Thru the Bible

Steve Schwetz: If someone's trying to prove you wrong, they'll often sink to some pretty low levels to do it. And that's exactly what happens in this study on Through the Bible, as the Pharisees follow Jesus around trying to discredit him. I'm Steve Schwetz, your host on this 5-year journey through God's whole word. In this study, Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to lead us through some very interesting territory as we explore the pages of Mark chapters 2 and 3. Before we begin though, Greg has a story that he's excited to share. So, Greg, where in the world did this letter come from?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Well, figuratively speaking, it's sort of the end of the earth. It's It's in Somalia, and it is It's one of those amazing stories. And one of the things that you and I enjoy about being associated with Through the Bible is people just bring us the most amazing stories. And this came from our long time partner TransWorld Radio. And And here's a summary of the situation. In the year 2016, so what, 10 years ago, a man that we're calling Ibrahim, that's not his real name, he was trying to escape the violence in Somalia. And he was preparing to flee the country of Somalia, and he was trying to get to Yemen as a refugee.

Well, unfortunately, before he could leave the country, he was arrested on suspicion of being connected to terrorism. They took him more than 400 miles away through him in an isolated prison in a harsh region called the Guban region. And his own description of it was basically it's the end of the world. It's dry, it's hot, it's dusty, okay? And for 4 and 1/2 years, he essentially disappeared, fell off the face of the earth. He was held alone in solitary. Imagine being 4 and 1/2 years in solitary confinement. His family, his friends didn't know where he was.

No visitors, almost no connection with the outside world. But he had one thing. Yes, what's the but God part?

Steve Schwetz: But God. The but God part is he got a radio. And interestingly enough, if I'm not mistaken, a short wave radio of that. Like we've got like four programs left on short wave. This must have been one of them. And he starts listening to short wave radio. And through the Bible, and basically I don't Does he get saved? Was he a believer before he gets saved?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Yeah. Yeah, he gets saved. So So he listens for about a year and 1/2. He listens from his prison cell, and he was He was a Muslim. And God slowly began to work. And you can imagine the anger, the fear, the disappointment, just the rage even at being a young man stuck in this situation. Then he had a defining night. After listening to TTB for a year and 1/2, he fell to his knees one night and prayed all through the night. And in that prison cell, completely alone from a human perspective, he surrendered his life to Christ.

Now, that alone would make this a great story, right? But but it's now

Steve Schwetz: But now the Apostle Paul thing goes into this, right? Or Peter. You're right. Yeah, Peter.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Yeah. Yeah, or Peter. In the book of Acts, that's right. Yeah, it's about turn to turn into the book of Acts. So, the next morning, imagine this guy's been 4 and 1/2 years in solitary confinement. Something amazing happens. The prison commander came to his cell, opens the door, and and simply said, wake up and go, leave this prison, okay? No explanation, no reasoning, just open the door and leave. And much like the Apostle Peter being released from prison, just hours after he gave his life to Christ, he he leaves. And now he's a devoted follower of Jesus.

And he Here's what he said, my mind was darkened by ignorance, but now the light of Christ has shown into my life.

Steve Schwetz: Wow.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Only God could have done this.

Steve Schwetz: Yeah. And you know, recently we talked about suffering. And I know this is an extreme situation where he was in prison for 4 years, but God used that suffering and that situation to bring him to saving faith in Christ. And so that's an example of at least one time where God takes suffering and applies it for his glory and for that person's good.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Yeah. And from our perspective, when we talk about flinging the seed and we talk about being media agnostic or delivery system agnostic, this is why. I mean, I know you You are constantly questioning us as chairman of the board, should we be using short wave? And And the Horn of Africa is the only part of the entire world we're doing short wave. And thank God we were still doing it back in 2016.

Steve Schwetz: Yeah. And that's where it makes sense. Greg, would you pray for us as we begin?

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Father, we are just humbled before you to see the power of your spirit and your word working in such a remote place and letting us have just a small part in this amazing story. We We know you're going to do it again today. We pray you will work in our lives as we study your word in Jesus name. Amen.

Steve Schwetz: Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Mark chapter 2.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, last time we got down to the two incidents that relate to the Sabbath day. One was in the fields and one was in the synagogue. And chapter 3 breaks the two, actually. And I did not want to get into the one in chapter 2 because I wanted to look at them together because we have here a very marvelous teaching, by the way. Now, if you'll notice here in chapter 2 verse 23 and I'll begin reading at that particular point. 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. Now, here the corn was evidently barley or could have been wheat. And actually, I don't think our Lord was breaking the Sabbath day. The way that the Pharisees would interpret the Acts was that in plucking the grain and eating it, they were harvesting grain and thrashing it on the Sabbath. Now, the law permitted them to pull the grain. We're told in Deuteronomy 23, 24 and 25, when thou comest into thy neighbor's vineyard, then thou mayest eat grapes thy fill at thine own pleasure.

But thou shall not put any in thy vessel. When thou comest into the standing corn of thy neighbor, then thou mayest pluck the ears with thine hand. But thou shall not move a sickle into thy neighbor's standing corn. Now, actually, they were following the law. Now, if they had put in a sickle, they would have been harvesting. But you see, the Pharisees had given this interpretation to it. And they would therefore interpret their Acts as breaking the law. Now, we read here, and the Pharisees said unto him, behold, why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful?

The religious rulers really broke the law when they determined the death of the Lord Jesus. They had no right to do that. We'll see in this next chapter. When they determined his death, they broke the law. Now, will you notice verse 25, he said unto them, have you never read what David did when he had need and was a hungered, he and they that were with him? Now, he did not insist that they had not broken the Sabbath. He refused actually to argue the issue here with them. And now he goes into the life of David, their king, and he cited an incident in the life of David where he had definitely broken the Mosaic law and was justified.

You see, the letter of the law was not to be imposed when it wrote hardship upon one of God's servants who was attempting to serve him. And that, of course, is the story concerning David. And our Lord uses that. Let me read verse 26. How he, that is David, went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest, and did eat the show bread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priest, and gave also to them which were with him. And he said unto them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

Therefore the son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath. Now, this is a great principle and respect to the Sabbath day and its meaning that the law was really made for man and not man for the Sabbath. And also, here is another great principle. And that is that the Lord Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, those are two things that are very important. I feel that this is a pretty important question. The Sabbath day of the Lord's day which we're of course not under the old Mosaic system as far as the Sabbath day because it was a part of the covenant between the nation Israel and God.

He said that himself. Now, in chapter 3 verse 1 we read, 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. Now, the question of course arises here, was this man, this cripple, planted there purposely? And the answer, I think is absolutely so. Now, you see the other was out in the fields. That was the Sabbath in the corn field. That was a secular spot. Now, you have the Sabbath and the synagogue, and this is a sacred spot.

And the Lord Jesus had been healing the multitudes. And he'd had a ministry in that connection. They knew that if they planted this man here that was a cripple right in the way of our Lord when he came into the synagogue that he'd do something about it. And actually, what they did is a compliment to the Lord Jesus. They said, why he'll heal him. And of course, they were interested in being able to say that he broke the Sabbath by healing him on the Sabbath day. Now, I believe the man therefore was put there. Now, the enemy was watching, we are told, verse 2, and they watched him whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him.

You see now the enemies at this particular time, at the beginning of his ministry, are watching for some little flimsy excuse whereby they might bring a charge against him. And frankly, they are not going to have long to wait because notice what he did. He saith unto the man which had the withered hand, stand forth. The Lord's going to do something here. And I think that maybe a better translation here, Wycliffe translated it like this, rise, come into the midst and stand there. In other words, he asked this man to come and stand in the midst because he wanted to say something.

And believe me, our Lord is going to say something there. Now, will you notice what he does? He saith unto them, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days or to do evil? To save life or to kill? They held their peace. They had learned not to answer him because they always got in a trap when they did. Now, notice, 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.

Now, the Lord Jesus broke through all of this red tape of their traditions, and he got to the heart of God's purpose in giving the Sabbath day originally to Israel. They therefore wouldn't answer him because they could not and knew they would incriminate themselves. And the Lord Jesus here, notice, he looks around with anger. And you can put it down in your memory that Jesus could get angry. Dr. Gram Scroggy, he notes that anger here is the aorist tense in the Greek, and it carries the sense of momentary anger, while the Greek word for grief is used here in the present tense in the sense of continuous grief.

And what you have here is this, when he had looked round about on them with anger, and that was just a flash, you see. He didn't carry a grudge. He didn't have malice or forethought. And we're told being grieved for the hardness of their hearts. And that's something that he carried with him was that awful grief because of the hardness of their hearts. Now, he saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored whole as the other. Now, it was the Sabbath. And because the Sabbath is made for man and he was the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus healed the man on the Sabbath day.

And the incident back there in Mark, the second chapter we looked at last time of the Sabbath and the corn fields, it's directly connected in this incident in the synagogue. I think the two should be considered together. Now, these two incidents is what brought the break with the religious rulers. Notice verse 6. And the Pharisees went forth and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against them, how they might destroy him. Now, this is his break with the religious rulers. And because of these two incidents that pertain to the Sabbath day, these bloodhounds of hate, they got on his trail and they never let up until they folded their arms beneath his cross.

This is the beginning of the plan and plot to put him to death. Now, notice verse 7. But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed him and from Judea. Now, you'll notice they're coming from these two areas now and they're following him. And our Lord withdrew tactfully at this time far as he had said, his hour had not yet come. But later when it did, why he moved into the face of all opposition in Jerusalem. Now, will you notice what happens here? And from Jerusalem and from Idumea and from beyond Jordan and they about tire and a great multitude when they had heard what great things he did, they came under him.

Now, notice here the crowds followed him and they were from everywhere. And if you just make a note of these places and look them up, you'll find out that they're coming from that entire area now to here, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we find that he was in danger, not at this time from the religious rulers. They're afraid of the crowd, but he was in danger being overwhelmed by the mob. Do you know today that celebrity has to be protected from the mob? And so let me read here verse 9. And he spake to his disciples that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should throng him.

Again, the crowds were not only hindering him, but actually endangering him. They were pressing in from every side. Verse 10, for he had healed many in so much that they pressed upon him for to touch him as many as had plagues. And then we're told this remarkable thing, many. And you can't reduce many to round figures. That's true. But many means many. The desperation of the people is significant. You know that human family friends is a needy family. We all belong to this family. Now, we're told something here in verse 11, and unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried saying, thou art the son of God.

Now, you see the unclean spirits acknowledged him. And we're going to have to hold that subject for a little later. I want to put an emphasis upon this matter of demon possession at the right time and the very fact that we're seeing today the manifestation of that in what is known today as Satan worship. And there's a great deal of that. Now, we find here and I want to keep on reading, the unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him and cried saying, thou art the son of God. And he straightly charged them that they should not make him known.

He did not want the testimony of the underworld. It seems strange, but he didn't. Now, we find here in verse 13, we began to see the sovereign purpose of God in choosing and ordaining the 12 apostles. Will you notice this? And he goeth up into a mountain and calleth under him whom he would. That's something I'd have you know. He's doing the choosing here. Whether we like it or not, he does the choosing. Remember he said, ye have not chosen me, but I've chosen you and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit and that your fruit should remain that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

It's not irreverent to say that since he chose them and they did not choose him, he's responsible for them. That's a real comfort to know that God has saved you, begun a good work in you. He's going to stick right with you, friends, and he's going to see you through. And that's all that this means here. Now, we're told, he calleth him whom he would. And they came under him. And when he calls, they all respond. And he ordained 12 that they should be with him and that he might send them forth to preach. Now, you have here his final call to his apostles.

Here's where they actually became apostles. And here's where they're sent out on a ministry apart from him. That is, he'll not go with them physically. And I don't think Mark here furnishes the details. But when you read Matthew 10, you'll find their message and method at this particular time. Now, you have in verses 16 here through 19 the list of the names of the apostles. And the 12 that you have, and I'd like to just run through the list. Simon Peter, he's the first in all the list. And then James, the son of Zebedee, is second here.

John, the brother of James. And then Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter. He's customarily listed with his brother. And then there's Philip, Bartholomew was Nathanael. And then Matthew and Thomas and James the less. He's the son of Alphaeus. Always a question whether there's three James or two James. And I think some believe four. But I probably not, but two. But then you have Thaddaeus. That's called Lebbaeus and Jude in other places. And then Simon the Canaanite and then Judas Iscariot. Now, that's the picture you have before us. And I have in our book on Mark marching through Mark.

I have the list of the 12 apostles as given by the four gospels and also as it's given in the book of Acts. Quite interesting to make a comparison, see who is in and who's not in. Now, he chooses them. And then you have what is called the unpardonable sin. And let me read a few verses here and the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, he hath Beelzebub and by the prince of the demons casteth he out demons. And he called them under him and he said unto them in parables, how can Satan cast out Satan?

And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end. Now, what he's saying is just simply this, that he could not be casting out demons by the power of the demons for the very simple reason that that would be a house divided against itself. Now, in verse 25 he says, and if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against itself and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

No man can enter into the strong man's house and spoil his goods except he will first bind the strong man. And when he will spoil his house. In other words, you have first to bind the strong man before you can spoil his house. And the thing is true here, the Lord Jesus is not doing this by the power of Satan because Satan would be divided and be against himself. Now, he says in verse 28, verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven under the sons of man and blasphemies, wheresoever they shall blaspheme. But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation because they said he hath an unclean spirit.

Now, that was the unpardonable sin then. It could not be committed today that way. To begin with, you have him, the second person of the Godhead who's present. And they accuse him of doing this by Beelzebub. He was doing it by the power of the Holy Spirit. So that what they were doing, they were rejecting two persons of the Godhead, the testimony of the Son, the testimony of the Holy Spirit. Now, you couldn't have that today because he's not here in person. I say it's impossible to commit an unpardonable sin to death. You mean an act whereby if you committed it today that if tomorrow you came under conviction and you came to God, he would forgive you.

You see, Christ died for all sin, not some sin. And he didn't die for all sin, but one, the unpardonable one. There's no such thing as being able to commit an act today that he will not forgive you for. Now, he goes on here and he says in verse 31, there came then his brethren and his mother and standing without sin under him calling him. And the multitude sat about him and they said unto him, behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee. And he answered them saying, who is my mother and my brethren?

And he looked round about on them which sat about him and said, behold, my mother and my brethren for whosoever shall do the will of God, the same as my brother and my sister and mother. And you see his half brothers James and Jude, both of them wrote epistles. They never mentioned that Jesus was their half brother. You see today if you are in Christ and you're saved today, you're closer to him than his physical mother and physical brothers in that day. And that's the reason he could look around and say, these are closer of kin to me than even my mother and my brothers.

And the important thing is to be rightly related to God in Christ and having received him as Savior, then we have the right to become the sons of God. And that's brain you might a close to him, my friend. We'll have to leave off there today. So until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Steve Schwetz: Learn how you can be closely related to Jesus by clicking on how can I know God in our app or at ttb.org or call us at 1-800-65 Bible and we'll send a couple of free resources by mail. Again, that's 1-800-65 Bible or ttb.org. I'm Steve Schwetz and I'll save a seat on the Bible bus just for you next time.

Guest (Male): He washed it white as snow.

Steve Schwetz: Today's study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Through the Bible. And it's made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible bus all around the world.