For example, at verse 29, He says of Christ, Behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin of the world.

[4:32] He is focusing in his very short ministry upon the greatest person of all. Jesus Christ. Pointing him out.

[4:42] Behold him. Behold him. And that's the best a minister of the gospel can do. Preach Christ. Highlight to the people this glorious saviour.

[4:56] And however long or short a ministry can be, A person's ministry might be, This is the best thing that a minister can ever say, To preach Christ and point to him.

[5:12] And we see now at the beginning of verse 14, After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee. John's ministry came to an end.

[5:24] You remember how Herod commanded that he be beheaded in the prison cell? And his head was taken and given to a young damsel who had pleased Herod in dancing.

[5:39] And he said to her, I'll give you anything up to half my kingdom. And prompted by her mother, Who had felt galled by what John the Baptist accused her of, Her mother said, Ask for John the Baptist's head.

[5:58] And Herod couldn't Take any embarrassment among his nobles. And rather than back down from the offer he made to the young girl, He commanded the executioner to go And behead John In the prison.

[6:14] A short ministry. But a marvelous ministry nevertheless. Ministers come And preach the gospel.

[6:28] And then They're off the scene. But the gospel continues. Because the Lord calls others To fulfill the task Of preaching the gospel.

[6:39] And don't you be discouraged Not having a settled pastor over you right now. Because the Lord will raise up A man of his own choosing.

[6:51] And it's for you and for us all To be prayerful To find out the Lord's mind And who it is the Lord Is intent upon Giving you as your settled pastor.

[7:04] After John was arrested Jesus came into Galilee Proclaiming the gospel of God And saying The time is fulfilled The kingdom of God is at hand Repent And believe in the gospel.

[7:19] There are just four things there I'd like to highlight For a few moments this morning. What the Lord Jesus was saying As he began his public ministry.

[7:30] Firstly he says The time is fulfilled. What does that mean? What did it mean? Secondly The kingdom of God is at hand.

[7:44] Thirdly The duty The response That he asks of the people In view of the time Having been fulfilled And the kingdom of God Having come The response required Firstly Is to repent.

[8:00] And then finally Believe In the gospel. Firstly then Jesus Said The time is Fulfilled.

[8:17] The time is fulfilled. I came across something Very interesting In trying to describe The way this Phrase And these words Are used in the original.

[8:30] And this man was saying If you can visualize A glass vessel And you start Pouring things into it Until it's Right up Full to the brim.

[8:46] That's the picture The Lord has here When he says The time Is fulfilled. What is he talking about?

[8:58] Well he's talking about Himself And he's talking about The number of Promises Given Regarding Christ's coming Into the world The promises given In the Old Testament Scriptures For example And it's as if Every time The scripture Speaks about The coming of Christ It's as if The glass Is rising Rising Rising Until At his appearing The glass Is full Can you think Of the first promise Given In relation to the coming Of Christ the Messiah The Savior When you go back All the way to Genesis Chapter 3 And verse 15 After man has fallen By his sin Against God And the Lord Promises That there will come

[9:58] Of the seed Of the woman The one who is Going to bruise The head Of the serpent That's a reference To Christ The Savior A way Way back In the garden Of Eden And of course If you can think Of going back Into eternity This was God's Settled purpose From all eternity That he would send His son In the fullness Of times When the times Were full When the vessel Was full When the earth Had gone And the centuries Had elapsed And we see That Christ Came as a result Of God's Foreordained plan To send him Into the world To save The lost When you go Through the Old Testament See for example In the prophecy Of Isaiah And chapter 7 And it says there

[11:00] That a virgin Shall conceive And she shall Bear a son And call his name Emmanuel God with us Well that's another Reference to this Very thing The time Is being fulfilled References to this Coming Glorious person The God Man Mediator And you think Also of course Of the many References In Isaiah To the suffering Servant He was wounded For our Transgressions He was bruised For our Iniquities The chastis Mound of our Peace was upon Him And by his Stripes We are healed The suffering Servant And then you go All the way Through To the Old Testament And into the New Testament And Mary

[12:02] Conceives Under the Power Of the Holy Spirit And she Brings Forth Her Son And the Lord Directs The angels To rejoice At his Birth When you Think of That Marvellous Scene Where the Shepherds Are confronted With the Heavenly Host And They are Told That unto You Is born This Day In the City Of David A saviour Who is Christ The Lord Jehovah The eternal One Who has Come In the Flesh For the Purpose Of fulfilling God's Purpose Of salvation In the Experience Of his People And they Went And they Saw him And the Wise men Came And they Gave him Their Gifts Of gold And frankincense And myrrh He had Come Indeed And the

[13:02] Lord By these Many Witnesses Highlighted The Genuineness Of the One Who has Come And he Himself Now having Been Pointed out By John The Baptist As the Saviour Of sinners He Himself Says The Time Is Fulfilled It's Important To see Our Life As A Progression Of time And A Progression Of Various Privileges And Opportunities And the Time Has Been Fulfilled For you And for Me This Morning To be Brought Face To face With this Text And this Saviour Highlighted In the Text And to

[14:03] Hear it Read And Christ Is being Preached Here this Morning And preached Throughout our Land this Morning And throughout The world In various Places This is A special Time A special Moment I've told This somewhere Else And I Think it's Worth telling The first Day I was Going for Lectures In the Free Church College 1981 And there Was eight Of them Eight of us On the Class And were There in the Common room In the Free Church College Waiting for The nine O'clock Bell For start Of lectures And there Was an Older minister Sitting there Who had Come down To meet Up on Committees Of some Kind That were Carrying on At the Time And Name Was David Reverend David Patterson He's Passed Away Since Then

[15:03] And he Was Talking To us For a Few Minutes And Then the Bell Went And he Said Boys That's The wind Blowing Hoist Up Your Sails Fill Your Sails With The wind He Meant of Course Make Every Effort To make Use Of the Privileges You've Got From This Day Forward And I Always Praise God For my Experience Of teaching Or having Been taught In the Free Church College And we Should all Say this About this About the Gospel We should See it As the Wind Blowing Into Our Minds Into Our Very Situations The Wind Of Heaven And are You going To hoist Your Sail That you Might catch Some of This Wind That you May be Taken Nearer The Lord And know

[16:03] Some of His Blessing For Yourself Shame On you If you Keep your Sails Unfurled And all Tied Up Shame On you Well the Time is Fulfilled Jesus Said I have Come The Second Thing he Says Is The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand Well there Were Evidences Of the Kingdom Of God Having Been Among These People The Jews For Many Many Years I Mean Hadn't God Spoken To Moses Hadn't He Given Moses The Ten Commandments On Mount Sinai Hadn't He Given Detailed Instructions As To The Ceremonial Law The Way He Had To Command The Priests How They Ought To Sacrifice And The Animals To Sacrifice And How To Set About That Particular Task And The Sprinkling Of The Blood And All Of These Various

[17:04] Things That Were So So Important But Yet Were Only Symbolic Of The Real Thing The Kingdom Of God And The God Of The Kingdom Had Been Among These People For Years Had He Taken Them From The Tyranny Of The Egyptians And Taking Them Through The Terrible Wilderness For Forty Years Teaching Them And So On Had He Taken Them Into The Land Of Canaan And Settled Them There Divided And Allocated The Land For Each Tribe Individually The Lord Was Among Them But You See The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand In A Very Particular Way Now That The King Himself Has Come The King Himself The Lord Jesus

[18:04] Christ He Is The King Of His People He Is The Ruler Of His Kingdom And He Himself Has Come Having Taken Human Nature To Himself And He Came To His Own People But They Refused To Receive Him Is This True Of You That The Gospel Has Come Maybe Those Who Are Nearest And Dearest To You Love The Lord Jesus And Live Their Life For Him Nevertheless You Haven't Relinquished Your Control Over Your Life You Have Kept Everything Close To Your Chest I Want To Live My Way My Friend The King Has Come And He Commands An Audience And He Commands To Be Heard And He Commands To Be Responded

[19:04] To We He Spoke About Samuel And The Lord Called Him And Eli Was Astute Enough Eventually To Know That The Lord Was To Speak To Samuel And He Put Words In His Mouth Speak Lord For Your Servant Is Hearing You Well The Lord Has Come Not Only To Galilee Not Only To Israel In The Days Of His Flesh But He Has Actually Come In The Gospel To You He Has Come Here In The Gospel Message To You He Has Come In The Fellowship Of His People To Those Whom You Know And It Says The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand What Proofs Did Jesus Give That He Was The King

[20:04] Well There Are Many Things Even In This Particular Chapter Itself He Shows His Power Over The Evil Spirits He Is Taken Into The Wilderness To Be Tempted By The Devil And You Know He Is Tempted At This Very Point After The Baptism We Have That In Verse Eight Sorry In Verse Ten When He Came Out Of The Water Immediately He Saw The Heavens Being Torn Open The Spirit Descending On Him Like A Dove And A Voice Came From Heaven You Are My Beloved Son With You I Am Well Pleased The Father In Heaven Publicly And Gloriously Acknowledging His Love For His Son You Are My Son With You I Well Pleased And Did You Notice When He Goes Then Into The Wilderness If If You Read In The Gospels A More Detailed

[21:04] Account Of The Temptation The Devil Repeatedly Says If You Are The Son Of God If You Are The Son Of God Do This As If He Is Trying To Bring Doubt Am I Really The Son Of God And The Devil Is Always At That Kind Of Thing Trying To Put Doubt Into Your Mind Am I Indeed A Christian Or Is It Just Something That Was Emotional Only Well He Demonstrated His Power Over The Evil Spirits Demonstrated His Power Over Disease Peter Mother In Law Lay Sick Of A Fever He Demonstrated His Power Over Leprosy In The Same Chapter He Showed His Compassion When The Leper Said If You Are Willing You Can Make Me Clean I Am Willing Be

[22:06] Clean What An Amazing Compassionate Saviour We Have Nobody Else Would Touch A Leper But Our Saviour Touched Him And He He He He Gave Ample Proof Of His Power Of His Grace Of His Authority Because He Is The King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords And That's The Very One That You've Heard Preached About Here Down Through The Years The King Has Come And He Is Calling For You Are You Willing To Listen That's The Second Thing The Time Is Fulfilled The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand And The Third Thing Is Repent Repent You Know Among

[23:06] The Jews There Was A Longing To Have The Messiah Come And They Had A Picture In Their Mind As To What The Messiah Would Be Like That He Would Come In Glory That He Would Come As A Conquering Hero Conquering The Oppressive Roman Armies Conquering All The Enemies Round About Them But You See He Doesn't Call Them To Join Him As A Conquering Army Under A Conquering King In The Way They Thought What Does He Ask Them To Do Repent The King Has Come The King Reveals Himself What's The Most Appropriate Thing For Me And For

[24:07] You To Do Repent So Not A Shocker But It's The Pattern That We Have In The Scripture See For Example The Prophet Isaiah If You Were To Read In Isaiah Chapter Six And What Does It Say In The King You In The Year The King Usiah Died Isaiah Says I Saw The Lord High And Lifted Up And His Train Filled The Temple Wasn't An Inch Of The Temple But Was Taken Up With A Glorious Train Of The King The Lord And Before Him He Saw Seraphim With Two Wings They Covered Their Faces With Two Wings They Covered Their Feet With Two Wings They Flew And They Cried Holy Holy Holy Is The Lord Of Hosts The Whole Earth Is Full Of His Glory Did

[25:08] Isaiah Join In That Song Well In His Own Way He Did What Did Isaiah Say Woe Is Me For I Am Undone I Am A Man Of Unclean Lips And I Live Among A People Who Have Unclean Lips Why Did He Say That Because My Eyes Have Seen The King The Lord Of Hosts The King Has Come Into Galilee The Place Where Darkness Had Prevailed But Now This Great Light Has Come Christ Has Come And The Most Important Thing For Them To Do In Response Is Repent How is This The Most Appropriate Thing Well Because We Are So Different From Him He Is Holy We

[26:09] Are Sinful He Is Pure We Are Impure We Are Sinners He Is Not And You Know The Most Appropriate Response For Us All to Have This Morning As We Consider This Glorious King Who Has Come Into Our Midst In The Gospel And With The Gospel Is To Repent Before Him To Bow Before Him We Have Sins Of Various Kinds Every One Of Us We Have Original Sin The Guilt Of Adam's First Sin Attaches To Us At The Very Point Of Her Conception Within Our Mother's Womb Because We Have Come Into This World By The Ordinary Generation That Is There Is A Biological

[27:09] Link Between Every One Of Us And Adam And He Was Our Covenant Head And Because He Was Our Covenant Head And He Fell In Sin The Consequences Of That Sin Which Every One Of Us Sins Of Speech Sins Of Motive Sins Of Omission Sins Against Light Sins That We Don't Even Know We Have It Says In Psalm 19 Who Can His Errors Understand There Are So Many Layers And Deceptions Within Our Makeup As Sinners Before God That Only The Lord Himself Knows The Depth Of Our Depravity One Of The Important Points Of Calvin Calvinism Is Total Depravity You

[28:11] Know That The Acronum The Tulip Total Depravity It Means That Sin Has Entered Into Every Fiber Of Our Being And Then Is It Not Appropriate That We Should Repent What Is Repentance Well The Catechism Sums It Up In These Words It Is A Saving Grace Whereby A Sinner Out Of A True Sense Of Sin And Apprehension Of The Mercy Of God In Christ Doth With Grief And Hatred Of Sin Turn From It Unto God With Full Purpose Of And Endeavor After New Obedience But The Lord Would Give Us This Grace To

[29:12] See Ourselves For What We Are To See Ourselves As Impure In The Light Of His Purity As Wayward In The Light Of His Straight And Glorious And Truthful Word Give Us To See Ourselves As Needy And Lost And Unable To Rectify Our Lost Condition Apart From Himself That We Might Come Under The Influence Of That Saving Grace And Turn From Every Known Sin Unto God You Have Turned To God From Idols It Says In Thessalonians To Serve The Living And True God What Idols Do You Have In Your Life Well Maybe Self Is The Biggest Of All The Idols At The Feet Of Which We Bow All Revolves Around Me

[30:12] Me What's In It For Me Whereas In Those Who Are Consecrated To The Lord The Lord Is At The Center Of Their Affections At The Center Of Their Life Repent And Along With Repentance There Is Faith These Are Twins Where There Is Repentance There Is Faith Where There Is A Turning Away From Sin There Is An Embracing Of Christ By Faith Believe In The Gospel What Is It About The Lord Jesus That Does Not Impress You Was It His Humility Did He Not Come Low Enough For You Is It His Lack Of Power Did He Not Rise From The Dead Is It Not His Compassion His Compassion Stretched His Hand To The Leper Can

[31:12] He Not Touch You And Raise You Mightily Surely He Can Believe In This Gospel Believe In God's Way Of Salvation Trust Him Rely Upon Him That's The Essence Of Saving Faith Not Only Knowing About The Gospel But Trusting The Christ Of The Gospel Whom Have I In The Heavens High But Thee O Lord Alone And On The Earth Whom I Desire Besides Thee There Is None My Flesh And Heart Doth Faint And Fail But God Doth Fail Me Never For Of My Heart God Is The Strength And Potion Forever Jesus Says

[32:13]  The Time Is Fulfilled The Kingdom Of God Is At Hand Repent And Believe In The Gospel May God Grant Us Grace To Respond And Faith To Believe Let Us Pray Who Do