Going In The Gospel #2: Standing For The Savior
Mark 3:1-5
Introduction and Background:
Our Series “Going In the Gospel” continues now in the book of Mark. Mark is the shortest of the Gospel accounts and was written by John Mark, the nephew of the apostle Peter. Many believe that Mark based his Gospel upon the memories of his uncle and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit recorded them.
Mark begins His account of the Gospel with Jesus first appearing and the start of His public ministry, Mark is saying that Jesus was the Gospel, He was the good news. Mark says “Mark 1:1 The beginning of the gospel (the good news) of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;” He then tells us of John the Baptist announcing the coming of Jesus and then in verse 9 he writes, Mark 1:9-10 And it came to pass in those days, that Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee, and was baptized of John in Jordan. And straightway coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens opened, and the Spirit like a dove descending upon him:
There are, as you know, four Gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The first three Matthew, Mark and Luke are called the synoptic Gospels, the word means “with one eye.” They are called synoptic because they follow, for the most part the same order and cover the same events. John is the only non-synoptic Gospel and though it overlaps with much of the other Gospels it covers an entire year, at the very beginning of Jesus ministry that the other accounts do not. Mark may have been the first Gospel written around 67- 70 AD, while John’s Gospel was not written until about 95 AD.
All the Gospels record the life of Jesus, but they all present our Savior in the perspective of the man writing. The Holy Spirit used their vocabularies, styles, and memories to give us a full view of who Jesus was. Matthew presents Jesus as the rightful King of Israel and gives us many Old Testament prophecies to show that truth. Luke shows Jesus as the perfect, sinless man, while John show us Jesus as God, God in the flesh. Mark’s view of Jesus is as the servant. He uses words that are dramatic and forceful and show Jesus driven by His mission for God the Father.
The Wycliffe Bible Commentary says, “The characteristic word of this Gospel of action is euthys, which occurs some forty-one times and is translated straightway, immediately, forthwith, anon. … In numerous places words of unusual forcefulness appear, such as "driveth" (1:12), compared with "led," which appears in the other Synoptic Gospels (Mt 4:1; Lk 4:1).” - The Wycliffe Bible Commentary.
When all four Gospels are read, we see Jesus as God, who became Man and as the King, who became a servant. All of these descriptions of Jesus are true. He could not have been our Savior unless He was fully God who came down from glory and entered a virgin’s womb to be born a man. He was rightfully our King but willingly made himself a servant who died for us on Calvary.
We must be right about who Jesus is and we must be right about how the salvation He offers us becomes ours. I can’t afford to be wrong about salvation, no matter how good my intentions may be. The Gospels tell us of Jesus who is able to save.
Crippled Before Christ – Mark 3:1-2
And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
Physically Crippled
This is the second Sabbath controversy in the book of Mark. The first takes place in chapter 2 when Jesus allows his disciples to pluck ears of grain and eat them on the Sabbath. Because Mark starts us out later in the life of Jesus, we don’t read about the year of obscurity, that John records, but are immediately plunged into the controversies with the Pharisees in the year of opposition.
The Bible simply tells us that there was a man with a withered hand and they, the Pharisees, watched Jesus to see if He would heal the man on the Sabbath Day.
The Pharisees see an opportunity to destroy Jesus with the law and let a man continue to suffer, but Jesus sees an opportunity to overcome the law with His love and to heal a man with His power.
This man was weak, his hand was useless. The word used to describe the withered hand means that it was due either to an injury or to disease. He would not be able to work as a whole man could. He was not as God had created him, he was marred by the world and its sin.
In this man and in the actions of Jesus I can see a picture of us as lost individuals, not with a withered hand but with a withered soul.
Spiritually Crippled
We stand spiritually crippled before Jesus. This is a withering that is more debilitating, than the man in the synagogue that day. It is the withering of our souls, our spirits due to sin.
The Bible says this happened when sin entered the world as Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden.
God told them in Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
But they disobeyed God and, on that day, they lost eternal life and they began to die physically, but they immediately died, spiritually.
They fled from God, hoping to not be found, but He sought them and when He found them, He told them that because of what they had done, the rest of their lives would be filled with pain and sorrow. And not just them but all those who would come from them would be tainted by the crippling power of sin.
This is what the Bible says about Sin and Me. The Bible says sin has withered my soul.
Romans 3:23 For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
We are spiritually crippled and just like that man on that Sabbath Day we need Jesus to see us and heal us from the devastating effects of sin.
Transition: The man with the withered hand probably had been this way for years. Day after day he struggled with this weakness but today was no ordinary day, because today he was going to meet Jesus.
Called To Christ – Mark 3:3-4
And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
Called To Stand Forth
Look at the character of Jesus in this situation, he sees the man and he sees the Pharisees and knows that they are watching. The Bible does not tell us that the man came up to Jesus to ask for healing but instead it is Jesus who addresses the man. He could have walked by, he could have let this man continue in weakness and disability, unable to fully use his withered hand. But praise the Lord, that is not our Jesus.
He looks at the man, he looks at the Pharisees and then he tells the man, “Stand forth.” Stand up and step out so everyone can see. Let them all see what what the Lord of heaven and earth can do.”
Jesus calls the man to Himself. The man listens and comes to Jesus, but the Pharisees leave to find allies they can use to kill Jesus.
Jesus asks the crowd a question, but it is especially directed at the Pharisees, Mark 3:4 Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill?
Now that is not a hard question, is it? The answer is simple unless you’re a Pharisee or a legalist. Is it okay to do good on the day of Rest? Yes of course that is okay. Is it okay to do evil? No. That is never okay. You and I have no problem understanding the answer but the Pharisees are so bound up in their law, they “held their peace.” They won’t answer because they know Jesus is right, but they don’t care about what is right, or good or loving. They only care about their Law, their power and their traditions.
There is no better illustration in the Bible of the difference between the law and love. One leads to death, the other leads to life. That handicapped man is about to learn the difference and we must learn it as well.
Called To Come
Jesus is still calling today, calling through the Gospel, through His Word, through His church and through his people. He is calling those with sin withered hearts to “stand forth.”
Listen to the words of Jesus himself.
In John 6:44, he tells us that, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Then in John 12:32, he tells us when that drawing will happen. “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.”
Some would take John 6:44 and tell you that you can’t come unless God draws you, and that is true but then they will tell you that God only draws certain ones. Aren’t you glad that Jesus sets all that straight in John 12:32? He tells us exactly how we will be drawn and it is just as easy to hear for us today as it was for this man drawn to Jesus in the synagogue that day. Jesus says, “If I be lifted up.” He is speaking of the cross, his death on the tree and He says in that lifting up, He draws all to himself.
Every time we tell someone that Jesus died for them, we lift him up, and as He is lifted up the Holy Spirit calls out to that lost person and they hear the voice of Jesus saying, Come to me. This is the power of the Gospel. It draws people to the Lord.
If that is not plain enough listen once again to Jesus in Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
When we hear the voice of Jesus and you have heard it just now, will you be like the man who stood fort and come or will you stay back like the Pharisees, resenting that we are being told that we are weak, sinful, lost and without hope in ourselves?
Jesus is the Only point of Judgment
After healing a man born blind and then seeing that man thrown out of the synagogue because he also was healed on the sabbath, Jesus finds him and after presenting himself as the Son of God, the once blind man says, “Lord, I believe” and he worships Jesus. Then Jesus turns to the once again watching Pharisees and in
John 9:39-41 For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see; and that they which see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth.
They refused to admit their own blindness, refused to come to the only one who could heal their spiritually crippled eyes and so remained in their sin. They were proclaiming, We don’t have sin and we don’t need Jesus.
Pay attention to what Jesus says they will be judged for? He brings us to one sole point of eternal judgment. He says, “I came into this world.” The only reason we are not saved is if we reject Jesus as our Savior. Just like the Pharisees we reject and walk away from Jesus and that is the only reason forgiveness, salvation and heaven is denied to me.
The story of course doesn’t end with Jesus calling, it doesn’t end with the man hearing the call of Christ for there is one especially important action that must still take place. We see it in verse 5.
Cured By Christ – Mark 3:5
And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.
Restoration or Rebellion
Here we see the character of Christ. Mark is very good at showing us the emotions of Jesus. The Bible says, he looked round at them with anger, grieved for their hard hearts. This anger is not sinful nor is it inconsistent with the love and mercy of the Lord. It would be wrong for Jesus not to be angry when confronted with the wrong that would leave a man crippled when he could be healed.
Jesus looked around at every single Pharisee in that room, knowing they were daring Him to do what they said He couldn’t do according to the Law. Mark records there was anger written on His face. Mark 3:5 when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts.
There was anger that could be seen on Jesus’ face. Anger at their hardened hearts. The word here is πώρωσις pōrōsis; it means hardness, stupidity or callousness. We know this word when it comes to bones becoming hard and brittle. Jesus sees their calcified, impenetrable hearts, made that way by the misuse of the Law. And it angers Him, but Mark says it is an anger caused by grief. Grief at what sin does, and anger because He can cure sin and its effects, just as He can cure this man’s hand, but they would stop Him from doing both. And Jesus is righteously, rightly angry.
Now I’m going to challenge you with a simple question, exactly when was this man healed? Was it when he heard Jesus? Was it when he stood forth? No, the Bible clearly tells us when he was healed.
He was healed when he responded to the words of Christ to stretch out his hand. The man did as Jesus said, and He reached out toward the Lord. His belief in Jesus was shown when He acted upon what Jesus told him and he stretched forth his hand. The Bible tells us, “And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.”
Salvation or Damnation
Every person has two choices when they are confronted in their sin and weakness by Jesus. Harden your heart or Heed His call. You can, like the Pharisees, harden your heart and refuse to heed the calling of Jesus. You can refuse to look upon the Lamb of God sent to die for you. You can choose to not acknowledge the personal revelation that He came and died for you on Calvary.
You can ignore what it says in Isaiah 53:4-6 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned everyone to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
Yes, you can like the Pharisees, harden your heart and reject the Lord, but understand that also, like them, you will know the wrath and judgment of God.
Romans 2:3-5 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
The two choices are so plainly laid out in just one verse, Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Someone has rightly said that if you are lost then this world right now is the only heaven you will ever know. This is as good as it gets. This life with it's sorrow and heartache, pain and suffering is your only paradise, if you are lost and reject Jesus. And the world which awaits you upon death is one in which there is no goodness of God. There is no light, there is no friendship, there is no hope, there is no comfort, there is no family, there are no dreams of a better future. All these things are blessings from God and Hell is devoid of all these. All that is left is the worst most inconsolable pain and suffering and torment that exists for those who reject God and choose not to have Him in their life. Hell is exactly that and it burns with that fiery torment and regret for all eternity.
But please listen, Hell was not meant for you. God fashioned it for the Devil and his angels, but God created you to have fellowship with Him. Even when that fellowship was broken back in the Garden, God had already planned to send His own Son so that it could be restored. Revelation 13:8 says that Jesus is “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.”
And so now He calls. Calls us to the cross, calls us to Jesus’ wounded side and pierced brow. Calls us to the foot of the cross so that He may be lifted up and we can find restoration, redemption, and righteousness in Jesus Christ.
Conclusion
Will you walk away, or will you come? These are only two choices you have. Turn you back or Stretch forth your hand? Reject Him or trust Him.
Will you find salvation in Jesus? Will you stretch forth that withered soul, that stunted heart, that broken spirit toward Him? Please don't harden your heart, give it to Jesus this morning.
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