Let me remind you of something you probably have taken note of, that a large portion of the scriptures that have been given to us are historical narrative. They're not didactic teaching like the book of Romans, but the Old Testament, the New Testament, a lot of what we have given in the scriptures is historical narrative. And as we're studying the book of Mark, Mark is giving us the account of the life and ministry from his perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's not saying everything that happened, but from his perspective, and therefore we have the other gospels that are doing the same. So we come to passages that aren't necessarily dense or rich in theological content, but they help carry the story along. So I hope you have an appreciation for that because there are times when we come to historical narrative and we say, well, okay, that's information, that's interesting, but what is there that is for me?
What do I take away from that to apply to my life? So I've labored to be able to do that this evening, but I want you to be aware that that's the nature of historical narrative. We're following a storyline and Mark is the one who has given us the most concise record of the life and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's the shortest of the four gospels. And early on when we began this study, I pointed out how often he uses the word immediately, immediately, immediately. So he just moves from one event to the next event and the story moves quickly. And I think we have an appreciation for that. So tonight we're going to pick up the storyline. And as we do from verses seven through 19 of chapter three, I want to make seven observations with you this evening.
Seven observations. And I trust that as you sit under the ministry of the word of God and particularly the style of ministry that we honor here, expositional preaching, that you're not only receiving the word of God as it's given to you from the preacher, but you are secondarily being informed and instructed and equipped on how to profitably read the scriptures. As you go to your Bible and have your devotions, how to read scripture and glean truth is part of the benefit, I think, of preaching. I want to commend you tonight because the vast majority of you who are here tonight didn't have to make a decision this afternoon whether you come to church on Sunday night. It's just what you do on the Lord's Day. It's not up for discussion.
It's not something you have to consider week by week. You've decided that for you as a born-again believer to honor the Lord on the Lord's Day, you're going to be in the house of God, not just Sunday morning but Sunday night. Carter and I made that decision 45 years ago when God saved us in 1979. When the house of the Lord, the doors are open, we're there with the people of God. Our children grew up with that, never had to have a battle with our children. I don't want to go to church tonight. Never had that issue. They knew on Sunday where were the people of God in corporate worship on Sunday morning and on Sunday night.
So I commend you because I think the vast majority of you have that same mindset and have instilled that same habit. Well, let's begin with seven observations. Mark continues to record the events of the Galilean ministry of Jesus. But now the location of ministry moves. It moves from the synagogue to the sea. Notice that in verse 7. But Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and a great multitude from Galilee followed him and from Judea and then it goes on to different geographical locations. But remember the passage before, he was in the synagogue, probably in the synagogue in Capernaum, although we don't know exactly but most likely that's where it was. So the first observation I want to make with you is the third word in verse 7.
It is the word withdrew. But Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. This was purposeful on the part of Christ and I want to give you three reasons for this. The first reason is because of the threat to his life. You remember the previous passage, Jesus healed the man with the withered hand and the reaction from religious establishment, the Pharisees, they plotted with the Herodians how they might destroy him. And that was the result of being in the presence of Jesus as he performed this miracle. So the opposition toward Jesus has increased and that's the first reason that Jesus purposefully withdraws with his disciples to the sea in a more rural area away from the setting of the synagogue. It is because of the threat to his life.
Matthew ties that even closer and I think very keenly in his account as he makes this shift as well. He says in Matthew chapter 12 verse 15, but when Jesus knew it, he withdrew from there. And the question is knew what? What did he know? Well, he knew in the previous verse that the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. That was the antecedent to it. They knew it. He knew it.
He knew that they were plotting how they might destroy him. So that's the first reason for this withdrawal. Number two, because of the size of the crowds that were following him, Jesus's popularity is exploding. His reputation, his fame, his miracle working power is being spread far and wide and huge crowds are following him. And the third reason that he withdrew with his disciples was because his time had not yet come.
And there are two things about that. Number one, his time, that is his divine appointment at the cross of Calvary had not come. That was not yet in God's timetable for that to happen now. And number two, because there is a strategic shift purposefully with Jesus that he's moving away from large crowds of people and he is drawing his 12 disciples close to him that he might invest in them, he might equip them, he might prepare them for ministry.
So those are the three reasons that we have this first observation. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. Observation number two is his popularity, the large crowds that Jesus is attracting.
And Mark wants us to know that. He mentions it twice in verse seven. Notice in verse seven and in verse eight, and Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and what? A great multitude, a great multitude from Galilee followed him.
And he mentions other places. Verse eight, in Jerusalem and Edomia and beyond the Jordan and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude. So twice, Mark draws our attention to the fact that great multitudes were following and showing interest in the person and work and ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now the precise size of the crowds is difficult to number, but most likely it's not in the hundreds. Most likely it's in the thousands of people who make up this great multitude that Mark draws our attention to. Mark tells us the geographic areas that people were coming from. Notice he says Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and a great multitude from Galilee followed him. From Galilee, first from that small region of Galilee and then secondly from the south, from Judea. And then he says in Jerusalem in verse eight and even further south in the area of Edomia. Others came from the east, from beyond Jordan, and then still others came from the northwestern area of Tyre and Sidon.
And it's hard for us, you know, we see that, we think about that. I don't know how many of you are in the habit when there are geographical references made in the text of scripture, to just take a pause, go back in your Bible and look at the maps and give thought. Try and find those cities and try and get some kind of an idea. What kind of distance are we talking about? Is this three miles? Is this five miles? Is this a hundred miles? From Capernaum to Jerusalem is about 90 miles. Well, that's not a great encumbrance for us. We get in our automobile and we can drive 90 miles in an hour and a half.
But in that day, the forms of transportation they used, 90 miles is a long way. And people were coming from large, from far-reaching places because of their interest in the work and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. Observation number three, it can be easily overlooked and we don't want to be guilty of that. Mark wants us to observe something even more important and strategic for the spread of the ministry of Jesus than just the great multitudes. Because you know, as well as I know, that there's going to come a time within a couple of years that this great multitude of people that are following him is going to shrink up to basically no one.
John chapter 6, Jesus began to teach and say some pretty difficult things about what it means to be a follower of his, what it means to take up your cross daily, deny yourself and follow him. And it says, people left. Jesus looked at the disciples and said, are you two going to leave? I mean, he's talking to 12 of them. Now keep in mind, here's a multitude of people, probably more than anybody could number. And in a couple of years, it shrinks to these 12 men. And what do these men say? Lord, where do we go?
You alone have the words of eternal life. So because of that, what Mark points out to us is very, very significant. Notice again, verse 7, but Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea. His disciples intermingled in those large crowd. Up to this point, Jesus has called out seven men who will make up that apostolic group, seven men. And before we're done tonight, you'll see that five more are added to make the 12. But at this point, Jesus withdrew with his disciples, the seven men that he's already called to discipleship and to following him.
So please take note of that. Jesus withdrew with his disciples. That's our third observation. Who are those seven men that make up that group, his disciples? Well, there are two sets of brothers. There's Peter and Andrew, and there's James and John. And all four of those men share the same vocation.
They were professional fishermen. Peter, Andrew, James and John. Philip, the fifth, who was from the hometown of Peter and Andrew.
Then Nathaniel. And then we looked just a few weeks ago about the calling of Matthew, the tax collector. Up to this point, those are the seven men who Jesus has singled out and called and they are now in discipleship, following the Lord Jesus and learning from him. So, so far we've seen the withdrawal.
We've seen the crowds and the popularity of Jesus. We've taken note of these disciples. Notice the fourth observation, the problem. The problem.
And what's the problem? Verse nine. So he, that is Jesus, told his disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for him because of the multitude, lest they should crush him.
That's an interesting observation. The size of the crowds and the eagerness of the people to get close enough to Jesus to touch him or for him to take particular notice of them created a mob mentality and could easily have become an unruly crowd. So for the sake of the safety of Jesus, he instructs the disciples to have a small boat ready as an escape from the crowd, if necessary.
That's the problem or the perceived problem. He told his disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for him because of the multitude, lest they should crush him. I don't know about you, but I love the way Mark tells the story. It's engaging. He uses such figurative language. It's easy for us to, he paints us pictures to get our mind around what's going on here. So we've seen the withdrawal and the popularity and the disciples and the problem. Notice with me a fifth observation, a fifth observation. We're told in verse 10, for he healed many so that as many as had afflictions pressed about him to touch him. And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him and cried out, saying, you are the son of God. This fifth observation I've entitled irony, irony.
And what's the irony here? Well, the irony is that while the religious leaders refused to acknowledge Jesus in the face of irrefutable evidence, they were blind to his true identity as the son of God, and they grew in their hatred and opposition to him. While that was happening among the religious crowd, the demons, the demons, the unclean spirits. Mark tells us whenever they saw him, that is Jesus, they fell down before him and cried out, you are the son of God. Now, isn't it ironic that it was that very thing, Jesus declaring himself to be the son of God that so irritated the religious leaders that it provoked them, he must die. That's blasphemy.
We can't tolerate him. And here the demons, the unclean spirits are declaring of Jesus, you are the son of God. This is a preview, I think, of what Paul tells us concerning the exaltation of Jesus in Philippians chapter two, that what at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on earth and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
The irony. It's just you stop and ponder and think and meditate upon that. Oh, the danger of self-righteousness, the danger of external religion, void of any heart change. How damning, how blind, how dishonoring to our Lord. And then a sixth observation, the command, the command that we see recorded in verse 12. But he, that is Jesus, sternly warned them, warned who?
The unclean spirits, the demons. He warned them that they should not make him known. They should not make him known.
Why? Why would Jesus command them? Why would he sternly warn them that they should not make him known? Well, again, because of the divine timetable, it was not time for Jesus, even though Calvary was looming.
He's still a year and a half, two years away from that divine appointment. So for that reason. And number two, there was no value, despite the fact that they were speaking the truth, there was no value in that coming from them. It speaks to us that how our lives need to be consistent. We need to be adorning the gospel as we carry the gospel message with us. And if we're unwilling to yield our lives and be in submission to the lordship of Jesus Christ and adorning the gospel that we proclaim, we're hypocrites, we're confusing the message. So Jesus didn't need these unclean spirits, these demons as his messengers.
He commanded them, sternly warned them that they should not make him known. Now, in fairness, there's more going on than just who they were, because it's quite a while before we get a clear confession out of Peter, who is the lead disciple, about the identity of who Jesus is. Remember that story in Caesarea Philippi, where Jesus asked the question of his men, who do men say that I am? They said, well, some say you're John the Baptist, some say you're Elijah. And Jesus said, well, who do you say that I am? And Peter speaking for the group said, thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. That's recorded in the gospel of Mark.
But in Mark chapter 29, well, let me read this section. Jesus and the disciples went out to the towns of Caesarea Philippi, and on the road he asked the disciples, saying to them, who do men say that I am? So they answered, John the Baptist, but some say Elijah, and others one of the prophets. He said to them, but who do you say that I am? Peter answered and said to him, you are the Christ. Then he strictly warned them that they should not tell, that they should tell no one about him. And again, this isn't the demons, this isn't the unclean spirits, this is the disciples, this is Peter.
He strictly warned them that they should tell no one about him. And again, because he did not want his divine appointment to Calvary to be accelerated. There was a time, God had appointed a time, and this wasn't a time.
So I think that's what's going on there. Six observations, and then we move on to another section, and I wrestled a bit with how big a piece I was going to bite off tonight. I thought verses seven to twelve probably was going to be short, that I probably could say a few things more and really take another eight or ten minutes, but still it would only be seven o'clock and you didn't come for a mini sermon, I don't think.
You came for the typical full course meal. So I thought, well, I'll go on into verse thirteen through verse nineteen and add a seventh observation. And my seventh observation is sovereign selection, sovereign selection. Notice as we look at verse thirteen, and he, that is Jesus, went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted, and they came to him. Boy, you could preach a sermon just on verse thirteen. He went up on the mountain. What are we to understand there? Well, Mark's not telling us the reason that he went up on the mountain, but we know enough about the pattern of the Lord Jesus that at crucial times in his life and ministry that he would retreat to a deserted place, to a mountain, and we have the benefit of Luke telling us in verse twelve of his account that he spent the whole night on the mountain in prayer. What was he doing? He was communing with his father. He was praying to his father. He was seeking the father's will concerning the selection of the other men who would make up this core group that he would invest his life in.
Again, I love how Mark records this. And he went up on the mountain, and he called to him those he himself wanted. Three references to the person of Jesus just in that one sense, and Mark wants us to know that that prerogative was given to the Lord Jesus Christ. That was his authority to exercise, and he was the one making the selection.
This is sovereign selection. And I think, again, without stretching and adding an analogy here, I think that's a good picture of the effectual call that comes in the gospel. How did the men respond when he called them?
What's it say in verse thirteen? He went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted, and they came to him. Those who Jesus wants, those whom Jesus sovereignly selects, will infallibly, without fail, come to him.
We have that promise in the scriptures. They came to him. Sovereign selection. Well, what was the curriculum? What was the protocol for his training?
What was he going to do? Notice what it tells us. Then he, that is Jesus, appointed twelve. Again, up to this point, there had only been seven, but there's five more men who are sovereignly selected to make up this group, to round out the twelve. Then he appointed twelve that, or so that, they might be with him.
That's the curriculum. Being with Jesus. Not in a classroom, not a textbook, but being with Jesus.
No substitute for that. Being with Jesus, and so that he might send them out to preach. What were these men's vocations?
Of the twelve men he called, at least six, some could argue seven of the twelve men, were fishermen, ordinary men. Well, they had turned their back on their vocation, and now they were going to be preachers. He appointed twelve that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach. They would be trained through a rigorous, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, intense strategic mentoring program. They would be with Jesus for the remainder of his earthly sojourn. They would be taught and instructed by him. They would be observed by him. They would be equipped by him. They would be sent out to preach. They would be given divine power to heal and exercise dominion over demons. Remember the reason Jesus, one of the reasons we're told Jesus came?
To destroy the works of the devil? Well, he was going to employ these twelve in that same business of destroying the works of the devil. Seven men, or twelve men, these five men will be added. Jesus selected a group, a small group, a small number of twelve.
None of them came from the religious establishment. And by selecting these twelve men, Jesus was sending an unmistakable message to the leaders of Israel, that they were spiritually disqualified. They were spiritually disqualified because he confronted them numerous times. He confronted them directly, publicly, and he renounced them publicly. The cross was looming. It was drawing nearer and nearer, and Jesus set his face toward Calvary.
But he also made preparations for what would happen after his death. Who would carry on this message? Who could entrust this work of reconciliation to? None of the twelve, none of the twelve turned in an application. None of them submitted a resume. And even if they had, their credentials would have been utterly unimpressive.
Religiously, educationally, socially, they were unqualified, common men. But they were the ones Jesus himself selected. I think one of the freeing things about sovereign grace of God in salvation, when we begin to understand that God has set his affections upon us in eternity past, before we were ever born.
That our names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life before we had a name. And we wonder, why would God choose me? Why would he single me out? Why would he make me one of his followers?
Why would he set his affections on me? And the only answer we have is because that's what he decided to do. Because that's what he wanted to do.
Just like it says here. He called those he himself wanted. Don't go looking within yourself to find something that would be the reason why God would choose you. That that would be the reason that you could commend yourself to God. No, there's nothing, there's nothing in you or me that would cause the Lord Jesus to choose us.
It's all hidden in the councils of the triune God. And he chose us because that's what he wanted to do. For his own purposes, for his own honor and glory. And it may be because he chose the most unlikely so he gets the most glory. If there was any hint that was, well, he's got potential.
I could use him because he, no, that's not it at all. He chose the most unlikely. You remember Jesus would tell the men later in John chapter 15, You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you would go forth and bear fruit and that your fruit would remain. See, up to this point, there's a huge shift taking place. Up to this point, the public ministry of the Lord Jesus was carried out primarily in large crowds.
He accommodated the people who came to him. And we know because of what transpires when the difficulty comes and the cost of following Jesus rises that people fell away. People fell away.
People fell away. Now think about how large the crowds had to be now. He hasn't fed the 5,000 yet. There's miracles yet that he will do that attracts the curiosity of many people. So Jesus is not interested in drawing a crowd. He's not interested in popularity.
He's showing us that his strategic purpose is tied to a small group of men. These men are going to learn that their calling will not be easy. The religious establishment of Israel, they will disdain them.
They will hate them because they hate Jesus. So don't take it personal. And that's a good lesson for us, isn't it? You're overlooked at work for an advancement when you're probably the most qualified. Well, does the management know you're a Christian? Yes.
Are they favorable to that? No. Which is more important to you, a promotion at work or being identified as a follower of Jesus? Are you willing to bear that cross?
Are you willing to pay that price? These 12 men, Jesus is going to send them forth to preach. But they never preached before. They didn't start out as preachers. As I've already said, more than at least half of them, maybe seven of the 12 were fishermen. One was a tax collector.
Another was a freedom fighter. None of them had received a formal theological education. Yet when Jesus is done with them, those who started out as learners or disciples will become the apostles. They will be the foundation of the church the Lord Jesus Christ establishes.
So we see here sovereign selection. Jesus personally selected them. He will disciple them. He will radically transform them and He will empower them with His Spirit.
You remember when Jesus sent them out, the 70 two by two, and obviously these 12 were probably included in that 70. And when they came back, Jesus said, Don't be rejoicing that the demons are subject to you. But rejoice in what instead? Rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Rejoice in that. Because they'll come a day when the demons won't always be subject to you.
There'll be times when opposition will overtake you. There'll be times that you don't yet know. But Jesus prophesied that you'll give your life for my name's sake. You'll give your life for the gospel that you are proclaiming. So rejoice that your names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. And then Mark goes on to give us the names of all 12 of these disciples. Beginning at verse 16 all the way down through verse 19.
He begins with Simon or Peter and he ends with Judas Iscariot. There are four places in the New Testament where you find the list of these men. Matthew chapter 10 verses 2 through 4. Here in Mark chapter 3 verses 16 to 19. Luke records the same 12 men in chapter 6 verses 13 to 16. And then in Acts chapter 1 verse 13 and then verse 26. And in each of those lists there's some interesting things that I want to draw your attention to. I don't know, I think it'll help you understand and read your Bible better.
I don't know whether there's any great applications here but it's just some things that are worth taking note of. In each one of the lists, those four places where this list of the 12 men are given, they're organized in the same three subgroups of four. So there's three subgroups, four, four, and four. And they're listed in decreasing intimacy with Jesus. So the first group that consists of, let's see, the four brothers. Peter and Andrew and James and John. Those first four that Jesus called, those are the four that enjoyed the greatest intimacy with Jesus. And then the next group and then the next group.
But decreasing intimacy as you move from the first group to the second group and even a lesser intimacy to the third group. We know very little about, well not very little, but a whole lot less about those in category three or group three than group two. The most we know of any of these men are the first four that are mentioned. And of those four, there are three that particularly stand out to us. Peter, James, and John. Those are the three that joined Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. Those are the three that Jesus had with them outside the Garden of Gethsemane on that fateful night. Those are the men that enjoyed this unique special intimacy with Jesus around the table.
Who was it that was leaning on Jesus' breast? It was John who made up that first group. So the first group, those two sets of brothers, Peter and Andrew, James and John. The second group included Philip and Nathaniel, Matthew and Thomas. And the third consisted of James, the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Zealot, and Judas Iscariot.
The name, when you find this list, look at that list, the name that starts each subgroup is also consistent. Peter is always head of the first group. He's always mentioned first.
And what we're to learn from that is of that first group that enjoyed the greatest intimacy with Jesus, Peter is the lead disciple. His personality fit it. He always spoke for the rest of them. Sometimes he got himself in trouble. Sometimes the greatest confession comes out of his mouth. When he said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said, Flesh and blood hath revealed this to you, but my Father which is in heaven. What a commendation. And then two or three verses later, he blows it all when Jesus began to talk about going to Jerusalem and dying. No, no, Lord, no.
Think about this. Jesus gives us wonderful commendation. And then two or three verses later, he says to him, Get thee behind me, Satan.
What's going on there? Well, that's how fickle we can be. And misguided in our understanding.
That's what was going on. So each of these subgroups has a leader. Peter is the leader of the first group. And who's the leader of the second group? Philip.
And then the third group, James. So just an observation. I don't know again that there's any great application for us, but again, there's no room for jealousy. This is how God ordained it. This is how the Lord arranged it. It's, you know, when you talk with somebody who's a believer and they seem to enjoy a more fruitful, a richer relationship with the Lord than you do, don't be jealous of that. When I see that, I think, well, God's no respecter of persons. That person perhaps has availed themselves more of the means of grace than I am or there may be further down the road. They've been a believer longer than I have. I've talked to some people who've come to the Lord later in life in their late 30s, early 40s.
And one of the things that they have to wrestle with is regret. I wish I wasn't so late to the party. I wish I was 15, 20 years younger.
I feel like a babe and I am a babe and I'm 40 years old or whatever. Well, there's no way to erase the past. You can't undo the past. Rejoice of the fact that you're included in the beloved.
You're one of his followers. And rather than dwell on regrets, find a high gear. Get it in high gear and make up for lost time, right? Grow, mature, give yourself to the means of grace. I have thought personally that myself at times, I came to the church here when I was 39 years of age and there were times I wished I were 10 years younger and the Lord just gently reminded me, the Lord wasn't speaking to me, but just this came over me. You've been in preparation for ministry a long time. You were in preparation for ministry before I ever saved you. It was not by accident that you worked for your father in a business. It wasn't by accident you learned relational skills and how to deal with the public. It wasn't by accident this, this, that, and the other.
It wasn't by accident that your mother died of cancer when you were eight years old. That's all part of my plan, that you might be sensitive and have a heart of compassion for those who have similar losses in life. That was part of my training. Now it didn't take place in a classroom, but God was superintending my life and working and preparing me for his calling on my life, just like these men. Those men, when Jesus said to those fishermen, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. They understood something about fishing because that was their whole life. And you and I can talk about, well, what did Jesus mean by that? Well, they knew what he meant by that. I imagine they had many a talk that isn't recorded in the scriptures.
Can you just see them sitting around with Jesus? Jesus, this is a whole lot better than catching fish. I remember one time I caught this many fish or that many fish, but man, that fades in comparison to this.
I can in my mind imagine them having conversations like this. We really thought we were something. We thought we really knew how to catch fish and we fished all night long. And there you were on the seashore.
You weren't fishing at all. And there you called to us from the shore. You had fish in a pan already for us to eat. We learned you were Lord of the fish because we'd fished all night and we thought we knew a whole lot about fishing and you told us to throw the net on the other side. And we thought, hmm, I wouldn't have obeyed that coming from anybody else.
But because you said that, they threw the net on the other side and what did they do? Caught more fish than probably had ever caught before in their life. Yeah, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. So from a human standpoint, these 12 men were odd choices because they were uneducated, they were untrained, they were uninfluential. They didn't hold power seats in society. They weren't movers and shakers. They were just ordinary men. Yet, from God's standpoint, they were the perfect choice.
Weak and imperfect instruments. Through Him, His power would be gloriously displayed. And it was through these 12 men. The book of Acts tells us they turned the world upside down. They turned the world upside down with this message. Their lives were changed. They were transformed. What an impact they had.
It's just hard to get our minds around. Jesus' earthly ministry, three years, at the end of three years. What success could He point to?
What could He say? This is the result of the Son of God being on planet earth for three years. He poured His life into 12 men. And when the heat got turned up and the pressure was on and the threat was to their life, they all abandoned Him and He died on the cross alone.
They're in the upper room with the doors locked for fear of the religious establishment. And yet, they were endued with power from on high. Jesus had 120 or so in the upper room, the fruit of His earthly ministry. And Peter preached on the day of Pentecost and one sermon resulted in 3,000 people being converted. It's astounding when you think about it.
Peter, a boastful, often sticking his foot in his mouth kind of guy. God used him in remarkable ways. And not just that, but later on you see 3,000 were added, 5,000 were added, 10,000 were added to the church. The church exploded. The foundation was laid.
The foundation was laid with these 12 apostles. So our Lord could use such ordinary vessels to accomplish His great purposes underscores the supernatural purpose of His sovereign power. He took a dozen ordinary men and transformed them into the most powerful force known to this world. There's been nothing greater occur in the history apart from the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into this earth, but in terms of human activity, God using these men, the establishment of the church and its existence through the ages. All praise and honor and glory to Almighty God for what He did through 12 ordinary men.
So what do we take away tonight? I don't think any of us are sitting here going, well, I'm glad I'm not like those men. I'm not ordinary.
We're all ordinary people, right? And if the Lord could use ordinary men like them, He can use you and I. Now, nobody's going to go back and do what they did. What they did had a purpose in redemptive history.
They laid a foundation for the church that the church is built on. But let's not focus on what we think we can't do. Let's realize that God chooses weak vessels to do great things through for His own honor and glory. So your weakness is not a liability, but it's an asset.
Don't get locked up in, well, I can't do this, I can't do that. Well, that's exactly what God's looking for. Inability to demonstrate His ability, His supernatural ability. Just an ordinary man in northwestern Pennsylvania, Don Perry, I've told you about him. God used him to invite me to a Bible study on a Thursday night over and over and over again, probably five or six weeks in a row until I finally relented, not for the right reason, but just so He'd leave us alone and go into that Bible study among a number, a handful of people. Christ was made irresistible to me and God saved me out of His goodness and kindness and mercy. I've told Don numerous times, Don many times, he was just such a good friend. We spent a lot of time together in the woods doing different things and he cried when I left northwestern PA. And later on, I didn't realize how hard he took it. Twenty years later, he said to me, that's one of the hardest things when you left, you were my friend. And I said, well, brother, God had greater purposes in my departure from you. As much as I valued our friendship, God used you to bring me to Christ and God had greater purposes for my life.
So let's yield our lives afresh to Him with humility and without any demands upon God. But just God, if you use those men, could you use me? Is there some way you could use me strategically to reach somebody, to make some contribution to your kingdom? And the ways that we can do that are so varied and so many, you can't make an exhaustive list.
But you've been good at doing that very thing. We have, in my opinion, an impressive admissions budget and those faith promise cards that come in, I collect them, I see them, there's no names on any of the cards, but I count and see 35, 40 people who submit a card to give, at the minimum, $100 a month and some $200, $300 a month, that make up the total that fund our admissions budget. You might think, well, me giving $100 a month isn't much. Well, you're 100 plus another person's 100 a month and it all adds up and we're able to do what we're doing for the sake of the gospel, reaching out, building a missionary family that we're in partnership with. That's just one example. There's so many ministries that contribute to the health of a church.
Ladies, working in a nursery is no fun. But when you give yourself to serve Christ and his church by taking a place in the nursery, that's a contribution you can make. Teaching a Sunday school class, teaching in children's church, singing in a choir, involved in ESL ministry, there's so many ministries here at the church that there's... God saves us on purpose that we might serve him in some way, make a contribution to his kingdom enterprise. And what a gracious God we serve. He says, not even a cup of cold water given in my name will fail to be rewarded in that day. Like, reward? You're gonna reward me? You're gonna reward us? That's the kind of God he is. Save us, use us, and then reward us.
Well, let's pray. Father, we thank you tonight for your word, for what we found here in Mark's gospel. Thank you for your precious word that instructs us and encourages us. Father, we bow before you in humility, thanking you for your mercy and your kindness and calling us out of darkness into your marvelous light. Father, continue to grow your church, protect your church, and build your church for your own honor and glory, and we'll thank you for it. In Jesus' name, Amen.
