<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

HopeLives365

Mark Finley

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter: The Book of Mark

01 The Beginning of the Gospel

02 A Day in the Ministry of Jesus

03 A Day in the Ministry of Jesus

06 Inside Out

07 Teaching Disciples Part 1

08 Teaching Disciples: Part 2

09 Jerusalem Controversies

10 The Last Days

11 Taken and Tried

12 Taken and Tried

13 The Risen Lord


I'm delighted that you've joined us for another 1 of our studies in the Gospel of Mark. We're in lesson number 7, which largely covers Mark the eighth chapter. If you look at the Gospel of Mark, you can divide it into 2 sections. The first section shares divine insights in who Jesus is. Mark does that by showing the activities of Christ, the miracles of Christ, the teachings of Christ.

Those, that section in the Gospel of Mark takes you through the first 9 to 10 chapters. When you come to chapter 11, there's a transition and we begin the triumphal entry of Christ. And we do that for the last week of Christ's life. So it's kind of interesting. First 10 chapters, 3 and a half years of Christ's ministry.

Last chapter 11 to 16, 1 week of Christ's ministry. So we're looking at the activities of Christ, the teachings of Christ in these first chapters that reveal to us who Christ is. The intention of Mark is to show that Jesus is the Messiah. So we come to chapter 8 and look at the miracle of Christ touching the eyes of the blind man and healing him. This is the only miracle in the New Testament that Christ works in 2 stages.

So we come to Mark 8, verse 22 to 26. Then he came to Bethsaida. Now, Saida means fish, Beth means house of fish. So Bethsaida is a fishing village. It's where Jesus called Peter and James and John to be fishers of men.

They brought a blind man to him and begged him to touch him. Now notice the expression, they brought a blind man. The blind man never would have come unless somebody brought him. There's some man, some woman, some boy, some girl that's waiting for you to bring them to Jesus. They're blind, they're spiritually blind.

And they beg Jesus to touch him. So he takes the blind man by the hand, verse 23, and led him out of town. And when he had spit on his eyes and put his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. So the man looks up and he says, I see people like trees walking around. Now notice what Jesus does, How gentle Jesus is, how loving Jesus is, how compassionate Jesus is.

Jesus takes the man by the hand. The man cannot see, but he still has the sense of touch. Jesus leads him out of town. He doesn't want to miraculously heal him in town with the noise, the sound, the sights, the frenzy, the hurriedness of the city. He wants him in a quiet environment.

How compassionate Jesus is. And Jesus touches his eyes, and the man looks up, and Jesus says, what do you see? So I see people like trees walking. And then the Bible says Jesus gives him the second touch. It says in verse 25, he put his hands on his eyes again, made him look up, and he was restored and saw everyone clearly.

So why the second touch? Why didn't Jesus just heal the man and open his blind eyes? Why? I think there are some specific reasons. First, Jesus was compassionate.

If you go out of a dark room, you look immediately into the sunlight, you're blinded by it. If this man's eyes were opened in that natural setting directly into the sunlight without the 2 phases It could have stunned him startled him shocked him So Jesus was very compassionate very caring, But I don't think that's the real reason. I think there is a much deeper reason. And I think the deeper reason is to reveal to us that spiritual truth dawns upon the mind gradually. You remember what it says in Proverbs 4, verse 12, the path of the just is like the shining light that shines more and more to the perfect day.

Path of just is like the sunrise. The sun rises, God doesn't throw some cosmic switch, and the sun all of a sudden brightly shines. It rises gradually on the earth. And so truth dawns upon our mind gradually. I think that's important for 2 reasons.

1, when we study the Bible with people, to understand that truth is dawning on their minds gradually. It's necessary to be patient with them. But secondly, God wants to restore us, you and me, to the fullness of his truth. And so therefore, it takes time. And as we study the word, he is restoring truth to us.

He's restoring our spiritual sight. We have been spiritually blind and Jesus is restoring our sight. I like the way the author puts it in the third paragraph down in Sunday's lesson. But why 2 touches? As this is the only miracle in which the 2 actions are involved, it's not likely because of any lack of power on Jesus' part.

Instead, it's more likely in an acted parable, illustrating how spiritual insight sometimes takes time to unfold. And that was happening to the disciples, wasn't it? They were spiritually seeing the gradual unfolding of divine truth. They were gradually coming to the sense of who Jesus was, the divine Son of God. When we come to Monday's lesson, the cost of discipleship, we find that in Mark 8, verse 31 to 38.

And here, Jesus explains to them. He says in Mark 8, verse 31, he begins to teach them about the Son of Man must suffer many things, be rejected, the elders be killed after 3 days. Christ is sharing with him the essence of the Messianic kingdom. He is revealing to his disciples that he's come not to usher in the kingdom of glory but the kingdom of grace. He's come not to reign on a throne but to hang on a cross.

He's come not to wear the crown of Glory, but the crown of thorns he's come not to have a scepter in his hands, but nails driven through his hands And as he explains that to them They don't have the spiritual insight to understand it and Peter said begins to rebuke him says he took him aside and begins to rebuke him. In verse 33, Jesus says, get thee behind me, Satan, for you're not mindful of the things of God, but the things of man. What a lesson for us. Jesus invites us to take the cross. You know, there's something called the health, wealth, and prosperity gospel.

The idea is that you just need to believe, and you'll have adequate money, and you'll never get sick, and you'll be wealthy and healthy. See, that appeals to the carnal heart. Certainly, when we follow Jesus, we live the abundant life and certainly God has plans for us, but that doesn't mean we'll never suffer. It doesn't mean we'll never have trials. Doesn't mean we'll never have difficulties.

Doesn't mean we'll never have challenges. So Jesus said in verse 34, whoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And whoever desires to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake in the gospels will save it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, but he loses his soul?

Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? So what Jesus is saying here is the path of the cross is the path of self-denial. If we do not understand self-denial, now self-denial is not legalism. The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin. The Holy Spirit opens our heart to divine reality.

The Holy Spirit touches our eyes so we see divine truth. And as we do that, we begin to discover plague spots in our own character. We begin to understand things deep within us that are not in harmony with God's will. And what is self-denial? It is yielding to the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.

And by the grace of God and through the power of God, surrendering anything that's not in harmony with his will. Like the old song says, nothing between my soul and my Savior, not of this world's delusive dream, nothing preventing the least of his favor. Keep the way clear. Let nothing between. That's the essence of Monday's lesson.

In Tuesday's lesson, we go into the mountain in the multitude. Peter, James, and John go up to the mountain with Jesus. Now, you remember that in Mark 9, verse 1, it says, Jesus says, assuredly, I say to you, there is some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power. What does that mean? Does it mean that there's some that were standing there would be alive when Jesus came again?

Not at all. What that was saying is that there were some there that would be present with Christ in the transfiguration. So Jesus ascends up the mountain, And as he does, as he's praying, 2 people appear to him. Do you know who they were? Who were they?

Moses and Elijah. Why Moses? Why Elijah? Moses appears to Christ as 1 resurrected from the dead, representing those that will be resurrected when Jesus comes. Elijah was translated without seeing death, representing those that will be translated.

Now they talked to Jesus. Do you wanna know what they said? You know, the Bible tells us we have to go to the book of Luke, and I want you to go over to Luke, the ninth chapter, Luke chapter 9, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and there is a record of the discussion that Moses and Elijah had with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Now it's a short record, but it's powerful. It says, Luke chapter 9, verse 29.

And as he prayed, the appearance of his face was altered and his robe became white and glistening Then behold 2 men talked with him who were Moses and Elijah Who appeared in glory now don't miss this and spoke of his decease which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. What's another word for deceased? They spoke of his decease. If we say a friend is deceased, what does that mean? They died.

So what did they speak about Christ's death? Moses and Elijah came to this earth in answer to Jesus' prayer and talked to him about the death he would die in Calvary. They encouraged him. I'm sure Moses said to Jesus, Jesus, as you go through Calvary's experience, as the nails are driven through your hands, as the crown of thorns is placed upon your head, as blood run down your face, as you bear the sins of all humanity, Jesus, remember, there'll be many like me that'll be resurrected and they'll live with you forever. Never give up, Jesus.

Elijah speaks to him. Jesus, there'll be many that'll be translated. They will never see death. Here is an important point about this. As Jesus prayed, God sent to him the special help he needed to be strengthened for the trials he faced.

As we pray, God sends to us the special help we need for the trials ahead. The disciples still don't grasp what's going on, and they're still arguing over who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We find that in Wednesday's lesson, Mark 9, verse 30 to 41. Here, James and John come off the mountain. They see a man whose Son is writhing in pain from demon possession.

And as they come off that mountain, Jesus casts out that demon. And it's interesting, in fact, we should pause. Remember, Jesus asked the man if he believes and what does the man say? He wants to believe and he says, Jesus, if you're able to heal this man, Jesus says, if you believe I can heal him. Faith unlocks the door.

Faith grasps the hand of God. Faith receives the power of God. Jesus encouraged this man to believe, and he did. He saw the miraculous healing takes place. But the disciples still don't quite get it.

And here in Mark 9, verse 30 and onward, they are arguing, they are debating about who's gonna be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. It says here, Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee and he did not want anyone to know it. So Jesus still has that messianic secret. He knows that if the Pharisees hear who he is, they're going to try to destroy him and deter his mission. So he talks about the son of man, verse 31 is gonna be delivered into the hands of men and be killed.

And as they come to Capernaum, Jesus asks the disciples, what is it that you disputed about? Verse 33, along the way. And they kept silent for on the road, they had disputed among themselves about who would be greatest. And then Jesus gives them a lesson, a lesson in humility, a lesson in godliness, a lesson in servanthood. Jesus says, if there's anyone that's great among you, let him be your servant.

And if there's anybody that will be First of all, let him be last of all. What is Jesus teaching here? He's teaching the opposite of what took place in heaven with Satan. Satan was filled with pride and arrogance and he wanted the highest place. And Jesus is saying, the highest place is the place of service.

You can have no greater honor than the honor of serving Christ. You can have no greater joy than the joy of serving Christ. You can have no greater position than the position of servanthood. He who is greatest is the 1 who serves. When you bring a loaf of bread to a neighbor whose wife is in the hospital along with some good homemade soup and you serve and you pray, When you go over and mow the lawn or cut the lawn or assist in fixing up something around the house of a woman whose husband is in the hospital, and you serve, that's the greatest.

When you come week after week to Sabbath school and work in the children's divisions because you have a burden for these children and you want them to know Jesus, You're serving in the highest place. You may not be preaching a sermon on Sabbath morning, but you soar our blessing others. When you are in that fellowship dinner and making the food or cleaning up afterward in that hospitality ministry, you are serving. You see, in the kingdom of God, Jesus values greatness differently than human beings value greatness. He values greatness based on our character and characters that are conditioned to serve.

Men and women that want not the first place, not the highest position, not the greatest accolade, and not the greatest accolades, not the greatest praise, but want to simply serve. They are great in the kingdom of God. And then isn't that Thursday's lesson quite catchy? I didn't get it at first. You know, I read Thursday's lesson in the title, The Healthy Man in Hell, and I thought, how could you be healthy?

And hell, you're not going to be very healthy there. But then I got it. Mark 9, 52 to 42 to 50. And this 1 always perplexed me, this story. But studying it in the lesson this week and going deeper, I finally, it dawned on me what Jesus was saying.

So we're gonna look at Mark 9, 42 to 50. It says, whoever causes 1 of these little ones to stumble who believe in me to stumble, it'd be better for him for a millstone that was hung around his neck and he was thrown into the sea. Okay, we get that. If your hand makes you sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter into life maimed than having 2 hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched.

That's kind of strange, isn't it? Going into heaven with 1 hand and going into hell with 2. Then it says, and if your foot makes you sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter into life lame than having 2 feet to be cast into hell. And if your eye makes you sin, verse 47, pluck it out.

It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with 1 eye than having 2 eyes be cast into hellfire." What in the world is this talking about? Cutting off your hand, cutting about your foot, plucking out your eye. Well here's something to notice. The heathens cut themselves. Jesus is not talking about self-mutilation in any way because that was a pagan practice, a pagan custom.

Let's look at 3 Bible texts. Deuteronomy, And we'll try to make sense out of this. Deuteronomy chapter, looking at Deuteronomy, the 14th chapter, Deuteronomy chapter 14. And we'll try to make some sense out of this. And I think scripture is gonna help us here.

Notice Deuteronomy 14, verse 1. You are the children of the Lord, your God. You shall not cut yourselves, nor shave the front of your head for the dead. Shaving the front of the head for the dead, pagan custom. Cutting yourself, pagan custom.

You remember in the book of Kings, 1 Kings 18, when Elijah is on Mount Carmel, and what are the prophets of Baal doing? They're cutting themselves, cutting themselves. And you remember too, the demoniacs filled with demons in Mark chapter 5, what are they doing? Cutting themselves. So it's always a pagan practice to cut yourself.

So that's not what Jesus is talking about. What is Jesus talking about? He's making this contrast and he's saying, look, it would be better to go into heaven maimed than to go into hell and with all your your faculties and be lost. He's contrasting and he's saying, look, consider seriously if your eye, if what you're looking at is going to cause you to fall, it's better to pluck out the thing, not the eye, the thing that causes you to fall. If your hand is causing you to sin, it's better to get that thing out of your hand.

If your feet are taking you to a place not in harmony with God's will, it's better not to do that. So he's contrasting the terrible nature of hellfire and its total destruction with the beautiful glories of heaven. And he's saying, whatever you have to give up, whatever you have to surrender, it's better to do that. We find here the comments in our lesson that are, I think, quite powerful, that says, as to Hell being eternal, its consequences are eternal, not the fire of Hell itself. Because remember he said the worm shall not die.

And it's the consequences of Hell that are eternal, not the fire. Because the Bible says, "'God so loved the world that he what, "'gave his only begotten son, "'whoever believed at the name should not perish. And so Jesus is not teaching mutilation, he's using hyperbole to make a point. If losing a hand, foot, or eye is terrible, how much more a disaster should it be for a Christian to live a life of sin and be lost because of that. So this is an appeal.

It's an appeal to surrender our lives totally to Christ and live with him forever and ever and ever throughout all the ages of eternity. What does it mean that the worm shall not die? It's a contrast again. It's saying the person's gonna be destroyed, but at the end of time, worms will destroy their body. Remember, Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 25, 33, during the millennial period, that the Son of the Lord will lay on the earth from 1 end of the earth to the other, and worms destroy their body.

But at the end, the fire consumes everybody. There's a new heaven, new earth, consumes everybody that's wicked, that is. There's a new heaven and a new earth, the holy city comes down. So Jesus comes, wicked are destroyed by the brightness of his coming. Righteous dead are resurrected, righteous living and the righteous dead with immortal bodies ascend to heaven.

They're there with Jesus sitting on the throne in judgment for a thousand years. Wicked dead bodies lay in the earth. They die. The worms eat their body. Do not die until at the end.

Wicked are resurrected. Fires of hell totally consume them. The holy city descends. God creates a new heaven and a new earth. That's what we are looking forward to.

Don't let anything, your eyes see, your ears hear, your hands embrace, don't let any place your feet take you, keep you from knowing Jesus, for to know Him is life eternal. Let's pray. Father in heaven, thank you for your love and grace in power. Thank you for your strength. Thank you that we can put priority on the things of heaven.

In Jesus' name, amen. About Audioverse, or if you

Back to Menu

Series

Sabbath School 3rd Quarter: The Book of Mark

07 Teaching Disciples Part 1

Parent Series

Sponsor

Recorded

Other Teachings in Series

01 The Beginning of the Gospel

25m

02 A Day in the Ministry of Jesus

25m

03 A Day in the Ministry of Jesus

29m

06 Inside Out

22m

07 Teaching Disciples Part 1

23m

08 Teaching Disciples: Part 2

22m

09 Jerusalem Controversies

19m

10 The Last Days

25m

11 Taken and Tried

22m

12 Taken and Tried

23m

13 The Risen Lord

26m

Sound Doctrine