Mark Chapter 1 Verses 14 – 15

• So Mark tells us that Jesus was preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God and then Mark does us such a fabulous service. He defines it! What it? The gospel of the Kingdom of God! Did you see it!? Why is this so important? Why such a fabulous service? Because believe it or not, certainly hard for me to fathom, lots of folks have developed their own definitions! But Mark is specific here in recording precisely what Jesus was preaching and here it is…

• The time is now, right now, today, this minute, this moment… repent…turn from sin, flee from it, resist the devil James would say…stop your march towards the flesh and give your life man…a living sacrifice Paul would say…and that flies in the face of this hyper grace movement that we see storming the church today! The teaching that proclaims a message of salvation without repentance. There are all kinds of problems with that practically…like, for one, it ruins your life! Hey sin it up man…God’s the righteous one, not you so He’s got you covered. And then you throw your education away, you throw your marriage away, you throw your Godly friends away and you sow to the flesh, sow the flesh, sow to the flesh…

• And then you wake up…wrought with regret man. Addicted to sin…in bondage and they call that the gospel? Get saved! I think the biggest problem with this false gospel of salvation without repentance is the Bible itself and its biggest opponent is Jesus Himself! Mark spells it out for us!

• Matthew, in Matthew 4:17 recorded the same circumstance for us…this occurrence of Jesus beginning to preach the gospel but very interesting, Matthew doesn’t even say “believe!” He just says repent! In Matthew 11:20 we find Jesus rebuking entire cities where He had preached and performed miracles and Matthew tells us that His reason for rebuking them was that they would not repent!

• “Yea but Matt this is during the time of the Law man, before Jesus went to the cross, come on man…let up.” I can’t because Acts Chapter 2, Peter preaches mightily and the central theme of his message? Repent! Acts Chapter 3, Peter pleads with the Jews, “repent and be converted!” 2 Corinthians 12:21 Paul mourns over the church because they have not repented! Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, Jesus speaking to the churches, 6 times He calls for repentance! Look for just a moment with me at 2 Cor Chapter 7. Simply consider verse 1 and verses 8 – 11!

• Biblically this hyper grace teaching cannot be substantiated; in fact it is clearly and fabulously refuted! Not only that but practically it makes about as much sense as pressing harder on the remote when the batteries are dead! It ain’t gonna work! There’s no power…and look there is no power in a Christian walk without purity. There is no power without purity, no passion, no practical progression man…without repentance. Repentance is such a wondrous gift man…an utter privilege. That I can come to the throne seat of grace and grow up into the image of Christ…

• The gospel of the kingdom of God is repent and believe…hand in hand man…how is it that you are born again lest you die to the flesh? How is it that you walk with God lest you walk away from Satan? I don’t care what gospel you’ve heard preached. Hear the gospel preached by Jesus Himself…repent and believe…amen?

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 16 – 18

• Neat scene here…Jesus comes up on Simon and Andrew and they were fishing, making a living…trying to make a dollar out of fifteen cents! And He simply says to them, “time to go. Follow Me.” And Mark says they left their nets…nope. He says “immediately they left their nets,” and although we could key in on that word immediately which is important for sure, I find the word “left” very intriguing. It literally means that they forsook their nets. Their livelihood, their profession, their means of sustainment and fulfillment, their hobby and their habit…their expectation that was held by other men…and they went after Jesus.

• Powerful, a powerful picture of repentance. Turning from one lifestyle to another. No packing of the nets. No securing them. Just left ‘em man…for the sake of being with Jesus! Cool pattern here too, check this out…

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 19 – 20

• So James and John were well off. I mean they have hired servants and they too get after Jesus. Now if you’re Zebedee here, are you a little upset? HA! “Hey, Jesus…what about me!?” But notice here, James and John were not fishing were they? They were doing what? Mending. Interesting because Jesus simply calls to them, no “fishers of men” talk. Why is that important?

• Because Peter and Andrew would become quite the evangelists. We read of Andrew repeatedly bringing people to Christ and Peter preaching powerful sermons. And James and John, here they are mending and that work continues as they minister alongside of Jesus! John would mend folks through emphasis on the love of Jesus and James would fix up folks’ lives with the emphasis upon the practical nature of love…so very cool. A wonderfully comforting bit of truth here…

• Why? What are you talking about? Look folks think that when we convert to Christianity that we become some cookie cutter robotic character. Not so! Giving your life to Jesus doesn’t blow away your personality and your loves and your desires and your sense of wonder and individualism…I mean you were fearfully and wonderfully made from the get-go man…not from the moment that you are born again! The truth is, and we see it here…giving your life to Jesus redeems all those things man!

• Peter and Andrew, they’re still fishing but now it’s not for smelly scaly slimy flippers…but for the children of God, created in His image, stuck in sin and bound in bondage. And James and John, they’re still mending but not tired old nets but lives…hearts that are broken and condemned…it’s like Captain America! You guys seen that movie? The serum that they injected into that scrawny dude that made him studly!?

• The scientist said something so awesome in that movie, he said, “if you are good, this will make you great” and I love that man…take your life, place it in the hands of the Lord…immediately, in a manner that forsakes all else…and watch your life explode with purpose and wonder…not throwing away all that you are…man God is in love with you and who you are but redeeming it all man…and giving you and your life eternal significance!

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 21 – 22

• Jesus was quite different. We know others had come before Him proclaiming to be somebody. Gamaliel talked about those types in Acts Chapter 5. But Jesus was different. Rabbis would typically quote other rabbis but Jesus taught with authority. “You’ve heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” That’s what Mark means here by saying that He taught as one having authority because He used Himself as the primary source of the command.

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 23 – 24

• So check this out! There’s a man with an unclean spirit chillaxin’ in the synagogue! The implication is that he’s fitting in, one of the guys, doing his thing man…unnoticed. Just like Jude said would happen and has happened and is happening in the church. Jude wrote for us to “contend earnestly for the faith.” Get after it man. Be real and guard the flock because “certain men have crept in unnoticed…ungodly men who forsake grace and service for selfishness and in so doing they deny the Lord.” Heavy stuff.

• I wonder if they go unnoticed at my church? The scene here is if Jesus is there, they can no longer go unnoticed and Jesus is about to deal with this. Do we have the courage to keep the church of Jesus led by Jesus? “Well of course we do!” We all sing out in a heavenly chorus but when it’s time for confrontation and dealing with sin…will we have the backbone to do it? If not then in no time the church will be led by men and not by the Lord and the authority will be the people and the leadership and not the Word of God, and that church will die. Dead churches produce dead disciples man…disciples of death!

• And so in walks Jesus, the Truth blazing, the light shining and the unclean spirit can’t help but reveal itself. And notice, “Leave us alone. What have we to do with you!” We? Mark describes this as an unclean spirit. Not many like we see in the legion that possessed the man in Luke 8. So could it be that the unclean spirit is speaking for the synagogue? Oh man that may very well even be the case for many churches today…

• And what is Jesus met with? Offense. He’s not being served. He’s met with selfish aggression rooted in fear; leave “us” alone…what have “we” to do with You. Did You come to destroy “us.” “I” know who You are…See how self-centered this thing is? And look that is the very essence of an unclean spirit! Yes you’re right, if you’re saved tonight, if you have received the Holy Spirit within you then you are all sealed up. Ephesians 1:13, 2 Cor 1:22. And in that you cannot be possessed by an unclean spirit…but you can sure give one a piggy back ride!

• Spiritual battles are still waged daily on you to make you ineffective for the gospel and to kill your passion for the things of Christ and man we slip into apathy unaware! Look for these things man…are you grumbling? Are you not serving those around you and in that not serving Jesus? Do you have an “I” disease? “I,” “I,” “I.” The center of your conversations, plans and moments. You’re letting fear run you man. Fear of “what if I gotta lead me?” Fear of “Jesus won’t come through man.”

• Oh Matt, you don’t know me. I ain’t scurrrrred. Yes you are…if you are serving self. That is the ultimate manifestation of fear man…selfishness and indeed, I firmly believe, that is greatly encouraged all the time by unclean spirits, even in the lives of believers…You need to muster up some courage and submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. You’ll walk in a room and unclean spirits will just sell themselves out…James called it when he wrote for us to return to drawing near to God personally. To cleanse our hands of sin and purify our hearts because we are double minded. Face our sin. Take responsibility for where we are at personally and lament and mourn. Sounds like repentance to me and as we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord, He will lift us up! This ridiculous fearful selfish living man will begin to get better every day, like healing…

Mark Chapter 1 Verse 25a

• Jesus rebuked him! He just proclaimed that Jesus was the Holy One of God! Yet Jesus says to him, “shut up!” Wow, why? He proclaimed Jesus to be the One…yes but oh how this unclean spirit misrepresented the very heart of God! This self seeking, this fearful, aggressive and offensive out-burst…”shut up” Jesus says, “You’re worse than a clanging symbol. You’re a fake!”

Mark Chapter 1 Verses 25 – 28

• Notice the unclean spirit leaves this man but not before he tears him up a bit…happens every time. Better to just stay close to the Lord and far from all that is unclean.

• But you know what strikes me about this scene that leaves an imprint on my heart? This unclean spirit was at church. It knew Jesus. It spoke to Jesus. It proclaimed Jesus to be the Holy One of God. It even knew of His power and authority, and it obeyed Him…yet it was the enemy of God…on its way to hell.

• This is why we cannot let up as followers of Christ. This is why we must remain salty and shine brightly. This is why we must lead out with love and courage and run out to meet the enemy just as David ran out to meet Goliath. Because the hearts have grown dark man…even within the church. Religion has taken the place of relationship and tolerance, dormancy; apathy…cheap grace has taken the place of repentance…

• And an entire generation of church planters, church goers, preachers and prayers and obeyers are on the rise and they are teaching a gospel when met with Jesus cries out, “leave us alone.”

• The saving presence of the Spirit of Jesus Christ in your heart of hearts is a life changing experience. To the point that Paul would write all things have passed away…everything else is forsaken…and all things are made new. Alive and real man. Eyes open to reality. That this life of leisure and plenty is actually a genesis of dissatisfaction and depression. That pleasure and the pursuit of it is actually an origin of fear and dis-rest…it doesn’t seem that way…rational logic would say the more we get for ourselves the happier and more full we’ll be but truth flies right past rational logic and arrives at reality man…

• That to live is Christ, to take up your cross, to lose your life or better said, to give your life for the sake of Jesus are the very keys to a life exploding with purpose and sustenance and joy as each day your mind is renewed, your strength is renewed, all things new, all the time man…and connection, communication, communion with the Almighty God, the Ancient of Days is the realest relationship you have…That is the Lord’s heart for us. Is it yours?