Jesus Begins His Public Ministry

Mark 1:14-15

INTRO:
Good morning church. Little Jenny was standing on a stool in the kitchen and she was helping her mother by drying dishes.   She was looking at her mother and she noticed that in that beautiful auburn hair that her mother had, there were some gray hairs. So she looked at her mother and she said, Mom, why are there gray hairs in your hair?  Her mother said, Well, Jenny, whenever you misbehave, whenever you do something to cause me trouble, worry and aggravation, one of my hairs turns gray.
Oh, Jenny said.  She thought a minute.  And she said, Why does grandma have all gray hair?

I invite you to open your Bibles to the gospel of Mark 1:14-15 and read what happens after John the Baptist is delivered up; Mark 1:14-15 – “Now after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.””[ESV]

If you compare the gospel of John with the synoptic gospels, you will discover that Jesus did not go immediately from His baptism and wilderness temptations into His great Galilean teaching ministry. What you will discover if you compare the feasts that are mentioned which Jesus attended with the timing of these events, is that about a years time separates His baptism from the beginning of His ministry in Galilee. One writer has called this year of time “a year of obscurity”.

The style of Mark’s Gospel is quick-moving and dramatic. His gospel being one of swift and vigorous action, and one of his favorite expressions being straightway. What Mark does is move immediately from the temptations into the Galilean ministry. Mark does not mention anything about this year of time. Mark simply dates the beginning of the Galilean ministry at about the same time John the Baptist was imprisoned by Herod. I want to consider this before we continue our look at John’s Gospel.

I. BUT WE SHOULD AT LEAST MENTION THE “UNMENTIONED” PERIOD. I think it is important for us to at least make mention of that period of time.

A. We might ask ourselves the question, and I do ask myself, why was this one year of time omitted from Matthew, Mark and Luke? Yet, prominently mentioned in the Gospel of John?

1. The answer has to be speculation for we simply are not told why that year is omitted in the synoptic gospels. I can speculate, and I will, that very simply it was not the time for His teaching ministry to begin.
2. But keep in mind that the gospel of John has a different purpose from the synoptic gospels. The purpose of John’s gospel is to confirm that Jesus is the Son of God. The events of that one year of time are very significant to this purpose of John’s gospel.

B. I want to mention a few of the events in that year of obscurity.

1. Let’s look at John chapter 1 again. At the start of the chapter we find these familiar words; “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Then at verse 14 “the Word was made flesh”.
2. The gospel of John begins in chapter 1 with the affirmation that Jesus Christ IS deity. As we continue in chapter 1, we discover where John the Baptist gives his testimony that Jesus is not only the Son of God, not only deity, Jesus is “the lamb of God which will take away the sins of the world” in Verse 29
3. In chapter 2 of John’s gospel there is the first recorded miracle at Cana of Galilee. John tells us in verse 11; “This beginning of miracles did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested forth his glory; and his disciples believed on him.”
4. In chapter 3 there is this very important interview that Jesus has with a man whose name is Nicodemus. Here we have the information “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God”. Questions are asked about what that means.
5. Then in chapter 4, which I find a very interesting chapter in John’s gospel, is the interview He has with the Samaritan woman at Jacobs well. What an incredible interview that is, and continues with His going into the city and there teaching for a period of time and many of the people of Samaria, not the Jews, many of the people of Samaria believed that He was the Messiah.
6. A little later in John’s gospel in chapter 4 at verse 46 there is the healing of the nobleman’s son. One of the interesting things about this account is that it is presented in such a way as to show that this miracle is indeed a miracle. This was not just an ordinary getting over a disease situation. The timeline shows the miracle.
7. Then in chapter 5, we have the healing of the infirm man at Bethesda. Shortly there after, there is the beginning of the Galilean ministry which is where we are in the gospel of Mark.

II. JESUS PREACHED “THE GOSPEL OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD”. Mark tells us that Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom.

A. The Jews for so long looked for news of the kingdom.

1. Since the Babylonian captivity, there had not been a legitimate king in the nation of Israel.
2. Indeed since the Babylonian captivity, for almost the entire period to the present time Israel had been a vassal or tribute state. Always under the thumb of some conquering nation.
3. In scripture there is so much prophecy about the kingdom. For example in the 9th chapter of the book of Isaiah. There at verses 6 and 7 is this prophecy; Isaiah 9:6-7 – “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David,” ah,… that is what these people knew. That is what these people remembered. They were anticipating this ruler and his kingdom. They were looking for news of this coming! ”and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.”
4. Or in Daniel’s prophecy in the second chapter at verse 44; Daniel 2:44 – “And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, remember that this prophecy comes out of the period of the Babylonian captivity, In the days of these kings, here we find the explanation being made to Nebuchadnezzar, God shall set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” No wonder the Jewish people were anticipating, and seeking news of the coming kingdom.

B. Jesus came preaching of the kingdom of God.

1. The kingdom of God is frequently mentioned in the teaching of Jesus.
2. You remember in Matthews’s gospel, chapter 6 verse 10, in what has been called the model prayer. We find these words; Matthew 6:10 – “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” So at the very beginning of His public ministry Jesus is declaring the coming of the Kingdom.
3. Interestingly, what should have been wonderful news for Jewish audiences, turned “sour” when His enemies started to use His kingdom claims to accuse Him. The coming of the Kingdom was good news! The gospel, good news, glad tidings. The very thing that should have been such wonderful news was used to accuse Jesus and ultimately send Him to the cross.

III. SOME OF THE “SPECIFICS” OF HIS MESSAGE

A. “Jesus came...preaching...and saying... We begin to look at the sermon outline if you will, of what Jesus preached. We discover that…

1. He did not come to compel anyone to do anything they did not want to do. He came preaching and saying.
2. He came with a message ... and it was up to each individual as to how they would respond to that message.
3. Turn if you would to a beautiful text which is well known to us; Matthew 11:28-29 – Jesus says; “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”[ESV] We can accept what Jesus came to offer, or we can reject what He came to offer... but it is our choice, the decision is ours to make. Remember Mark says, Jesus came preaching and saying.

B. The first point of His sermon outline was this;… its time. “The time is fulfilled...” it says in Marks gospel. Let us turn back there for just a minute.

1. When He says in verse 15 “the time is fulfilled” in the original language Mark used the word for “time” that refers to a “set, or proper time”. He does not use the word used for chronology, chronological time, or elapsed time. He used a word for which we might use the word “appointment”. This is the time that God has appointed, this is the set time, and it is the proper time. The time is fulfilled.
2. In Galatians 4:4-5 – Listen; “But when the fullness of time had come, (there is that expression, the fullness of time) God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” “...when the fullness of time had come...”
3. That word fulfilled, is descriptive of the fact that all of the Old Testament had been looking forward to this time. This appointment which God had established, as we understand, before time began. It is the time the Jews were looking forward to. What we need to remember about this expression is that all of the things that are going to transpire now are not accidental; it was not a “happening”. This is the time God had established for His purpose.

C. Mark continues with the outline point; “and the kingdom of God is at hand...”

1. Now remember, the Jews have been looking forward to this kingdom for many, many years. Jesus says the kingdom is at hand. They might ask; “how ‘at hand’ is it?”
2. Jesus answered that question in Mark 9:1 where He says, “And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”” This is different from the prophecy of Isaiah and the prophecy of Daniel. This is not a “dim future hope” any longer. “…there are some standing here”. Imagine that. Some of those very people who were hearing Jesus say those very words… would actually see the Kingdom of God come. Heightened anticipation, for the coming of the kingdom.
3. When it came (on the day of Pentecost following Jesus’ resurrection), it was not the kind of kingdom that people had expected ... but it did come.

D. The third point in His sermon outline was “Repent...” He came preaching, repent.

1. Jesus, just as did John the Baptist, stressed the message of repentance.
2. As time would ultimately prove, many of the Jewish people, particularly their religious leaders were so entrenched in their traditions that their view of God was warped, twisted, and distorted. Remember what Jesus told the religious leaders in; Matthew 15:1-3 – “Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?”
3. How could they believe in the gospel message if they could not see beyond the traditions which governed the religious life of the Jews, see past the corruptions of the Mosaic faith that they had created? How could they see past that and accept the gospel of the kingdom? No wonder Jesus taught them to repent.
4. Keep in mind; it was a tradition-bound religion which sent Jesus Christ to the cross at Calvary.

E. There was a fourth point to His sermon outline. “… and believe in the gospel” Repent toward God, and believe in the gospel.

1. Looking at Luke’s gospel; Luke 2:10-11 – “And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” In verse 10 we see the words good tidings or glad tidings. Those two words are translated from the same word that we usually translate the word “gospel”. What the angels are saying is; we bring you a gospel to share, because a gospel is good news. Then they go on to say what the good news is – it is of the birth of Christ the Lord.
2. When Jesus came preaching, “Believe the gospel”, that is tantamount to His saying; believe… in… me. - Believe in Jesus. In John’s gospel, the eighth chapter, John 8:24 Jesus says, “I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.”[ESV]
3. He preached the gospel and He said believe it, believe in Me. Something else about this word gospel, I’ll read now from 1^st Corinthians 15:1-4 where Paul is reminding them of the good news, the glad tidings, “Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, here Paul gives an admonishment, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you—unless you believed in vain.”

a. Paul explains to them one more time, it is by the Gospel he had preached to them that they had been saved, and by that Gospel, if they continued to believe it, they would ultimately receive their heavenly reward.
b. Paul continues; “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,” That’s gospel, that is good news.
c. Jesus said “believe the gospel”. Believe in me. These horrible events, from our perspective perhaps, begin to take place. He is killed, He is buried and then the wonderful event of the first day of the week, He is raised from the dead. Folks, in those things are our great hope! The death, burial, and resurrection of Christ is “gospel”!

F. Having read that, let’s turn back to 1^st Corinthians 1:22-23 – “For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, To whom did Jesus come preaching; “The time is fulfilled”, “The Kingdom is at hand”, “Repent”, “Believe the gospel”? To whom did He come with that great message? To the Jews… a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles,” We should remember that the Jews to whom Jesus came preaching were steeped in years of human tradition which had warped and twisted not only their understanding of the word of God but their understanding of God Himself.

1. No wonder that it was necessary for the Jewish people to repent toward God, before they could accept the gospel message. They had to repent toward God before they could ever possibly believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.
2. I need to say this; the repentance that Jesus preached to the Jews is not the same repentance to which the apostle Peter gives attention in Acts 2:38. In Acts, these are people who are believers, are commanded to repent and to be baptized. That repentance comes following a person’s belief that Jesus is the Son of God, and are prompted by that belief to be sorrowful for their sins and to turn away from them. Turning toward God in obedience to the gospel.
3. The Jews needed to repent toward God for their years of warped thinking about God and His word. They needed to believe the gospel. Recall how often the Jews demanded Jesus to perform a sign for them while He was on the earth.

a. For example Matthew 12:38-39 – “38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
b. Also Matthew 16:1 – “And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven.” Why was Jesus condemning them for doing this?

4. They were holding on to their faulty thinking and traditions. Their request was putting themselves in the driver’s seat. Perform a sign so that we can evaluate you and test your claims. We will decide if you are who you say you are. Such people set themselves up as God, sets themselves up as judge, rather than recognizing that Jesus is God and Jesus is the judge.
5. Jesus was not going to yield to their requests which would have in effect turned Jesus into nothing more than a performer on demand. This also represents humans today who reject God because they demand God to do something for them as a condition to follow him.
6. The Greeks did not create conditions that God was to meet. Rather they create structures of thought so as to maintain their delusion to be able to explain life and the universe. These people think they are academic, scientific, powerful, and philosophical. God, if He exists, must fit into their philosophical worldview and thinking if He is going to be acceptable to them. That leads me to think of that line from Hamlet “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy”.

G. You will notice that with each of these groups there is the basis of self-centeredness. In both cases the individual says that I have the right to approve God. I will determine if God is right for me and if He fits my view of life and my expectations.

CONCLUSION: Paul continues in 1^st Corinthians 1:24-25 and tells us that “to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”

We find that Christ is the answer to both groups. The Jews desire a sign and the sign they were given was Jesus and the resurrection. The power of God was on full display through the cross of Jesus our Lord. Also, the Greeks desire wisdom and they were given Christ who is the wisdom of God on full display. The cross of Jesus is the most breathtaking display of God’s wisdom. The world’s rebellious self-centeredness is what ensures that it cannot understand the cross. So what the world dismisses as foolishness God proves to be greater than human wisdom. What the world writes off as hopeless weakness, God proves is stronger than any human strength.

Mark takes Jesus immediately in his gospel from the temptation scenes, to which Mark gives only a little space, and moves the narrative hurriedly in to the activities of the Galilean ministry. In this brief statement made in Mark’s gospel chapter 1 that we read here, I would suggest to you that we have the outline for all that Jesus taught in the days that were to come.

If the Lord is willing we will continue next time in John’s Gospel chapter 2 where we encounter the Wedding Feast in Cana and the conversion of water to wine.

In God’s plan we learn from the New Testament how to be saved. We need to hear the word; believe in Jesus; repent of our sins; we must confess our belief that Jesus is the Son of God; and be baptized for the remission of our sins… If we follow these steps, the Lord adds us to His church.

Perhaps there is someone in the assembly today with the need to be buried with Christ in baptism. If you have never done these things, we urge you to do so today. If anyone has this need or desires the prayers of faithful Christians on their behalf, we encourage them to come forward while we stand and sing.

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Reference Sermon Cecil A. Hutson 19 March 2006