[0:00] Seeking the Lord's blessing, let us now turn to the portion of scripture that we read together, the Gospel according to Mark and chapter 1, and we'll read from the beginning.
[0:13] The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, who shall prepare thy way before thee.
[0:26] The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his path straight. John did baptise in the wilderness, and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
[0:40] And there went out unto him all the land of Judea, and they of Jerusalem, and were all baptised of him in the river of Jordan, confessing their sins. And John was clothed with camelsaer, with a girdle of a skin about his loins, and it did eat locusts and wild honey.
[0:58] And preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I after me, the lachet of his shoes. I am not worthy to stoop down and unloose. I indeed have baptised you with water, but he shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost.
[1:12] Over the next few weeks, we shall have a look at the Gospel of Mark.
[1:23] Not an in-depth study of every version, so on, but a study that will give us a perspective or an outlook upon this Gospel.
[1:34] And the first thing we must do is to get an idea regarding the background of the Gospel, and know something about the writer of the Gospel.
[1:46] And this may take up most of our time today. But I do think that if we are going to have a look at the Gospel, that we'll have to have, and what its meaning is for us, that it is essential to know something about the writer, the background, and the purpose of this Gospel.
[2:09] We have four Gospels, and you may ask the question, why are there four Gospels? Well, each Gospel has their own distinctive feature.
[2:24] For instance, most agree that Matthew's Gospel sets forth Jesus as King and his Kingdom. That the Gospel of Luke sets forth the Son of Man, and the humanity of Jesus.
[2:43] That John's Gospel sets forth how Jesus is the Son of God. That it reminds us that Jesus is divine.
[2:55] However, we find that a distinctive feature that belongs to the Gospel of Mark is the servitude of Jesus. For instance, there is no mention in the Gospel of Mark regarding the birth of Jesus.
[3:13] Instead, Mark begins by describing for us the adult life of Jesus. He tells of John the Baptist who predicts the coming of a man that is more powerful than himself.
[3:31] And the focus of this Gospel is more on the deeds of Jesus, rather than on the words and the teachings of Jesus.
[3:43] For instance, there are 19 miracles in Mark's Gospel, more than we find in any other Gospel, but there are only four parables.
[3:58] And Mark describes for us Jesus as always on the move. In his ministry towards Jerusalem and the cross.
[4:11] Mark describes Jesus for us as a man of action. So we see how Mark in his Gospel moves so quickly from one scene to another.
[4:25] There is that key word that is very peculiar to the Gospel of Mark. You'll find even in this chapter a number of times, and that is the word, and immediately, and immediately.
[4:39] It is a Gospel that is always on the move. Another feature that we find in the Gospel of Mark is that it is a Gospel or good news for the Gentiles.
[4:57] He uses Roman terms because he is writing to Gentile people within the Roman Empire. Therefore, we find that he explains Aramaic words, the language that was spoken in the days of Jesus, Aramaic.
[5:18] And here, Mark explains those Aramaic words because Gentiles would not have understood them. Such words as Talitikumi in chapter 5, verse 41, which he explains as Damsel I say unto thee arise.
[5:35] And there are other instances of the same throughout the Gospel where Mark translates for us what these terms mean.
[5:48] There aren't many Old Testament quotes to be found in the Gospel because Gentiles would not have been familiar with them.
[6:01] The Gentiles would not have been familiar with the Old Testament Scriptures. It is generally accepted that Mark is the earliest of the four Gospels.
[6:20] That it would have been written between 40 to 50 AD with the other Gospels being written between 60 to 100 AD.
[6:31] And most in the early church believed that what we have in Mark's Gospel is really the memory of the Apostle Peter concerning Jesus.
[6:45] So that they conclude that the Gospel of Mark is really the Gospel of Peter. That everything that Mark has written down in his Gospel that he got all that information from the Apostle Peter.
[7:07] A man called Papias who was a Bishop in 140 AD said that Mark became Peter's interpreter and wrote accurately all that he remembered.
[7:23] Another of the Church Fathers by the name of Irenaeus writing in 185 AD he called Mark the disciple and the interpreter of Peter.
[7:36] So the early church was very aware of the close friendship that there was between Mark and the Apostle Peter.
[7:49] You must remember that Mark was not an Apostle. He was a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. We know from the first letter of Peter that there was this close friendship between Peter and Mark.
[8:05] For in his first letter Peter calls Mark his son. That is, his son in the faith. faith. And we believe that it was this close friendship between them that motivated Mark to write what we have in these 16 chapters of this Gospel that bears his name.
[8:29] Now, as I said, the Gospel was written to Gentile people. It was written when Christians were facing persecutions.
[8:39] and if Peter indeed was a source for the information that we have in this Gospel of Mark, it is likely that the Gospel was written in Rome because we know that they both meant in Rome.
[8:58] And Peter in his first letter makes mention of trials of faith. He writes there wherein ye great rejoice though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations that the trial of your faith being much more precious and of gold that perished though betrayed with fire might be founded to praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
[9:28] We know that it was from Rome that that great persecution of Christians came by the Emperor Nero in 64 AD.
[9:39] It is generally believed that it was during that Emperor's reign that Peter as well as Paul died for their faith.
[9:52] So it is against this background of Rome and persecution that this Gospel is written. so Mark is writing this Gospel to Gentile Christians who are facing persecution and probably will face greater persecutions and he is writing to them to encourage them in their faith against that hostile environment in which they find themselves.
[10:20] He is pointing them to the servitude of Jesus as the one who suffered so that through his sufferings that we may have salvation or redemption.
[10:35] The one who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.
[10:50] And as Peter reminds us again in his first letter for even here unto what he called because Christ also suffered for us leaving as an example that ye should follow his steps.
[11:04] And we are following on in his steps. And in doing so we are to expect sufferings from a hostile environment.
[11:16] But in doing so we are to look to Jesus and see in him the suffering servant. See in him the one who was sinless but the one who did suffer from a hostile environment.
[11:37] The one who did no sin neither was guile found in his mouth. Who when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatened not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously.
[11:54] And Peter tells us that we are to follow the example of Christ in his and in our suffering.
[12:05] So Mark in his gospel brings before us the servitude of Jesus as the one who acts as the one who delivers during moments of crisis.
[12:18] Jesus. So that is probably enough this morning regarding the background and the purpose of this gospel.
[12:33] But let us now say a little about the one who wrote this gospel who was Mark. Well Mark was a Roman name which means hammer.
[12:45] But he also had a Jewish name which was John which means the grace of God. So that his full name was John Mark.
[12:59] It is suggested that the young man that we read of in this gospel in chapter 14 where we read and there followed him a certain young man having a linen cloth cast about his naked body and the young men laid hold on him and he left the linen cloth and fled from them naked.
[13:20] It is actually a reference to Mark. For this instance is only found in the gospel of Mark and some say that this is Mark's way of saying that it is he who has written this gospel.
[13:38] However when we come to the book of Acts in chapter 12 when Peter was released from the prison by an angel we read that he came to the house of Mary the mother of John whose surname was Mark and there there were the Christians and they were gathered together in prayer.
[14:06] We must remember that this was a dangerous time for Christians in Jerusalem but the home of John Mark has become a meeting place for Christians to meet and Peter knew that that this is where they would assemble together and so when he's released there by the angel he makes his way to the house of John Mark and his mother Mary we also know from Colossians chapter 4 that Mark was a cousin of Barnabas the Barnabas the encourager the son of consolation and we know that John Mark along with Barnabas accompanied Paul on his first missionary journey we read there in Acts 12 that Barnabas and Saul or Paul returned from
[15:06] Jerusalem when they had fulfilled their ministry and took with them John whose surname was Mark so that as Paul and Barnabas set out on this first missionary journey they took John Mark with them but something happened for in the following chapter in the book of Acts in Acts 13 we read that when they came to Pergo that John departed from them and that he returned to Jerusalem he abandoned them for whatever reason and he returned to Jerusalem John Mark was a young man and maybe he found it all too much for him and decided that this was enough and so he returned back to Jerusalem it leaves one ready to conclude that
[16:07] John Mark was a failure whatever it was that made him return to Jerusalem we know that later on it caused a disagreement between Paul and Barnabas in Acts chapter 15 we read and some days after Paul said to Barnabas let us go again and visit our brethren in every city where we have preached the word of the Lord and see how they do and Barnabas determined to take with them John whose surname was Mark but Paul thought not good to take him with them because he had departed from them on an earlier occasion on the first missionary journey and went not with them he did not go with them to the work and this contention between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark was so sharp between them that they departed one from another one went
[17:14] Barnabas took Mark and he sailed with him to Cyprus and Paul went another direction so departed ways and we lose sight of John Mark for many years whatever caused him to abandon Paul and Barnabas in that first missionary journey in the ministry and serving the church what we find later on is a great restoration and testimony given to us by Paul himself regarding John Mark we read in Philemon verse 24 that among those whom Paul called his fellow labourers is the name of Mark later we find that Paul would ask Timothy to bring John Mark back with him to Rome because he was useful to me in the service of the
[18:18] Lord do thy diligence he says to Timothy to come shortly unto me for Demas hath forsaken me having loved this present world only Luke was with him and he says to Timothy take Mark and bring him with thee for he is profitable to me for the ministry here is a young man who as far as we are concerned as we read of him there in the book of Acts he is a failure he is a disappointment he is one who abandoned the ministry and serving the Lord and returned back to Jerusalem we may conclude that his Christian service is over but the grace of God turned this man so that now he is profitable for the ministry and here he is called to be one of the writers of the gospel we must never judge any person even if they have failed in some aspect of
[19:36] Christian service for we must never understand what the grace of God can do in a person's life we have been given an account of Mark's failure but we have also been given an account of Mark's restoration that there should be a strengthening to any person who may feel themselves to be a failure and a disappointment in the service of Christ how God by his grace can mould us to be profitable in the ministry and in his service there can be many failures in the Christian life there can be many back slidings but we are reminded in the Bible of Israel who had turned away from the Lord they had failed they were at disappointment and the
[20:40] Lord then exhorts them and he says O Israel return unto the Lord thy God for thou has fallen by thine iniquity take with you words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away all iniquity and receive us graciously so will we render the calves of our lips asher shall not save us we will not ride upon horses neither will we see any more to the work of our hands you are our gods for in thee the fatherless find mercy to which the Lord replies I will heal their backsliding I will love them freely for my anger is turned away from him the Lord is always ready to receive us and restore us graciously despite our failures despite the disappointments if we turn to him in confession and repentance he is always ready to receive us so never judge any person even if they have failed in some aspect of
[21:55] Christian service never underestimate what the grace of God can do with that person and we see here in this narrative between Paul and Mark that Paul accepted him Paul accepted always have that Christ like spirit that Paul showed in receiving and accepting Mark who in the past had failed him but who by the grace of God is restored into the ministry and service of God Paul accepted him now as we read the first few verses of this gospel it is interesting to see where Mark begins this gospel and he brings us immediately and establishes for us the identity of the person whose servitude he is going to bring before us the beginning of the gospel of
[23:05] Jesus Christ the son of God the person that he is going to write about is the man Jesus Christ who is the son of God who is the servant of God and then Mark does something that is quite remarkable he quotes the prophecy of two Old Testament prophets namely Malachi and Isaiah and they were both fulfilled in the ministry of John the Baptist he says in verse 2 as it is written in the prophets behold I send my messenger before thy face who shall prepare thy way before thee this is a quotation from Malachi 3 verse 1 and then he quotes in verse 3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his path straight which is a quotation from
[24:09] Isaiah 40 and verse 3 now although Malachi is the last book of the Old Testament in our Bibles it does not reflect the order in which Old Testament books were composed in fact the writing of Malachi predates that of chronicles and Esra Nehemiah and Esther Malachi ministered about 60 to 70 years after the completion of the temple after they had come back from captivity so that Malachi would have been contemporary with Esra and Nehemiah but the age in which Malachi the age in which he composed wrote the book that bears his name was an age when the people saw nothing wrong with the way they were living or the way that they approached
[25:13] God in worship when they were challenged there was no acknowledgement on any part of wrong doing and then the prophet reminds them of the coming of Christ in these words that we find in Malachi chapter 3 and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant whom ye delight in behold he shall come saith the Lord of hosts but before he tells them that he uses he speaks these words that we have here in verse 2 behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and it's the same with the second quotation that we have from Isaiah the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his path straight it's a quotation from the prophecy of
[26:17] Isaiah where in his prophecy there's a turning point in this passage Isaiah is making reference to the Jews coming back from the Babylonian captivity and in Isaiah 40 the passage from which these words are quoted Isaiah there speaks to the people who have come back from captivity and it's written comfort ye comfort ye my people say your God speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished that her iniquity is pardoned for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins and then comes this part that is here written for us in verse 3 a voice is heard which is giving further information about this message of comfort extended to
[27:28] Jerusalem and we have these words that explains the comfort the voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight it's a picture of the heralds that would go about before the king that would call on the people to receive their king the heralds would call on the city while the king was still at a distance for the people of the city to prepare there were no properly maintained roads in those days so that when a king was going to visit it was customary to send a herald in advance to command the local people to repair and make ready for the royal route we still have that sort of things done in our own day if the queen comes to visit there is preparation made before her visit if the queen came for instance to north
[28:37] Tolstair there wouldn't be so many potholes on the road they would be filled immediately preparing the way for the queen and that was here what was happening here where he says the voice of one cried in the wilderness prepare ye the way of the Lord make his passage that's the image that is portrayed here for us and Mark takes both prophecies and he applies them to John the Baptist whose ministry was not concerned with road construction but with preparing the people for the coming of the Lord Jesus and what preparation was he calling well he was proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin his core message of preparation was repentance he was the herald he was the one sent before
[29:43] Christ came and his message was prepare the way for Christ prepare the way and the preparation that he was asking them to do was repent repentance and there is a sense in which this message is not merely to be given in preparation for the first coming of Christ but it's also appropriate to be given as we prepare now for his second coming repentance the gospel the gospel is the herald the gospel proclaims the king is coming and the gospel is asking the people to prepare themselves for his coming and how are the people to prepare themselves for his coming how are we to prepare ourselves for his coming well it is repentance when Jesus after his baptism as brought before his year in this chapter began his public ministry his message was the same from that time Jesus began to preach and to say repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand repentance was at the core of the preaching of the apostles on the day of Pentecost when the people who heard Peter preach they were pricked in their hearts and they inquired and they said men and brethren what shall we do and Peter instructed them to repent to those who marveled at the healing of the lame man at the temple
[31:17] Peter said to them repent ye therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord the early church testified that now God calls all men everywhere to repent so we see that repentance must be at the very core and heart of our preaching the gospel demands repentance if we need repentance what are the two signs of repentance well a man by the name of Thomas Watson says there are six ingredients in true repentance towards God and he gives them like this he says the first one is a sight of sin the second is sorrow for sin the third is confession of sin the fourth is shame for sin the fifth hatred for sin and the sixth turning from sin and Thomas
[32:37] Watson says that is true genuine repentance Mark introduces to us the person of John the Baptist who was given this immense privilege of announcing the coming of the son of God in the flesh and calling people to prepare themselves in repentance and then he goes on to give us details of John's living quarters and where he baptized and it is given to us as the wilderness now I think there is some significance attached to that for often in the Bible the wilderness reminds us of a place that is dry and barren we can see that if we travel along with the children of Israel in their wilderness journey Moses reminds them of how empty it was and how dependent they were on the
[33:37] Lord to provide for them he says to the children of Israel who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness wherein were fiery serpents and scorpions and drought where there was no water who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint in the prophecy of Isaiah itself and chapter 33 the wilderness is portrayed to us as a land that has suffered the divine penalty on its sin Isaiah says the highways lie waste the way very man seeseth he hath broken the covenant he hath despised the cities he regardeth no man the earth mourneth Lebanon is ashamed and hewn down Sharon is like a wilderness and Bashan and Carmel shake off their fruits but then Isaiah cries out and he speaks of the voice of one crying in the wilderness all which was fulfilled in the person of
[34:41] John the Baptist who was living in the wilderness and from there he came and he cried prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight from a barren and a wasteland came this cry prepare the way of the Lord make his paths straight well there is a sense in which this world in which we live and move is spiritually a barren and a wasteland but in the midst of that barrenness and wasteland there comes a cry through the gospel prepare ye the way of the Lord make his paths straight how can I prepare in repentance in repentance all the obstacles must be taken away and the paths prepared
[35:45] John spoke of that preparation work as repentance John did baptise in the wilderness and preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sin now we are going to look at the preaching of John the Baptist in detail would have to go to another gospel to the gospel of Matthew and chapter 3 and then Mark introduces us to the response of the people he says and there went out unto him all the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem and were all baptised of him in the river Jordan confessing their sins a steady stream of people kept coming to John confessing their sins and they were baptised by him there was a widespread acceptance and an embracing of the ministry of John and his preaching Jesus himself says of John that he was a burning and a shining light and you were willing he says to the people for a season to rejoice in that light but there were also his critics the
[36:55] Pharisees and the Sadducees wherever the gospel is proclaimed there are not only those who accept and embrace but also there are those who will criticise but Luke tells us that among those who went out to John were publicans and tax collectors the rich and the poor even the Roman soldiers went out to hear his preaching and the amazing thing is this that the public preaching of John the Baptist was not a very long one some estimate that the duration of his public ministry would be around six months to a year that is all that was the duration of his ministry six months to a year and yet his ministry had a great impact upon the people and
[38:00] Mark goes on to tell us that John was clothed with camel sail with a girdle of skin about his loins his clothing was very simple just a garment made of camel sail with a leather belt facing at his waist which kept the garment of camel sail from blowing around and also enabled him to tuck the robe into his belt which would facilitate his walking his food was just as simple and he did eat locusts and wild tennie but of course that may not be all that he ate and he preached saying there cometh one mightier than I after me the latchet of his shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and loose I indeed have baptized you with water but he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and what I want just to note here briefly that in his preaching he magnified Jesus Christ he magnified the one who was coming
[39:03] Jesus Christ and in our preaching we magnify the one who has come and who is coming back and that is Jesus Christ he sets Christ above himself and he sets himself as slow as he could in the presence of Christ he says there cometh one mightier than I after me the latchet of his shoes I am not worthy to stoop down and and loose he sets himself as slow as he could magnifying Christ uplifting Christ and that is what we have to do in our preaching in our lives we have to magnify Christ show forth Christ be
[40:03] Christ like in every situation and in everything that we do to be Christ like and to prepare ourselves for the coming of the king and to prepare ourselves by repenting of our sins may may the Lord bless our thoughts let us pray