Message for THE LORD'S DAY MORNING, February 11, 2018 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Message 4 in Making A Difference Sermon Series (A Study of the Gospel of Mark) When Jesus Calls Mark 1:14-20 (NKJV) As we continue with our series from the Gospel of Mark let's turn in our Bibles once again to Mark chapter one. Today's text comes to us in verses 14-20 MARK 1:14-20 (NKJV) 14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. 16 And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men. 18 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 19 When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. 20 And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.
I N T R O D U C T I O N Everything we have studied thus far in this first chapter of Mark has been about preparation. The preaching of John the Baptist was to prepare the way for the coming of the LORD. Jesus' baptism was also part of the preparation. And so was Jesus' temptation. And now Jesus was prepared to begin His earthly ministry in three special ways. He was prepared SPIRITUALLY for He was now anointed by the Holy Spirit. He was prepared EMOTIONALLY for He had received the vocal approval of His Heavenly Father. And He was prepared PHYSICALLY for He had fasted forty days and nights and faced temptation in the wilderness and had emerged victorious over Satan. And so the passage we are studying this morning is about the early days of Jesus' earthly ministry. In our text we see the two-fold aspect of Jesus' ministry: The MESSAGE and The MISSION.. (repeat for emphasis) First of all, let's look at...
I. The MESSAGE (vs. 14,15) 14 Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, 15 and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel. 1. If you will remember in our first message in this series I told you Mark's gospel is uniquely different than the other three gospels. His gospel is more fast-paced than the other gospels. And unlike the other three gospels, Mark focuses more attention on what Jesus did than on what He said. 2. Mark has passed over more than a year of Christ's ministry. Prior to the events we read about in our text, Jesus had been ministering Judea down in the southern part of Israel for the better part of a year after His baptism and temptation. That first year of His ministry is called The Year of Obscurity because Jesus was still relatively unknown at that time. In fact, if John had not recorded what took place in that first year of Jesus' ministry we would have no record of it at all. 3. Note in verse 14, Mark says, Jesus came to Galilee. Jesus has now moved His ministry from Judea in the southern part of Israel to Galilee in the northern part of Israel. This took place at the beginning of the second year of Jesus' ministry, the year we refer to as The Year of Popularity.
4. Mark also tells us in verse 14 that John the Baptist is in prison. John had publicly rebuked King Herod for his unlawful relationship with his own sister-in-law, whom he had stolen from his brother Philip. To silence him, Herod had John thrown into prison at Machaerus, a Roman fortress south of the Dead Sea. Of course we know John never left that prison alive. He was beheaded at Herod's birthday party. We'll hear more about that later in our series when we get to Mark chapter 6. 5. So John the Baptist is in prison. Jesus has moved His ministry from Judea to Galilee, and He is preaching. 6. Jesus was not preaching the health and wealth gospel or the gospel of prosperity or the name it and claim it gospel. He was preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God. If you are a student of the Bible you know that the word gospel means good news. 7. Now when we hear the word gospel it means something entirely different to us than it did to those who lived in the first century. To us, the gospel means Jesus came...jesus died...jesus was buried...and Jesus arose so that we could have our sins forgiven and receive the gift of eternal life. None of those things had happened yet when Jesus first preached the gospel in Galilee.
8. But the Jewish people were quite familiar with the term the kingdom of God. The Old Testament prophets had prophesied the coming of a MESSIAH who would establish and rule over the KINGDOM of GOD. So when Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God He was telling the people the good news that the One who embodies the Kingdom of God is here...the Messiah...the King of God's kingdom is now here in your midst. 9. You and I cannot begin to imagine what a message of hope this was to the Jewish people in Jesus' day. These people had been trapped in a life of despair for many centuries. Their religion had lost its power. Their leaders were corrupt and self-serving. Their nation had lost its freedom and its glory. These people were desperate for hope and Jesus gave them the good news they longed to hear; the long-awaited kingdom of God is at hand. The One you have waited for is here! 10. But in His message, Jesus clearly stated the terms that were required to be a part of the kingdom of God. v. 15b REPENT and BELIEVE in the gospel.
(A) First, Jesus commanded the people to REPENT. When a person truly repents of his or her sins it means they change their minds about sin. Sin is longer to be pursued or held on to as a way of life. Sin is no longer something to be enjoyed, but rather it is something to be hated and avoided. Sin is no longer viewed as the pathway to happiness and pleasure, but rather it is viewed as the pathway to death and eternal punishment. REPENTANCE has always been required as the condition for getting one's life right with God. Repentance was the condition in the Old Testament... Repentance was the condition in the New Testament and repentance is still the condition today. One cannot enter into the kingdom of GOD without repenting and forsaking one's life of sin. (B) Secondly, Jesus commanded the people to BELIEVE in the Gospel. Believing in the gospel means much more than just mentally affirming its truths. Believing means trusting in Jesus and Jesus alone for one's SALVATION. Believing means leaving behind one's old life of SIN to live a life of HOLINESS and RIGHTEOUSNESS.
Believing is not just a one time thing, it is an ongoing process throughout the rest of one's life that is evident in one's faithfulness and fruitfulness. So this was the message of JESUS: I have good news, the Kingdom of GOD is at hand, and if you want to be part of this kingdom you must repent of your sins and believe in the gospel. Mark now moves from THE MESSAGE to... II. The MISSION (vs. 16-20) 16 And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus said to them, Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men. 18 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 19 When He had gone a little farther from there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were in the boat mending their nets. 20 And immediately He called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him. 1. According to Luke's account (Luke 5:1-11) it was early in the morning when Jesus was walking by the Sea of Galilee. Very few people were on the shore at that early hour. Typically the only people you would find along the shores of Galilee that time of day were weary fisherman who were just finishing up from a long night of fishing on the Sea. There were fish to sort to get them ready to take to the market. There were nets to be mended to get ready for the next night out on the sea. And there were lots of little odd and end jobs that had to be taken care of before these weary fishermen could go home and fall in bed. Being a fisherman by trade was a very hard and strenuous way to make a living.
2. Well on this particular morning Jesus met the first of two sets of brothers; Simon and his brother Andrew who were casting their nets into the sea. Evidently these two men were making one last attempt to catch some fish before calling it a night. Jesus called out to them, Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men. And how did Simon and Andrew respond? Mark tells us in verse 18 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 3. As Jesus walked a little farther down the shore He came to the second set of brothers, James and his brother John, the sons of Zebedee. Jesus issued the same call to James and John that He had issued to Simon and Andrew just moments earlier, Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men. Mark tells us that James and John responded in the same way, they immediately left their father and their boat and the hired servants and went after Jesus. 4. In that one brief command JESUS clearly stated the objective of His ministry. It is a two-fold call: (A) First, Jesus calls us to FOLLOW HIM. He commanded Simon to follow Him. He commanded Andrew to follow Him. He commanded James to follow Him. He commanded John to follow Him. Everywhere Jesus went, everywhere Jesus taught, everywhere Jesus preached or performed a miracle, that was His call, Follow Me! Mark 8:34 (NKJV) When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and (do what?) FOLLOW ME! And that is Jesus' call to you and me as well, Follow Me. Jesus is not calling us to a religion,, He is calling us to a relationship.. Follow ME.
When Jesus calls us to Follow Him He does NOT mean Follow Me for one hour on Sunday morning. Or Follow Me whenever you feel like it. Or Follow me whenever it is convenient Or Follow Me whenever you can work me into your busy schedule. When Jesus calls us to Follow Him He means Follow Me NOW... Follow Me IMMEDIATELY... Follow Me all the days of Your life. That is exactly what Peter, Andrew, James, and John did. They immediately followed Jesus. Luke's gospel states it even more emphatically,, Luke 5:11 says, So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. They forsook all! They forsook their boats...they forsook their nets...they forsook their catch of fish...they forsook their homes, and their livelihoods, and their families, and their possessions, and they FOLLOWED HIM. If this is what it means to truly Follow Jesus I think we all need to ask ourselves some soul-searching questions: Have I forsaken all to follow Jesus? What have I sacrificed to follow Him? What have I given up in order to follow Him? What have I walked away from to follow Him? What changes have I made in my life? My priorities? my habits? And my attitudes to FollowHim? Do I follow Jesus as long as it is convenient and comfortable for me? Do I go where Jesus wants me to go? Do I do obey what Jesus commands me to do? Am I truly following JESUS? (B) Secondly, Jesus calls us to FISH FOR MEN.
v.17 Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men. When Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James, and John He wasn't looking for traveling companions, He was looking for mission partners. He had a very specific purpose in mind. Not only was He calling for these men to WALK with Him, He was calling them to WITNESS for Him. I want you to notice the very specific wording Jesus uses here. He said, Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men. Jesus is revealing that these men would not become fishers of men overnight. Their lives would be a work in progress. As they spent time with Jesus, and got to know Jesus, and learned from Jesus, and as they encountered difficulties, and trials, and troubles, and sorrows in following Jesus, even the sorrow and grief of seeing Him die on the cross, Jesus would use all those things to mold and shape them into becoming fishers of men. Jesus commands you and me to be fishers of men as well. He doesn't simply call us to WALK with Him, He calls us to WITNESS for Him. And just as it was with the first disciples, becoming a a fisher of men is a process. As we follow Jesus and get to know Him more and more, and as we go through life's trials and troubles and hardships and sorrows, the LORD uses all those things to make us become fishers of men. That becomes our testimony to share with those who are lost about the love...and the goodness...and the grace of GOD. You see, if we are truly Following Jesus then we must
also become fishers of men. If we are truly walking with Jesus we must also be witnesses for Jesus. Our greatest desire should not simply be to get to heaven, but to take as many others as we can along with us. If you're not fishing you're not following. ************************************************************ C O N C L U S I O N In his little book on evangelism Lorne Sanny shares this insight: We may not be like Peter who preached one day and three thousand were added to the church. We can be like Andrew, however, who after he had been brought to the Savior, found his brother, Peter, and brought him to the Lord Jesus. Peter fished with a net, so to speak, and caught large numbers. Andrew fished with a pole and line, catching one fish at a time. We may not be called upon to preach to great multitudes or even to groups, yet we can witness effectively to individuals one by one the pole and line method. What a privilege that can be! We, like Andrew, might lead someone to the Lord, and that one, in turn, might lead thousands. If you cannot preach like Peter, if you cannot pray like Paul, You can tell the love of Jesus, and say He died for all. This is the LORD'S CALL to you and me today: Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.