Let's turn to Mark's gospel.
Mark was a young man when Jesus was
crucified, perhaps about 12 years old.
So the gospel that he writes is considered
to be the understanding that he received from
listening to Peter relate the stories of Jesus
Christ.
Peter does call Mark his son.
That would be son in the faith.
And Mark was a companion of Peter through
much of Peter's ministry and thus heard Peter
relate these stories of Jesus Christ.
And so in his gospel you have pretty
much Peter's account as written by Mark of
Jesus.
There is only one part of Mark's gospel
that he probably wrote from personal experience.
It's a little insertion in the gospel of
Mark that you do not find in the
other gospels.
And it is concerning the arrest of Jesus
in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And Mark's gospel tells us that there was
a young boy there about 12 years old.
And one of the soldiers grabbed him, but
he wriggled out of his coat and left
his coat in the soldier's hand and ran
home.
And that is believed to be Mark's personal
account of his own experience.
And as a little 12-year-old boy
happened to be there in the garden with
Jesus and his disciples that night that Jesus
was betrayed.
Mark's mother's name was Mary.
She was a wealthy woman.
She lived in Jerusalem and her home was
a gathering place for the church.
When Peter was imprisoned by Herod, the church
had met in her home for that prayer
meeting.
And so when Peter was released by the
action of the angel and came to the
house and knocked on the door and the
young maiden came and saw it was Peter
and was so excited she didn't even open
the door but ran back in and told
the people, Peter's here.
And they said, oh, you've seen a ghost.
That was the home of Mark.
His mother's name was Mary, a wealthy woman
who lived in Jerusalem.
Her home was the gathering place for the
early church.
Her brother's name was Barnabas.
And he was the companion of Paul on
the first missionary journey.
Mark also went with him on that first
missionary journey.
But Mark left them and we don't know
why he left.
There is speculation that Mark was afraid to
go on into the more hostile areas of
Asia.
But that is only speculation.
We do not know why Mark left Paul
and Barnabas on the first missionary journey.
But Paul evidently was offended by his leaving.
So that when Barnabas and Paul were getting
ready to leave on their second missionary journey
and Barnabas wanted to take his nephew Mark
along, Paul objected strenuously because of the fact
that he had left the first time.
And from this, the contention between Paul and
Barnabas became so great that Barnabas took Mark
and went off himself to the island of
Cyprus.
And Paul took Silas and headed on out
to Asia.
However, this breach between Paul and Mark did
not last long.
For Paul makes mention of Mark being in
Rome with him and ministering to his needs.
It was probably while Mark was in Rome
with Paul that he wrote this gospel.
It is one of the earliest gospels written
and thought to be written sometime before the
year 63.
It is thought to be written by Mark
for the Romans as he was there with
Paul in Rome, inasmuch as whenever he deals
with any of the Jewish customs, he takes
the time to explain it, which would not
be necessary if he were writing to the
Jews.
But it is thought that he wrote this
gospel for the Romans.
Mark is brief in his style.
He doesn't go into a lot of details,
but he just briefly relates the stories, and
he covers, therefore, a lot of territory.
Later, as Paul was writing, he asked them
to send Mark to him with some of
his things because he said Mark had been
such a comfort and a help to him.
So here we have the gospel according to
Mark.
In the Bible, we have three beginnings.
John's gospel in the beginning was the Word.
The Word was with God.
The Word was God.
Genesis 1.1, in the beginning, God created
the heaven and the earth.
But Mark's gospel is the beginning of the
gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
So Mark does not tell us about the
birth of Jesus.
He leaves that for Matthew and for Luke.
But Mark begins his story at the baptism
of John.
But this is the beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ, and so he is not
going to tell us anything about the early
years of Jesus, about his birth, but he
starts right in with the ministry of Jesus
Christ, so the beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ.
And being with Paul in Rome, probably he
was thinking of Paul's declaration to the Romans
in his epistle to them prior to his
going there, where Paul said, I am not
ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it
is the power of God unto salvation.
We'll find John referring much to the gospel.
He is quoting Jesus as making reference to
the gospel in many places.
John sets out, I mean, Mark sets out,
well, it's John Mark, actually, so he sets
out Jesus.
Mark was his surname.
He sets out Jesus as the servant.
Matthew sets out Jesus as the king, the
lion of the tribe of Judah.
Mark emphasizes the servanthood of Jesus Christ, and
so in Matthew, Jesus is the lion.
Mark, he is the servant.
Luke, he is the son of man, and
in John, he is the son of God.
These are the various aspects and the phases
of Jesus' life that we see in the
gospels.
As it is written in the prophets, and
he begins, first of all, with a quotation
from Malachi, and then he jumps to Isaiah
and quotes from Isaiah.
As it is written in the prophets, Behold,
I send my messenger before thy face, which
shall prepare thy way before thee.
That's a quotation from Malachi.
It is a quotation concerning John, the forerunner
of Jesus Christ.
Now, quoting from Isaiah, the voice of one
crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way
of the Lord, make his path straight.
John did baptize in the wilderness and preach
the baptism of repentance for the remission of
sins.
And there went out unto him all of
the land of Judea and they of Jerusalem,
and were all baptized of him in the
river of Jordan, confessing their sins.
And John was clothed with camel's hair and
with a girdle of skin about his loins,
and he did eat locusts and wild honey.
And he preached, saying, There cometh one mightier
than I after me, the lachet of whose
shoes I am not worthy to stoop down
and unloose.
I indeed have baptized you with water, but
he shall baptize you with the Holy Spirit.
So he briefly tells us of the ministry
of John the Baptist, and he quotes the
prophecies from the Old Testament that relate to
the ministry of John the Baptist.
And then he tells us, And it came
to pass in those days that Jesus came
from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by
John in Jordan.
And immediately coming up out of the water,
he saw the heavens opened and the Spirit
like a dove descending upon him.
And there came a voice from heaven, saying,
Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.
Here again, we see the three persons of
the Godhead.
As Jesus is coming up out of the
water, the Spirit of God is descending upon
him and the voice of the Father declaring,
Thou art my beloved Son, in whom I
am well pleased.
And now he takes this from the baptism.
Immediately the Spirit drove him into the wilderness,
and he was there in the wilderness for
forty days, tempted of Satan, and was with
the wild beast and the angels ministered unto
him.
Now, Mark does not give us any of
the details of the temptation of Jesus.
He leaves that for the other gospel writers,
Matthew and Luke.
Now, after that, John, you see the brevity.
He doesn't go into the details where the
other gospels give us a little bit more
detail about that temptation of Jesus in the
wilderness.
Now, after that, John was put in prison.
Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of
the kingdom.
Notice the gospel of the kingdom, the good
news of God's kingdom.
And he was saying, The time is fulfilled,
the kingdom of God is at hand.
Repent ye and believe the gospel, believe the
good news.
Now, as he walked by the Sea of
Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother,
casting a net into the sea, for they
were fishers.
And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after
me, and I will make you to become
fishers of men.
And immediately they forsook their nets and followed
him.
And when he had gone a little farther
from there, he saw James, the son of
Zebedee and John, his brother, who also were
in the ship, mending their nets.
And immediately he called them and they left
their father Zebedee in the ship with the
hired servants and went after him.
Now, as we read Mark's gospel, because he
doesn't give us any background, it would appear
that Jesus just walking along the shore of
Galilee suddenly saw Peter and his brother Simon
said, Come on and follow me.
I'll make your fishers of men.
And they just left their nets and followed
him.
Well, that is what happened.
But this isn't the first time that they
had met Jesus.
This is when Jesus called them to discipleship,
but they had met Jesus earlier.
In fact, in the gospel of John, he
tells us of their earlier meeting of Jesus.
Andrew had met Jesus and he came to
Peter, his brother, and told him, Hey, we
have found the Messiah.
And, and he brought his brother Peter to
Jesus and they knew Jesus.
They had met Jesus.
They had observed the miracles that he had
done, but now Jesus is calling them to
a full commitment of discipleship.
Knowing Jesus, immediately upon his call to them,
they left their fishing, their nets to follow
Jesus.
Notice James and John with their father Zebedee.
Jesus later sort of nicknamed them the sons
of thunder, but they had hired servants.
They left their father with the hired servants.
So they evidently came from a well to
do background.
And so they came into Capernaum, which of
course is where, uh, Peter was living there
in Capernaum.
And immediately on the Sabbath day, he entered
into the synagogue and talked and they were
astonished at his doctrine for he taught them
as one that had authority and not as
the scribes.
Now, when the scribes would teach the people,
express an opinion as their own, they would
say, now, rabbi Hallel says of this, that
it means this or that or the other.
And they were always quoting other rabbis.
They would never just say flat out.
Now, this is what the Lord is saying
to us.
They never would speak with authority.
They would always in their teaching, just quote
the other ideas, the other thoughts, the other
rabbis and what they thought this might have
meant.
Thus, when Jesus came, he spoke with authority.
We remember in the sermon on the Mount,
he said, you've heard that it has been
said by those of old time, thou shalt
not kill.
But I say unto you, and he spoke
with authority and they marveled at this kind
of teaching.
They weren't used to this kind of teaching.
They weren't used to someone speaking with authority
concerning the word of God.
And so they were astonished at his teaching
because it wasn't as they were used to
hearing, but he spoke to them and he
taught them with real authority.
And there was in their synagogue, a man
with an unclean spirit.
And he cried out saying, let us alone.
What have we to do with thee thou
Jesus of Nazareth?
Are you come to destroy us?
I know thee whom thou art the Holy
one of God.
James in his epistle said, you say you
believe in God.
So what?
That doesn't make you a Christian that doesn't
make you saved for the devils believe and
they fear and tremble before him.
So just believing in God really doesn't bring
you salvation at which many people are mistaken
in that they say, well, I'm not an
atheist.
I believe in God, but that isn't salvation.
That's just proving.
You're not a fool for it is the
fool that has said in his heart, there
is no God.
So you say you believe in God, then
I believe you're not a fool, but it
doesn't mean you're saved.
Salvation comes by believing into a vital relationship
with Jesus Christ, a life changing relationship with
Jesus Christ that whosoever believeth into him, into
this vital life changing relationship with him shall
not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now this demon crying out said, I know
thee whom thou art.
You're the Holy one of God.
What are you doing?
You're coming to destroy us.
He recognized the power of Jesus.
He acclaimed Jesus to be the son of
God, but he wasn't saved.
It is possible for you to recognize the
power of Jesus and acclaim that Jesus was
the son of God and still not be
saved.
Salvation is a life changing experience as you
believe into this relationship with Jesus Christ.
And when the unclean spirit had torn him
and cried with a loud voice, or Jesus
rebuked him saying, hold thy peace and come
out of him, speaking with authority to the
demon.
And so when the demon had torn him
and cried with a loud voice, he came
out of him.
Mark makes mention of many cases of exorcism
by Jesus demonstrating the power that Jesus had
over these unclean spirits or demons.
We'll talk about that further when we get
to the uh, fifth chapter in the man
of Gadara.
And they were all amazed in so much
that they questioned among themselves saying, what thing
is this?
What new doctrine is this?
For with authority, he commands even the unclean
spirits and they do obey him.
And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all
the region round about Galilee.
So suddenly around the area of Galilee, there's
a buzz about Jesus of Nazareth, the things
that he is doing, the things that he
is saying.
And forthwith, when they were come out of
the synagogue, they entered into the house of
Simon and Andrew with James and John.
So Simon and Andrew had a home there
in Capernaum, but Simon's wife's mother lay sick
of a fever.
And so they told him about her and
he came and took her by the hand
and lifted her up.
And immediately the fever left her.
And she, um, ministered unto them that is
she fixed him dinner.
And that even when the sun did set,
they brought unto him all that were diseased
and those that were possessed with demons, not
devils, plural, because there's only one devil.
And that's a, uh, the, the word in
Greek is, uh, the word translated demons.
And all of the city was gathered together
at the door and he healed many that
were sick of different types of diseases.
He cast out many demons and he did
not allow the demons to speak because they
knew him a busy day.
The beginning of the ministry of Jesus started
out in the morning with this man, with
an unclean spirit, as Jesus was teaching in
the synagogue.
And this man with an unclean spirit, crying
out and being cured all day long, they
began to bring people to him to be
healed on into the evening hours.
How late we don't know all the city
was gathered together there at the door of
Simon's house.
You'd say, Oh man, what a tough day.
We better sleep in tomorrow.
You've been spiritually expended.
And in the morning rising up a great
while before day, he went out and departed
into a solitary place and there prayed.
It's interesting that Jesus' concept of being renewed
in strength and refreshed was not sleeping in,
but getting out early before anyone else was
up and communing with the Father.
And he drew his strength from prayer.
I do not know of any greater evidence
of the necessity of our praying than the
fact that Jesus prayed.
Being the son of God, he resorted to
prayer for strength, for guidance, for life
itself.
And if he being the son of God
saw the necessity of prayer, how much more
do we need prayer?
If he saw the need of getting up
early to pray, how much more should we
realize our need of prayer?
How important prayer is to the spiritual life
of the believer.
And Simon and those that were with him
followed after him.
And when they had found him, they said
unto him, All men are seeking for you.
So later on when they got up, Jesus
was gone.
But already there was a crowd of people
around the door waiting.
And when Simon and the others found him,
they said, Hey, everybody's looking for you.
And he said unto them, Let us go
into the next towns that I may preach
there also, for this is why I came.
And he preached in their synagogues throughout all
Galilee, and he cast out devils or demons.
And again, Mark makes note of the fact
that he was casting out demons.
Notice this is the fourth time that Mark
makes a special emphasis upon this fact.
And there came a leper to him, beseeching
him and kneeling down to him and saying
to him, If you will, you can make
me clean.
And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his
hand and touched him and said unto him,
I will, or I am willing, be thou
clean.
And as soon as he had spoken, immediately
the leprosy departed from him and he was
cleansed.
And he sternly charged him and then sent
him away.
And he said unto him, See that you
say nothing to any man, but go thy
way, show thyself to the priest and offer
for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded
for a testimony unto them.
But he went out and began to publish
it much and to blaze abroad the matter
insomuch that Jesus could no more openly enter
into the city, but had to stay out
in the deserted places.
And they came to him from every quarter.
Now, Jesus was trying to have perhaps a
little more freedom of movement.
But when the news was going out, the
leper was cleansed and all the healings that
were being done, it got so bad that
he could not come into the cities anymore
because of the throngs.
In fact, we find him spending a lot
of his time in a little boat offshore
so that they couldn't press around him so
much.
The crowds so often get unruly, pushing, shoving.
And so he would push out a little
ways from shore in the boat and there
he would speak to them from the boat
as they would stand on the shore.
And his purpose in telling this man not
to tell anybody is to give him a
little more freedom of movement.
But the fellow didn't obey, went everywhere, telling
everybody what had happened to him.
It's hard to keep a secret when God
has worked in your life.
Now, it's interesting.
Jesus didn't say, now, look, I want to
teach you how to witness, friend.
Take this little booklet with four spiritual laws
and you go out and you take this
religious survey and you ask all these questions,
which opens the door.
And then you say, well, do you know
the four spiritual laws?
You see, when God has done a marvelous
work in your life, witnessing is the natural
thing in the world.
How can you help but just share what
God has done in your life?
It's just something that becomes so much a
part of your life that witnessing is a
very natural thing, not a programmed thing, but
a very natural thing.
You couldn't shut these people up.
He didn't have to have a Tuesday night
witnessing night where we go out and, you
know, canvas the neighborhood.
God was working in the lives of the
people.
They were being affected and touched by that
work of God.
And they naturally sought to share what God
had done for them.
The interesting thing about this leper is number
one, his statement to Jesus, if you are
willing, is the Lord willing to heal us?
Jesus looked upon him with compassion and said,
I'm willing.
The second thing is that Jesus touched him.
Now it was unlawful to touch a leper.
If you touched a leper, you yourself were
considered unclean for a period of time.
However, Jesus touched him, but that really wasn't
unlawful because the moment he touched him, he
was cleansed.
So he was no longer a leper.
Immediately he was cleansed.
Jesus said, now go and show yourself to
the priest and offer those things which the
law prescribed.
Go through the little ritual.
So it is interesting to me that God
in the law made provisions for a man
who had an incurable disease, which ostracized him
from society.
God made provisions for that man with an
incurable disease to be returned to society when
he was healed of an incurable disease.
But how can you be healed of an
incurable disease?
God made provision for himself to work as
he so desired.
So this is the law for the leper
in the day of his cleansing.
And God, under the law, gave that law
for the leper in the day of his
cleansing.
Come and show himself to the priest.
He examines him and then he puts him
in a house apart.
And after seven days, he examines him again
to see if there'd be any new blotches
or spots or whatever.
And if he is clean after the seven
days, then he is to bring in this
dove and they are to kill it.
Two doves actually there to kill the one,
put the blood in the basin and all.
And they're to take the live dove and
dip it in this bloody water and then
turn it free and it flies away with
the wings flapping with the blood and all
of the dove that was killed as a
sacrifice for his cleansing.
And he was then cleansed and could return
to society.
Interesting though to me that God would make
provision for him to work.
Oh, let's always give allowance for God to
work.
Let's not try to put God in a
box.
So leprosy is incurable.
Well, give God the opportunity to work if
he so desires.
God left himself room to work.
And if God leaves himself room to work,
surely we ought to leave room for God
to work.
This is the law of the leper in
the day of his cleansing.
That to me is just absolutely remarkable.
I love that particular portion of the Levitical
law where God made provision for him to
do a miracle.
If I want to work and heal a
leper, all right, this is, you know, this
is the law for the leper in the
day of his cleansing.
It is interesting in that leprosy is always
used in the scripture as a type of
sin because it was such a horrible, loathsome
disease that slowly ate away.
First of all, it actually doesn't eat away
except that it destroys the nerve endings.
And so people became deformed as the result
of the leprosy because they lost feeling.
First it began in the extremities of their
bodies, usually in their fingers or on their
feet.
And the first thing that leprosy does is
numb your senses.
It kills the nerves so you don't feel
anything.
And because they can't feel anything, pain or
whatever, they've lost their sense of feeling.
The lepers quite often have their feet gnawed
away by rats and they don't feel it.
While they're sleeping at night, the rats will
just eat their feet and they don't feel
it because of the leprosy having destroyed the
nerves.
Or they'll put their hands down on a
hot plate or a stove and they'll burn
their hands and get the gangrene and all
as a result of burns.
They can't feel it.
And so the damage is done actually because
they don't have feeling.
They say, oh, you know, his finger dropped
off.
No, a leper's finger doesn't drop off.
But because they have lost the feeling in
their hands, in their fingers, many times they
are burned or destroyed in other ways because
of this loss of feeling.
Sin has a way of just anesthetizing a
person, a loss of feeling, and slowly you're
destroyed, incurable, except by a divine work of
God.
And so Jesus said, I'm willing, be thou
clean, go show yourself to the priest.