Mark 2022

And if you have a Bible, please open it up to Mark chapter 2. We're gonna read just verses 21 and 22. And then we're going to hop over to Mark chapter 3. Okay.

Chapter two:twenty 1. No 1 sows, a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. Otherwise, the new piece will pull away from the old making the tear worse. And no 1 pours new wine into old wine skins. Otherwise, the wineskins will burst and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined.

No. They pour new wine into new wineskins. And then chapter 3 from verse 7. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilei followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Jude, Jerusalem, Idumia, and the regions across the Jordan and around tyre and sidon.

Because of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him to keep the people from crowding him, but he had healed many so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Whenever the impure spirit saw him, they fell down before him and cried out you are the son of God, but he gave them strict orders not to tell others about him. Jesus went up on a mountain, so and called to him those he wanted and they came to him. He appointed 12 that they might be with him that he might send them out to preach and to have authority to drive out demons. These are the 12 he appointed.

Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, son of Zebedee and his brother John. To them, he gave the name the Boanejis, which means sons of thunder. Andrew Philip bartholomew, Matthew Thomas, James, son of Alpheus, the thaddeus, Simon the zealots, and Judah iscariot who betrayed him. Then Jesus entered a house and again a crowd gathered so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. When his family heard about this they went to take charge of him for they said he's out of his mind and the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said he is possessed by beelzebul, by the prince of demons he is driving out demons.

So Jesus called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables, How can satan drive out satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand and if Satan opposes himself, and is divided, he cannot stand. His end has come. In fact, no 1 can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up.

Then he can plunder the strong man's house. Truly I tell you people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. They are guilty of an eternal sin. He said this because they were saying he has an impure spirit. Then Jesus mother and brothers arrived.

Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him and they told him your mother and brothers are outside looking for you. Who are my mother and my brothers, he asked? Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, here are my mother and my brothers. Whoever does God's will, is my brother and sister and mother.

Pete. My name is Pete Woodcock. I'm 1 of passes of the church. Great to have you with us. What a privilege we have today to absolutely spend some time in none other than God's word.

It's amazing, amazing privilege, isn't it? That that's what we're gonna do. Let me pray. Follow the helpers, please, give us ears to hear. Please bore holes in our heads that we may hear, bore them down to our hearts, that we may respond.

To your word. We're so dead in our in our brains and our minds and we're so stubborn. Please, Lord. Be gracious to stubborn people like us. And help us to hear in Jesus' name.

Oh, men. Well, we've already seen in Mark that Mark opens his book by really declaring there is good news. It's there's good news and it's all about good news and the good news is that a king We have a new king coming to town, and his name is the lord Jesus Christ. A new king coming to this earth, and a new king bringing a new kingdom. The kingdom of God starts here, now the new kings come and will carry on forever and ever.

And that new king in this old world is calling us, hey, Become part of this kingdom. Come part cut part of this kingdom, repent and believe. The good news and become a member of this new kingdom. Now last week, we saw that the newest come but the new hasn't come to patch up an old kingdom. It hasn't come to patch up the old world order.

It's come to bring something new. And actually, the new and the old just don't work together. New patch on old clothes. It's gonna rip the clothes. New wine in old wineskin.

It's gonna ferment and burst the old wine skin. The new and the old really don't work together. And so, this new is got to be in new lives. That's what he's asked, he's he's really saying. John the Baptist had already said this, of course.

He had said, look, the old, the outward, that's all I can do. I'm John the Baptist. The 1 that Jesus says is the greatest, you know, profit around, but all of the greatest profit can really do is to baptize with water the outward, but there is 1 coming who is altogether a bigger king, and he'll renew you inside, he'll baptize you with none other than God, the spirit, the holy spirit. And we saw the battle last week between the old and the new, the the the going on with old religion, and why are you doing that? That me centered stuff for fasting when the bridegroom is here, the new bridegroom who bring you into into this loving relationship.

And then the sabbath, you know, works that became works in not doing works you know, this is the way to please God and all that sort of stuff. And then the Lord of the Sabbath is here, all together new, and then the son of man is here, who has all authority God's authority to come into your life. So that's the stuff we saw. Now, in this passage that we've just read and you need to open, we see the old and the new and they're rejecting each other. They can't help it.

They reject each other. Jesus is being rejected in a number of ways that we'll see in a minute. But because of that rejection, Jesus is calling out a new people from the rejection of the old and the old world order, New people are born. That's what's going on here. So you have 2 groups of people, the old and the new.

And the question that Mark wants to put to us is, which 1 are you in? How do you respond to Jesus? Because these responses that we're going to see will show whether you're in the old kingdom or you've got the old kingdom really possessing you or whether you're in the new kingdom, responding to the new king. Are you an insider or an outsider. Are you part of the new people or you're staying with the old decaying kingdom that's going to die?

And in 1 sense, there's no more important question is there than that for us in this room. Are we in the old dying, me centered, false kingdom, or are we in the new, true world order? Of the son of man. That's the question. So let's have a look then.

So it's quite simple, really. I want us to have a look at the marks of the outsider of the new kingdom or the marks of someone still in the old kingdom. Let's have a look at the marks. What what What other things that show you whether you're which kingdom you're in? And we're looking at the marks of those that are not in the new kingdom.

They're the outsider. So in verse 6 of chapter 3, the religious leaders have already rejected Jesus. So that's got to be a mark, hasn't it? Of a false kingdom. They don't want the new 1.

They've already rejected Jesus. And then in verse 7 so it says in verse 6 then the Pharaces went out and began to plot with the herodians how they might kill Jesus. So 2 very different groups of people, largely enemies of each other have become friends to be outsiders of Jesus. And kill him. That's what they want.

Then in verse 7, we're told, chapter 3, Jesus withdrew with his disciples. And that's what I'm trying to show you. As people reject Jesus, Jesus withdraws with his disciples. Now, it's not a withdrawal in defeat. Oh, better run away and hide.

It's a withdrawal to set up the new people. As the old reject, the new people are formed and created, and there's 4 groups that reject Jesus here. 4 groups that define what an outsider to the kingdom of Jesus is. Let's have a look at them. First of all, the crowds.

See verse 7 to 10 of chapter 3, Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake and a large crowd from Galilei followed, and then you see that there's crowds, large crowds coming from all these different areas to follow him. And then in verse 9, because the crowd of the crowd, he told his disciples to have a small boat ready for him, to keep the people from crowding him. So there are massive crowds coming out. We've we've seen that in the last month. You know, crowds coming out for royalty.

You know, just massive crowds queuing to see royalty. And that's what's going on here. And Mark's got that sort of flavor. The king has come of the new kingdom and massive crowds have come out just to have a look to see what's going on? So, it's a remarkable scene with large crowds from all over the place coming out to see him.

And it's a dangerous crowd really because they're pushing to touch him. And and it's as if he's been pushed onto the beach because crowds are coming down. And then he's saying, get a boat ready because they're gonna push me in the water in a minute. So it's a large crowd desperate to see, well, like a king. Having a look, desperate to touch him.

Over here, Touch me. Here's some flowers for you. I'll I'll lob them at you if you can't get them from me. It's it's this You you know what it is? Now, why are they crowding him?

Look at verse 10. For he had healed many, so that those with diseases were pushing forward to touch him. Their enthusiasm for this king Their enthusiasm for Jesus is overwhelming, but they're coming to have this life, their bodies in this world healed. They're not crushing him because they want to get into the kingdom of God. They're not crushing him because they want their sins forgiven.

You see that? Jesus, we've been told throughout Mark so far. Has come to preach the good news of the forgiveness of sins, an internal thing. But they want outward healing. And so Jesus got in a boat so we could go further out so he could preach the message or forgiveness.

Now, they just want the miracles. They're not really listening to what he's saying. So, at the moment, they haven't rejected him. That's true. They're crowding him with enthusiasm.

In March chapter 15, they're gonna call for his death. They're the seeds of rejection here, but not the full fruit of rejection. They're enthusiastic about a king, who will give them what they want. And they don't want a new kingdom with everything new where they serve God. They wanna be healed so they could live in the old kingdom a little bit more comfortably.

Do you see what's going on there? So long as Jesus gives them what they want, they'll follow him. It's a bit like an overindulgent parent. That's what they want. They want a God that gives heals so that you can have a nicer life now here in the old world system.

Now, we've got to be careful of this because it's a great temptation to make that our message. Come to Jesus and life will be better in this world. We've got to be very careful of that message. Come to Jesus and your you'll know more life than you've ever known before. Now there's truths in that but come to Jesus and life won't be painful.

It won't be gritty. It You won't be actually in dispute with the old nature and the old world. Life will be happy. Jesus is not a rescuer here from a decaying old world. But someone that will help you have a happier life in the old world system.

And that's not why you came. Jesus, sort of, as we were seeing last week, is a sort of add on, an app to your life. You turn to when you need to. He fulfills something of our religious needs. That's what Jesus is.

It's always funny when when students who never come to the prayer meeting or never pray. Something say, yeah, would you pray for me? I've got exams. Isn't that funny? And what are we meant to pray?

Lord, would you give them all the questions they can answer? Well, why actually were you meant to pray? Lord, may they pass the exam without doing any study that lays so and so. Lord, keep them lazy. Keep them thick.

Keep them stupid. But let them pass the exam. That's that's Jesus we want, isn't it? Just before I became a Christian, I was in very serious trouble, and it probably would have changed my life if I'd been prosecuted for what I had done. I was in big trouble.

Police were asking big questions, and I prayed. And I wasn't a religious bloke. God, get me off this, and I'll read 4 verses. This is a big deal for God. I'll read 4 verses of the bible a day.

I've still got this little bible where I I mean that was hard enough. Where I I I I did the line after 4 verses. I don't know why I came up with 4, but that was a good deal for God. Yeah. That was my attitude.

Get me off this and then I'll read 4 verses. And after I got off it, I forgot to read the 4 verses from then on. It's That's how we treat God. And the crowds, although they're not rejected yet, have this seeds of rejection because they're really about this life, not the kingdom of heaven. And so Jesus withdraws from the crowd, and he goes up the mountain.

Why? Because his top priority is their souls. Now, I'm not saying we belittle the body. We don't despise the body as Christians, We should be concerned for the health of our body and the health of other people's bodies, but God has made us body and soul and the top priority of Jesus is to speak into the spiritual, is to speak into the inner life that your sins may be forgiven. You can have health of your body for another hundred years and die and go to hell.

Or you can have your sins forgiven and die right now, and forever and ever be in heaven. So that's his top priority. What happens to your soul matters, and Jesus withdraws so that he can preach. Now, the mark of the outsider here then is just wanting Jesus to patch up my old life. That's what we want him to do.

We don't want him to be our bridegroom, or the lord of the Sabbath and the stuff we were seeing last week, or the son of man who has all authority. We just want him to patch up the old. That's the mark of an outsider. Second group of people is the demons. Did you notice them?

What's what makes them outsiders? Well, look at verse 11. Whenever the impure spirit saw him, They fell down before him and cried out. You are the son of God. This is an extraordinary thing going on here, isn't it?

These are the demons, these are impure spirits, right? And 1 of the things that stands out about these demons is their theology is so correct. It's marvelous. And their action to that theology, they fall down. Yeah?

I Honestly, if I was interviewing these demons, for membership at Cornerstone. I'd say you're in. You're absolutely in. What's your action to Jesus? You have fall down.

Who is he? He's the son of God. Yeah. Definitely in. Become a member.

Do you want to become an elder? When it when are you any good at preaching? Because you declare. This is the son of God. Wow.

Brilliant. Let's get him up preaching. Welcome him in. These demons would have been brilliant in the Roman seminars. They'd have filled in your boxes and all of your answers quicker than anybody.

And then get them right. And you'd be saying, that bloke demon, that bloke demon bloke, you know, Fred the demon, Peter. Whoa. We want him part of our church. But what's their attitude?

In chapter 1 verse 24, it says the demons come to Jesus and they say, What do you want with us? Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy 1 of God. There's no repentance.

There's no internal change with the demons. They even carry on to their own destruction. They know they're going to be destroyed. They know that their way of life is going to end. They they know the plan of God for them, which is destruction.

And they don't do anything. James, brother of Jesus, is writing to Christians, about Christians that come to church or, you know, who call themselves Christians, but don't do anything. They just do nothing. And he says this. You believe that there is 1 God.

Good. Even the demons believe that and shudder. Boy, That's something, isn't it? It's 1 thing to know the truth. It's another thing to love the truth.

They know the truth, but the truth has not set them free for it's not internal. It's just outward. I mean, look at verse 12, but he, that's Jesus. Gave them strict orders, that's the demons. He gave the demons strict orders not to tell anyone about him.

In the bible naming someone often has the sense of ruling over them, so Adam named the animals because he was the ruler of creation under God. Yeah. You name your dog. Your dog doesn't name you. That's because the dog doesn't rule you, well, it shouldn't do, or a bit But you rule the dog, you name your dog.

And perhaps Jesus is silencing them and saying, you have no power over me just because you know who I am gives you no power, be quiet. It's also a foretaste of what will happen at the end. Be quiet. Satan. But also, he doesn't want the testimony of people that don't love him.

That does great harm, doesn't it? Massive harm. He wants people to say about his followers. I know they've been with Jesus because they have love for 1 another. He wants testimony people, witness people, to be seen to be lovers.

Of God and his people. It does massive harm when people know truth and have no love, doesn't it? In the name of Jesus, they live, but they don't love. They're horrors, as we'll see in in a minute, I think. So Jesus tells them to shut up.

The mark of an outsider with this group is there's no life change The truth hasn't set them free even though they know the truth. Okay. Look at the third group then. The third group is his earthly family, This is Mary and his brothers. Amazing this, isn't it?

His earthly family. And what makes them outsiders? His earthly family are gonna be seen as outsiders to the New Kingdom. Look at verse 20. Then Jesus entered a house.

And again, a crowd gathered so that he had his so that he and his disciples were not even able to eat. Right. They've just been accused of being gluttons and now they can't eat and they're in this house. Then verse 21, when his family heard about this, They went to take charge of him for they said he's out of his mind. They think he's lost his nut.

A poor bloke, he's not eaten enough. He'll be weak. They think he's mad. Now, that is a reaction of an outsider to the kingdom of God. It's it?

That is a reaction. Some of you, when you became Christians, I know it happened with me, people thought I'd gone mental. You've got to What? Pete would cook What is what? It must be a joke.

It's a laugh. He's doing 1 of his stories. No, he's got nuts. 1 of my friends lobbed stones at me across the road because he said, Pete, you've gone mad and he started chucking stones at me. Come to your senses man, you're a loony.

Another 1 of my friends said as he was drunk falling over, what is up with you? You've gone loopy, you've gone mad. What's up with him? Christianity doesn't fit the old system that I was living in, and people thought I'd gone looned me. He's out of his mind.

Let's take charge of him. We need to section Jesus here. Look at verse 31. Then Jesus' mother and brothers arrive, that's his earthly family. Standing outside.

It's the way Mark puts all those little outsides and went away and all those things in. Standing outside, he sent someone in to call him. They sent someone in to call him. They want to take control of him because he's gone mad. They're close to Jesus, but they want to control him.

And you can't do that with a king. He's not at your beck and call. He has his own plans. He invites you to become part of his plans, not you invite him to become part of your family plans. He's about God's business, not ours.

And if you're outside, it looks mad. He's out of his mind. Think of the things that Jesus says that we don't really like today. Some of the subchicks, yeah? That some of us preachers even really think, oh, no.

I've got to preach that. It's it's by the way, 1 of the reasons we make ourselves as preachers of this church go through books because it means that I have to do a passage that I don't run to do, that I would rather not choose. But Jesus talks on hell and judgment. Out of his mind. Let's not talk about that or sexuality.

Don't want to die! Are you mental? Or marriage commitment. He's out. He's bonkers.

All righteousness. Or sin. You're from the dark ages or something? The mark of an outsider is that Jesus is at your beck and call. And you're wanting a Jesus that isn't too radical, and you want a Jesus that's in step with the old kingdom.

And the new and the old don't mix. Look at the fourth 1. These are the teachers of the law the religious leaders. What makes them outsiders? Well, look at verse 22.

And the teachers of the law who came down from of Jerusalem said, he is possessed by Beelzebub. By the prince of demons is he driving out demons. Now these are the religious leaders that have come that they're not country bumpkins. These aren't sort of, you know, amateur theologians. They come from Jerusalem.

Right? These are the big wings. These are the religious They know what they're talking about. They've got the books in their in their wheelbarrows coming around to check what's going on. And so they know their stuff, and their their conclusion to Jesus.

It's the opposite funny enough to the devils. Yeah. The demon said, you're the son of God. Yeah? These say you're not from God, you're from a demon.

It's amazing, isn't it? You're from a demon. So Jesus is not only giving or not giving us what we want, and so therefore we won't listen to him. He's not only gone mad. He's actually bad.

He's a demon for goodness sake. And it's that it's that old try thing that Lewis did, isn't it? That Jesus you can't When you look at Jesus, he's either, you know, a liar or a lunatic or law. He's either lord. Well, they can't accept that he could be lord.

We don't want him as lord, so he's gotta be either a liar or he's a lunatic. He's demon possessed. He's mad. A liar. Now, when you hear the word beelzebur or beelzebub, you can't help thinking of the queen, can you?

Not the queen, but you know, what's it called Bohemian Rhapsody. Can you? Or am I so old that's all I think of. I hear Beelzebub, and I think of Queen, be yo, sea pub, it's got her, whatever it is. You know, am I talking?

Do you know what I mean? Yes. Okay. Well, it sounds quite fun, beelzebub or beelzebub. But actually, it's a really horrible title.

It means lord of the flies. Lord of the flies. And where do you get flies? Where do you get flies around decay and death? We had a dead rat in the hub die up in the ceiling and you couldn't get to it.

And for 3 weeks, it stank. And when the smell went, the flies came. I sucked up a hundred and 50 flies in 5 minutes on 1 occasion, then I have to go and do it again. Where there's death and decay, there's flies. Yeah?

Now, is it reasonable For theologians to come down, thinking people, to come down from Jerusalem and have this response to Jesus. Is this a well thought out reasonable response that I know who Jesus is, he's lord of the flies, lord of death, lord of decay. He had healed many, so that's interesting. We know that he had touched a decaying leper and made his skin whole. He made a paralyzed man walk.

He changed Levi from being a follower of money and self to a follower of righteousness and now he's driving out demons. And if you go to Matthew 5 where it focuses in on 1 man who had his demon driven out. Here was a man who was out of his mind who was insane, who was oppressed by a demon who was cutting himself and shouting at people and scaring everybody in the village. When Jesus had dealt with him, The words of Jesus' enemies are that the man who was theme and possessed is in his right mind and clothed. So, is this unbelief in Jesus reasonable and intelligent?

When we look at what Jesus did. Bertram Russell was a quite an amazing philosopher. I've read a few of his books. 1 book he wrote from the last century and it's a very famous philosopher and and an answer of a lot of thinking even today. 1 of the books he wrote says, why I am not a Christian.

Why I'm not a Christian of Red Book, When someone gave me the book, they said, read that and you won't be a Christian after you read it. And so, I was really scared I was quite a young Christian to read it. And then I thought, no, because if it's true, then I don't want to be a Christian. And I read it. When it first came out, the Times literally supplement wrote this about it.

What makes the book valuable is a lifelong uncompromising intellectual honesty. That's that's an amazing statement, isn't it? What makes the book valuable is a lifelong, uncompromising intellectual honesty. In the book, he calls Jesus a demon in the book, largely or let me let me be fair. Let me put it in his words.

He says Jesus is evil but his words are they're a serious defect in Christ's moral character. That he was he wasn't a nice man. That's that's 1 of the things he's writing. And he makes a number of points on that. That Christ the serious defect in Christ's moral character.

His big reason for that is reading an incident that we're come to as we go through Mark's Gospel, when Jesus cursed the fig tree. Yeah? He cursed the fig tree. His understanding that Jesus was hungry, there were no figs on the fig tree, so God said, be damned. Jesus said, be damned, brother.

And the fig tree shriveled up. Now despite the fact that the fig tree did shrivel up at his words and they've never done that with me, but nevertheless, Despite the fact that they did shrivel up, it meant that Jesus was an angry bloke, bad moral character just because he was hungry, he cursed the tree, and it shriveled up poor thing. He doesn't know what he's talking about, Bert from Russell. He's read it out of context. He's misread the Bible.

Basic principles of of interpretation of any literature, he's ignored. In fact, this is not uncompromising intellectual honesty. It's this honesty. Any Sunday school kid could tell you why Jesus cursed the victory wasn't because he was hungry. He's not read it in its context.

Is it reasonable for him to call Jesus evil? Is it reasonable that these people call Jesus evil? Is it reasonable when you look at the Christian church and the effect of Christianity? Oh, I know you can say that people in the name of Jesus like the demons have done harm. Yes, but they're the demons.

But those that have loved truth and loved people, is it reasonable to go through history? And see that the education system, that NHS and things like that, and hospitals, and even music itself all come from the influence of Jesus. Why is it that so many colleges are called Christ College? Or Saint Savior, or Jesus College, or why, all the way around the world. Is it reasonable to say that Jesus who had that effect on people and right the way around the world now, you can almost go into any race where they're suffering and there'll be a small group of lovers of Jesus helping out.

Even if they're in a land that's being It's it's persecuting them. And saying you should shut up and we don't like Jesus and we don't like you following Jesus. Still, they're loving, and they're committed to people. Is it reasonable to say that he's got a demon? But they say that, and they dismiss him.

Now, have you noticed that Jesus hasn't said much yet, but now he says it. Verse 23, let's get going. So Jesus called them, so he calls these theologians, he called them over to him and began to speak to them in parables. How can Satan drive out Satan? And then he just simply gives some reasons.

It's 3 ifs. There are just 3 ifs. That's all you got to think about and that's all I'm gonna talk to you about. If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.

And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand. His end has come. If I am satan, if I'm beelzebub, if I'm beelzebub, If I'm lord of the flies, why is it there's health wherever I go? Your arguments and act accusations make no sense, and they make no sense with what I'm doing. Look at verse 27.

In fact, no 1 can enter a strong man's house without tying him up, then he can plunder the strong man's house. I'm tying eaten up and rescuing people, look at the results. And so we come now as he carries on speaking to this unforgivable sin passage. I tell you the truth, all sins and blasphemies of men, all sins and blasphemies of men, will be forgiven them, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. His guilt is an eternal sin.

Jesus turns it round and says, what are you talking about? What is the evidence that I'm beelzebub? Now, let me actually warn you. Blast for me is insulting God. And there's nothing more insulting to God and nothing more insulting to the holy spirit than to say that the good Jesus is doing is in fact of the devil.

There's nothing more insulting of that. And if you blast feam. Jesus in that way. You blaspheme all the evidence the Holy Spirit has given you and you'll never be forgiven. Ever, never, never.

You are dooming yourself. This is hot stuff now. You seriously had it. If you say what I do is evil, then you're blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Remember, John said that he will be filled with the Holy Spirit.

If you blaspheme what Jesus does, If you're an outsider, you blast through and you can never be forgiven. And why can you never be forgiven? Because Jesus is the 1 that forgives you. Fair, isn't it? There's a fire in your house.

I knock up in the middle of the night. You're asleep. Oh, get out. You look out the window. What are you doing?

I'm telling you there's a fire you need to get out now. Will you will you listen to me? I Who do you think you are? I've seen you in my neighborhood. I don't like you.

Shut up. You've woken me up. I was having a lovely dream. Yeah? But there's a fire, will you listen to me?

I will not listen to you, then you will die. If you won't listen to the 1 that comes to forgive you and bring you into the kingdom of God, then you'll be excluded from the kingdom of God. You're blaspheming the Holy Spirit. And as long as you blaspheme the Holy Spirit, then eternal destiny is hell for you. Now, of course, you can change.

The only sin that's not forgiven is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit will stop blaspheming and turn to Christ. So, that's my first point nearly done. So the second won't take so long, I hope. The question is, are you a rejecter? Are you in the kingdom or not?

Are you dismissing Jesus? Are you thinking Christians are mad? Are you looking for a wrong Jesus? Are you rejecting the true Jesus? Are you wanting to hold on to the old and not let go of the new?

Mark's asking those questions. They are the Marx an outsider. Let's have a look at on the marks of the insider. Let's have a look at the marks of the true, the real Israel, world 12. Look at the 12 first of all.

In verses 13 to 19. You see it there, the 12. Jesus says in verse 13. Jesus went up on a mountain and called to him those he wanted and they came to him. In the old testament book of Exodus, God led the people of Israel to Mount Sinai.

Moses goes up the mountain and he commissions them to be his holy nation, they're his covenant people. And Jesus is doing the same thing. He goes up a mountain and he has his new covenant people. In the old covenant, the laws were written on tablets and we had to try to obey them. In the new covenant, it's all about the inward.

Jesus will write the law in your hearts by the Holy Spirit, and you'll be alive to them. So verse 13, Jesus went up on a mountain and called to him, those he wanted and they came to him. Notice that? Called to him, they came to him and then in verse 14, he anointed them, which make means made them to be with him. The mark of an insider is, you're called by Jesus and you come to him and you're made to be with him.

With Jesus. That's the 1 you're listening to. Yeah? Look at verse 14 and 15. He anointed to he appointed 12 that means made, called them and made them, that they may be with him and that he might send them out to preach.

And to have authority to drive out demons. So there's 12, like there's 12 tribes of Israel. This is now the new Israel. There are 12. And the new testament talks more about the 12 than individuals.

It's the 12, the 12 because this is the new Israel, the new people of God, the new covenant people in Jesus with the law written in your heart. What he's doing is making the church here. He calls them to be with him, He calls them to preach him, and he calls them to have authority over demons. We come back to that in a minute. So the mark of an insider is they're called and they come to Jesus and they're about his work.

Going out and speaking. They're not clones. Do you see that? No. I've got no time to go into But you see all of the names there in verses 16 to 19.

Simon the Zeller, you know Matthew who's lead by the tax collector, sons of Thunder, you know, they're all different characters. They are not clones. A mark of an insider is that you're not a clone. This isn't a cult, the church. So that's 1 group of people, the 12.

Mark of an insider is that they're called, that they're with him, that they go out and do his work and they're not clones. Look at the second group. They're rescued and forgiven. Look at verse 27 and 20 to 29. In fact, no 1 can enter a strong man's house without first tying him up.

Then, he can plunder the strong man's house. Truly I tell you, people can be forgiven all their sins and every slander they utter But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven, they are guilty of an eternal sin. Jesus is talking about Satan and demons, He's saying that Satan is a strong man and he has his own positions, but he's saying that what needs to happen is a stronger than a strong man comes in. That's Jesus, to the rescue, ties up the strong man, stops him having influence in the house. And he forgives, he liberates the people.

That's a Christian, internally, into the house. You are satan's, until Jesus comes in and ties the strong man up and rescues you and forgives you. Notice that? That's a Christian. So the mark of an insider is that you've been rescued and forgiven by Jesus, and you have a new master now.

The old master, the strong man, is tied up. There's a stronger than a strong man in your life, the lord of the sabbath, the son of man. The bridegroom. Then thirdly, here's another mark. A new family.

Look at verse 34 and 35. So his old family turn up tried to take control and say, you'll tell him to come out and it says this. Then he looked up at those seated in a circle around him and said, here is my mother and my brothers. Whoever does God's will is my brother and sister and mother. A mark of an insider is that you listen to Jesus and you do God's will, you're in his family.

You see that? Now, put all that together, we could spend a long time on all of that. That is the church. The mark of an insider is that you're a member of his body, the church. You are called, You are made to be with him.

You are a family, not an individual. You are listening to his word like the family. You are people that have had a stronger man than the strong man occupy you and banish satan? See, what is satan's power? Lies.

He's called the father of lies. What does he do? He accuses you day and night, lies, lies, father of lies. And so we go out with the good news of Jesus, the stronger than strong man. We preach Jesus the truth.

And that banishes Satan casts him away. We go out into the world to plunder Satan's household. And preach Jesus, the life giver, the Lord of the Sabbath, the 1 that wants the best for us, the savior of our soul, the forgiver of our sins. We preach him, and it banishes the lies. If we shut up the lies grow.

I don't know whether you've been following the the tragic. It makes you cry and if you don't you should follow it and cry. Story of just 1 girl. It's just 1, isn't it? But it's in the news.

Molly Russell. Have you been following that? 14 year old girl a few years ago took her own life. Molly wrote 14, took her life. Because she was watching stuff on the internet.

She took her life. If you went into her room, If you went into her mind, you'd see a dark room with a bright screen. And as she gazes at it, satan lies and lies and lies and she becomes paler and paler and paler as the as the vampire sucks the blood out of her life and tells her to take her own life. The lying satan, the murderer from the beginning, lying to the 14 year old, and she writes in desperation just before she kills herself. Help, is there anyone out there to help me?

And no 1 cares even though they're pretending to love her and be her friends and like her on the internet, no 1 cares. We're physicians of the soul. We're preachers of the good news. We need more stuff on the internet. We need to light stuff that's Christian.

We need to spread it around. There's an answer in Jesus, the Savior, who will banish Satan. Satan's not a creator. He only perverts what is created. And we need to announce Jesus to the world.

The good news of a stronger than a strong man, and all your sins are forgiven, and you could be in the family of God. We need to announce that truth and renounce the lies of Satan. And as we live that life and spread that message, people will come into the kingdom of God. Have you? Are you blaspheming the Holy Spirit right now?

If he turned and said, be my lord and savior, my lord of a sabbath. Be the stronger man in my life. Why not do that? And why not do that now? Let's have a moment to think.

Let's pray together. We pray father that we would not be people who just wanna slap Jesus on as a plastered to our to our lives in this old kingdom, but we would wanna follow him in the new kingdom. We would be people of the covenant of his body, a family, he loves. Lord keep us from just being theologically accurate like the d but not loving. Keep us from people who have minds that are blinded and Don't see who Jesus is.

Father keep us from being like the family who said it's too far. He's gone too far. This Jesus has now gone too far. Help us to follow every word he says. To be transformed totally by him, to be made again in his likeness, to follow him, for the help us with these things.

Forgive us When we get it wrong, thank you for the meal we've just taken as a reminder of the forgiveness of our sins. Thank you that you've washed us. You've cleansed us. You have sanctified us. You've made us righteous and we thank you and praise you father for the kind of God are, for your love, your goodness, for your kindness, for your faithfulness.

And we thank you for this in in Jesus' name, amen.