WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:10.800 If you have a Bible or phone open, Mark chapter 3, let me just read as a springboard, verse 00:00:10.800 --> 00:00:11.800 7. 00:00:11.800 --> 00:00:20.879 Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea and the great crowd fought from Galilee and 00:00:20.879 --> 00:00:25.960 Judea and Jerusalem and Edumia and from beyond Jordan. 00:00:25.960 --> 00:00:33.200 I wonder what the image that most folks have of Christianity these days. 00:00:33.200 --> 00:00:38.120 Kind of back in the day, it was a kind of very benign thing, the idea of kind of more 00:00:38.120 --> 00:00:42.640 tea vicar, you know, the idea of something fairly harmless. 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:48.040 The Christianity was like an old cat that sat there in the city and had purred away, and 00:00:48.040 --> 00:00:53.159 really as long as it purred away and was quiet and didn't cause too much trouble, then it 00:00:53.159 --> 00:00:55.760 was absolutely fine. 00:00:55.759 --> 00:01:02.000 As of Christianity was seen as being somewhat dull and part of the establishment. 00:01:02.000 --> 00:01:06.239 These days, I think Christianity has changed in the consciousness of men and women, and 00:01:06.239 --> 00:01:12.319 it's probably two notches short of a Taliban in the consciousness of many people. 00:01:12.319 --> 00:01:17.799 And so the idea that folk have of Christianity has varied across the time. 00:01:17.799 --> 00:01:21.599 And one of the things that we're trying to do here at St. Columbus is really just try 00:01:21.599 --> 00:01:24.840 and get folk back to the sources. 00:01:24.840 --> 00:01:30.600 To forget about the mythology, the kind of popular mind of who Jesus is. 00:01:30.600 --> 00:01:36.359 You know, the Jesus from your Sunday school Bible picture stories, if you ever had one, 00:01:36.359 --> 00:01:43.879 of some kind of almost refugee from the sixties, some kind of hippie character with a garland 00:01:43.879 --> 00:01:50.560 of flowers around his neck who spread a lot of everywhere, really like your favorite grandfather. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:54.600 That's who we like Jesus to be. 00:01:54.599 --> 00:02:00.119 The Jesus of reality and the Jesus of the New Testament is rather different, isn't he? 00:02:00.119 --> 00:02:05.319 Because he is someone who is somewhat menacing to some people, and wherever he went, there 00:02:05.319 --> 00:02:08.120 seemed to be conflict. 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:12.479 And again, you've got that irony that his name is the Prince of Peace, and yet wherever 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:19.680 he went, people seemed to have this almost unreasonable hatred towards him. 00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:24.519 And Jesus certainly is a very interesting character. 00:02:24.520 --> 00:02:28.719 People say to me all the time, the church is such a conservative force. 00:02:28.719 --> 00:02:32.640 Are you absolutely serious? 00:02:32.640 --> 00:02:38.840 Can you look at Jesus of Nazareth and say that he, the most revolutionary person ever, 00:02:38.840 --> 00:02:43.000 was the head of a force of conservatism? 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:48.360 If you're looking for radicalism, believe it or not, you've come to the right place. 00:02:48.360 --> 00:02:54.240 Well we may not look very radical behind me is this poopet, which really looks pretty 00:02:54.240 --> 00:02:55.240 unradical. 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:59.800 I'm told it's designed to look like the exterior of Milan Cathedral. 00:02:59.800 --> 00:03:02.879 I didn't know that until last night. 00:03:02.879 --> 00:03:05.000 Our building is very, very simple. 00:03:05.000 --> 00:03:09.400 The folk at the door didn't seem to me to be revolutionaries. 00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:15.200 And yet what is going on here is a revolutionary movement, and we see that in Mark chapter 00:03:15.200 --> 00:03:16.200 three. 00:03:16.200 --> 00:03:18.879 So that's the theme of this whole section. 00:03:18.879 --> 00:03:22.800 It is the theme of conflict, isn't it? 00:03:22.800 --> 00:03:27.640 You saw last week, look at chapter two, verse 24, there's conflict there. 00:03:27.640 --> 00:03:32.680 The Pharisees were arguing with them, Lord, why are you picking grain on the Sabbath day? 00:03:32.680 --> 00:03:34.320 And Derek explained that, didn't they? 00:03:34.320 --> 00:03:37.080 The whole Sabbath controversy. 00:03:37.080 --> 00:03:41.840 Verse three, chapter three, verse two, they began to accuse him. 00:03:41.840 --> 00:03:44.560 Verse six is escalated up, isn't it? 00:03:44.560 --> 00:03:46.120 It's very sinister. 00:03:46.120 --> 00:03:51.360 The Pharisees went out immediately, held counsel with the Herodians against them, how to destroy 00:03:51.360 --> 00:03:53.280 him. 00:03:53.280 --> 00:03:59.800 So what began as a theological dispute over the Sabbath ends up in verse six as a murder 00:03:59.800 --> 00:04:01.440 plot. 00:04:01.440 --> 00:04:06.320 As you have the Herodians, that was the political side of the government. 00:04:06.320 --> 00:04:10.640 And the Pharisees, the religious side of the government. 00:04:10.640 --> 00:04:14.240 So you've got the church and you've got the state. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:20.920 And then they want to conspire against this 32 year old, fairly quiet, benign carpenter, 00:04:20.920 --> 00:04:23.160 and they want to kill him. 00:04:23.160 --> 00:04:31.120 I ask you, are these the words of a movement that's absolutely harmless? 00:04:31.120 --> 00:04:36.920 So this whole section is really beginning to get hot, isn't it, as we go through Mark's 00:04:36.920 --> 00:04:38.879 Gospel? 00:04:38.879 --> 00:04:42.160 Because what's going on is a challenge to the old order. 00:04:42.160 --> 00:04:48.920 And as we in the church are always doing, we're challenging the old order, Jesus said 00:04:48.920 --> 00:04:52.879 in the previous chapter, he gave us image, didn't he? 00:04:52.879 --> 00:04:57.400 He said it's like sowing a new patch on an old garment. 00:04:57.400 --> 00:05:01.960 And so what happens is there's a tear, there's a conflict. 00:05:01.960 --> 00:05:02.960 He changes the image. 00:05:02.960 --> 00:05:06.480 He says it's like putting new wine and old wineskins. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:10.600 And so the old is under pressure. 00:05:10.600 --> 00:05:17.200 That's why we've got the conflict in chapter three, following this image in chapter two. 00:05:17.199 --> 00:05:22.599 Because Jesus is not just trying to tweak the old order, he's going to revolutionize 00:05:22.599 --> 00:05:25.719 the old order. 00:05:25.719 --> 00:05:30.319 And actually that's the frame of chapter three. 00:05:30.319 --> 00:05:37.560 Because what you have in chapter three going on underneath is something very, very powerful. 00:05:37.560 --> 00:05:41.879 Jesus is saying, you've heard of Israel in the past. 00:05:41.879 --> 00:05:45.639 He's saying, I'm the new Israel. 00:05:45.639 --> 00:05:47.919 There are little hints, verse seven and eight. 00:05:47.919 --> 00:05:49.319 Did you read about the crowd there? 00:05:49.319 --> 00:05:54.919 Well, maybe you didn't notice that it was all that exciting, but it was powerful. 00:05:54.919 --> 00:06:01.360 Just a list of names, Galilee, Judea, Jerusalem, Erymia, Tyre and Sidon. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:05.800 But what we actually have there is we've got two things that I find interesting. 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:11.319 We've got, first of all, all the people there from Tyre and Sidon, even beyond. 00:06:11.319 --> 00:06:17.319 What you have there is a description of the old borders of David's kingdom. 00:06:17.319 --> 00:06:21.040 So what Jesus is saying here is, I'm the new David. 00:06:21.040 --> 00:06:25.399 People from the old kingdom of David were coming together to hear this man. 00:06:25.399 --> 00:06:28.759 He is the new David. 00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:31.360 There's an internationalism there, isn't there? 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:37.800 From Tyre and Sidon, it wasn't even within the borders of Israel. 00:06:37.800 --> 00:06:43.879 Jesus is saying, I'm no longer the guy for the physical nation of Israel. 00:06:43.879 --> 00:06:47.400 I'm the guy for the whole world. 00:06:47.400 --> 00:06:53.600 So what you have in verses seven and eight is a looking back to the borders of the Davidic 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:54.600 kingdom. 00:06:54.600 --> 00:06:59.199 And what you have is looking forward to the great commission when Jesus is saying, I'm 00:06:59.199 --> 00:07:01.000 going worldwide now. 00:07:01.000 --> 00:07:02.199 I'm not just Jew. 00:07:02.199 --> 00:07:03.800 I'm Jew and Gentile. 00:07:03.800 --> 00:07:08.879 I do Tyre and Sidon and beyond. 00:07:08.879 --> 00:07:11.360 He appoints disciples. 00:07:11.360 --> 00:07:12.360 How many? 00:07:12.360 --> 00:07:13.360 Twelve. 00:07:13.360 --> 00:07:19.120 Twelve is a kind of significant number in the Bible because again what Jesus is saying, 00:07:19.120 --> 00:07:22.199 He goes up into a mountain, doesn't He? 00:07:22.199 --> 00:07:30.120 Verse 13, He goes up into a mountain and He establishes a new kingdom led by twelve guys. 00:07:30.120 --> 00:07:34.680 Even anyone who's done Old Testament 101 knows what Jesus is doing there. 00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:42.399 He is saying not to replace, we don't believe in replacing, but He is developing the old 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:47.639 twelve tribe of Israel idea here. 00:07:47.639 --> 00:07:55.000 So what Jesus is doing is He's creating something new and powerful and lasting. 00:07:55.000 --> 00:07:58.360 Something that was prefigured in the Old Testament, twelve tribes of Israel. 00:07:58.360 --> 00:08:00.800 And yet Jesus is saying, I'm a new David. 00:08:00.800 --> 00:08:05.280 I am the Messiah. 00:08:05.280 --> 00:08:11.439 Who does He think He is? 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:14.199 He's the Son of God. 00:08:14.199 --> 00:08:20.000 Even the demons recognize that. 00:08:20.000 --> 00:08:24.960 And so He appoints His team, just one little phrase here, look at verse 14, so that they 00:08:24.960 --> 00:08:26.360 might be with Him. 00:08:26.360 --> 00:08:31.680 Isn't that a great description of not just one of the twelve apostles, but that's a great 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:34.840 description of a disciple of Jesus. 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:41.440 And we as a congregation as a group of churches are called to make disciples of all nations. 00:08:41.440 --> 00:08:43.960 We are making a plea, an argument. 00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:49.600 We are trying to form relationships with folk all over the world to make them disciples. 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:50.600 What's that? 00:08:50.600 --> 00:08:54.000 So that they might be with Him. 00:08:54.000 --> 00:09:00.200 A disciple is just someone who spends time with Jesus, copying them, listening to them, 00:09:00.200 --> 00:09:03.000 following what they're saying. 00:09:03.000 --> 00:09:05.639 Christ's like communicators with power. 00:09:05.639 --> 00:09:12.440 But this morning we don't have time to unpack every single verse in detail. 00:09:12.440 --> 00:09:15.759 We're not on a sponsored preach here. 00:09:15.759 --> 00:09:20.720 But what we're doing is perhaps looking at these verses, but more particular, look at 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:28.440 the last passage there from verse 20 to 34. 00:09:28.440 --> 00:09:35.759 And I want you to pick out that idea of conflict and the idea of Jesus as a conflict magnet. 00:09:35.759 --> 00:09:38.720 Notice three areas of conflict. 00:09:38.720 --> 00:09:40.800 Number one is conflict in the family. 00:09:40.800 --> 00:09:44.680 Look at verse 21. 00:09:44.680 --> 00:09:50.080 He came home and there was a crowd gathered around him, conflict in the family verse 21. 00:09:50.080 --> 00:09:53.960 And when his family heard that they went out to see him, for they were saying, this is 00:09:53.960 --> 00:09:58.879 his family, we're saying, he is out of his mind. 00:09:58.879 --> 00:09:59.879 He's nuts. 00:09:59.879 --> 00:10:00.879 He's crazy. 00:10:00.879 --> 00:10:01.879 He's mad. 00:10:01.879 --> 00:10:06.240 Two things sparked that off. 00:10:06.240 --> 00:10:08.200 Number one was he had gathered a crowd. 00:10:08.200 --> 00:10:11.759 Now, you guys will be experts in Mark by the end of this. 00:10:11.759 --> 00:10:13.720 A big theme in Mark is crowds. 00:10:13.720 --> 00:10:15.560 The crowds kind of appear everywhere. 00:10:15.560 --> 00:10:18.600 And Mark is very interested in the crowds. 00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:21.120 So there he is, he's Jesus. 00:10:21.120 --> 00:10:24.159 He comes in and this isn't normal. 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:28.879 You know, you go home for your dinner and there's thousands of people outside the door. 00:10:28.879 --> 00:10:30.680 This guy is absolutely mad. 00:10:30.680 --> 00:10:35.960 And also they have that little note that he hasn't eaten. 00:10:35.960 --> 00:10:36.960 He couldn't even eat. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.360 He didn't have time to eat. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:43.560 And they thought this was crazy. 00:10:43.559 --> 00:10:50.439 Just a little sidebar about zeal, isn't it extraordinary that folk say that when you 00:10:50.439 --> 00:10:55.879 are zealous for Jesus, you're mad. 00:10:55.879 --> 00:10:58.399 And yet when you're zealous at work, you're ambitious. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:00.959 It's kind of funny, isn't it? 00:11:00.959 --> 00:11:03.639 How the standards change. 00:11:03.639 --> 00:11:09.000 You know, if you're in the corporate world, you're working to 11 o'clock at night. 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:14.360 I had a friend in Aberdeen and he was in oil and gas, he was in law. 00:11:14.360 --> 00:11:18.879 And one of the things that, at 11 o'clock at night, a fax would come through from Houston, 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.480 Texas and the deal would be settled. 00:11:21.480 --> 00:11:25.840 And he would say to his friend, do you not live for days like this? 00:11:25.840 --> 00:11:32.679 Do you not live for the deal after being at work for the last 16 hours? 00:11:32.679 --> 00:11:33.679 Nobody says that. 00:11:33.679 --> 00:11:34.679 It's crazy. 00:11:34.679 --> 00:11:35.679 Hopefully his wife does. 00:11:35.679 --> 00:11:36.679 But folks say that's ambitious. 00:11:36.679 --> 00:11:37.679 That's what you do. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:44.719 And they say, but because he's zealous for God, they say, you're mad. 00:11:44.719 --> 00:11:45.719 You're mad. 00:11:45.719 --> 00:11:47.919 Verse 21. 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:54.159 And then we've got that interesting little verse there that they wanted to take charge 00:11:54.159 --> 00:11:55.159 of him. 00:11:55.159 --> 00:12:03.919 Now, be very careful when we apply this passage, because we very often apply this as, this is 00:12:03.919 --> 00:12:08.639 me they're talking about, oh, my family's just like that. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:15.399 They find it when I'm going to 15 meetings a week when I've done this, that and the other. 00:12:15.399 --> 00:12:16.879 They say, you're mad. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:19.919 That's not us here. 00:12:19.919 --> 00:12:26.039 The problem here is not that we are like Jesus. 00:12:26.039 --> 00:12:28.360 The problem is that we are like the family. 00:12:28.360 --> 00:12:32.879 We don't understand Jesus. 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:36.039 They don't get him. 00:12:36.039 --> 00:12:42.759 So the point is, don't read yourself in here as a victim of verse 21. 00:12:42.759 --> 00:12:46.320 We are the family who just don't get who Jesus is. 00:12:46.320 --> 00:12:49.039 They were always doing this to Jesus. 00:12:49.039 --> 00:12:51.799 Luke 1, verse 49, he got lost in the temple. 00:12:51.799 --> 00:12:53.399 They said, where's he gone? 00:12:53.399 --> 00:12:54.399 He rebuked him. 00:12:54.399 --> 00:12:57.919 He says, I must be about my father's business. 00:12:57.919 --> 00:13:02.759 At Cana, the wedding, he rebuked to his mother, John chapter 2, verse 4. 00:13:02.759 --> 00:13:03.759 What do we have in common? 00:13:03.759 --> 00:13:09.679 Do you not see I'm different? 00:13:09.679 --> 00:13:12.600 Maybe this morning, do we understand Jesus? 00:13:12.600 --> 00:13:15.519 Are we still scandalized at Him? 00:13:15.519 --> 00:13:22.039 Do we sometimes think at the end of the day, Jesus is mad and we begin to make demands 00:13:22.039 --> 00:13:23.480 on Jesus. 00:13:23.480 --> 00:13:26.559 We try to control Jesus. 00:13:26.559 --> 00:13:33.119 It's the other way around, folks. 00:13:33.119 --> 00:13:34.119 He is sovereign. 00:13:34.119 --> 00:13:35.119 He is king. 00:13:35.119 --> 00:13:39.599 Who does He think He is? 00:13:39.599 --> 00:13:44.479 He's God, conflict in the family. 00:13:44.479 --> 00:13:48.639 In second verse 22, you've got conflict in the family. 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:54.079 Verse 22, you've got conflict with religion. 00:13:54.080 --> 00:13:57.200 The scribes who came down from Jerusalem, verse 22. 00:13:57.200 --> 00:14:01.840 Now, it's never a good idea when the guys come down from Jerusalem. 00:14:01.840 --> 00:14:03.340 Trust me. 00:14:03.340 --> 00:14:11.759 If the boys from Jerusalem come to see you, there is something wrong. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.560 We're a little bit like this in the free church very often when I turn up at a meeting from 00:14:16.560 --> 00:14:20.240 the mound in Edinburgh, someone is like, what have I done wrong? 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:22.840 I've done anything wrong. 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:25.120 The boys in Jerusalem were the real heavies. 00:14:25.120 --> 00:14:29.280 That is where the Pharisee hard line, hardcore guys lived. 00:14:29.280 --> 00:14:31.360 That was headquarters. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:39.360 So there was this theological inquiry sent down to see the people there. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:44.080 Now, there was a thing in those days. 00:14:44.080 --> 00:14:45.960 It was called a seduced city. 00:14:45.960 --> 00:14:48.720 It was actually a category. 00:14:48.720 --> 00:14:53.600 And the folk were worried that the city here, probably Capernaum, was becoming a seduced 00:14:53.600 --> 00:14:54.600 city. 00:14:54.600 --> 00:15:00.960 In other words, it had come under the spell of a heretical teacher. 00:15:00.960 --> 00:15:06.920 And so the boys from head office come down, theological commission, let's check out this 00:15:06.920 --> 00:15:09.800 guy, Jesus. 00:15:09.800 --> 00:15:13.399 Enter the teachers of the law. 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:20.840 Now, they say he is possessed by Beelzebub, and by the Prince of Demons, he casts out 00:15:20.840 --> 00:15:21.840 demons. 00:15:21.840 --> 00:15:25.199 That's not a great starting line, isn't it? 00:15:25.199 --> 00:15:26.840 You are possessed. 00:15:26.840 --> 00:15:36.519 Now, if the family were hurtful, the religious guys were even more hurtful. 00:15:36.519 --> 00:15:42.720 You will find that you will very often get most hurt from the religious people in society 00:15:42.720 --> 00:15:45.560 than you will from any other group of people. 00:15:45.560 --> 00:15:51.200 That is a matter of felt experiences, people say. 00:15:51.200 --> 00:15:52.519 And so there's a bitter tone. 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:55.200 Their words are cutting. 00:15:55.200 --> 00:15:59.240 He is from Beelzebub. 00:15:59.240 --> 00:16:03.240 People of a certain age are thinking Bohemian Rhapsody here. 00:16:03.240 --> 00:16:05.399 He is from Beelzebub. 00:16:05.399 --> 00:16:06.399 He's got the devil. 00:16:06.399 --> 00:16:08.000 The devil is in his tail. 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:11.279 Here he is. 00:16:11.279 --> 00:16:13.839 They could not be more wrong. 00:16:13.839 --> 00:16:24.199 Again, the greatest opposition to the things of God often come at that time of the greatest 00:16:24.199 --> 00:16:26.679 spiritual awakening. 00:16:26.679 --> 00:16:31.439 Because what we have here are men of the letter, not men of the spirit. 00:16:31.439 --> 00:16:33.120 They just don't get it. 00:16:33.120 --> 00:16:34.759 They are guys of the letter. 00:16:34.759 --> 00:16:38.399 They are people of the rules and the regulations. 00:16:38.399 --> 00:16:43.840 And they just do not understand this spiritual movement. 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:48.879 He's breaking the law, but they don't realize he is the law. 00:16:48.879 --> 00:16:54.639 They just don't get it. 00:16:54.639 --> 00:16:57.879 So we've got here conflict in the family, conflict from religion. 00:16:57.879 --> 00:17:05.319 And Jesus uses this conflict from religion to expand in two really interesting bodies 00:17:05.319 --> 00:17:07.839 of teaching. 00:17:07.839 --> 00:17:11.559 Number one, he speaks about the kingdom divided against itself. 00:17:11.559 --> 00:17:15.039 And number two, he talks about the unpardonable sin. 00:17:15.039 --> 00:17:17.639 I think they're interesting. 00:17:17.639 --> 00:17:20.879 Number one, then he talks about the kingdom against itself. 00:17:20.879 --> 00:17:23.759 He says, how can Satan cast out Satan? 00:17:23.759 --> 00:17:30.599 You say, you Jerusalem boys, you say that I am from Beelzebub. 00:17:30.599 --> 00:17:35.119 And yet what are you saying that I've cast out demons? 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:36.759 Are you nuts? 00:17:36.759 --> 00:17:38.160 Here's your logic. 00:17:38.160 --> 00:17:40.400 How can Satan cast out Satan? 00:17:40.400 --> 00:17:47.879 A house divided by itself cannot stand. 00:17:47.879 --> 00:17:51.799 Prejudice blinds people to reason. 00:17:51.799 --> 00:17:54.200 This is absolutely unreasonable. 00:17:54.200 --> 00:18:00.279 If I, Jesus, hold on, let's get back to the basics here. 00:18:00.279 --> 00:18:05.000 If I expel demons, you're saying I've got a demon? 00:18:05.000 --> 00:18:06.000 No. 00:18:06.000 --> 00:18:12.720 So often folk who are against Christianity, the reason goes out the window. 00:18:12.720 --> 00:18:18.000 Now, again, please, in this church, we are open to critique. 00:18:18.000 --> 00:18:20.480 We are absolutely open to critique. 00:18:20.480 --> 00:18:24.400 And one of the problems that preachers very often have is we say things and we assume 00:18:24.400 --> 00:18:29.640 that everybody will just automatically believe that, well, please give us pushback. 00:18:29.640 --> 00:18:32.480 Hopefully wait until after the service. 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:39.360 Give us pushback, but please make that pushback be reasonable. 00:18:39.360 --> 00:18:45.079 The pushback here was, I think, driven by blind prejudice. 00:18:45.079 --> 00:18:51.839 It's not only Christians who can be narrow-minded fundamentalist bigots. 00:18:51.839 --> 00:18:55.799 Trust me, I met a few of them in my day. 00:18:55.799 --> 00:19:03.000 And secular folk can be equally narrow-minded fundamentalist bigots on steroids. 00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:08.720 And so what you have is this unreasonable thing which Jesus calls them out. 00:19:08.720 --> 00:19:14.079 And then he says something else, verse 27, no one can enter a strong man's house and 00:19:14.079 --> 00:19:19.359 plunder is good unless he first plunder the strong man, then indeed he may plunder his 00:19:19.359 --> 00:19:22.680 house. 00:19:22.680 --> 00:19:28.160 This is the thing here, look, you take the power of darkness and you take me. 00:19:28.160 --> 00:19:36.480 And if you're really unsubtle way, he's saying, I am God. 00:19:36.480 --> 00:19:39.240 I'm not a devil. 00:19:39.240 --> 00:19:43.840 I go right into the heart of darkness. 00:19:43.840 --> 00:19:51.240 And by my light, I illuminate it, dispelling the darkness. 00:19:51.240 --> 00:20:00.039 I go into that ball of the pus of bitterness and I bring sweetness. 00:20:00.039 --> 00:20:06.440 I go into the very den of the strong man. 00:20:06.440 --> 00:20:09.000 And in the cross, I was not defeated. 00:20:09.000 --> 00:20:13.920 At the cross, I defeated every single power and principality. 00:20:13.920 --> 00:20:22.560 Do you watch Star Wars? 00:20:22.560 --> 00:20:24.680 Never seen it in my entire life. 00:20:24.680 --> 00:20:30.320 But you have an idea, don't you, there of two almost equal and opposite forces. 00:20:30.320 --> 00:20:34.360 Now, the Star Wars freaks will say, well, they're not actually equal and opposite. 00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:36.759 So he's got that wrong. 00:20:36.759 --> 00:20:40.440 But that's very often the idea that folk have of the powers of darkness. 00:20:40.440 --> 00:20:46.960 You've got God, you've got the devil, and it's two almost equal and opposite forces. 00:20:46.960 --> 00:20:47.960 No! 00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:49.960 It's a route. 00:20:49.960 --> 00:20:52.880 Jesus is the strong man. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:53.880 He's king of kings. 00:20:53.880 --> 00:20:56.720 He is Lord. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:01.600 So that's what he's saying there in the first element of teaching as he is working out this 00:21:01.600 --> 00:21:03.400 conflict with the religious people. 00:21:03.400 --> 00:21:09.279 He says, now get this straight number one, I am God. 00:21:09.279 --> 00:21:13.200 And then he goes on to talk about this very solemn thing. 00:21:13.200 --> 00:21:15.200 Look at verse 28 onwards. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:19.279 Have you ever heard of the unpardonable sin before? 00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:24.079 Verse 28 onwards, all sins will be forgiven the children of men and whatever blasphemies 00:21:24.079 --> 00:21:26.279 they utter. 00:21:26.279 --> 00:21:33.799 But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness. 00:21:33.799 --> 00:21:40.639 Whoever has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin. 00:21:40.639 --> 00:21:43.839 Now the context tells us what the unpardonable sin is. 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:48.480 The unpardonable sin is that when you've got the light of Christ, when you've got the 00:21:48.480 --> 00:21:53.399 truth of gospel, when you've got Jesus standing in front of you, when you've got the obvious 00:21:53.399 --> 00:21:57.519 goodness of God, you say no. 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:03.639 And you actually say what is light, is dark, what is good, is evil, what is Christ. 00:22:03.640 --> 00:22:06.560 What is light, is of the devil. 00:22:06.560 --> 00:22:17.000 This is the willful blindness of the obvious evidence of the work of the Spirit. 00:22:17.000 --> 00:22:20.400 Now that's unpardonable. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:24.160 Two things that just struck me yesterday about the unpardonable sin, you may or may not 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:25.160 agree. 00:22:25.160 --> 00:22:29.920 Number one is it's more common than not than we often think. 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:37.039 And number two, it is often committed by religious people. 00:22:37.039 --> 00:22:42.840 I wonder however though, do we focus in the wrong part of verse 28? 00:22:42.840 --> 00:22:47.720 Because I think we often focus on the unpardonable sin. 00:22:47.720 --> 00:22:50.640 But notice how it begins. 00:22:50.640 --> 00:22:54.920 I say to you all sins will be forgiven the children of men. 00:22:54.920 --> 00:23:00.279 Let's just put our cursor over that for a little bit. 00:23:00.279 --> 00:23:08.480 All sins will be forgiven the children of men. 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:10.759 This is good news. 00:23:10.759 --> 00:23:20.560 Folks, have you stumbled off of the street, seeing as maybe as a little diversion from 00:23:20.560 --> 00:23:23.400 the normal tourist attractions? 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:29.120 Let's go into a little Scottish church service and we stumble in and you hear a message here, 00:23:29.120 --> 00:23:30.759 look, change your life. 00:23:30.759 --> 00:23:37.400 And the message is all sins will be forgiven. 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:45.960 Whatever your sin is, X, Y, Z or Z, whatever sin is forgiven, whatever sin you've committed. 00:23:45.960 --> 00:23:48.920 We're not therapists in here. 00:23:48.920 --> 00:23:50.759 We're not managers as ministers. 00:23:50.759 --> 00:23:53.879 We're not managers of small enterprises. 00:23:53.879 --> 00:23:59.559 We are men and women who speak a message of absolute forgiveness. 00:23:59.559 --> 00:24:07.559 If you're burdened, if you've got a really heavy conscience, folk, there's forgiveness 00:24:07.559 --> 00:24:10.200 for sin. 00:24:10.200 --> 00:24:11.480 That's the crown of the gospel. 00:24:11.480 --> 00:24:14.519 The Bible says, so your sins be as scarlet. 00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:19.200 They shall be as white as snow. 00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:21.160 Did you see the apprentice the other night? 00:24:21.160 --> 00:24:26.759 If you've ever an hour to waste, what's the apprentice? 00:24:26.759 --> 00:24:29.920 Did you see it was at this exfoliating cream? 00:24:29.920 --> 00:24:38.480 Not a big user of exfoliating cream myself, but they had it and it wasn't there a problem? 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:45.039 They put it on and it turned folks' faces blue. 00:24:45.039 --> 00:24:50.159 Unless you're an extra and brave heart, that's not a great look. 00:24:50.159 --> 00:24:53.839 And it stained them. 00:24:53.839 --> 00:24:55.920 Sin stains us. 00:24:55.920 --> 00:25:01.039 Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, though red like crimson, 00:25:01.039 --> 00:25:03.039 they shall be as wool. 00:25:03.039 --> 00:25:08.039 Yeah, but what about the unpardonable sin? 00:25:08.039 --> 00:25:09.680 Okay. 00:25:09.680 --> 00:25:15.600 If you're worried that you've committed it, trust me, you've not committed it. 00:25:15.600 --> 00:25:23.080 If you're worried that you've committed it, that's good in a sense because sin is a concern. 00:25:23.080 --> 00:25:33.840 But there's another sin which is unpardonable, not because it's not possible, but because 00:25:33.840 --> 00:25:36.240 it's too late. 00:25:36.240 --> 00:25:44.400 Is God speaking to you this morning about your sin, about your relationship to Him? 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:46.880 And this is the essence of Mark's gospel. 00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:50.079 This is the essence of our message. 00:25:50.079 --> 00:25:57.400 It's this great liberating good news that there is freedom, that there is salvation for anyone 00:25:57.400 --> 00:26:00.839 and everyone. 00:26:00.839 --> 00:26:02.400 Jesus is the conflict magnet. 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:06.160 We've seen number one conflict within the family. 00:26:06.160 --> 00:26:09.600 We've seen number two conflict with the religious people. 00:26:09.600 --> 00:26:16.720 Thirdly, finally, and very quickly, verse 31 to 35, conflict is resolved. 00:26:16.720 --> 00:26:19.360 Conflict is resolved. 00:26:19.360 --> 00:26:25.759 Now His mother and His brother, they're standing there and the crowd is saying, and the crowd 00:26:25.759 --> 00:26:29.600 are saying, your mother and your brothers, they are there. 00:26:29.600 --> 00:26:34.400 They are shouting you, come on, Jesus, come in for your tea. 00:26:34.400 --> 00:26:40.200 And it's quite dramatic because Jesus answered them. 00:26:40.200 --> 00:26:45.720 Isn't it the interesting thing about Jesus is you can tell that someone's bright, not 00:26:45.720 --> 00:26:49.800 because of their answers, but because of their questions. 00:26:49.800 --> 00:26:56.960 Jesus said to them, who are my mother and my brothers? 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:02.320 Now the problem of Mary and his brothers was they thought that they could control the agenda 00:27:02.319 --> 00:27:11.759 of Jesus, as we often think that we can control the agenda of Jesus. 00:27:11.759 --> 00:27:17.279 But they made exactly the same mistake as many of the Jewish people. 00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.879 They thought that they were fine. 00:27:20.879 --> 00:27:26.399 We are Abraham's children, Matthew 3, verse 9. 00:27:26.400 --> 00:27:35.280 And Jesus is saying, now these folk are not my mother and my brothers. 00:27:35.280 --> 00:27:40.960 And he looked at those who sat around them and they were a motley crew, some were Jews, 00:27:40.960 --> 00:27:45.600 some were Gentiles, some were religious, some were non-religious. 00:27:45.600 --> 00:27:48.400 And he said a very radical thing about the New Kingdom. 00:27:48.400 --> 00:27:52.320 He says, here are my mother and my brothers. 00:27:52.319 --> 00:28:02.240 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother. 00:28:02.240 --> 00:28:11.119 The family of God, which is a big family, all God's creatures got a place in the choir, 00:28:11.119 --> 00:28:15.000 something low, something higher. 00:28:15.000 --> 00:28:18.759 We are a motley crew this morning. 00:28:18.759 --> 00:28:30.680 So what binds us together is not tradition, but those who do the will of God. 00:28:30.680 --> 00:28:37.200 And he loves and cares for us so much that he calls us his family. 00:28:37.200 --> 00:28:43.599 I can react again, sometimes that phrase, our church family, because I think it sounds 00:28:43.599 --> 00:28:50.199 sometimes a little bit culty and a little bit bizarre and weird and kind of still hold 00:28:50.199 --> 00:28:51.199 on to that. 00:28:51.199 --> 00:29:04.839 But in another sense, we are the family of God drawn together because we do his will. 00:29:04.839 --> 00:29:06.319 Two things as we conclude. 00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:10.559 Number one, there is conflict. 00:29:10.559 --> 00:29:15.960 Sometimes life as a Christian is, so to poor, nasty, British and short. 00:29:15.960 --> 00:29:20.879 There is conflict and there is no way of avoiding that. 00:29:20.879 --> 00:29:31.079 However, you can bear a lot of conflict if you go home and you've got a good home. 00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:35.679 And I hope and pray that in this church, in the church wherever you come from, you will 00:29:35.680 --> 00:29:43.160 find a good home, men and women, who are your brothers and sisters. 00:29:43.160 --> 00:29:44.160 Let's pray. 00:29:44.160 --> 00:29:53.519 Father, we thank you again for your word, for its energy, for its power, for its relevance. 00:29:53.519 --> 00:30:00.600 May we this morning find resolution to our conflicts. 00:30:00.599 --> 00:30:10.039 Thank you for that great word that says that all sins will be forgiven the children of 00:30:10.039 --> 00:30:11.039 men. 00:30:11.039 --> 00:30:16.240 Lord, speak to our hearts. 00:30:16.240 --> 00:30:24.839 If anyone here is not a believer, not in the family of God, may they become a brother and 00:30:24.839 --> 00:30:26.839 sister of Jesus today. 00:30:26.839 --> 00:30:30.839 Amen.