The book of Mark chapter number one, let me just give you a quick overview of the book
of Mark.
I have to hurry because there's so much great information in these 45 verses of chapter
one.
But the book of Mark is one of the four gospels that emphasizes more heavily the works of
Jesus more than what he preached.
If you have a red letter Bible where all the words of Jesus Christ are in red, you'll probably
notice that Mark has a lot less red letters than the rest of the gospels because the emphasis
of the book of Mark is Jesus and his works and his service.
There are a lot of stories, a lot of action in the book of Mark.
Also the words that you'll see coming up over and over again in the book of Mark are immediately,
straightway, forthwith.
These are all very intense words talking about things happening very fast and it shows Jesus
just working really hard, really busy, he's traveling a lot, he's preaching, he's doing
miracles and so it shows Jesus Christ as a servant because the Bible says that the Son
of Man came not to be ministered unto but to minister and to give his life a ransom
for many and the Bible says that he took upon himself the form of a servant.
That's why at the beginning of the book of Mark there is no genealogy because of the
fact that he made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant.
Now in the book of Matthew Jesus portrayed as the king of the Jews and so that's why
at the beginning of the book of Matthew you have that genealogy through the kingly line.
Then in Mark he's a servant, he's of no reputation, no genealogy.
Then when you get to the book of Luke you have the genealogy of his human side on Mary's
side and that shows the humanity of Christ because Luke portrays Jesus Christ as the
Son of Man and then the book of John portrays Jesus Christ as God in the flesh or the Son
of God, it really emphasizes his deity which is why instead of a genealogy at the beginning
of the book of John you just have in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and
the word was God, the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and so forth.
So in the book of Mark right away in verse 1 the Bible reads the beginning of the gospel
of Jesus Christ the Son of God.
Now like I just finished explaining to you different gospels emphasize different aspects
of who Christ is.
Matthew has to do more with him as king, Mark as servant, but here's the thing you don't
want to go too far with those distinctions because here in the first verse of Mark he's
called the Son of God, okay, he says well John portrays him as the Son of God.
Now here's what's interesting that phrase the Son of God this is removed from some Bible
versions for example the New World translation which is the Bible of the Jehovah's false
witnesses in Mark 1, 1 it says the beginning of the good news about Jesus Christ that's
it so there's no Son of God there and in fact even though books like the NIV will still
say Son of God in verse 1 they have a note at the bottom saying oh some manuscripts don't
have the Son of God and in reality the manuscripts that don't have the Son of God are the manuscripts
that the NIV is based on because the NIV is based upon mainly the Westcott and Hort Greek
manuscripts or you know basically new manuscripts that are of the same family and or new Greek
New Testaments that are based on the same thing but they leave in the Son of God but
they put something in the bottom here to make you doubt it, okay.
Now you say Pastor Anderson why in the world does it matter if it says the Son of God there
and people like Dr. James White who attack King James onlyism they'll make fun of stuff
like this and say well who cares if Mark 1, 1 says the Son of God there are plenty of
other verses in the Bible that say the Son of God and if there was some kind of a conspiracy
to remove the Son of God wouldn't they remove it everywhere?
Why would they just take it out of Mark 1, 1 but here's the thing about that.
First of all if they removed it everywhere that'd be a little too obvious and the devil
is more subtle about the changes that he makes.
Number two all of these changes in these modern false Bible perversions are all strategic
they're there for a reason.
There's a reason why the Son of God would be removed from Mark 1, 1 because if you go
to these institutions of higher learning like Harvard University and if you go to their
theology department you know what they'll tell you?
They'll tell you oh the book of Mark is the earliest gospel ever written and they'll tell
you that it was only later that the story was embellished that Jesus was the Son of
God and that early gospels like the book of Mark they don't really make those kind of
claims about Jesus that he's the Son of God.
So you can see why it would be strategic to remove the Son of God from Mark to cast
doubt on the other books that would follow as being embellished of the gospel.
So it's not an accident when modern versions remove the Son of God from Mark 1, 1 or put
some kind of a doubt in your mind about that.
And thirdly this who are we to decide what's important and what's not important?
To sit there and say oh well who cares if they remove the Son of God it's somewhere
else.
Who are we to decide whether it needs to say the Son of God here or not and what's important
and what's not?
Everything's important.
If it weren't important God wouldn't have put it in the Bible.
And every single word of God is perfect and pure and it's there for a reason and these
new modern corruptions of the Bible that are removing the Son of God or putting notes to
make you doubt the Son of God you know they do have an agenda to destroy people's faith
in the word.
But not only that it's pretty easy to tell because some people will say well how do you
know which one's right you know how do you know the King James is even right?
Well look at the next two verses.
It says in Mark 1 verse 2 as it is written in the prophets behold I send my messenger
before thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee.
The voice of one crying in the wilderness prepare ye the way the Lord make his paths
straight.
Now it says there it's written in the prophets plural and in verse 2 he quotes the book of
Malachi flip over if you would keep your finger there in Mark and flip over to Malachi.
And in verse 2 he quotes Malachi then in verse 3 he quotes Isaiah.
So the King James says he's going to quote the prophets and then he quotes Malachi and
then he quotes Isaiah.
Well in the NIV here the non-inspired version it says it is written in Isaiah the prophet
I will send my messenger ahead of you who will prepare the way before you.
So it quotes Malachi.
Now that right there shows you which one's right you know the King James is accurate
he says prophets he quotes two prophets.
The NIV says hey let's quote Isaiah he quotes Malachi that's a mistake.
People will try to say oh that's just how they quoted stuff back then.
Okay do you have another example of that in the entire Bible?
No because every other quote in the entire Bible comes from the correct source.
Some people will point out Matthew 27 when it says it was spoken by Jeremy the prophet
and it's something that's written in Zechariah but here's the thing it was spoken by Jeremiah
the prophet.
It doesn't say it was written in Jeremiah.
When the Bible says it's written in Isaiah it better be written in Isaiah.
If it says it's written in the prophets it better be written in the prophets if the Bible
is the word of God which we know it is.
But here's what's cool about this verse from Malachi.
This is really a great proof that Jesus Christ is God.
It proves the deity of Christ right here and to sit there and say oh you know the author
of the book of Mark he doesn't really portray Jesus as as God or the son of God.
You know that would come later with the book of John as these scholars and universities
will tell you.
But look what it says in Malachi chapter 3 because just by Mark writing that in verse
2 he's actually proclaiming the deity of Christ in the second verse.
In verse 1 he proclaimed him as the son of God.
In verse 2 he's proclaiming him as God.
Because look what it says in Malachi 2 17.
Ye have wearied the Lord, notice the all capital Lord there Jehovah, you have wearied the Lord
with your words yet you say whereon have we wearied him?
When you say everyone that doeth evil is good in the sight of the Lord and he delighteth
in them or and look at this last phrase very important where is the God of judgment?
So the people are asking where is the God of judgment?
Look at verse 1 of chapter 3.
Behold I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me.
And who's speaking?
The Lord.
God.
He says I'll send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom
you seek shall suddenly come to his temple.
So they're saying where is the God of judgment?
And he says okay the Lord whom you seek is going to suddenly come to his temple.
And who is that?
Jesus.
Jesus is the one who comes into the temple, starts flipping the tables over, chases them
out with a whip and he's there to purify.
He's there to cleanse the temple.
Look what it says.
The Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple even the messenger of the covenant
whom you delight in behold he shall come sayeth the Lord of hosts but who may abide the day
of his coming?
And who shall stand when he appearth?
For he is like a refiner's fire and like fuller's soap and he shall sit as a refiner and purifier
of silver and he shall purify the sons of Levi and purge them as gold and silver that
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.
That's a great proof of the deity of Christ because who is the way being prepared before?
Jesus.
And who is the way being prepared for in Malachi?
The Lord.
The God whom they seek.
Jesus Christ truly was God with us as his name Emmanuel means.
But it says in verse 2 as it is written in the prophets, Behold I send my messenger before
thy face which shall prepare thy way before thee 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.
So who's the one that's preparing the way for Jesus?
John the Baptist.
And he is preparing the way for the Lord.
He's preparing the way for God to come.
And it says John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins.
Now in order to understand this verse let's keep our finger here and go to Acts chapter
19 verse 4.
Just a few pages to the right in your Bible you find the book of Acts, Mark, Luke, John,
Acts.
Acts chapter 19 verse 4.
Because let me read that verse again.
It says John did baptize in the wilderness and preach the baptism of repentance for the
remission of sins.
Let's see what the Bible means when it said he preached the baptism of repentance for
the remission of sins.
Look at Acts 19 verse 4.
It says then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance.
Does that sound familiar?
Mark 1 said he's preaching the baptism of repentance.
Here it says John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance.
Watch this.
Saying unto the people that they should believe on him which should come after him that is
on Christ Jesus.
So when he's preaching repentance what was he preaching that people needed to do?
Yeah, believe.
Because see he doesn't give the exact preaching in Mark chapter 1 verse 4.
But when we compare with Acts 19 4 he tells us what John said when he did that preaching.
He preached the baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.
What was he preaching?
What was he saying?
He was saying that they needed to believe on him that would come after which is Jesus
Christ.
Now this matches perfectly with Mark chapter 1 verse 15.
Jump down to verse 15.
And it says, and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is had, repent ye and
believe the gospel.
So this shows us what the repentance is that's taking place.
It has to do with believing the gospel.
Now a lot of people mistakenly when they see the word repent they just automatically add
a few words to it, of your sins.
So when you see the word repent they just add of your sins.
And you say show me verses in the Bible that tell me that you have to repent of your sins
to be saved.
They'll show you verses about repentance but not repenting of your sins.
And people will just define the word repent as to turn from sin.
Well here's the problem with that definition.
God repents in the Bible more than anyone else.
If you look up every time the word repent is used in the Bible, the person who repents
the most is actually God.
And so to say that repenting means to turn from your sins, that doesn't apply all the
times that God repented.
Now if you would flip over to Acts chapter 3 verse 19.
Here's one of the verses that people will point to when they want to say see here's
a verse that says you have to repent in order to be saved.
But they'll just add repent of your sins to that.
And I'm going to talk about what repent means in a moment here.
But look at Acts chapter 3 and it says in verse 19, it says repent ye therefore and
be converted that your sins may be blotted out when the times are refreshing shall come
from the presence of the Lord.
So right there in verse 19 of Acts 3 it's saying that they need to repent that their
sins might be blotted out.
But it doesn't say repent of your sins.
So let's get the context to see what they need to repent of.
And what does repent mean?
Repent simply means to turn or to change.
Now it could mean all manner of changes.
A lot of times it means just to change your mind.
Now one great example of this is when the children of Israel leave Egypt and God doesn't
want to take them the way of the Philistines.
This is in Exodus 13, 17, you don't have to turn there but it says it came to pass when
Pharaoh had let the people go that God led them not through the way of the land of the
Philistines although that was near.
For God said lest peradventure the people repent when they see war and they return to
Egypt.
Let me ask you this, the children of Israel leaving Egypt, was that a good thing or a
bad thing?
Good, right?
Children of Israel are leaving Egypt.
They're going to the promised land, they're obeying the Lord, right?
And God says I'm afraid that if they go through the land of the Philistines they're going
to repent and go back to Egypt.
So in that case was repentance a good thing or a bad thing?
Repentance would have been bad because they were doing right.
They're on their way to the promised land and if they repented that means they're going
back to Egypt which is bad.
So that again just proves that repent doesn't mean turn from sin or turn from an evil way.
In that case repentance was turning from something good that they were doing.
Okay, when we see God repent he's not turning from sin, he has no sin.
When we see God repenting he changes his course of action.
He was going to do one thing but then he repents and does something different, okay?
That's a change in mind, change in action.
It could be any kind of a turning or change.
The word repent can be a kind of a broad word because you have to get the context of what
you're repenting of.
Now if a person believes in a false religion they're not saved.
They need to turn from that and turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
They need to turn from Buddhism to Christianity.
They need to turn from Hinduism to Christianity, turn from Islam to Christianity, turn from
whatever the false belief to the true belief of Jesus Christ.
Now let's say you have somebody who is a pathological liar.
They should turn from that, right?
So that would be repenting of lying.
So you could repent of a false religion, you could repent of lying, you could decide to
go to the grocery store and then repent, meaning that you changed your mind, you're not going
to go anymore.
Now we don't use that word today in our modern vernacular but you could.
You could say well I was going to go to the grocery store but I repented.
People would be like what in the world?
But that is what the word means.
You can repent of sins, you can repent of false doctrine, you can repent of travel plans
to the promised land and head back for Egypt, you can repent of all manner of things.
So to just sit there and just arbitrarily just apply you have to repent of your sins
to be saved whenever you see a verse about repentance is not accurate.
Let's look at the context here in Acts 3.
Let's see if we can figure out what they're turning from, okay?
It says in Acts chapter 3, let's back up to verse number 14.
It says, but ye, this is Peter speaking to the Jews, it says, but ye denied the Holy
One and the just and desired a murderer to be granted unto you and killed the prince
of life whom God had raised from the dead, whereof we are witnesses.
So this is where they chose Jesus instead of Barabbas.
I'm sorry, they chose Barabbas instead of Jesus and they killed Jesus it says.
They killed the prince of life.
It says in verse 16, in his name, Jesus' name, through faith in his name hath made
this man strong whom ye see and know, yea the faith which is by him hath given him this
perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
And now, brethren, I want that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
But those things which God before had showed by the mouth of all his prophets that Christ
should suffer, he is so fulfilled.
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.
And he shall send Jesus Christ which before was preached unto you.
What do they need to repent of?
What did they do?
They rejected Jesus.
They crucified Jesus.
And he says, I know you did that through ignorance, so repent and he'll give you another chance
to receive Jesus.
Pretty simple, right?
But is it saying here that, you know, that girlfriend you're living with, you need to
get out of that relationship before you can be saved.
Is that what he's saying?
Is he saying, oh, you drink, you're going to have to stop drinking.
You need to repent from drinking.
At least be willing to turn from drinking and fornication and all that.
Is that what, I mean, is that anywhere in this context?
But yet people will use this verse as a proof that if you're not willing to give up sins,
you can't be saved.
And that makes it into workspace salvation.
Look at Matthew chapter 21, Matthew 21, 32, because salvation is not based on our deeds
or the works of the law.
And people will say, well, you know, it's not works to turn from your sins.
Well, actually it is.
You ever tried turning from sins?
It takes effort, it takes work, it takes action on our part in order to turn from the...
Think about a guy like Zacchaeus, right?
He was a crooked tax collector.
Well, he was just a tax collector.
But anyway, he's a crook.
And for him, repentance, turning away from that, involved him saying, you know, I'm going
to give back money that I've ripped off from people.
OK, so that showed repentance at his heart, that he wasn't going to continue being the
crook that he had been.
In fact, he's going to return the money.
So there you go.
That's works.
So if you think that you have to do that to be saved, you're saying salvation is by works.
But the Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man suppose.
If I had a gift for you, and I said, I'm going to give you this Bible as a gift, but you're
going to have to start following all these rules for your life, and then I'll give it
to you.
Or at least, OK, you don't have to turn, but just be willing to turn.
You know, you have to make a commitment to me right now that you're willing to change
your life completely and start living by my rules, and then I'll give you this Bible.
That wouldn't really be a gift, because that would be more like a deal or a transaction
or an agreement that we're making.
That would be more like some kind of a deal, not a free gift.
I mean, a gift is no strings attached.
It's paid for by the giver.
It's just given unto you for free.
Look at this great verse on repentance in Matthew 21, 32.
It says, for John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not.
But the publicans and the harlots believed him, and ye, when ye had seen it, repented
not afterward that ye might believe him.
So this verse explains really clearly what repentance means in regard to salvation.
It explains very clearly what Jesus meant in Mark chapter 1 verse 15 when he said, repent
and believe the gospel.
He said, look, there's one group of people, the Pharisees, that did not believe in Jesus.
There's another group, the publicans and sinners, that did believe in Jesus, and he's
saying, you guys, when you saw that, you should have repented and believed in Jesus, meaning
you should have seen that, and it should have caused you to change your mind so that you
would believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So when we see the word repent in the Bible, we always have to get the context to see what
is being turned from.
Acts 17, 30 is another really commonly quoted verse about repentance, the times of this
ignorance God winked at, but God commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Right before that, he had just finished talking about how they were making statues of gods
made of gold and silver, and the Apostle Paul is saying those aren't real gods.
The true living God cannot be formed into a statue, and you're ignorant about that,
and you need to repent of that ignorance of believing in these idols.
Just like the Bible talks about in 2 Timothy 2, repentance unto the acknowledging of the
truth.
When you believe a lie, you repent of that and believe the truth.
So when it comes to salvation, there's only one thing you have to do to be saved, believe
on Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved.
That's it.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have eternal life.
So you say, well, what role does repentance play in salvation then?
Well, the only role that repentance would play is if there was something that was stopping
you from believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, you'd have to turn from that and start believing
in Jesus instead.
And an example of that would be that if you thought that you have to go to church and
perform sacraments in order to be saved, then all your faith's not in Jesus.
In fact, it's impossible for you to put all your faith in Jesus as long as you still have
some of your faith in those rituals that you're performing.
So in order to be saved, you'd have to turn away from those rituals only so that you could
put all your faith in Jesus.
But still, faith is what's the only prerequisite.
But is it possible for me to believe in Jesus with all my heart if I still believe in Buddha?
He said, if thou believeth with all thine heart, thou mayest.
So if I still believe in Buddha, I can't believe in Jesus with all my heart.
That means I have to turn from Buddha or repent of Buddhism, repent of Catholicism,
repent of Hinduism, repent of Islam, because there's no room for both.
There is no room for being saved by Jesus and being a Muslim and being a Buddhist and
being a Catholic, because you can't do both.
Because Jesus says you have to put all your faith and trust him.
But here's the thing.
Can you believe in Jesus and still commit sin?
Yeah, everybody does it, who's saved?
So to sit there and say, well, you have to turn from your sins before you can believe
in Jesus, that's not accurate.
Because you, look, when you get saved, hopefully you're going to turn from some sins in your
life.
And hopefully as you're saved for a longer time period, you'll turn from more and more
sins as time goes on.
Because you don't just get saved and then just overnight you're just living a perfect
godly Christian life.
It's a process of growth.
The Bible says as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the word that you may grow
thereby.
We don't give birth to a baby in 2014 and then say, okay, now that we've cut the cord,
you're on your own, buddy.
I mean, you've been born.
You're on your own.
You're no longer relying on mom's blood through the umbilical cord feeding you and giving
you nutrition through the placenta.
You're on your own, pal.
No, he's going to still need to be diapered and fed.
And as he grows, he's going to slowly take on more responsibility for himself.
He's going to get smarter, more mature.
It's the same thing with people when they get saved.
When they first get saved, they might be continuing in a lot of the sins that they've been doing.
And some of those things, they might not even know that they're wrong yet.
And they have to learn over time, and they learn, and they grow, and they say, well,
but there's just a willingness to change.
You have to be willing to change.
You have to be willing.
But here's the thing.
You're just adding to the Bible now because there's no place that says be willing to change
and thou shalt be saved.
And it might sound good to just say, well, but you've got to have the desire to change.
But it doesn't say desire to change and thou shalt be saved.
It says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Well, but if somebody really gets saved, they're going to desire to do what's right.
Hold on a second.
The spirit will, but their flesh will not desire what's right.
Their flesh is never going to desire what's right because the carnal mind is enmity against
God.
It cannot be brought under subjection to the laws of God.
The flesh is always the flesh, and my sinful flesh will always be sinful.
Your sinful flesh will always be sinful until we die or until the resurrection takes place.
You're going to sin, not because of the spirit, but because of the flesh.
So you're right.
If a person gets saved, the spirit will desire to do what's right, the new man, the new creature.
But the flesh is still there.
And so if we walk in the flesh, we're going to desire all the wrong things.
And when we walk in the spirit, we're going to desire the right things.
There are people who are saved who have not turned from various sins in their life, but
they're still saved because they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And let's not add to the gospel.
And a lot of people want to make the gospel an emotional thing about feelings.
And they say people have to feel an intense sorrow for their sin in order to get saved.
But some people are more emotional than others.
Sometimes when people get saved, they are crying, and they are sorry for their sins.
Other times when people get saved, they're just really joyful and happy.
It is the good news, after all.
But some people want to see crying every time.
I want to see you cry.
I want to see you sad.
And if you're not sad, if you're not crying, if you're not in grief and pain and agony,
I don't know if you're really getting saved.
But honestly, it's good news.
Some people might just be happy about it.
Different people have a different reaction.
Have you ever given somebody the gospel and they start crying?
Right.
But how many people don't cry?
The majority.
I didn't cry when I got saved.
I guess I'm not saved.
But that's, according to some people, you know, it had to be an emotional thing.
I remember when I got saved, and the emotion that I had when I got saved was happiness.
I was just glad that I was going to heaven.
I thought it was great.
I was just praising the Lord.
Is that okay?
Or do I have to get depressed about it?
Yeah, I mean, I'm sorry.
As a six-year-old boy, when I got saved, I wasn't just smiting my breast saying, oh,
what a miserable, poor, sinful, stinking, wicked wretch that I am.
What do I have to do to be saved?
You know, everybody's different, and let's not confuse the gospel.
Let's just keep it like the Bible has it, simple that it's just by faith, not works.
That it's all through Jesus.
It's a free gift.
You just believe in Jesus, okay?
And people that get saved, sometimes they will continue to drink.
Sometimes they will be living in fornication, meaning they're living together and they're
not married.
You know, these are wicked sins, but they are things that need to be repented of over
the course of their Christian life.
But whether they do or not, they're still saved if they believe in Jesus.
Otherwise, you know, you have to start picking and choosing which sins have to be repented
of.
And that's what it comes down to.
Usually it's just an arbitrary list of like, say, fornication, drinking, smoking, cussing.
You know, those are just like typical, you know, a couple of those aren't mentioned in
the Bible, but don't let that bother you.
But anyway, you know, just a couple of big sins, you know, that are listed that people
have to turn from.
But then at the same time, all kinds of other sins, if people don't turn from it, they're
still considered saved.
You know, you'll have a 350-pound preacher preaching about how, you know, when I got
saved, you know, the moment I got saved, I never craved another cigarette again, bless
God.
I was like, did you ever crave a Twinkie again when you got saved?
God just took away the desire for cigarettes.
God took away the desire for, well, he didn't take away the desire for McDonald's, apparently.
You know, and the Bible does talk about gluttony.
Your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, I don't think he needs that much room.
He's a spirit, you know what I mean?
So what I'm saying is that it's ridiculous for you to just single out certain sins, because
guess what?
Certain sins that some people struggle with, others don't.
Some people, for them, drinking is a big struggle, others, no.
Some people, you know, gluttony is a struggle, others, not.
Some people, pornography is a struggle, others, not.
Some people have a struggle with smoking, other people don't care about smoking.
Some people struggle with lying, struggle with gossip, struggle with covetousness, struggle
with all manner of things, and it's going to be different for different people.
So it's easy for somebody to get up on a high horse because they gave up certain sins, right?
And then they just get on somebody who has a different sin.
And it's easy to go after people that have a sin that can be seen from the outside.
You know, like an obvious sin, fornication, drinking, smoking, those are just really easy
to see, but what about all the other sins that aren't so easy to see?
We're all guilty, folks.
Every single one of us has sin in our life.
I'm not perfect.
I have not repented of all my sins.
You've not repented of all your sins, okay?
And I'm not going to get up here and be all pompous and arrogant and prideful.
You know, when I got saved, God took away my desire for X, Y, and Z, and if you still
desire that stuff, then you better check your salvation.
But you know what, though?
We all are still sinners, and it's an arrogant, prideful, pompous thing that wants to attack
other people's sins, and you've got your own sins.
And it's wicked.
We need to just get up and give Jesus all the glory and say, you know why I'm saved?
Because of Jesus.
And you know what?
I still have the flesh.
I still have a desire to sin when I'm in the flesh, and that's why I need to walk in the
Spirit so that I'll not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And it's a daily struggle.
We have to die daily.
Take up the cross and follow Jesus daily.
And the reason I spend so much time on that point is because it's heaven and hell that
we're talking about.
And people get confused when you start saying, repent of your sins to be saved.
It brings all kinds of confusion, and a lot of people are mixed up on that.
They start trusting works, and then a lot of people, they don't even get the gospel
because it gets so convoluted.
They can't figure out, is it faith?
Is it works?
It makes people doubt their salvation.
Like, oh man, I don't know if I really repented enough.
How much is enough?
Because nobody can really do it fully.
That's why it's such a ridiculous measure of salvation.
Whereas believing is simple.
Say how much do I have to believe?
Well, just believe enough to say it with your mouth.
To confess with your mouth.
The faith of a grain of mustard seed is enough.
But let's go back to the book of Mark here.
We've got to speed up the process here a little bit.
But anyway, it says in verse 5,
There went out unto him all 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 a skin about his loins, and
he did eat locust and wild honey, and preached, saying, There cometh one mightier than I
after me, the latchet 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 Ghost.
And it came to pass in those days that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized
of John in Jordan.
And straightway 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.
I want to point out to you something that is always consistent in the Bible.
When people are being baptized in the Bible, they're being dunked under water, or immersed
under water.
Did you know that there are many so-called Christian denominations that baptize people
by sprinkling water on them, or by pouring water on their head?
Who's ever seen a baptism like that performed?
It wasn't even a baptism, because the word baptize means to immerse, or to dunk under
water.
But here we see clearly in verse 10, straightway coming up out of the water.
Look, when Jesus was baptized, he came up out of the water.
It says in Acts 8 that they went down, both of them, into the water, both Philip and the
eunuch, and he baptized him.
The Bible says we're buried with him by baptism.
This isn't a burial.
A little sprinkle of water on your forehead, that's not a burial.
The Bible says we're buried with him by baptism into his death.
That like as Christ was raised up from the dead to the glory of the Father, even so we
also should walk in newness of life.
And so baptism is by immersion.
Any religion that is sprinkling or pouring, that should be a huge red flag, because that's
nowhere found in the Bible.
That just comes from the traditions of Roman Catholicism.
And so that should show you that these Protestants are a little too similar to their mama that
they came out of, you know, the Roman Catholic Church.
And it says in verse number 12, immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness,
speaking of Jesus, and he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan and
was with the wild beasts and the angels ministered unto him.
Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of
the kingdom of God, and saying the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand,
repent ye and believe the gospel.
This is another one of those great verses that shows that the kingdom of God and the
kingdom of heaven are the exact same thing.
Some people will try to say that there's a difference between the two, but in the book
of Matthew he says the time is fulfilled, he says repent for the kingdom of heaven is
at hand.
Here he says the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye and believe
the gospel.
So they both say repent for the kingdom of God is at hand, repent, kingdom of heaven
is at hand.
And so it's both one and the same.
There are many other verses I could use to prove that those are the same.
Somebody said well but God is not heaven and heaven is not God.
Well the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven are both the same kingdom.
God's the king, heaven's the kingdom.
You know that'd be like if we were living in Israel when David was the king over it
and we said the kingdom of David.
What kingdom are we talking about?
The kingdom of Israel, right?
No, no, no, it's two separate kingdoms.
There's the kingdom of David and then there's the kingdom of Israel.
Two separate kingdoms because David is not Israel and Israel is not David.
That doesn't make any sense, does it?
Or we can name any earthly king.
Is there an earthly king sitting upon a throne today that someone can name?
There are kings in this world.
It's all queens now, huh?
Queen of England, Queen Beatrice of the Netherlands.
Is there any king left?
I think the king of Norway, his name I think is Hohkon.
So you know the kingdom of Hohkon, if I said his kingdom, what kingdom am I talking about?
The kingdom of Norway.
Nope, two kingdoms, separate kingdom.
But that's the kind of bizarre doctrine.
People jump through hoops like that just to make sure they can still believe that the
Jews are still God's chosen people because they said the kingdom of God is taken from
them.
But they're like well the kingdom of God was taken from them but they still have the kingdom
of heaven.
Trying to hang on to that little slice of the kingdom.
Nope, it's all gone.
Poof, it's gone.
But anyway, let's keep reading.
It says in verse 16, 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.
Pretty much the same statement as what's on the wall behind my head here where it says,
he saith unto them, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
You know what I like about that verse?
He doesn't say if you follow me, you might end up being a fisher of men.
He says if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men.
You know what that tells me?
If you're following Jesus, you'll be a fisher of men.
And if you're not a fisher of men, you're not following Jesus.
And what does it mean to be a fisher of men?
It means to get people saved, to go out and preach the gospel to every creature, to get
people saved, to go soul winning, to win people to the Lord, going out and reaching people
with the gospel.
And that is the sign of a follower of Jesus when you see them being a fisher of men.
It says, straightway they forsook their nets and followed him.
And when he had gone a little farther then, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his
brother who also were in the ship mending their nets.
And straightway he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the
hired servants and went after him.
Here we see people just dropping everything to follow Jesus.
That's the same type of commitment that he expects from us today.
He expects us to make sacrifices for him.
There are things that we might have to give up in order to serve the Lord Jesus Christ.
You can't have everything in life.
You can't have both.
Sometimes people want to hang on to certain things and they're not willing to give up
those things, but if Jesus demands our service, sometimes we have to drop something and we
have to follow him.
You might have certain plans for a career or certain dreams and goals and you might
have to put those aside in order to do the work of the Lord and give that top priority
in your life.
You know, for example, you know, some men should take the step of deciding that they
want to go out and start a church, go out and pastor a church someday and that they
would actually make that commitment and it is a commitment to do that.
It's a big responsibility because I don't think that you should just go out and start
a church and just do it for a year or two and then just, well, I'm tired of this.
I think I'm just going to quit.
I think I'm just going to stop.
I think that when you start something, you should finish it and if you're going to take
on that responsibility of starting a church, you ought to see it through and not be a quitter
and stay with it to the bitter end and not just be one who just, oh, I think I'll dabble
in it and fool around.
You've got to be in it for the long haul and so when you take that step of, for example,
starting a church or pastoring a church, you know, it might involve you moving to another
city, maybe moving away from friends, family, giving up certain comforts or giving up a
certain job or whatever the case may be, but you have to decide that serving God is going
to take priority and if there's a city and a place that needs a good church and you're
equipped to do the job and if that's what God wants you to do, you just do it and sometimes
you have to make sacrifice and give things up.
You might have to give up sinful friends in your life that are a bad influence on you,
they're slowing you down as you serve God and you say, oh, but we've just been friends
forever, but they're not saved, but they're drunkards, but they're adulterers, whatever.
You might need to cut loose some friends and yeah, I just don't know if I can give up the
social life down at the club or whatever, but honestly, there are going to be sacrifices
to serving God.
You can't just expect to serve God and have your cake and eat it too and have everything
the world has to offer and everything that God has to offer and make no sacrifice.
No, you've got to give things up.
They can't be a fisherman and a fisher of men.
They had to cast aside their nets, they had to stop what they were doing.
Jesus wasn't looking for a part-time disciple.
He needed them to follow him everywhere he went, he's going from city to city, they didn't
always even have a place to stay.
They relied on people to take care of them.
They relied on hospitality of people to take them into their homes and give them a bed
to sleep in.
They didn't even know where they were going to stay that night, they had to go in faith.
They sacrificed comfort, they went on foot.
You don't see the disciples hopping on horses and riding to the next town.
You see them traveling on foot, in sandals, not carrying any money with them and just
relying on other people and just relying on the Lord to put people in their path that
would feed them and take care of them and so forth.
So this was a big step for them.
And you know what?
They dropped everything and followed him and they asked Jesus, they said, we've forsaken
all and followed you.
Peter would ask later, what are we going to get for doing that?
What shall we have there for?
What do we get for dropping everything?
And he said that in the resurrection, which we would call the millennium, you know, the
millennial reign of Christ, he said that the 12 disciples would sit on 12 thrones judging
the 12 tribes of Israel.
So all the resurrected saints in the millennium, all those resurrected Old Testament 12 tribes
inhabiting Israel, they're going to be ruled over by the 12 disciples.
So they're going to have glory for a thousand years and then glory for all eternity.
They're immortalized in the pages of the Bible.
But you know what?
It didn't come for free.
They had to give up some things.
They had to suffer adversity and hardship.
They had to be persecuted.
You can't have everything.
You've got to choose whom you will serve.
You can't serve God and mammon.
And so we see that they forsook everything to follow Jesus, to become a soul winner,
to become a fisher of men.
It says, they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day entered into the synagogue
and taught.
And they were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority
and not as the scribes.
And there was in the 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?
Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God.
And Jesus rebuked him saying, hold thy peace and come out of it.
And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him.
And they were all amazed and so much they questioned among themselves saying, what thing
is this?
What new doctrine is this?
For with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits and they do obey him.
And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
And in fact, this situation where he casts out the demon is something that you're going
to see over and over again in the book of Mark.
More than any of the four gospels, the gospel of Mark deals with people that are possessed
with devils literally almost every chapter.
I mean, every time I read the book of Mark, this always stands out to me.
Every time in Mark, it just seems like every chapter, people are possessed.
People are possessed.
And when you see these people, and we'll talk more about it in later chapters where there
are some better examples that go into more detail, we'll go more into people being possessed
with devils.
But don't be fooled into thinking that this does not still exist today.
Why would it not exist today?
I mean, if there were all these devils around back then, I guarantee you that there are
still devils around now.
They didn't go anywhere.
And I believe that there are millions of them, because if you look at how many angels
there are in heaven, he said there are 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands.
If you do the math on that, it's 102 million at least, okay?
So we're talking a lot.
And then if you say, well, the third part of the angels went after Satan.
So depending on how you look at it, there could be either 34 million that went after
Satan, or probably more like at least 51 million, if that's the remaining two-thirds
that are being described there up in heaven, giving glory to God.
So there are millions of them.
And a lot of people today, people say, oh, they're crazy.
They're insane.
But some of them are actually possessed.
And you see people, and they say, oh, multiple personality disorder.
But then you think about the man that was possessed with demons, and he said, my name
is Legion, for we are many.
So he had multiple devils inside of him.
And so that's where some of his multi-personality could be coming from, schizophrenia and all
this stuff.
Of course, the world's not going to recognize the spiritual side.
They want to just drug everybody, electroshock therapy, lobotomize, whatever.
But they won't acknowledge the fact that there is a spiritual aspect to this, and there are
people that are possessed with it.
I believe that I've been in contact in my life with people that were possessed with
devils.
Because I've been talking to people that were completely reasonable, normal, nice people.
And then all of a sudden, they snap, and they started saying really weird things.
And I mean, I could do a whole sermon of just telling stories that I've dealt.
One story that I like to tell is the one about where my dad gave the gospel to a child down
the street from him.
They'd been taking a lot of children to church.
And I guess somebody on the street got mad about the kids in the neighborhood going to
the Baptist church, just somebody who was a hater of the things of God or whatever.
And he started yelling at my dad about giving the gospel or bringing them to church or whatever.
And he yelled at him, and he said, I hear you, Andy Anderson.
I hear you, Andy Anderson.
Now my dad never went by Andy Anderson.
That was his dad's name.
So my dad's dad was Andy Anderson.
And he was a big time soul winner and won a lot of people to Christ and everything.
So this guy is calling his son, I hear you, Andy Anderson.
So my dad thought that was a little weird.
Why is he calling me Andy Anderson?
And then years later, he was talking to somebody about a Bible doctrine.
This person was trying to say that hell was not eternal.
And he was trying to show them from the Bible that hell was eternal.
This was an extended family member.
And that person said to him, I hear you, Andy Anderson.
I hear you, Andy.
And it was just such a weird coincidence.
Like why would these two people have both said the same thing?
You know, it's weird.
It's all you know, it's like, Jesus I know and Paul I know and Andy Anderson I know apparently,
you know, I guess my grandpa was a pretty good soul winner, I guess, you know, the devil's
knew him because he did a lot of soul and even when even after he died, I went and talked
to his former pastor, Dr. Roland Rassman, he said, man, that guy was such a soul winner.
You know, he did a lot of soul winning.
But I've talked to people.
I talked to somebody that was Catholic.
And this guy was a real nice, friendly guy.
We're having a real good conversation.
Let me go through the whole gospel with him.
Everything was good.
And then toward the end, he just snapped.
And all this, and a minute ago, he's talking about how he's going to heaven because the
Virgin Mary and because of God and he still believes in the Virgin Mary, you know, and
he wasn't willing to let go of Catholicism.
There wasn't really anything said to him to make him this mad.
He just jumped up and started screaming.
And his eyes just became red and bloodshot with anger.
And he stood up and he screamed and he said, I can see the future.
I can see the future for me and he started naming people in the family for me and so
and so.
And it's hell.
It's hell.
And he ran out of the room.
A minute ago, he's telling us he's going to heaven and he loves the Virgin Mary and he
loves Jesus.
And then he's screaming how he can see the future for him.
And the other person that he named in the family was the only other family member that
wasn't saved.
It was him and this other family member that were Catholic.
The rest of the family had been saved.
This was just several years ago.
And he's screaming how he can see the future.
And he said, I'm Native American and I can see the future.
And it's hell for me, for so and so, and it's hell.
And then ran out.
I mean, that's pretty weird.
And it's a true story.
And I wasn't the only person there to witness it.
Very odd.
One time I went to this ecumenical gathering one time.
This is when I was a teenager.
And we stood outside of this place to tell people, don't go to this place.
Because it was like this Jesus Christ Jubilee 2000 and it was this ecumenical thing of Catholics
and Christians and all the denominations coming together.
And I stood outside this thing to try to turn people away from going in there.
I wouldn't probably waste my time doing that now.
But you know when you're a teenager, I was trying to do something and I had to give people
the Gospel while I was there.
But I stood out there with a few of my friends and were telling people, don't go to this.
This ecumenical thing and we're showing them from the Bible what's wrong with Catholicism
and why they need to be saved and everything.
And there were people coming up to us and arguing with us.
And they were people who were actually volunteers for the event.
And they had this t-shirt on that said, Jesus Christ Jubilee.
Real big on the front.
And on the back it said, ask us.
And I said to these people, what are we supposed to ask you?
I said, I got a question for you.
How do I get to heaven?
Because it says, ask you.
So we're talking to these people and we're trying to give them the Gospel and everything.
And literally, within moments, some of these people that we're talking to that were just,
I mean, they're wearing a shirt that says Jesus Christ started just screaming and cursing
at us, blaspheming the name of Jesus to us.
Basically like saying like blank, blank Jesus.
You know what I mean?
Like, stuff like just, you're like, whoa, why are you blaspheming Jesus?
And you're like, I'm like, you're wearing a shirt that says Jesus Christ Jubilee and
you're cursing Jesus to me.
And they're yelling, this guy's pointing in my Bible saying, you believe that?
Because I show him a verse from the Bible.
He's like, you believe that?
I'm like, it's the Bible, you know?
I believe that that guy was demon possessed.
Because he was this real nice, one of the, you know, hey, God bless Jesus Christ Jubilee.
Next thing you know, he's screaming curses about Jesus.
It was very strange.
So anyway, we could go all night of just weird things out.
So I got to tell one more, I'm sorry.
Was this you?
John, were you the one that was with me where that weird voice came out of the house?
Was that you?
Oh, man, this is a good one.
So my son John's with me.
We're out soul winning.
And we knock on this guy's door.
And the guy comes to the door, he's real nice to us, friendly, polite.
And we asked him, you know, if we could give him the gospel.
And he said, he said, you know, he said, he said, it'd be fine.
But honestly, he said, I got to go to work.
I'm late for work.
I just called a cab and you know, the cab is going to come pick me up and take me to
work.
Otherwise, I'd listen.
Because I'm heading for work.
So I go, okay, you know, left him with one verse guy was just a seem real nice, real
sincere.
And I know he was telling the truth about the cat, because literally five minutes after
we left the cab pulled up and the guy got in and went to work.
So everything seemed legit.
He was friendly, wasn't negative at all.
But the guy he was like, when we got there, he was blasting some kind of death metal style
music or whatever.
And the guy, you know, the guy looked a little rough around the edges.
But the guy was nice enough to us when we were at the door.
So we start leaving.
And John and I just hear from the inside of the house, this weird, just like whatever
you would expect the most demonic voice to sound like.
We heard this voice like, yeah, yeah, faithful word, bad disturb, yeah, yeah.
John, is that true story?
I mean, if John wasn't here to be my witness, she wouldn't even believe me.
But it's true.
And we looked at each other like, what in the world?
Like what?
The guy was totally normal.
The guy was totally, and it's just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, you know, like, whoa,
what in the world?
And then like a couple minutes later, the guy gets out, you know, goes, gets in the
cab, goes, you know, so I don't know if some of these stories, you know, you don't really
know for sure.
But a couple of these for sure, some demonic was going on, you know.
And again, like I said, we could spend all night on that.
I don't want to spend all night on that.
I've got to save some stories for later in the book of Mark, because we're going through
the whole book, you know, about all the demonic stories.
But anyway, the one thing I just want to emphasize tonight is that stuff like that is out there.
That's why you shouldn't mess with Ouija boards.
You shouldn't mess with musicians that are, you know, flashing symbols to Satan, wearing
Satan t-shirts, and, you know, I mean, look, when these musicians have names like, you
know, Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, you know, when they just have these blasphemous names
of the band or the album or the song titles, that should be a red flag to you right away,
you know.
But anyway, let's keep reading.
It says in verse 29, forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered
into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Now notice it says the house of Simon and Andrew.
That shows that these guys probably didn't have a lot of money if they don't have their
own house.
It's like Simon and Andrew, they're, maybe they're living in a duplex, you know, or whatever.
They just have a small house that they share between both of them.
But these weren't really wealthy guys.
All the men that Jesus picked were pretty much working class guys.
He himself chose to be born in the home of a carpenter and his disciples were men that
were fishermen, you know, you have a tax collector in there, but you basically have men that
were all seen by the world as being blue collar type guys or just, you know, not necessarily
really prestigious jobs if they weren't blue collar.
You know, just showing that God is not really impressed by people's wealth or financial
status.
But the interesting thing about this though is that it says in verse 30, but Simon's wife's
mother, so that would be his what?
His mother-in-law, right?
His wife's mother.
It says Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever and anon they tell him of her and
he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up and immediately the fever left her
and she ministered unto them.
This right there shows that Simon Peter was married.
He's already married in Mark chapter one and the Roman Catholic Church will teach, oh Peter
was not married because they teach that Peter was the first pope and they'll even give you
a list of popes.
One time I was out soul winning and somebody's like, here you go.
Here's a list of every pope.
Case closed, you know, I'm like, okay, you know, it was just page after page of all these
popes.
Oh, that proves everything right there, you know, because it said, see the first one on
the list?
Peter.
There you go.
But Peter was not the first pope.
There are no, look, in the New Testament, you don't have cardinals.
Show me cardinals in the New Testament.
I'll show you an Arizona sports team, you know.
Show me, show me archbishops, cardinals, the pope.
Show me monks and nuns and Catholic priests.
You don't see any of that stuff in the Bible, in the New Testament.
So this idea that Simon Peter was the first pope makes no sense because they say the pope
can't be married.
They don't allow any of the bishops to be married.
Even though this Bible says the bishop must be the husband of one wife, they teach the
opposite.
The bishop must not be the husband of a wife.
So they teach the exact opposite of the Bible but here we see clearly that Simon Peter had
a wife.
In fact, all of the disciples, I don't know if they all had a wife at this time, but eventually
all of them had a wife according to the apostle Paul.
He talks about the fact that they all had wives.
Which is pretty normal since 99% of men in this world end up getting married.
There's a lid for every pot as they say.
But it says in verse 32, even when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were
diseased and then that were possessed with devils and all the city was gathered at the
door and he healed many that were sick of divers disease and cast out many devils and
suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him.
At this point he doesn't want to fully reveal exactly who he is.
And it says in verse 35, in the morning rising up a great while before day he went out and
departed into a solitary place and there prayed.
And Simon and they that were with him followed after him and when they had found him they
said unto him all men seek for thee.
And he said unto them let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also for therefore
came I forth and he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out devils.
And there came a leper to him beseeching him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him
if thou wilt thou canst make me clean.
And Jesus moved with compassion put forth his hand and touched him and saith unto him
I will be thou clean and as soon as he had spoken immediately the leprosy departed from
him and he was cleansed.
That's a beautiful story isn't it?
Here's a man, he's leprous, he has a horrible disease.
He walks up to Jesus, falls on his knees and basically gets on his knees before Jesus and
said you know what if you want to you can make me clean.
If you want to, if you're willing you can make me clean, you can heal me.
So he's giving Jesus the glory saying you know what you can heal me and he's being humble
and begging for help.
And Jesus, what's his reaction?
Compassion, sympathy is another word for compassion.
You know he feels for him, he loves him and he says I want, I will which means I want
to and he reaches out his hand and touches him and he's clean.
Okay listen to what the NIV does to this.
We're getting on the NIV tonight and we're getting on the Catholics tonight but anyway
listen to what the NIV does to this verse and you say well it's a big deal, King James
only.
Look this NIV is filled with garbage okay.
Now this is the 2011 NIV, new and improved because the 1984 NIV is what I've been preaching
against for all these years but now they've come out with a new one and they've completely,
they don't even sell the old NIV anymore.
The one that people use for 30 years, gone.
No more 1984 NIV, it's all on the 2011 because they want churches to have to replace all
their biologies, make money that way and refresh the copyright and everything.
Listen to the 2011 NIV here.
A man with leprosy came to him and begged him on his knees if you're willing you can
make me clean.
Jesus was indignant.
He reached out his hand and touched the man.
I'm willing he said, be clean.
You know what indignant means, angry.
So in the NIV this guy gets on his knees, Lord if you're willing you can make me clean.
I'm willing, be clean.
Hey why would Jesus just get mad at this guy for no reason?
It's stupid, it doesn't make any sense and I've had people try to defend this.
Well maybe he was mad.
About what?
And then they'll just add stuff to the story.
Well maybe there was this other stuff going, no, let's read what the story actually says.
It's pretty easy to tell what's right here but these corrupt, messed up manuscripts that
take out the Son of God in verse 1, that say you're quoting Isaiah when you're really
quoting Malachi, that say Jesus gets mad at poor lepers that are on their knees begging
him for mercy.
It's all, these new Bibles are based on these types of manuscripts.
But all the scholars agree, they're unbelievers.
They're wolves in sheep's clothing.
They're children of Satan that have crept in unawares to pervert the word of God and
to take away our two-edged sword of the King James Bible.
But isn't that amazing?
Jesus getting mad.
One last thing and then we're out of here.
Says in verse 44, 43 says, he straightly charged him and forthwith sent him away and saith unto
him, see thou say nothing to any man but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, watch
this, 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 in so much
that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city but was without in desert places
and they came to him from every quarter.
I just want to point out in verse 44 that he tells the man who's cured of his leprosy
to go offer the gift that Moses commanded.
That is an animal sacrifice that he's being asked to offer because this is before Jesus
had died on the cross so they're still doing the animal sacrifices.
When we were interviewing these Jewish rabbis for our new movie, Marching to Zion, I talked
to this Jewish rabbi and he tried to say that, you know, oh, they were already phasing out
the animal sacrifices, you know, long before the time of Christ.
They were just down to just, he said it used to be that everybody would bring an individual
sacrifice for their personal needs but by the time, you know, they got back from the
Babylonian captivity, they would just offer just a morning and evening sacrifice for the
whole nation and they didn't do the individualized sacrifice, you know, that's a lie.
Another one of the lies that the Jews will tell you because they have to make excuses
for why they don't do animal sacrifices anymore.
So they act like, well, I was already being phased out.
They don't want it to be pointed out that when they stopped doing animal sacrifices
was the same generation that Jesus came.
Because the real reason why the sacrifice ended is because Jesus is the lamb of God
slain from the foundation of the world.
That's why God destroyed their temple.
That's why God kicked them out of that land.
He didn't want them doing anymore animal sacrifices because Jesus is the lamb.
But they claim that they're still living in the Old Testament which they call the only
testament and listen, if they were, where are the sacrifices?
And so now they lie and say, oh, well, it was already being phased out hundreds of years
before Christ.
That's a lie because when we read the four gospels, we see all kinds of people like Mary,
after she gives birth to Jesus, she brings a few doves down to be sacrificed.
This guy's told, go make a sacrifice.
The apostle Paul in the book of Acts with the Nazarite vow and all them, he joins himself
unto people that are offering animal sacrifices.
So again, it's a fraud.
All that to say this tonight, Mark is a great book, it's a great book for new believers
because it's just really action packed, a lot of stories, a lot of action.
And so whenever I win somebody, the Lord that's a young person, a lot of times I'll tell them
to start reading the book of Mark.
You know, someone who's a little older, I usually start them in the book of John.
But it's a great scripture just showing all the works that Jesus did, how busy he was.
He really worked hard while he was on this earth.
Did you notice how early it's, he got up really early and he's working hard and straight way
he goes here, he goes here, he gets up early, the disciples say, everybody's looking for
you.
So let's go to another town, another city, another village, just constantly serving.
And we ought to be like Jesus.
If we follow him, we'll be fishers of men.
He worked hard, he served and cared about others, we should be the same way.
And that's one thing we learned from the book of Mark is how to be a servant and how to
work hard for God and how to stay busy serving the Lord.
And let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the gospel of Mark, Lord, and thank you for the things
that we can see from it tonight, really just destroying a lot of false doctrine using your
word tonight.
Thank you for the truth and also, Lord, help us to live by that example of Jesus, of just
being a hard worker, staying busy, serving you, loving other people, having compassion
on people, caring about other people, Lord, help us to be like you, and in Jesus' name
we pray, amen.