Please open your Bibles to Mark 1:1-8 which we will read in a few minutes.
The Gospel of Mark is fast paced.
It is the shortest of the four Gospels filled with miracles and action to show the power of Jesus the Messiah.
The Gospel of Mark emphasizes the super-human power of Jesus.
Mark presents Jesus as God’s Son in action, demonstrating His divinity by His miracles.
For example, there is an account of a man born blind who was healed by Jesus.
The Pharisees claimed that Jesus was a sinner and that they did not know where He came from.
Mark uses the word “immediately” almost 40 times in the Bibles that are more literally translated. It’s like a young child at a zoo running from cage to cage yelling, “Look at this! Can you believe it? This is incredible!”
Now, you might be wondering who Mark is!
Those who lived in that time and were closest to the people and events of Jesus’ day believed he was a young man who was one of the hundreds of disciples who followed Jesus but he was not one of the Twelve.
Many people scholars believe that Mark included himself without identifying himself in the Gospel that bears his own name. That identification takes place in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was arrested.
And it says in Mark 14:51-52:
“A young man, wearing nothing but a linen garment, was following Jesus. When they seized him, he fled naked, leaving his garment behind.”
No wonder he didn’t include his name in the text!
It is also believed that Mark who wrote the Gospel is the same as John Mark who traveled with Paul and Barnabas and later again with Barnabas.
While all of this conjecture is interesting it is nothing on which we rest our eternal souls. Our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name!
With that in mind let’s go ahead and read Mark 1:1-8
Mark:
Declares the good news about Jesus
Immediately shows Jesus fulfills prophecy
Declares Jesus’ deity through John the Baptist and mighty miracles
Mark 1:1
“The beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.”
What is the Gospel, the good news?
We don’t have much good news these days, do we?
People are so confused that they don’t even know what gender they are!
Those who want “sexual freedom” keep pushing the boundaries so much that they will soon run out of letters of the alphabet to put into their identity acronym.
Just listen to this:
An 8-year-old second-grader in Los Angeles is a typical patient. Born a girl, the child announced at 18 months, “I a boy” and has stuck with that belief. The family was shocked but now refers to the child as a boy and is watching for the first signs of puberty to begin treatment, her mother told The Associated Press.
Did you know that there is a cure for that? The cure is for the Dad and Mom to tell the girl, “No, you’re not. You’re a girl.” But the parents are so deceived by the wickedness of this world that they can’t even do that!
We now have to pass laws to keep doctors from killing babies who have miraculously survived abortions! God Help us!
Standing in line in a pharmacy you can see paternity test kits. Kits that are made specifically so a woman can determine exactly which man is the father of her child!
That is craziness! This is BAD NEWS!
Teenagers now have to be warned that eating laundry detergent is harmful and may be fatal!
You can now get the white portions of your eyes tattooed. They can be red so it looks like your eyes are always bleeding or black or really any color you want.
You can now pay a doctor to turn your outie bellybutton into an innie!
You can get eyelash transplants
You can have your palm lines modified to change your future
You can have your tongue split
A terminally ill patient wanted a face lift so that she would look good in her casket
We may laugh but that is BAD NEWS!
Drug related deaths last year more than 70K
Alcohol related deaths NOT including homicides, auto or other accidents more than 30K
100,000 persons die each year from alcohol-related causes: drinking and driving crashes, other accidents, falls, fires, alcohol-related homicides and suicides. (NCAAD)
Suicide rates are skyrocketing!
We in this country are saturated with sin sickness!
How it must grieve the heart of God that the souls for which He bled and died are abusing themselves and others to death!
We need some Good News!!!
Jesus is the Good News and the world thinks we are insane for believing that!
And, sometimes our behavior reinforces that thinking!
So, who is Jesus? This is what Mark declares in the opening sentence of the Gospel.
First of all, you can’t separate who is Jesus from what is Jesus?
Mark says that Jesus is the Son of God!
The entire New Testament shouts Jesus is here and He is what you need!
Jesus says:
“I and the Father are one …”
“Before Abraham was I AM …”
“If you have seen Me you have seen the Father”
Colossians 2:9 says, “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.”
Jesus is the second person of the Trinity, the Triune Godhead – Three Persons, one God.
The Bible also says that Jesus is the Creator – John 1:1-3
Look outside! Jesus made that – “without Him nothing was made that has been made”
Who else is Jesus and what else is Jesus?
Jesus is and will be the righteous, final Judge when this all ends!
When this old world comes to its final conclusion it is Jesus who will sit upon His judicial throne and pronounce judgment on every person who ever lived!
For you that may be either GREAT NEWS or horrible news.
But here’s the great thing, if it IS horrible news for you right now and you’re still alive you still have time to embrace the GOOD NEWS, Jesus Christ!
Jesus is the Savior!
Jesus is the Good News!
You can have eternal life starting right now through faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.
In this world filled with those who are slaves to sin you could pass all the laws you want until the world is filled with books containing those laws and you could enforce those laws until the whole world would be in jail and nothing would change!
The only thing that can make any real, lasting difference at all is being transformed from the inside out by salvation through Jesus the Good News Christ.
That is what the Holy Spirit has proclaimed through the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, James, Peter, and whoever wrote the book of Hebrews!
All of them are saying that all of us are, or were once, spiritually dead and headed for an eternity of a living death and destruction; that’s REALLY BAD NEWS!
But, there is eternal life found in Jesus Christ, the REALLY GOOD NEWS!!!!
That is AWESOME NEWS!
So, in a very high level concept we know Who and What the Good News, the Gospel is. What does the next section of the Gospel of Mark Say?
Mark:
Declares the good news about Jesus
Immediately shows Jesus fulfills prophecy
Declares Jesus’ deity through John the Baptist and mighty miracles
Mark 1:2-3:
“As it is written in Isaiah the prophet: ‘I will send My messenger ahead of You who will prepare Your way’ - ‘a voice of one calling in the wilderness, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for Him.”’”
Why did Isaiah prophesy that there would be a forerunner for Jesus?
These prophecies were signs confirming the validity of Jesus as the Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed One, the Hope of Israel!
There were many around the time of Christ who were proclaiming themselves to be the Christ! For instance:
Athronges (c. AD 3), was a shepherd turned rebel leader.
Simon bar Kokhba (died c. AD 135), founded a short-lived Jewish state before being defeated in the Second Jewish-Roman War.
Moses of Crete, who in about AD 440 - 470 persuaded the Jews of Crete to walk into the sea, as Moses had done, to return to Israel. The results were disastrous and he soon disappeared.
There are modern claimants as well:
Arnold Potter (1804–1872), Schismatic Latter Day Saint leader; he claimed the spirit of Jesus Christ entered into his body and he became "Potter Christ" Son of the living God. He died in an attempt to "ascend into heaven" by jumping off a cliff. His body was later retrieved and buried by his followers.
Krishna Venta (1911–1958), born Francis Herman Pencovic in San Francisco, founded the WKFL (Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith and Love) Fountain of the World cult in Simi Valley, California in the late 1940s. In 1948 he stated that he was Christ, the new messiah and claimed to have led a convoy of rocket ships to Earth from the extinct planet Neophrates. He died on December 10, 1958 after being suicide bombed by two disgruntled former followers who accused Venta of mishandling cult funds and committing adultery with their wives.
None of these has forerunners and they did not have the confirmation that comes from the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies.
Mark:
Declares the good news about Jesus
Immediately shows Jesus fulfills prophecy
Declares Jesus’ deity through John the Baptist and mighty miracles
What did John the Baptist say about Jesus?
“Among you stands One you do not know. He is the One who comes after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.”
“Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
“A Man who comes after me has surpassed me because He was before me.”
And then Mark goes on to testify about Jesus by recounting His many miracles.
Drives out an impure spirit, restores a demon possessed man and a boy
Heals a man with leprosy, a paralyzed man, a man with a shriveled hand,
Heals a deaf and mute man, blind man,
Raises a dead girl,
Calms a storm with His words
Feed 4k and then 5k with just a few loaves of bread and a few fish
Walks on water
Was crucified, buried and rose again on the third day, appeared to over 500 of His disciples and ascended into heaven!
You get the idea
I was reading on one website that had the word “revision” its title that said that it really doesn’t matter if you believe these miracles happened or not, you can still believe in Jesus!
Really? You can believe that all of the miracles are made up, fabricated fiction and that’s OK? You can believe that all of the miracles are made up, fabricated fiction and still believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Good luck with that!
Mark:
Declares the good news about Jesus
Immediately shows Jesus fulfills prophecy
Declares Jesus’ deity through John the Baptist and mighty miracles
Jesus:
Is the Good News, the Christ, the Son of God
Fulfills Old Testament prophecies
Deity is seen through many testimonies and miracles
Now …
Do you:
Declare the good news about Jesus?
You can’t tell the good news about Jesus unless you’ve experienced the transformational good news of new life that is found only through faith and trust in Jesus.
You know the old illustration that asks the question, “If you were arrested on the charge of being a Christian and hauled into court would there be enough evidence to convict you?”
Some people say that their relationship with Jesus is a private matter.
Please show me where that is found in the Bible.
You’re not likely to find it in the Bible because it’s not there and because the entire New Testament shouts, “Look over here! Jesus is here! You can not only know about Him but you can know Him as your Savior and Rescuer!”
If you know Jesus in a way that has transformed your life people won’t have to guess if you’re a follower of Jesus or not! And if you were arrested on the charge of being a Christian and hauled into court there would be no need for a trial because you would confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your hear that God has raised Him from the dead!
Do you:
Declare the good news about Jesus?
Know enough Scripture to tell accurately about Jesus?
Suppose someone came up to you and said, “Jesus never claimed to be God.”
Would you know a verse or verses to support Jesus claim as God?
Suppose someone said there is no hell or any sexual activity is fine as long as the two love each other or once you’re dead, you’re dead and that’s the end of it …
Would you be able to recall anything in the Bible that speaks to those subjects?
Do you:
Declare the good news about Jesus?
Know enough Scripture to tell accurately about Jesus?
Have any miracles in your life that you can testify about?
Salvation?
Sanctification?
Healings?
Finances?
Deliverance from addictions?
Deliverance from fears?
Deliverance from spiritual oppression?
Before we close … John the Baptist’s ministry took place in the wilderness
We live in a wilderness of sin. This society is saturated with sin.
A desert has almost no rain – our society has almost no true Christians
We have a calling.
We know the Good News, Jesus Christ the Son of God.
We are called to be witnesses for Jesus just as John the Baptist and the Gospel writers were and are witnesses
We must speak forth the miracles of salvation through Christ alone.
Are you fulfilling the Lord's calling upon your life?
Final comments and prayer.
