The Passion Of God’s Servant

"Reaching The Lost"

Book of Mark 2:13-28

In our last lesson Jesus had returned to Capernaum to the house of Peter and his family. A great crowd had gathered inside and outside the house. Four men of great "faith" had brought a man who was paralyzed and Jesus had healed him so completely that this man, who was carried in on his bed, left, carrying that bed himself.

But something else had happened. Jesus used the title "Son of Man" for the first time and He made His first claim that He was indeed Jehovah God before all those that were present there that day, which included some scribes.

We already know that many of the scribes were also Pharisees.

Jesus said, "yes, only God can forgive sin" and He proved He was God, because He was also "the only One that could have healed this lame man".

Jesus said it was no harder for Him to be a "Miracle Man" than it was to be the "Savior" because all He had to do was "to speak" and it was done!

It is the Spoken Word that brought all Creation!
It is the "Spoken Word" that became the "Written Word" that we have today.
And Jesus Christ is the "Physical Representation Of The Word of God"!

After all it was not Jesus who was the blasphemer, it was His accusers!

We will not find in the Word of God that such men as these ever denied that Jesus was the "Miracle Man" and that all these miracle were real.

Not one miracle was ever denied!

In all His days, "no one" denied that Jesus had the power over the "supernatural world"!

What irritated these religious groups is still the same today.

They rejected the fact that they were sinners!

In other words they were self righteous in their own ways and had no need of God, especially the God of the Bible!

All those that could see and hear witnessed these things that day.

The Bible says:

Mat 11:15  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

Once we hear the Word of God, we must make a very personal decision on what to do with what we have heard!

So lets begin:

*****Mar 2:13  And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them.

We have already seen how The Lord Jesus will use the Sea of Galilee in His ministry.

We should also see that The Lord Jesus enjoyed His own creation and He loved walking by this Sea!

Remember He walked with Adam in the cool of the day in Eden.

29 times in the "Gospels" we see that word "taught" but the Greek word "didasko" which means "to teach" is used at least 55 times in the "Gospels" referring to the things Jesus was doing every day.

This teaching was aimed at the 12 disciples and to all disciples of our Lord, even those of today.

Jesus "taught" so that they could learn "the truth"!

Jesus still teaches us with His Word and again "so we can learn the truth"!

"Teaching" is an important factor in the edification of the Church!

The early church devoted themselves to the teaching of the Apostles.

Act 2:42  And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.

But that teaching was about Christ Jesus and they also were persecuted for this teaching.

Act 5:28  Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ‘ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man’s blood upon us’.

Again, this was the message given to the early Church and the same message we are to teach and learn today!

Act 5:42  And daily in the temple, and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ.

Governments and false religion could not stop the spread of the "Gospel" then and they cannot now unless we allow it!

This was the importance of Jesus teaching while He was with us!

Jesus taught the public as he trained and taught the Apostles!

Today the Church is to reach out to this "lost world" while at the same time training new disciples.

But we are to have that "one" same message of, Jesus Christ!

*****Mar 2:14  And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.

One of the facts we will continue to see in the selection of the 12 Apostles is "how ordinary and unrefined" they all were when Jesus met them.

It is also interesting to note that they were all from the area of Galilee except for one, Judas Iscariot.

In all likelihood, it was Matthew who was considered the greatest sinner of all the Apostles!

No one was hated more than a Jewish man that worked for Rome and then add to that the hated tax collector who are still hated in today’s world.

Matthew was a "publican"!

A publican was considered to be as low as you could get in Jewish society.

On this day Matthew was sitting at the "custom seat".

He was not gathering taxes on personal wealth at this time but was collecting "customs" on any produce being transported into Capernaum and most probably "on any fish" that were brought in from the Sea of Galilee.

This "custom" was collected before these things got to the merchant where they were taxed again.

But it is this Matthew, along with Mark, Luke, and John, who was also a writer of the four "Gospels".

James, John, Peter, and Andrew had previously met Jesus but we do not know much about Matthew.

What we do know is that, it was on this day, as Levi the son of Alphaeus, later called Matthew, "stopped what he was doing and followed" the Lord Jesus Christ.

*****Mar 2:15  And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.

The "publicans" are all those that collected the "customs" and "the taxes" imposed on them by Rome and by Herod Antipas.

Those "sinners" were any individuals that did not follow the Laws of Moses, especially the dietary laws, and/or the Oral Law of the Pharisees who were zealous for the Law.

Jesus chose to dine in the house of Matthew. He had with Him his chosen disciples and there were many others that followed Him for various reasons, but not many in "faith".

Why were there so many publicans and sinners in Matthews house?

These were the only friends he had!

No true Jewish man would have any part of being a friend to a publican!

Somewhat like the "leper" they were outcast from Jewish society.

We will soon meet another group that fell under this same umbrella and that would be the "harlots".

These are the people that Jesus chose to associate Himself with.

They were "lost" and in need of a Savior!

Luke best describes this day:

Luk 5:29  And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: and there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them.
Luk 5:30  But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sinners?

*****Mar 2:16  And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?

What is bigotry?

Bigotry is the blind and unreasonable attachment to your own beliefs which hinders discernment of the truth!
These same ones are usually blind to their own depravity. Spiritually Blind!

Jesus gives us this warning to the last Church Age:

Rev 3:17  Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
Rev 3:18  I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.

When Jesus had healed the lame man the scribes had objected silently.

Now that they are joined by the Pharisees, they are bold enough to speak out loud but they approach the disciples of Jesus and still not Jesus Himself.

They were all still in amazement of what they saw the Master do!

One thing was certain, not one Pharisee, nor one scribe, nor even one Sadducee would have had their name linked to such sinners.

They had no interest in saving the "lost"!

So bigotry will also cheat it’s followers of the blessings of Christ!

They were too proud to see the error of their ways, so they starved not receiving the "truth" that makes men free!

*****Mar 2:17  When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.

We, that know the Lord Jesus Christ as Our Savior, are patiently waiting for the trumpet to sound and a wonderful home going.

It is after this that Jesus will return as King of the Jew and of this world!

But why did Jesus come as the Messiah?

Mankind needed a deliverer!

Jesus Christ came to bear all our sin!

Heb 9:28  So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

These Pharisees fall into that group of people who think their own goodness can get them into Heaven.

They place great effort into keeping the Law even adding to the Law, for the appearance of even more righteousness.

But God says this about man’s righteousness:

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

In their minds there was not one person among these in Matthew’s house and especially in Galilee and Samaria that was worth even enough to tell them about God.

You see they had already judged these people to be worthless!

People who imagine themselves to be "too good" to be considered sinners will become judges of all others, and it is just their imagination.

God says:

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

These divided sin into differing degrees!

It may seem that we can place sin into different categories with one type being a greater sin than some other, such a murderer and a petty thief.

But God does not see it that way!

Rom 3:19  Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

There maybe a few degrees of difference temperature wise in parts of Hell, but I think every place in the burning lake of fire will be the same torment.

Every sin can be forgiven but one!

Joh 16:9  Of sin, because they believe not on me;

Just as a healthy person has no need of a doctor, one righteous in their own eyes do not think they are in need of a Savior and therefore will not accept that the Lord Jesus Christ is that Savior.

But "everlasting life" can only come through Jesus Christ:

Joh 5:40  And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.

*****Mar 2:18  And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not?

What is fasting?

Fasting is abstaining from a need of the flesh in order to draw closer to God.

There must be a real desire to give the "soul" a better chance in it’s conflict with the body of flesh that houses it!

In most cases people deny themselves of food or food and water.

The Apostle Paul wrote:

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Fasting must be a time for a special activity of the soul!

So only the saved can fast, for the benefit of a closer walk with the Lord!

1) Fasting is useless and even sinful if that fast is not for The Lord!

Fasting has no moral value in itself.

2) Fast that are ordered or directed by others, just cause injury and have no value.

3) Fasting should only be imposed by sorrowful events as Jesus will explain in this passage.

4) Fasting is beneficial only when fasting becomes "Heavenly Feasting"!

Joe 2:12  Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
Joe 2:13  And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

*****Mar 2:19  And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
Mar 2:20  But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Solomon said there is a time and a place for everything!

Then fasting for a happy occasion would be most inappropriate.

If we are unhappy knowing the Lord Jesus as Our Savior, then these are problems that fasting cannot help!

If we are sorrowful for other reasons, then we can reach out to Our Savior and Fasting can help.

Fasting must be added to prayer but we should also realize that no amount of fasting can force God’s hand.

Fasting also cannot replace holiness!

And we certainly cannot make fasting a "legalistic" event.

Fasting is solely between that one that fast and Our Father who are in Heaven:

Mat 6:16  Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Mat 6:17  But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Mat 6:18  That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

*****Mar 2:21  No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse.

Just as a patch on an old garment is easily noticed and just makes us aware of how old that garment really is, it just makes that old garment worse.

In verse 20 Jesus had said that when He had returned to Heaven, those of the Bride of Christ would then have a need to fast!

This what we call the Church Age.

The "Law" had run it’s course and it would be a time of "Grace"!

Rom 5:20  Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:
Rom 5:21  That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

That old garment in fact is a "type" of Judaism, which is "by the works" of the Law.

Jesus had caused a rent in that old garment of Judaism!

In other words "Grace" cannot be a fix for those old laws!

"Grace" cannot repair that garment of "Works" because it would only make things worse!

"Grace" is entirely something new!

a) The Church is not a repair to Judaism!

The Church is the New Testament, "written with the blood of Jesus", who is the "Groom" or the "Head" of the Church, the "Body of Christ".

Luk 22:20  Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

Eph 5:23  For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.

b) Also God’s work cannot be improved on by man!

That old garment of Judaism cannot be improved, it must be replaced by true Christianity, "which is being like Christ Jesus".

As Judaism is as the body, Christianity is as the soul!

Once the soul is saved, God will then one day glorify the body!

1Co 15:44  It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.

That spiritual body is Christianity!

*****Mar 2:22  And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles.

Jesus gives another example.

In most every case the word "bottle" in the Old Testament is the English translation of a Hebrew word for "skin" as in a specially treated leather bag.

This very same thing happens in the New Testament when the English word "bottle" is the English translation of the Greek word "askos" which also means "skin".

Smoke was used to purify the skin so that skin could be used to hold liquids which included, water, milk, and grape juice.

Psa 119:83  For I am become like a bottle in the smoke; yet do I not forget thy statutes.

Of these three liquids, grape juice will ferment.

Now grape juice on it’s own cannot ferment into wine but it will go through some fermentation until it spoils.

The remains of that fermentation will remain in that skin. If new grape juice is put into that old wine skin it would soon start fermenting and would produce gas that could cause the wine skin to burst and therefore loose the New Juice or as our English uses the phrase, "New Wine".

In order to preserve the health and freshness of the juice it was put into "new wine skins"!

This again was still an example or what call a "type" of the message Jesus had for these Pharisees.

Christianity is that new wine (juice).

The old wine of Judaism has run out but the new wine of Christianity cannot be poured into the same wine skin that held Judaism!

The "Gospel" of the Lord Jesus Christ is that new wine and it has a freshness and power far beyond Judaism and those Laws of Moses.

There is a new hope, and a new love, and a new life that comes from the "Gospel", the "Good News" of Jesus Christ Our Lord!

Paul wrote:

Gal 3:24  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Gal 3:25  But after that faith is come, "we are no longer under a schoolmaster".
Gal 3:26  For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

*****Mar 2:23  And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn.
Mar 2:24  And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?

Here again the critics of Jesus found something else to criticize Jesus.

a) He hung out with sinners.

b) His disciples did not fast.

c) He said He was God.

d) He had no respect for the Sabbath.

It was near harvest time as Jesus and His disciples were near this field.

Remember these disciples had given up their all to follow the Lord Jesus.

According to the Word of God they could eat of this corn, which was more probably a stalk of wheat.

Deu 23:25  When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbour, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand; but thou shalt not move a sickle unto thy neighbour’s standing corn.

This also tells us that this day was probably in the Spring time.

These Pharisees however saw things only through their own eyes:

Deu 5:14  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou.

It was against the Law to do any work on the Sabbath.

It was not against the Law to get get a bite to eat from this field as long as a sickle was not used and the amount was not great enough to carry some extra with them!

We will see many cases where Our Lord uses the wheat field in His teaching of the disciples.

1) The wheat field is a "type" of the world as many crops are planted and "has a great variety" just as our world does have a great variety.

2) Fruitfulness through death is taught by the wheat field. "The seed that is buried becomes a field of resurrection".

3) Character of individuals can be described from a field of wheat. "Whatsoever a man soeth, that shall he also reap".

4) The wheat field is the home of the sower. The sower plants the field but it is God that gives the increase.

5) The wheat field can be a productive if the right seed is sown under the right conditions.

"Some bring forth a hundredfold".

6) But in most cases the field is white and ready for harvest but there are just not enough of God’s people willing to go to that field!

Jesus who is the Word of God, saw no hindrance in it’s being the Sabbath!

Jesus comments:

*****Mar 2:25  And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?

Notice how Jesus immediately ask these scribes, who were the Bible scholars of that day, "Did you not make copies the story of the time when David was on the run for his life from King Saul"?

David was the most honored of the kings of Israel.

David was a fugitive at this time, running for his life and had escaped taking nothing with him.

Some friends of his had joined with him but none of them had provisions.

David had a need for food as much as he had a need for a moment with the priests.

David was not only a "type" of Christ but he was a "type" of Christian.

It is David that wrote this song:

Psa 37:25  I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.

Jesus added these words:

Mat 10:29  Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
Mat 10:30  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
Mat 10:31  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

Every word written in the Word of God has a purpose for us to understand.

One, God takes a real story from history or He will sometimes use a parable to teach us a Biblical truth.

This is why we need to spend some time in God’s Word!

There is the "historical message" of each passage and then there is the "spiritual message" of each passage!

These scribes may even have been able to quote this passage about David but they had missed the intent of God’s message!

So, What had David done?

*****Mar 2:26  How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?

We can see that even Jesus considered the Tabernacle the house of God.

There were 12 loaves of shewbread that were placed on a special table next to the Holy of Holies and before the Lord every week. When the new bread was brought in before the next Sabbath, then and only then, by the Law, could that week old bread be eaten and then only by the priests.

In the New Testament all true disciples of Christ are in the priesthood.

1Pe 2:5  Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Rev 1:6  And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

As God gave David and his men access to the shewbread of the Tabernacle, all Christians have access to the True Bread of Heaven, which is Jesus Christ.

What David did was wrong under the Laws of Moses, "but right under the Laws of God"!

Ignorance of the scriptures is the greatest source of error in the Body of Christ!

The Sadducees erred, because they did not believe the Word of God.

The Pharisees erred, because they became to legalistic and did not learn that the Laws are our schoolmaster.

These "scribes" who were the printers of the Bible erred, because they knew God’s Word but they did not understand what God was saying!

So, Jesus points out their error!

*****Mar 2:27  And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:

The Book of Genesis tells us the God created for six days and then rested of the seventh day.

That word "Sabbath" means "to rest from labor".

The Sabbath was made for man as a day of of rest and refreshment:

Gen 2:2  And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
Gen 2:3  And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

At the time of Jesus the Sabbath day had been perverted by "tradition"!

The Apostle Paul explains this better in telling us that these old traditions were not Biblical:

Gal 1:14  And profited in the Jews’ religion above many my equals in mine own nation, "being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of my fathers".
     
These traditions were imposed on the people even though for the most part they were arbitrary to the Word of God!

Jesus said in another place that these religious leaders had made the Word of God to none effect by all those traditions:

Mat 15:6  And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. "Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition".
Mat 15:7  Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying,

In other words those that do these things are "hypocrites".

*****Mar 2:27  And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
Mar 2:28  Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.

God’s entire creation was made for mankind!

The Sabbath was made for every man and not just for the Jews.

The Sabbath was never intended to be a ceremonial observance but was intended to be a universal obligation for man.

God says man needs a day of rest for his body and a rest for his soul!

Medical science will tell you that the human frame will not bear up under constant labor without rest.

For those that honor the 10 commandments, they seem to forget this part:

Deu 5:13  Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work:

The world we live in is a seven day work week that runs 24 hours each day and these things are built upon tax structures and the love of money, "Greed"!

Not only does the body need rest but the soul needs some time with God!

Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.

He created it.

He owns it.

He is the Master of it.

It is the Lord that should decide how we use a Sabbath!

The day that Jesus rose from the grave is called "The Lord’s Day"!

He claimed it, it is to devoted to His service, and it is consecrated in His honor.

Isa 12:3  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.
Isa 12:4  And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

I choose to believe that Sunday is our day of rest and a day to be with the Lord:

1Co 16:2  "Upon the first day of the week" let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.

But I also realize that different cultures may have to use another day and as long as a day of rest and a time for the Lord is observed I believe it fulfills the commandment of the Lord:

Rom 14:5  One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
Rom 14:6  He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
Rom 14:7  For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.

It is the Lord that we must honor not just one day of the week but every day of our lives!

Questions?

Let’s Pray!