The Twelve Apostles (Part A)

I would like to say, pick me.

I would not want to be left out of the number. And therefore, I find this to be a very important section of scripture for us today. We who say we follow and believe the Lord Jesus Christ, we should be very interested in the people whom He has had His eyes on, whom He has prayed over all night for the work of ministry, for the work of others, that is, to His glory. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Mark.

Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. Today, Pastor Rick begins a brand new study called the Twelve Apostles, in Mark chapter three. Mark's Gospel, chapter three.

If you have your Bibles, we will take verses 13 through 19. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted, and they came to him. Then he appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach and to have power to heal sickness and to cast out demons. Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter. James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Berenages, that is, sons of thunder. Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus, Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him, and they went into a house. I'm very much interested in the men that Jesus picked to be close to him. I would like to say, pick me.

I would not want to be left out of the number. And therefore, I find this to be a very important section of scripture for us today. We who say we follow and believe the Lord Jesus Christ, we should be very interested in the people whom he has had his eyes on, whom he has prayed over all night for the work of ministry, for the work of others, that is, to his glory. Interesting thing, this morning as I was driving in, it was interesting to me, and I'm talking to the Lord, and then I asked, what do I pray, Lord, that really is for you? I pray so many things that are concerning me in the interest of those around me, but what is really for you after we get past the Lord, you know, we praise you, we thank you, and then what happens?

And I think that it is healthy, of course, to think those things as a Christian, to take our eyes off of the things around us and look up at the Lord's throne where he sits and say, what can I do for you? And that is what ministry is. It is saying to the Lord, what can I do for you? And it is on behalf of others, it is to God's glory and to our benefit. We are considering the 12 apostles, and it's a very important subject. When we get to the letter in Ephesians, Paul writes to that church, he says, he himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, pastor-teachers. And then he goes on to say, for the equipping of the saints, for the work of ministry, for the edification of the body of Christ. But at the top of that list, there are the apostles. There'd be no church without them. Jude, in the end of his letter, having already referenced the importance of the apostles, says, but you, but you, beloved.

I love how he singles out the flock and the individuals within the flock. But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord's appointment of his 12 apostles is so important to the ministry of Messiah that in the heavenly city, there will be monuments celebrating their selection and their work. Revelation 21, now, the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. So this is big stuff.

You could pass over it very quickly reading it. You know, we get to the names, and, you know, he went and he prayed. Okay, we just take it for granted. It's almost, you know, sometimes the miracles that Christ did are really not impressive from this perspective. Well, of course he's God. Of course he could do that. I'm not surprised.

I'd be surprised if he couldn't. But we've got to be careful with those things because they can make us dull. And so we look at verse 13. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those he himself wanted, and they came to him. Now, of course, he doesn't mean he picked those he wanted and he didn't want the others, but he wants to bring around him these men, hand-picked, selected by him for a greater purpose.

Without this move, according to all we know about the New Testament church to this day, without this move, there'd be no New Testament church. This mountain, of course, it offered the privacy and it reduced the distractions where he could pray and concentrate. And whenever we come to the mountains in Mark concerning the disciples, it's kind of interesting the Lord is praying.

Here he's choosing them in Mark 3. In Mark 6, he's watching them struggle in the acts of obedience there on the Sea of Galilee while he is on most likely Mount Arbel, praying for them. And then in Mark 9, he is up on the mountain with them and there he reveals himself to him in his glory, in his splendor, in the Mount of Transfiguration, that great moment. Luke says that he prayed all night about these men. Luke 6, verse 12. Now it came to pass in those days that he went out to the mountain to pray and continued all night in prayer to God. So this is pretty intense.

Nothing routine about this. By morning, he was ready to make his choices known and there was a dozen men that he would pick. He knew from the beginning what would happen to Judas, but Judas was given every chance to not let that happen. And of course, while God knows what's going to happen, it does not mean he caused it. And that, I think, is an important part about theology. Well, this is a special group of men who were chosen by him to be not only disciples but apostles. Took them to the next level in Acts, chapter 1, and we call it Acts of the Apostles, that book that follows the book of John.

Some would like to change the name or also, as an alternate, offer up Acts of the Holy Spirit. Well, it would be Acts of the Holy Spirit in the lives of the apostles. Such a revelation of what the Lord was intending when he picked these men.

Acts, chapter 1. Of course, Luke starts off with writing to Theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do and to teach. And then he says, until the day in which he was taken up after he, through the Holy Spirit, had given commandments to the apostles whom he had chosen. So there, Luke, again, under the leading of the Holy Spirit, is making this point. He's emphasizing their role, which would give them authority to block out those who would corrupt the church in its early stages. As Paul said, after my departure, ravenous wolves will come in, not sparing the flock. These men had a lot of authority in the church. Matthew 18, 18.

Jesus, speaking to them, said, Assuredly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. That's a lot of authority. They needed that. Otherwise, they'd be looking over their shoulders constantly to make the right move. They get paranoid. You know, paranoia can really get out of hand.

You go to a football game, you see them huddle, you're thinking they're talking about you. That's pretty self-centered. Men who could carry on his work after he departed, that fledgling stage in the early stages, the birth of the church, that first church in that sense. There would be no book of Acts, there would be no church without what Jesus is doing here. And he does not go to the schools of the rabbis to find these men. I mean, Gamaliel had a great school there in Jerusalem.

Paul was an alumni of that school. He passes, of course, the Lord does. He opts not to go there to find these followers, these men who will be closely related to him. He did not put it to a vote.

He did not establish a committee. He went to his Father in heaven, and that's where it was settled. The Lord is in habit of inviting, but not insisting. And he stands at the door and knocks, but we never see him knock the door down.

We never see him break and enter. He wants to be a part of us and what we're doing, but he will not force himself. And he chose men who at this moment were not ready.

There was nothing remarkable about them. They will be ready by the time he is done with them. He will make them so. Thus, verse 14, if you look with me now, then he appointed twelve, that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach. Well, a twelve symbolic, of course, of the twelve tribes of Israel, but it's more than that here.

This is symbolic of reestablishment. He is reconstructing the plan of God in comparison to what was already made known, which was Judaism. He is saying, now, now we are structuring, going forward, the new covenant. The Messiah is here, and this is how he is going to set it up. The people of God will be set up around the apostles, the New Testament teaching. That's why we are ministers of the new covenant, Paul said. Not without the old covenant, but the new does take precedence. Jeremiah 31, behold, days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.

Well, that day is here and it's coming now. Christ is making that transition and bringing in these twelve men is very much a big part of it. He says that they might be with him. Well, if we have not been with Jesus, we really have nothing to say on his behalf. We really cannot minister effectively. What do we have to preach if we have not been with Jesus? How can you share the gospel if you have not been with Jesus? Acts again, chapter 19, we have a story of these men who wanted to sort of reduce the Christian work to a formula that would fit anyone, and they had no relationship with Christ, and they sought to cast out a demon.

It was a big mistake for them. Acts 19, verse 13, then some of the itinerant Jewish exorcists took it upon themselves to call the name of the Lord Jesus over those who had evil spirits saying, we exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. Not whom we know, whom we've been with, who we preach, but they sort of, you know, vicariously. Someone else is really doing this, which is the spokesman.

That was the idea. In verse 15 of Acts 19, and the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus, I know. Paul, I know, but who are you?

It just speaks volumes to us. You can't pretend at the faith. You can't pretend in ministry. Many people come into a church and they think they are owed a position in the church because of their position outside the church.

It doesn't work that way. Continuing in Acts 19, verse 16, then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them, and prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. They didn't get much done that day by borrowing Christianity. We have to be with him that they might be with him. Again, apart from being with Jesus, we detect nothing in ourselves useful for him.

Their connection with him made them remarkable eventually, but not without blood. In Psalm 110, a psalm that Jesus applied to himself and then the church picked it up and continued it. We see it again in the book of Acts and afterwards. Psalm 110 is a messianic psalm. Jesus, using that psalm, is saying, I am the Messiah and I am here. But verse 3 of Psalm 110 is this way. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power, in the beauties of holiness, from the womb of the mourning. You have the dew of your youth.

Here might be a good point to say. These men were probably, I cannot say for all of them, but some of them were in their 20s. They were young men, you could say, like me. And here, what he is saying, you have the dew of your youth. You have retained your freshness. You have not become jaded, worn out because of opposition. You're still fresh.

There's still energy that is with you. You have the dew of your youth. So the king keeps his first freshness through life, through service, through ministry, unlike, for example, those in Hosea chapter 6, where the prophet says this about those of the tribe of Ephraim. He says, O Ephraim, what shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud, and like the early dew, it goes away. So you catch the contrast there in Hosea. He's writing to the tribes, to the kingdom, actually, the northern tribes represented by Ephraim and Judah, Simeon represented by Judah. And he says that, you know, your devotion is fickle.

It's not trustworthy. It's here one minute, it's gone the next minute. When the sun rises and beats on the dew, it dries it up.

It's gone. In contrast to Messiah, you have the dew of your youth, and it is retained from the womb of the morning, from the very beginning. And so he goes forth with vigor, with holiness and glory.

It does not fade. And those who follow him are dedicated volunteers. That's how it starts off in Psalm 110. Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power. Why does he need that power?

Because he has to confront. He has to do battle. And these men are going to be a part of that battle, as we are to this very day. Souls get saved because there is still a church, and there's still a church because the church is battled. And the church is pure and strong in the eyes of God because of the blood of Christ. It is to preach the word, which is emphasized throughout the New Testament.

Here's an interesting thing. When you go into a Bible-believing church, you see the pulpit. That is the centerpiece. The saying to all visitors is the word of God is preached here. What God has to say is paramount here. Now, not to pick a fight, but to make a contrast, you go into a Roman Catholic church, it's the altar. It's not the pulpit that's center stage.

That's their choice. Our choice is, thus saith the Lord, faith comes by hearing, hearing by the words of God, precept upon precept, line upon line. Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.

Preach the word in season, out of season, convict, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering teaching, for the time will come when they will no longer endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires will heap up for themselves teachers. And so, yes, the pulpit is centerpiece, and that's why we keep reading, and Jesus went into the synagogue. Luke, in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, he refers to going into the synagogue more than all of them. That's where the battleground was in the early days, where they were making it clear that Christianity was not a sect of Judaism.

Christianity was the next phase of the prophets as found in the Old Testament according to God. And so here we are joining the fight as these 12, as those early Israelites rallied behind Deborah and Barak to do battle. Judges 5-18, they made a song about them. Some of them did not show up to the battle, and that's in the song also. They were busy, you know, cutting bait and putting the bait on hooks, but they weren't at the battlefield. But these two tribes here, Zebulun, is a people who jeopardized their lives to the point of death.

Neftali also, on the heights of the battlefield, they responded to the call. Well, is that not a picture of what we're supposed to do as Christians? That's why we serve. We don't say, well, I'll serve if I like it.

You may like it, nothing wrong with that. But if you do like serving, the time will come where you will be challenged. I've found personally everything is challenged. Nothing gets a pass in this life. As a Christian, whatever you commit to, it will be resisted at some point. You can go years loving the Word and then out of nowhere, the love you see, you can't find it now. And you'll have to fight to get it back. These things should not knock us off the top of the hill.

They should make us be ready to stay on top of the hill. What would we expect from a devil? Roses?

I mean, if he gives you roses, it's going to be like something Daffy Duck would give, you know, it'd be a bomb in it. Revelation 1211 makes this connection to those of Judges 5 18. They overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives to the death.

Why is that? Because death meant for them new life. And it was not worth turning against Jesus in this life. Still, even this is not enough to make followers of Jesus Christ into disciples, into apostles. You can follow him, but are you disciplined enough to continue to follow?

And are you then disciplined enough to be sent out? Well, that's what the word apostle means, those who are sent. So we come now to this next clause in verse 14, that he might send them out to preach. And there it is, to preach.

The goal is not to first appeal to the emotions. The goal is to get to the soul of the individual. And so this sending them out to preach earns them this title apostles. A microcosm of what the Christian mission is, is to preach the word, to tell people about what God has said to be right with God and to live in this life, to preach.

Not to be celebrities, not to be social activists. These men were to preach God's word, and they were not to be anything less than tellers of the word of God. How trivial is preaching to so many that profess Christ?

They really just want to come for the songs. They don't want to sit under the word. It's not easy to sit there for, I don't know, we have sermons in like 10 minutes here, and it can be hard to sit for 10 minutes, or am I just losing track of time?

Yes, it's hard to listen to one man speak on a topic for an hour, but it's what it takes. And if you start whittling that away, you're going to whittle it away until you have these little sermonette, these little cute little things that mention, you know, something like, you know, blessed are the merciful for they shall find mercy. Okay, everybody, let's sing another song. That's not the Christianity. Paul preached so long people fell out of windows.

I mean, it was just, died. The people get killed over at that church. Knock them dead, Paul. So understand that a pastor is not looking, how can I make the sermon? When he starts thinking, how can I make this shorter?

That might be a problem. We ought to be disciplined. Well, again, he sent them out to preach, and this led to their deaths and persecutions.

Incidentally, it was not just this game. I just love giving commentary on the Bible. I love just telling people what, you know, about Moses throwing down the stones and, you know, Daniel in the den.

Yeah, just as long as no one's throwing stones at me and throwing me into a den. But that's what we're finding out in the age we live in. We're beginning to face increased persecution. Our preaching leads to the countless amount of souls getting saved. That's what it's about. Getting saved from a very real hell that they think they can somehow survive. You know, it's this mindset of, well, I made it this far. Like, that's going to work for you in hell.

It will not. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Verse 15, to have power to heal sickness and to cast out demons. Well, of course, in Jesus' day and in some other sections of the ancient days of the prophets, visible miracles were widespread. But that's not the case anymore, because we're in the age of truth now. We're in the age of grace by faith. God's grace comes before his truth in this sense. If there is no grace, then what does the truth matter? But it is because of his grace and his kindness that truth means something to me. It gives me a chance now with God. In the Old Testament, when you came to the tabernacle to make your offering, it was the grace of God that let you come do that.

That's why he chased Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, lest the aid of the other tree. And God knows what he's doing, and by faith we know that. So as important as healing is to us, and if you are sick or a loved one is sick, healing becomes very important, but it is still secondary to God. And we have to learn to accept this. It's not easy, and I'm not trying to make this to overly simplify it, but first things are the first things, and they are fixed.

They don't move because they are right. Knowledge of God is always foremost. What good is it if a person is physically sick and spiritually sick too, so they get better just to die and go to hell later?

What benefit is that to anybody? Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio for this study in the book of Mark. Cross Reference Radio is the teaching ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. To learn more information about this ministry, visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com. Once you're there, you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick. We encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of each new edition of Cross Reference Radio. You can search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. That's all we have time for today, but we hope you'll join us next time as Pastor Rick continues to teach through the book of Mark, right here on Cross Reference Radio.