McVey, Willie: Cameos Of Christ-01 ~ In Mathhew And Mark

Soundware State Ministry Queensland. It's now Saturday the first of December nineteen eighty four, and we're at the Icegrove Gospel Hall for ministry by Mr. Willie McVey. The studies are Cameos of Christ. This is cassette number one. And we welcome you this afternoon. We do thank you for coming, and we look to the Lord for a real blessing on the reading of his word and on each one who has come. You know, the subject before us this afternoon and evening is one, and concerning it we can say there's none greater. And it's very appropriate on this polling day when the people of Australia are deciding who is going to be over them for the next three years, that we should be thinking of one who is going to rule supreme, not only over Australia, but over the entire world and the entire universe, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now I'd like us all to not only use our brains, although we should use our brains, but also use our hearts and, uh, come before the Lord with a very worshipful spirit. Not just to find out more information about our Lord Jesus and about things he did and said when he was here on earth, but to feel our souls drawn out more to him, that one who died for us on the cross. Now, I have prepared some sheets here, uh, rather short notes. I hope everyone has got a copy, and from time to time we shall be referring to these notes. And in this, our first talk, we are going to turn to Matthew's gospel, and right away we are going to turn to chapter one, which of course is the opening chapter and the opening verse of the New Testament. And you will notice in the notes that I have given you, before we have detailed notes about the four gospels and their contents, we have a kind of table at the top, and you notice against Matthew's gospel, I have recorded the fact that Christ is presented to us as king. That's why I asked us to sing the hymn, All hail the power of Jesus' name, and crown him Lord of all. Christ is presented to us as the king, and he is presented in such a way as to appeal particularly to the Jews who are waiting for the Messiah, the son of David, to set up his kingdom. So with that in mind, we are going to read chapter one, verse one. the book of the generation or the genealogy of Jesus Christ, notice this, the son of David, the son of Abraham. And then we have a long list of names that perhaps will mean very little to us, but they were most important from the standpoint of the Jews. Then chapter two, verse one. Now, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east and are come to worship him. Now, of course, you'll keep your Bible open, and this will be our initial reading. And first of all, we must establish that Matthew was writing to present our Lord Jesus as king, the one who is going to rule. And it's good to remember this, because, you know, the word democracy is a term that all politicians use, they must use these days. And they speak of Australia and other countries as being a democracy, but please remember Earth's coming government will be a dictatorship. Thank God, a benign dictatorship, but one is coming to rule absolutely supreme, and there will be no discordant voices. No one will say him nay. There will be no leader of the opposition in his government. Satan, of course, has been trying to do that job for centuries, but he will be dispatched to the lake of fire, and Christ will reign supreme, as we sing in the hymn, Jesus shall reign where'er the sun doth his successive journeys run. So this is the one we are going to think about, and first of all, in the first of the four gospel records, he is presented to us as the king. Now, you may ask the question, some people have asked the question, why do we need four records? And some people are confused by this. I remember once when we were in Malaysia, there was an Indian brother, or he he wasn't at that time a brother, he was an inquirer, and we encouraged him to read the New Testament, and quite quickly he read through Matthew's gospel, and then he came to see us after he had read chapter one of Mark's gospel, and he said, was there more than one Jesus? Because I read right through the first book, all about Jesus being born, and Jesus living, and Jesus dying, and Jesus being resurrected. But when I began to read in Mark's gospel, I found there was another person called Jesus, and he was still working. Was there more than one Jesus? Well, now that question arose in his mind. I don't suppose any of us thinks along those lines. Thank God we have been used to the four gospel records from our very earliest days. But, you know, it is not unusual when you're thinking of an important man to have different accounts because his life is viewed from different aspects. For example, Winston, Winston Churchill was a great politician, but he was also an outstanding writer, and he was quite an artist too. And then, of course, if you had asked his family, they could have told you about him as a man in the whole. And we are going to find that God, the Holy Spirit, used four men to bring the same Jesus before us, but from four different aspects. But number one, he is the king. The Jews were waiting for their Messiah, and Matthew's job is to say to the Jews, this is the man you were waiting for, but you didn't know it. He was your king, your Messiah. You should have accepted him, but you didn't. Now, of course, when Matthew does this, he has got to prove what he says, and he strikes his opening note in chapter one, verse one. Jesus Christ. I'll tell you his background, his genealogy. He is the son of Abraham. That means he's a true-blooded Jew. But more than that, he's the son of David. There is royal blood in his veins. He has a right to the throne. And this is why, in the eyes of the Jews, this long list of names is so important. And you know, in a sense, it's still important. When Prince Charles was born, how many doctors were in attendance, do you think? Not just one or two, not even three or four, seven. All seven had to sign that certificate. Do you know why? This was no ordinary baby. The British people had to be sure beyond the shadow of a doubt that Prince Charles was the real son of the Queen. Now Matthew says, you want to be absolutely sure about the background, the credentials of your king, and I'm going to prove you to you from our old records that this is indeed the son of David, that he has a legal claim to the throne of Israel. You know, in connection with this, as I said, you and I, as Westerners, I think it's very tedious to have to go through this long list of names. But would you believe it that there was a Chinese gentleman, and on one occasion, the first step in his conversion was reading through these names. Do you know why? His background was one of ancestral worship. You see, the Chinese believe that when a parent, a grandparent dies, that he becomes a god, and you should worship him. And as this old ancestral worshipper, this Chinese gentleman, began to read Matthew chapter one, he read, and the more he read, the wider his eyes were opened. He said, you know, I worship my ancestors, but if you asked me to go back, I could only go back maybe three or four generations. Here's a man who can go back forty two generations. He must be an outstanding man. And he began to read then the story of the Lord Jesus in Matthew's gospel, and before the reading was over, he was a Christian. So, although it was written initially for the Jews, God used it to the blessing of others. And the everything we believe in the word of God is one hundred percent inspired. Well, now, if Matthew is going to prove to the Jews that this is indeed the Messiah, their king, what must he do? Well, the Jews had their Old Testament corresponding to the old Chinese classics, and, you know, quite often a good Chinese preacher, when he is preaching to people who have no biblical background, will list his sermons with quotations from the classics, from Confucius and others. Confucius said so and so, but he couldn't do that himself. No one can do that except Christ. So according to the sayings of Confucius, Jesus is the man we should be looking to. But Matthew didn't quote from Confucius. Matthew quoted from the Old Testament, and of course the Jews had the Old Testament on their fingertips. Those were the books that were read in the synagogue and in the temple from time to time. So now we are going to notice that Matthew quotes again and again and again from the Old Testament. Now, are you ready to read again? Shall we turn to chapter one, verse seventeen? Uh, sorry, verse twenty two. Chapter one, verse twenty two. Now, all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, and here's a quote. Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is God with us. Then chapter two verse six: Thou, Bethlehem in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah, for out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel. And then the last verse of this chapter. And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He shall be called a Nazarene. And actually, Matthew's gospel is absolutely full of quotations from the Old Testament and references to Old Testament incidents. For example, I have a note here that there are fifty three quotations, and there are seventy six references in one way and another to the Old Testament. Now here I want to stop and say something which is very, very important. You know, we have people, even so-called ministers of the gospel, clerics, those who profess to preach Christ and represent Christ, and they say, say things about the Lord Jesus these days, and it's good to remember this as another Christmas is just round the corner. They say things that are contrary what to what the Bible teaches. They belittle Christ, they drag Christ down. And one thing they say is this, and I remember a Chinese professor once putting this forward to me. He was brought up as a Christian, his parents were nominal Christians, but he said he found Christianity so empty, he turned back to Buddhism. And he said, and he was quoting, unfortunately, from self-styled Christians. And what they said is this, and this is what Mr. Wong quoted. Jesus was an extremely intellectual man, very, very clever man, and he knew the Old Testament very well, and he took these Old Testament quotations and applied them to himself and hoodwinked a lot of his followers and made them think that these Old Testament quotations applied to him. When Mr. Wong, Professor Wong, mentioned this to me, I said, now, Mr. Wong, I want to ask you a question. I said, you know the Chinese classics? I want to ask you this question. Supposing today a very intellectual Chinese boy is born, and he wants to boost his own ego. He wants to be a leader, and he goes through all your old classics. Could he find anything in the Chinese classics, even one phrase, even one prophecy, telling the Chinese people as a whole to look forward to a great leader, one who would rule the world. I said, is there the least suggestion of anything like that in all the Chinese classics? Well, he said, actually there's not. Actually there's not. So if Jesus or someone like him had been born into a Chinese home and wanted to use the classics and said, these classics point forward to me the prophecy about me. He wouldn't have found anything there. But all these prophecies are lying just on the surface of the Old Testament. And one as well said, the message of the Old Testament is this: He is coming. He is coming. He is coming. The message of the New Testament is, thank God, he is coming again. He's coming again, and he might come today and set up his kingdom some of these days as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Well, now, when you have a king and a kingdom, then, of course, you have government and you have laws. The old Testament says, with the word of a king there's power, there's authority. And one great feature of Matthew's gospel is that it's full of the sayings of Jesus, long blocks of teaching. For example, you have five to seven, the Sermon on the Mount, three whole chapters. Chapter ten, the sending out of the disciples. Chapter thirteen, the parables of the kingdom. Now you can check on these, I hope you will, from the notes. Then chapter eighteen, another section of unbroken teaching. And again, chapters twenty four and twenty five. Now I want you to look at your Bible just for a moment again and check this with me. Look at chapter seven at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. Chapter seven. verse twenty eight. It came to pass when Jesus had ended these sayings. Chapter eleven, verse one. It came to pass when Jesus had ceased commanding the, his twelve disciples. Chapter thirteen verse fifty three. It came to pass when Jesus had finished these parables. Chapter nineteen, verse one: It came to pass that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he said so and so unto his disciples. And I would like you also to look forward to the end of the gospel, chapter twenty eight, chapter twenty eight. And Jesus said, verse eighteen, Jesus came and spoke unto them, saying, All authority in heaven is given unto me, in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. So let us remember this. If, for example, I preach the gospel and someone professes to be saved, and I say, brother, you should be baptized. Why? Why should I be baptized? Because the one who has all authority in heaven and earth has said so. You should be b- be baptized. You see, a king will speak with authority. And let me mention something else. You know, I sometimes tell our American friends and friends in other countries, you can never have a kingdom. You know why? You don't have a king. A kingdom presupposes a king or a queen. If you have a republic or something like that, you don't have a kingdom. And look, if there's someone here and you're not saved, you're not in the kingdom, and you will never be in the kingdom until you make Christ your Lord and Savior and Master and King, and crown him Lord of all, as we've been singing in our hymn. So three fifths of Matthew's gospel are the words of Christ, and we have noticed particularly these five long talks. But now I come to something, and, uh, we touch on ground that is somewhat disputed. And it may be that, uh, after the talk, some of you will want to come and see me about it, but I want to tell you very plainly what I believe with regard to the kingdom of heaven and the kingdom of God. And we are going to turn back to Daniel chapter two. Daniel chapter two. We remember Daniel had visions, and heathen kings had visions. God was speaking in Babylon at this time. God was moving the hearts of many. So, at chapter two, and Nebuchadnezzar had a startling dream. And verse... forty four. Now you need to read what goes before if you're not familiar with this passage. Chapter two, verse forty four. In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom. Now stop and look at that phrase. The God of heaven shall set up a kingdom. Now, in all fairness, what would you call that kingdom? Give it its full title. The kingdom of the God of heaven. Isn't that fair enough? The God of heaven will set up a kingdom. What are you going to call it, I say again? The kingdom of the God of heaven. And concerning this kingdom, it says it shall never be destroyed, and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever. Well, might we this Saturday afternoon take a brief hour off to look into such a subject, the kingdom of the God of heaven. Tell me this, when we speak of the United States of America, sometimes we abbreviate that the USA, sometimes we just say America, sometimes we say the United States. Sometimes we say the States. I was brought up in the UK, and during times of emigration to America, it was a very common thing to say, did you hear so and so is going to the States? No need to ask which states. This was an abbreviated form. And I want to submit to you this afternoon that the full title is The Kingdom of the God of Heaven. Sometimes we just use the term the kingdom. What kingdom? No need to explain it further. Sometimes we abbreviate it and say the kingdom of heaven. Sometimes we say the kingdom of God. But now a marvelous thing is this. Matthew nearly always calls it the kingdom of heaven. Now, why is that? Let's turn back to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter five. And verse Thirty four. But I say unto you, swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is his footstool, neither by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great king. Now, the context here, of course, is that the Jews, when they were doing business particularly and wanted to tell, you know what they call a white lie, perhaps, they would swear by Jacob's beard, they would swear by Moses' toe, and so on. And they would say, look, we didn't mention the name of God, so therefore the oath is not binding. But the Lord Jesus said, look, if you're really honest, yes means yes and no means no, and you don't need to swear at all. But he said, remember, Jerusalem is the city of the great king. What did that mean? Well, the Old Testament prophecies indicated that when the Messiah came and set up his kingdom, he would do so in the city of David, which was Jerusalem, the city of the great king. But you know, when the great king went to the city of the great king, how did the people of the city of the great king treat the king? They cast him out. What did the king do? Did the king abdicate? He didn't. He withdrew. There's the world of difference between abdicating and withdrawing. You know, during World War II, when things were very, very tight after Dunkirk, and they expected the Germans to invade Britain nearly any time, plans were drawn up for the British Parliament and the British Royal Family to move to Canada and rule from Canada. They would withdraw, they wouldn't surrender. They didn't abdicate. Now Matthew says, I'm writing my gospel for the Jews. I'm writing my gospel to tell you about your king, and you rejected your king who came to set up his kingdom in Jerusalem, the city of David. He has withdrawn, and I want you to understand from now on, headquarters are up there. Headquarters are in heaven. That's where he's ruling from. When the other writers write their gospels, they refer only to the kingdom of God. They told Gentile people, God, the God of heaven, the God who made the world, he's setting up his kingdom. But Matthew says it is the kingdom of God, but remember the headquarters will not be Jerusalem for the time being. The headquarters is heaven. And in Matthew's gospel, with a few exceptions, it is referred to, the kingdom is referred to as the kingdom of heaven. Now, I want then to try to answer a question which was a real poser to me when I was a young Christian. I used to hear preachers say Matthew's gospel is the gospel for the Jews, and, uh, I think I have confirmed that, eh, in what I have already said. But here was a problem for me. If the church is made up of Jew and Gentile, and for the most part made up of Gentiles, why is it mentioned in Matthew's gospel only, and not in the other gospels? And then one day I suddenly tumbled to it. You know, the church is a heavenly people. The, uh, church is called out and called up. Our citizenship is in heaven. We are registered citizens of heaven, and the reason is because we have made Christ our king, and that is our real fatherland. That is our homeland. Now, what our Lord Jesus virtually said in Matthew sixteen—I'll I'll not read it with you because I assume you know that important passage. The Lord Jesus said, you remember Peter said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. He said, blessed art thou, Simon Barjona. On this rock I will build my church. And that word church really means assembly. And as you go back into the Old Testament, you will find that the Israelites had their assembly, their congregation, and the Lord Jesus said, I am going to be rejected. I know it. I foresee it. I'm going to be crucified. I'm going to be cast out. I withdraw, and my headquarters will be up there, and from my headquarters I am going to call out my own assembly, my own congregation, and I am serving notice on you Jews that you'll soon be in a backwater. You'll be shunted into a blind alley, and the work of God is going to go on. God, thank God, one day he will come back and deal with the Jews again. There's a great future ahead for Israel, but for the time being, Israel is set aside, and the kingdom of heaven is being proclaimed, and a heavenly people are being called out, a new people. You see, in the Old Testament, the Jews were God's special people. Now, in this age, it is the church which can claim to be God's special people. Now, with that in view, I want us to look at the end of the notes, where we have two items mentioned by way of a special study. And we're going to turn now to chapter twelve because this is a pivotal point in the gospel. Christ is rejected by the Jews, and he in turn rejects them. Now we're going to read from verse... verse thirteen. Now, as I look down, I see that we have a good age range here today with us. Some, I assume, in their teens, and some, like myself, well past the teen stage. Well now, you will know, I'm sure, that we have in Brisbane and elsewhere people who term themselves charismatics. And one of the things I've heard them say again and again is if we had only more miracles, Brisbane would be converted, Queensland would be converted, the world would be converted. Now, does the scripture bear that out? Well, you just follow the reading here. Verse thirteen, chapter uh twelve. Then Jesus said to the man, stretch forth thine hand, and he stretched it forth, and it was restored whole like the other. Then, what does your Bible say? The Pharisees and the others said, Jesus is king. Long live King Jesus. No. Then the Pharisees went out and held a council against him, how they might destroy him. So much for your miracles. So much for the miracles. They decided and held a council. Can you imagine these men? It always makes a cold shivers run down your backbone. Very likely opened in prayer. Maybe in had an initial initial reading from the Bible and all kinds of pious phrases. And yet their council is how they can destroy him. Did he know it? Of course he did, for he was God. He knew all. So in this chapter, don't be surprised at what he says. Verse thirty four: O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. Verse thirty nine: He answered and said unto them, an evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign. It's already called a generation of vipers, an evil generation, an adulterous generation. What's an adulterous person? Unfaithful. Unfaithful. A man ha- has a wife, he professes to be faithful to her outwardly, but he is not. That, that is adultery. And the Lord Jesus said, you Jews pretend to be faithful to God and faithful to his word, and you are not. You're an evil, you're an adulterous generation. And then verse forty five, Then goeth he and taketh with himself seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there, and the last state of that man is worse than the first, even so shall it be unto this wicked generation. Now there you have it. It is a, a viperous generation. It is an evil generation. It's an adulterous generation. It's a wicked generation. Now what's the cure? Well, here is a very telling incident at the end of chapter twelve. You could put, uh, a mark right down the side of this, uh, stanza here, this section, because here is a turning point in the Lord's ministry and his dealing with the Jews. Verse forty six: while he yet talked, while he was saying these things to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood outside, desiring to speak with him. Then one said unto him, Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand outside, desiring to speak with thee. And he answered and said unto them and told him, Who is my mother? And who are my brethren? And he stretched forth his hand toward his disciples and said, Behold, my mother and my brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, which is in heaven, the same is my brother and sister and mother. What do we have here? The Lord Jesus speaks of a new relationship, a new family. While he is talking in this way to the Jews, his mother and his brethren come, and they want to see him. They think he is demented, the way he's talking. And the idea is, I suppose, to take him home and, uh, let him recuperate, let him rest, take him out of the public eye. But the Lord Jesus was wide awake. He said, I want to tell you something. Now listen. Who is my mother? Who are my brethren? And he looks around at the disciples. He said, from now on, the relationship that is most precious to me is a spiritual one. Whoever will listen to my word and do it comes closer to me than my own mother and my brother. The Lord is doing something new, and what is he going to do? Chapter thirteen, verse one. Chapter uh thirteen, verse one. The same day, Jesus went, Jesus out of the house and sat by the seaside. You know, this is very suggestive. The sea represents, if you read the, uh, book of Revelation, peoples and nations, the nations. And the Lord Jesus leaves the house here, which would represent the house of Israel that has rejected him, and he has rejected them. And he now goes out and sits by the seaside, and the great multitudes followed him. And he went into a boat, and he sat, and he taught the people. And he spake unto them in parables, saying, a sower went forth to sow. And now he is going to deliver what we call the parables of the kingdom, bringing before us the gospel as it goes forth today, or as someone has well put it, what we call the kingdom in mystery. That is, instead of the kingdom being manifested with Christ reigning in Jerusalem as the son of David, which one day he will do, he has, I use again the word, the the word, and I use it advisedly and carefully. He has not retired. He has not abdicated. He has withdrawn, and he has sent his servants out into the world to preach the gospel, and he likens it to a saw. And from that day until the present time, the seed has being, is being sown. It has been sown today. Certain parts of the world, people are only getting out of bed, and they're going out with a seed basket of the word of God. They're telling men and women about the Lord Jesus. And some seed is falling into this type of ground, some into the other type of ground, but some into good ground. And there are some, I believe, today who have already accepted Christ as their king and their lord and their savior. And there's some more who will do so before the sun sets. And this work is going on and will continue until our Lord Jesus comes again. And he is the one who sent out the disciples. He is the one who said, go ye therefore, because all authority is committed unto me. And he reigns from the throne in heaven. The Father said, sit on my right hand until I make thine enemies thy footstool. And men and women are talking, are preaching the gospel. And in the gospel, what are they doing? They're speaking about the very person that we are considering here today, even Jesus Christ our Lord. And he says, go forth in my name. All authority is committed unto me. You know, in the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus did something that you wouldn't dare to do, I wouldn't dare to do. He quoted from the Old Testament. It said in the Old Testament, but I say unto you, I say unto you. Supposing someone comes from overseas and says, look, uh, what are the rules of the road here for driving? I want to get a driving license. And I say, well, according to the law of Queensland, you drive on the right hand, left hand side, but I say unto you, you can drive any way you want. Well, you'd think, you'd think I was mad, think I was mad. And the Lord Jesus was able to take the Old Testament, the law of Moses, and he didn't pull it to pieces. Actually, he made it more severe than it was. He said, you're not to kill. That's what the Old Testament said. But I say unto you, if you want to kill, that's as bad. And the Old Testament says you're not to commit adultery, and a man might hold his head high and say, I've never committed adultery, but he says, I'll put you with your back against the wall and ask you, did you ever want to do it? You know, some people talk about living according to the Sermon on the Mount is one of the most, uh, shattering documents it's possible to find anywhere, because it turns a man inside out. And now this one who speaks with authority, he sends out his disciples. Go you into all the world, and what to do? Preach the gospel. Tell men and women about me. I not only search the hearts, but I can forgive sin. And if there should be anyone in the meeting, you're not saved. That blessed person is here with us. He's looking into your heart, and he wants to save you. Shall we just bow in prayer? Heavenly Father, we do thank thee for this glorious person whom we have been considering, we feel so inadequate. Our puny minds cannot take in all the glories and all the majesty of his person, but we pray that thy Holy Spirit will apply thy word to our hearts. And above all, help us, we do pray, to live close to the Lord and serve him with true and honest hearts. We ask these things in his precious name. Amen. Now, I better explain to you the arrangement of our talks. We're going to have a break, and that'll be for about ten minutes. You can get up and walk around, greet your friends, and, uh, get a breath of fresh air. Maybe you want a, a drink. I know I feel like a drink, and, uh, come together in ten minutes time. Now, I mention again that these talks are being recorded by our brother Des Beard, and, uh, we make a further announcement about ordering these later. We come together in about ten minutes time, and the next session also will be for forty five minutes or so, and then after that we have a longer break when we're going to have something to eat. Before thee, and once again we thank thee for this one who is King of kings and Lord of lords, to me ascend into the world, and we pray now that this same Holy Spirit will be very near to us and lead us again. We do pray, to the person of Jesus Christ, our Lord. We ask these things in his precious name. Amen. Now, I don't need to tell you that Mark comes after Matthew. We have thought of Matthew's gospel, and now we're going to turn to the next writer, and that is Mark. But before we turn to Mark's gospel, we're going to look at one verse in the Acts of the Apostles, and that is Acts chapter thirteen. Easy to remember, chapter thirteen and verse thirteen. I don't suppose there are any, any superstitious people here with us, but, uh, you know, the number thirteen in the eyes of some people is a very unlucky number. Well, chapter thirteen verse thirteen was a most unhappy day in the life of a young man called John Mark. Now, when Paul and his companions loosed from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia, and John, that is the other name for Mark, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. We don't know whether he got homesick, we don't know whether he got discouraged, we just don't know the reason, but he went back home, and that was a great disappointment to the Apostle Paul. Very remarkable thing, this person, Mark, who was conscious that he had been a failure, at least a partial failure, in his service for the Lord, this person, I say, is used by the Holy Spirit to bring the Lord Jesus before us as God's perfect servant. Now that, of course, makes good sense, because Mark felt down in his heart that he had not been as loyal to God, he had not been as true to his calling as a servant of the Lord as he might have been, and it did his heart good to look away to that one who never, never failed. So we're going to turn now to Mark's Gospel, and we turn to chapter one. And the first thing we notice is that while Matthew was one of the twelve apostles, one of the close disciples of the Lord Jesus, Mark was not. So the question is, how did Mark get his information? And from earliest days, the statement has been made and the belief held that Mark got his information from Peter. Now you may say, how do you prove this? Or if you can't prove it, what indications are there that Mark's informant was Peter? Well, now let's turn to chapter one and verse thirty six. Simon and they that were with him followed after Jesus. Simon and they that were with him followed after Jesus. Now, can't you just imagine Peter telling Mark about this? How would Peter put it? I and those who are with me. And Mark takes those words virtually as they were and just changes them round from the first person to the third, and says Peter and those who are with him. If Mark had been an eyewitness himself, he wouldn't have needed to pick Peter out. He would just have said, well, the, the disciples, the apostles followed the Lord Jesus. Now that is only one indication, but there are others. Only one indication of the fact that Peter was Mark's informant. Certainly he needed someone to tell him, because, as I say, Mark was not one of that original elite band of apostles whom the Lord Jesus caught. Now, I have mentioned in the table at the top of the notes that Mark brings Christ before us as the servant. Matthew brings him before us as the king, the one who is going to rule over men. Mark brings him before us as the servant, the one who is going to help men and serve men. And perhaps we should just stop here and go to a very significant verse in chapter ten. I have put this away at the end of the notes, but we could very well look at it now. Chapter ten. and verse forty two. Jesus called the disciples to him. They were disputing as to who would be the greatest. Jesus called the disciples to him and saith unto them, ye know that they who are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and their great ones exercise authority upon them. That gets us back to the election again, doesn't it? The great men, the men who come out on top, will of course exercise authority over us, but the Lord Jesus said, so, uh, but so shall it not be among you, but whosoever would be great among you shall be your minister or your servant, and whosoever of you would be the chiefest shall be the servant of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many. Now, it's significant that this is found in Mark's gospel. The Son of Man came not to minister, not to rule. Well, you say that's contradictory. It's not. It's two aspects of the same thing. True, the Lord is King of kings and Lord of lords, but at the same time he came into this world to save sinners, to be our servant, to minister to us, and actually even now in glory he's thinking about us, ministering to us. He knows what our needs are, and he ministers to us along those very lines. But now we come back again to chapter uh one, and we're going to notice certain things. In fact, we learn a great deal about the whole tenor of Mark's gospel by reading again and again chapter uh one. Now, the very first thing you notice is that, uh, there is no lineage here, no genealogy. Do you know why? Because a servant doesn't need, uh, to tell us about his lineage or his genealogy or his pedigree. You know, if you're wanting a man to build a house for you and someone comes along and says, I'm descended from the Duke of Wellington. Well, you say that might be all right, but can you build? Can you build? I'm, I want a man who ha- can build, put up a house and do a good job. So Mark does not mention at all those initial things that we find in Matthew's gospel, and particularly in Luke's gospel. He leaves those out. He, so to speak, launches the servant before us on the job, uh, introduced very briefly by John the Baptist, tempted by Satan, and then he steps out into the work. And before chapter one is finished, we find that Mark has told us so much, even in that one chapter, about the service of the Lord Jesus. Now, you want a servant to, uh, get on with the job, and I want you to notice the third line here, while we are still at chapter one, and that is the recurrence of one word. Now, in the original Greek, it's only one word, but it occurred so often, I think, that the translator said, if we use this one word all the time, it will be monotonous. And so the variant, immediately, forthwith, straightway, ano, but in the original, only one word. And of course, that's what you want a servant to do, isn't it? If you have a servant and you ask her to get your breakfast, well, you'll not be very pleased if she doesn't bring the breakfast until five in the afternoon. You'll want her to get on with the job right away. And so you will find in John's, in Mark's gospel, chapter one, verse twelve, immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. Verse eighteen: straightway they forsook their nets. Verse twenty: straightway he called them. Verse twenty one: they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. Verse twenty nine: and forthwith, immediately when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Peter with James and John. Incidentally, that is another verse that indicates that Peter was behind much of what Mark said. In other words, Peter recorded it like this. You know, after we left the synagogue, uh, he entered into our house, and James and John were with us. And then Mark takes it and turns it again into the third person. And then verse forty two, as soon as Jesus had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him, and he was cleansed. Immediately, forthwith and all. That's what you want a servant to do. So right throughout this narrative, Mark's gospel, you find this word again and again, over forty times in all. Now, another thing we notice, which I have listed for you here, that there is emphasis on the works rather than the words of Christ. Now that's a big contrast with Matthew's gospel. You remember Matthew's gospel, three fifths taken up with the words of the Lord Jesus. But now we find that in Mark's gospel, the emphasis is on the works, and after all, that's what you want with a servant again. If you employ a man to do a job and he spends the first half hour standing with his hands in his pocket, talking about the weather or talking about politics, you'll soon get someone else. So the emphasis continuously in Mark's gospel is on the, how busy the Savior was, straight away, immediately, going from place to place. And here's a little hint. You take your own Bible, and when you have time, and check out the number of chapters that begin with and. Now, that's not how a chapter normally begins. That's not how a sentence normally begins. But, uh, I think with three exceptions, every chapter begins and, and, and, and. The work is going on. There's no slackening of the pace, right until the end, because the Son of Man came not to sit back on a sofa and be ministered onto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Now, I want you to look at the table again at the top of the page, and we read here that Mark's gospel was written to appeal to Romans, and he brings Christ before us as the servant. You know, if there is one thing would have appealed to the Roman mind, it was service. The Romans were very thorough. The Roman Empire was linked by a very excellent systems, system of roads. In fact, in parts of the UK, you can still go and see bridges built by the Romans. And in a certain city in Scotland, one of our gospel halls was situated on what was called Roman Road. And I remember crossing a bridge myself, and beside the bridge was the old Roman bridge, no longer used, but still standing. The Romans were very efficient. And Mark writes to the Romans, or writes for Roman readers, and says, look, I want to tell you about the most efficient man who ever served God. He slipped up on nothing, and his work will last for eternity. But you say now, how exactly would a person know this? How, how would you gather this? Well, shall we turn to chapter seven? Chapter seven, verse one. Then came together unto him the Pharisees and certain of the scribes who came from Jerusalem. And when they saw some of his disciples eat bread with defiled, that is to say, with unwashed hands, they found fault. Now explains to us what defiled hands. Doesn't mean your hands are grubby or your hands are covered with soot, but they have not been ceremonially washed. For, and now here's a note. For the Pharisees and all the Jews, except they wash their hands often, eat not, holding the tradition of the elders. Now, if this had been written for the Jews, was there any need to tell them what Jewish customs were? No. No. If I write to a friend and say, I hope to be with you in Malaysia for Merdeka, they know what I mean, because Merdeka is the Malay for independence. That's Independence Day, thirty first of August. But I have to explain that to you because you're not familiar with it. But if I write a letter to someone in Malaysia, there's no need whatever to explain it. But when I come back here and talk along these lines, I must explain to you. So we learn right away from this, and this is only one note. There's several such references. This tells us right away Mark is not writing primarily for the benefit of Jews. He's writing for non-Jews. Then more than that, if I write to someone from Hong Kong and, uh, I write about the price of a camera, say, and I say that camera would cost, uh, two hundred pounds sterling. And you come on that letter, you'll guess I'm writing to someone in the UK, isn't that right? Not America, not Australia, not Japan. Because I refer to English currency, and scholars have gone through this gospel, and they find certain Latin words. And putting all these things together, we don't want to spend time on it, but putting all these things together, we come to the conclusion that while Matthew's gospel was primarily written for the benefit of the Jews to prove that Jesus was the Messiah. Mark's gospel was primarily written for Roman readers, and he brings the Lord Jesus before us as the servant. And notice the one balances the other. Now notice this table again. The king and the servant, and I have a bracket here, and I put office, official, official. What does that mean? Well, we're going to see later on that the other two gospels bring Christ before us personally. He is God and man, but he is brought before us in these two gospels, Matthew and Mark, in his official capacity. You see, a man might be headmaster of a secondary school. He might also be secretary of a bowling club. But that doesn't tell us anything about his home life. Doesn't even tell us his, his name. He's the headmaster, there's the headmaster. Speak to the secretary there. Those are his official positions. And the Lord Jesus had two official positions. There are two official aspects to the life of Christ. He is king to rule over men. He is a servant to give everything he had, even his own life, in order that men might be saved. Now, in keeping with this, Christ is not addressed. Now, please notice what I have underlined, and don't go away and say I said something which I haven't said. I am not saying that Christ is not, uh, referred to as Lord in Mark's gospel, but he is not addressed directly by the disciples as Lord. Rather, he is a co-worker. Look now at the very end of the gospel. Mark chapter sixteen. Mark chapter sixteen, And the last two verses. So then, after the Lord had spoken unto them, he was received up into heaven and sat on the right hand of God, and they went forth and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them. He is seen working even in resurrection, working with them, and thank God we can say he is also working with us, and no one ever had a better co-worker. You know why? He proved his worth when he was down here. You know, sometimes when people have worked with a firm for even a year or ten years and they move elsewhere, they get a reference, a testimonial of some kind. Well, Mark's gospel is his testimonial, and he is working, our Lord Jesus, who worked unfailingly and unfalteringly in the service of his God, right until the very end, till he could say, it's finished. I finished the work you give me to do. That one is still working with those who seek to serve. Now, coming on further down, we're going to find some very interesting things about the service of the Lord Jesus, some very touching things. First of all, the crowds were continually round him. Con- crowds continually round him. You know, crowds can... can get in on you. Crowds can sometimes be very irksome. I can remember once in Hong Kong, when the refugee situation was, well, much worse than it has ever been in recent years, away back in the early fifties. and hundreds of people were living on the hillsides, and they came across the border in thousands to escape the communists, and these people were really down and out. And I can remember there was a little clinic that a couple of missionaries were running, and the people came in such numbers that they couldn't possibly deal with them all. And all they could do was to give out tickets, about a hundred tickets, and that's all they could deal with for the day. And I can remember a fellow missionary and myself, we didn't allow the ladies to go out, fellow missionary and myself, when we opened the gate with to distribute these hundred tickets, well, it was like a rugby scrum. And, uh, as these people came, you know, crowding, crowding, crowding, crowding, it gets on your nerves. And in Mark's gospel, you have crowds everywhere. For example, chapter two, chapter two, um verse, verse two: Straightway many were gathered together, insomuch there was no room to receive them. No, not so much as about the door. And he preached the word unto them. People couldn't even get near, near the door. You know, there is, to my mind, a very, very beautiful incident here in connection with the men who came bringing their friend. You remember they couldn't get near the door, and you remember what they did. The old saying is true, necessity is the mother of invention. They went up onto the roof, a flat roof, and they made a hole in the roof, and they let the man down just in front of where the Lord was. And of course, the idea was that the Lord would heal him. Now, I want some of you preaching brethren to put yourselves in the place of the Lord. Here's a vast congregation of people, and he's telling them eternal truths, truths that concern their souls, preaching the kingdom of God. And here are certain men, and they break the queue, and they break open the, the roof, and they let their friend down. You preaching brethren, you Sunday school teachers, what do you think your reaction would have been? Do you think you'd have taken it kindly? You just imagine the, the dust there, there would be apart from anything else. Now you may tell me, of course, they had special roofs in those days, and they're not like ours, but the simple fact is that roofs were never made for entrance into a house. You know that without my telling you. It's the door that serves that purpose, and if you're beaten at the door, you may try the window. And you just imagine, as I am here speaking to you, some people begin to tear open the roof, and imagine, apart altogether from the dust, the distraction there would be. People are easily distracted, aren't they, when a, a sermon is being given, and people would be looking all round. And the Lord might very well have said, look, I've never seen such selfish people in my life get to the back of the queue. Didn't. He was there, what to do? To serve. To serve. Even to the extent of giving his life a ransom for many. And this is only one case where we find the crowds. Again, verse, chapter six, verse thirty one. Chapter six, verse thirty one. V- verse thirty, the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And he said unto them, come aside into a desert place and rest a while, for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. Mark's gospel, the servant, so busy, they didn't even have time to eat. Now, remember the Lord Jesus was human, and there was tremendous emotional strain. You know, if you have the crowds on top of you all the time, and if you don't even have time to eat, and they're coming morning, noon, and night, well, human nature being what it is, you get tired, and you become strained and overstrained, and there was tremendous emotional strain. And I say the Lord, while he was God, was also human. So we want to look just at a few more verses, seven and verse thirty four. chapter seven, verse thirty four. This is where a man was brought to him. Once again, there were crowds everywhere, and he brought the man aside, this deaf mute. The Lord took him aside, and looking up to heaven, verse thirty four, he sighed. He sighed. Now, to my mind, this is one of the most touching and one of the most wonderful phrases that we have in connection with the life of the Lord. Uh, when I speak about this, I sometimes remind myself and tell the audience that on one occasion I had some skin trouble, and ordinary lotion didn't seem to do any good, so I was sent along for some X-ray treatment. And after just one short period of exposure, five minutes or so, I could see almost immediately that it was doing the trick. I went back once or twice after that, but I could see from the very moment, almost as soon as I finished, that somehow or other it had got to the root of the trouble. Now that X-ray cured me, but it didn't sigh for me, it didn't feel for me. Couldn't. Wasn't human. But the Lord Jesus, as he stood before this man, looked away to heaven, said to his father, here's a man, and he represents humanity as a whole. What a mess they're in. How can one reach them all? He sighed. You see, this man couldn't hear what the Lord was saying because he was deaf. And actually, this is a very interesting story because everything that the Lord did was a kind of enacted parable. He took the man aside, he touched his ears, that's your trouble, and then he took saliva and touched his tongue. You can't hear, you can't speak. He looked up to heaven, I'm sure the man looked with him. That's, that's where your help will come from. And then he sighed. You just imagine the man looking on, and he must have said within himself, you know, he feels for me. Then, chapter eight verse twelve, again, verse twelve, they ask him for a sign, and you know, these people coming, chipping, chipping, chipping all the time. You know the old saying, constant dropping, where's the stone? And wherever the Lord went, these Pharisees were there and others, asking questions only to trap him, only to embarrass him, cause him trouble, not wanting information, holding up his work. Have you ever found yourself on a job and someone comes on the phone or someone comes and wants to talk to you, and you're itching to get on with the job, and you just feel like slamming the receiver down and getting on with the job? And the Lord must often have felt like that with these Pharisees coming along. We would see a sign from you. And all the time he was giving them signs. It was absolutely nonsensical, but it says again, he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, why does this generation seek after a sign? Then not only emotional strain, but physical strain. Chapter four verse thirty six. Now, I hope you don't mind reading these with me, but I read for two reasons. One is I can't remember all these verses, uh, myself, and the other, I want you to see very clearly that this is not something that I have cooked up in my own mind. Chapter four and verse thirty six. And when he had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the boat, and there were also with him other little boats. It seems to be he was so exhausted, it says they took him. Preaching, preaching, preaching. Eventually they had to say, look, look, look, enough, enough, he's tired, and they just took him, got him onto the boat, hustled him away. So tremendous was the strain. And you can read for yourself chapter fifteen, in connection with the crucifixion, that they sent him forth bearing the cross, and then they compelled someone to bear the cross for him, and then eventually a word is used which might indicate that towards the end his strength was so spent that they actually had to support him as he neared the cross. They bare him, they they carried him, they took him to the place that is called Calvary. But then, side by side with this, we notice the Lord's kindly spirit. You know, sometimes a man may do a job and you say, he's a good doctor, but I don't like his manner. There's not a surgeon in Brisbane can touch him, but he has a horrible manner. But it wasn't so with the Lord. I hope your Bible's still open at chapter four because we want to look at verse thirty three. And with many such parables spoke he the word unto them as they were able to hear it. Now this, to my mind, is another very beautiful touch in connection with the life of our Lord. As they were able to hear it. Sunday school teachers should remember this. Those who teach new converts should remember this. You know, there's some and their ministry is excellent for those who are Bible teachers and theologians, but away above the head of everyone else. You know, we had a wonderful old preacher. He was mainly a gospeler, but he could exhort too, eh, back in the north of Ireland when I was a boy. And his ministry was always very practical. And when he went to conferences, he sometimes couldn't stomach ministry that was far too deep and far too involved for the average, average Christian. And on one occasion, two or three brethren had gone before, and they had given that type of ministry, and eventually he, he got to the platform. And he read where the Lord Jesus said, feed my sheep. And he was in a country district speaking to farmers, and he could speak to them in their own language. He said, you farmers know what it is, you want to feed the sheep, you take some things and you throw it down on the ground around their feet, they can get at it. But he said at some of our conferences these days, you'd think the Lord had said, feed my giraffes. He said, away up over the head. They can get at it. He said, keep down, men, if you want to be useful. The Lord fed the sheep. The Pharisees were the giraffes, you know, they were looking for a lot of things that he had no intention of giving to, giving to them. And, uh, those of us who handle the word of God, you don't need the story that I told you about the Irish preacher. Just keep to Mark chapter four here. He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. And it's good sometimes, if you have a number saved, to have a class specially for them as you speak about baptism and other things, and go over some very elementary things that maybe some of the others would find a bit boring. Then, uh, I just note this, I leave it with you, taking the children in his arms, nine thirty six. not just blessing them, but taking them in his arms. Now, I want you to notice Mark's references to Christ's eye. In fact, uh, I have preached more than once on about five places where the Lord looked round, looked round, watching the audience carefully, weighing them up, seeing what the need was. Another thing is the hand of the Lord is mentioned in Mark's gospel. In fact, you know, the word hand is used sometimes for helping. A ship went down with all hands on board. What do you mean? Sailors who are doing work, work there, not just tourists. No, men who were seamen working on the ship. And you know, sometimes when you want help, you say, give me a hand here. And the Lord had always a helping hand, and it's stressed particularly in Mark's gospel. Now, I want us to look particularly at a verse in chapter thirteen, and it's very significant that this occurs in Mark's gospel. And if you forget this occurs in Mark's gospel, you're going to have a great deal of trouble with this verse. Chapter thirteen, Verse thirty two. But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels who are in heaven, neither the Son. The Son doesn't know, but the Father only. Take heed, watch and pray, for you know not when the kind. Now, of course, modernists, uh, critics, infidels, people who only read the word of God to find fault with it and belittle the person of Christ. Now, many of them today, they seize on a verse like this. It's rather remarkable. They will throw the Bible out through the window and say, oh, that's what Paul felt, or that's just what Matthew thought. But when they come on a verse like this, they will hold it tight, say, there you are. Christ said he didn't know. This occurs in Mark's gospel, the gospel of the servant. And what it means is simply this: my father has not given me, nor any angel, information about this. He sent me down to do a job. I listen morning by morning for his instructions. I have got no instructions with regard to this to pass on to you. Have you ever been to hospital? A friend has had a serious operation. One thing you will notice is that the nurses can act very dumb. That's deliberate. That's deliberate. You try to ask them certain things. Oh, well, the doctor will be around in about half an hour. He'll tell you. And yet they're ninety percent, they're 90% at least they know what the doctor's going to say. I say they connect very down. It's not their place to say. And the Lord Jesus said, as servant, it is not my place to tell. And I won't tell. And I leave that with my father. And you know, it's nice to know that our Lord Jesus is waiting in heaven, as we sometimes sing, he is waiting with long patience. We are waiting down here. He is waiting up there until that day when the Father says, rise and contend with thine enemies. Now, I want just in closing to draw your attention to a word that occurs four times, and it virtually divides the gospel. Chapter uh one, Chapter one. Mark chapter one, uh And it's in keeping with the spirit of this gospel. It's the word rising up, getting up. You want a servant to get up, not lie in bed all day. Verse thirty five: and in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and prayed. And Peter came and said, all men seek thee. And verse thirty eight, he said unto them, let us go into the next towns. Verse thirty nine, he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out demons. Here's Galilee. There's, uh, Nazareth, where the Lord grew up, Capernaum, where he made his headquarters. And now, instead of staying in Capernaum, where he made his headquarters, he said, let's get moving round the whole of Galilee. He rose up. Now look at chapter seven verse twenty four, And this is the same word. Chapter seven verse twenty four. And from thence he arose and went into the borders of Tyre and Sidon. Up there, Tyre and Sidon. He gets into border country, and actually, if you read carefully, you'll find that the Lord made sweep after sweep and eventually came to Caesarea Philippi, where he disclosed the truth about the church. Very, very significant. He didn't begin to talk down in Jerusalem about the church, but in border country here, half Jewish, half Gentile, up there he disclosed the truth about the church, and he moved in widening circles. But then chapter ten, verse one— chapter ten, verse one: and from thence he arose and cometh into the borders of Judea by the far side of Jordan, that is through Perea. And this journey took some months. Luke doesn't, Mark doesn't give us many details. Christ is hastening on, hastening on to Jerusalem, knowing full well what lies before him. And he goes out here into Perea, crosses Jordan, crosses back again, and heads to Jerusalem. And finally, chapter sixteen, verse nine: Now, when Jesus had risen up early on the first day of the week. So the fourfold occurrence of this word, so much in keeping with the activity of a servant, getting up, not sitting all day, rising up, even when he was popular in Capernaum, to go all over Galilee. He says, we must preach in other places. There's some who haven't heard the gospel, but that's not enough. He rises up again, and he moves away even out into Gentile territory. And then he rises up for the last time, heads for Jerusalem, knowing he was going to be crucified. But thank God, he was crucified, he was put in a tomb. But the third morning, up from the grave, he arose with a mighty triumph over his foes. And he not only rose to walk in the streets of Palestine, but he rose to go back to heaven. And yet at the same time, as we read at the beginning, after he sat down on the right hand of God and sent them forth to preach the gospel. It is recorded. The Lord was working with them and confirming the word with signs following. Shall we pray? Our Father, we thank thee for the Lord of life and glory, thy beloved Son, that one who was thy perfect servant. We thank thee for the great work that he did on the cross. We thank thee that by it our sins have been put away, and we rejoice in a finished work. We thank thee he is now in the glory still working for us, and our Father, we pray that we in turn will work for him down here. Our bless us during the recess period, bless our fellowship together, we do pray for our Lord Jesus Christ said, Amen.