Witness Tampering (Part A)

In the season of joy or out of the season of joy, whatever is going on with longsuffering, teach the Word. Stay focused on these eternal things. Be a witness.

Fulfill your calling. Regardless of the corruption of government, cultural immorality, along with all of its hatred towards Jesus that is just expanding in society right now, what do we do with these things? 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. But for now, here's Pastor Rick in Mark chapter 9 with a new message called Witness Tempering. We are in the Gospel according to Mark chapter 9. We will take verses 38 through 50 in a moment.

Gospel of Mark chapter 9. Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, assuredly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands to go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame rather than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. For every one will be seasoned with fire and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt.

Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another. Witness tampering, that's what we're going to be talking about this morning. The witness tells what Christ has told them or what has shown them. The witness says, this is what I've seen. I'm a witness to what Christ has revealed to me.

And for those of us who were born again, the first stop is the conviction, the truth, the love, all at one time. My approach to pulpit ministry in response to our problems in life, whatever you may be going through, whatever I may be going through, politics around us, the culture, my response to these things as a pastor is to remain focused as a witness on what Jesus has shown me, has shown his people, has shown the world through his word. Even when we have not gained the victory, maybe there's a pressing need in our life, maybe it's a health issue, maybe our legal matters, maybe family problems, marital problems, the list goes on and on. And we wait for the Lord to answer our prayers and he oftentimes delays.

What do you do? You fret, you keep moving forward. As a pastor, the pulpit keeps moving forward.

And I need to have something from the word that tells me what to do, how to approach these things. What do you do, pastor, when you have all these unanswered prayers and all these problems going around? Well, you preach the word.

That's what you do. Paul from prison writing to a young pastor said, preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, convict, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching in the season of joy or out of the season of joy. Whatever is going on with longsuffering, teach the word, stay focused on these eternal things, be a witness, fulfill your calling.

Regardless of the corruption of government, cultural immorality, along with all of its hatred towards Jesus that is just expanding in society right now, what do we do with these things? There are many biblical examples. I'm going to take this one from Daniel 6. Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, this was the writing that forbade Daniel to practice his faith.

He went home and in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days. This was not I'm going to defy you and start doing this in your face. This was I'm going to defy you because this is what I do. I worship my God. And if you classify that as defiance, well, that's what you have to do.

For me, it is obedience. And I say these things because I think that many times Christians expect the pulpit to address particular needs, to cherry pick them. Well, if God points out something that I need to say, then I will preach a topical message on that as he gives it to me. There's not a week that goes by where I do not first go to the Lord and say, what do you want me to say on Sunday? And most of the time he says, well, what you have before you in the text is just what I want to be said to the assembly that will listen to you.

And so here we are. We're going verse by verse through the scripture, in season and out of season, because that's what's going to make us stronger no matter what. If you do not believe that, I question your approach to your faith. The word of God is a very big deal to God. It is the mind of God. It is the voice of God.

And in it, everything we need to have covered is covered. Now, in this section that we are looking at as witnesses, our Lord has been speaking against self-promotion in ministry. Remember, they were on the road heading towards Capernaum, and the apostles were arguing with themselves who was the greatest, who was the better one of the bunch.

And Christ didn't let it go by. He said, what were you guys talking about? They didn't want to answer. So he's been encouraging them to remain innocent witnesses, blameless witnesses. He told them that you've got to have that childlike innocence in ministry where you're not looking to harm others, where you're dependent upon God.

Not having a competitive spirit that is clawing and snarling and growling and reaching for things that it thinks it wants. But have the childlike spirit. And of course, he picks the child up, and they all can look at the little child in his hands, and they can see the innocence personified in the child. This prompted John the apostle to recall something that was not in line with what Christ was teaching them. John remembered that, you know, I got in the flesh. Well, all of them did, but John is the one that brings it up. We weren't very childlike when we chased the man away who was dealing with demonic things in your name. And so for John, this was an uh-oh moment when he heard Jesus speak about these things in relationship to their arguing and striving. He was convicted, and he says in verse 38 now, we look at, Now John answered him, saying, Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us.

So it's not random, this statement. If you look at verse 37, there we read Jesus' words, Whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. Well, that prompted John to answer and say, Well, wait a minute, I've lost some of this innocence. We went after someone because we were protecting our territory.

We weren't really thinking about you too much. We were striving in ministry in the flesh. So again, verse 38 is not random. Christ has been telling them that when you serve, you should not treat other servants as opponents. Unless they're opponents of Christ. And so he says we forbade them. Saying, Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name. Now John's not boasting.

He's confessing a failure. It's odd that someone would be casting out demons in the name of Jesus so early, before the resurrection, but there it was. And when he says again, we forbade him because he did not follow us, the apostles, they believed.

They were the sole agents of Jesus, and this was a mistake. They did not say we stopped him because he does not follow you. He stopped him because he doesn't follow us, and Jesus doesn't call him on that. He doesn't have to. He sees that John is saying, Okay, this wasn't right. But if he wanted to, he can say, What is this us stuff? What's this following us?

It's following me. And the Lord says, Why don't you leave such people to me? I'll deal with these things. Now this isn't, we'll open it up a little bit because there are certainly times where you have to address people who aren't on Christ's side. They're using his name nonetheless. So verse 39, But Jesus said, Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterward speak evil of me.

Now this is the ideal. He's not talking about those who are frauds. And he says, Do not forbid him, indicating that Jesus, to me, as I read it, he knew of the situation. He knew of the man. Certainly the apostles did not have information that Christ did not have. If Christ did not deal with him, what were they dealing with?

They should have brought it to him, of course. In his name, do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name, under his lordship, that is. How many people say they're Christians, but they're not under his lordship? His authority does not mean, you know, they have a problem with authority. They have a problem with the authority of Jesus Christ. They have a problem with the authority of those whom Christ has appointed to have authority.

Well, those are what you call troublemakers, and hopefully they'll work it out, and if they don't work it out, it won't go well for them, and that's what is being dealt with here. Don't mess with the witnesses of Christ. Don't mess with those who see what Jesus is doing and telling it like it is. John was a hand-picked follower of Christ. He walked with Christ, and still he got this wrong. And Christ does not humiliate him.

He just lays it out for him. Now, as far as those who do preach in the name of, for the Old Testament, the name of Yahweh, those in the New Testament era who preach in the name of Christ, but don't adhere to what has been captured in the word, well, the Bible has safeguards for us. In the Old Testament, for example, Deuteronomy 13 just clearly lays it out. You have someone coming along, telling about dreams and prophesying, but they're not sticking to my word. Then they're false prophets, and I'm allowing them to do these things to test your faith, because you are supposed to refer to the Scriptures, to my word, to you. In the New Testament, we have passages such as this from Galatians, where Paul says, But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you, then that what we have preached to you, let him be anathema, let him be accursed, let him go to hell if that's what he wants to do, because there is no other gospel. There's no auxiliary gospel.

The one we have is good enough. In Ephesians, he says, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. To those of us who love the word, these words mean something. They mean a lot to us, because they come from God.

There are instructions on how we should live. You know, we talk about sola scriptura, Scripture alone. Scripture alone what? Well, it is the authority for salvation, and it is the authority for human behavior. I'm not interested in psychology from the world, especially when they glaze Christian over it.

Oh, I've got to accept it now. He himself has given some to be. Apostles, prophets, evangelists, psychologists.

No, he has not. And a lot of Christians get very upset at that, because they don't want the pastors, they don't want the church to uphold the word. So they seek other sources, because they're not facing what they need to face the right way so their problem doesn't go away. They go to the world and look for a side order of Christ with their order and hope that their problems are going to be solved, and they don't get solved.

He himself has given, and that's what we're interested in. In the book of Acts, we find the apostles investigating emerging ministries. Early in those days, for example, when Philip goes to Samaria, there's this acceptance, this outburst of the faith. People are coming to Christ, and so what did the church in Jerusalem, which at that time was the hub, the headquarters, you could say, what did they do in response to that? They dispatched Peter and John to go up and look into this. What we're talking about is Jesus saying, someone who does a miracle in my name, who believes in me, is on our side. And we say to that, yes, Lord, we agree. However, there are those who use your name and they're not on your side.

What do we do with that? Well, of course the scripture says they have to be dealt with the proper way, and that's what we see in the book of Acts, how the apostles are handling the ministry of Jesus Christ. So John and Peter go up to Samaria, where Philip was, and there they encounter Simon Magnus, the magician, who was interfering with the ministry, and they dealt with him. Peter dealt with him severely. Told him he was poisoned with bitterness and bound in iniquity. In other words, he said to him, you're going to hell the way you're carrying yourself right now.

It was very firm. Then there were the seven sons of Sceva who attempted an exorcism, and the person whom they were attempting to exorcise turned and battered them. I don't mean dip them in batter, I mean beat them up, because they were casting out demons in the name of Jesus, whom Paul talked about. It wasn't their Jesus. It wasn't their Christ, someone else's Jesus Christ, and they were using it sort of as a code word. And then, when the church in Antioch, Syria, was bursting with Gentiles, Gentiles were coming into the church because of the preaching and the ministry of Barnabas, and Paul, the church in Jerusalem, again sent men to investigate to see what was happening.

Unfortunately, the men that they sent weren't models, but it was good that they went because it dragged into the light other problems that the church needed to deal with, which is Judaism. My point again is that Jesus is saying, listen, if someone is doing my work, don't go messing with them. And then we again counter with, yes, Lord, but there are many who say they're doing your work, but they're not following your word.

And of course, the Bible says then they need to be exposed. Paul warned in Acts chapter 20 and verse 29, one of the great passages of Scripture, he's on his way to Jerusalem to be persecuted for Christ, and he's warning the believers, whom he had worked so hard to develop, to disciple, he says, for I know this, that after my departure, savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock. Then he says this, also, from among yourselves, from the church that you attend, after I'm not here to stand guard on your behalf, because Paul, of course, was given to the church, he himself has given some to be, he goes on to say, and from among yourselves, men will rise up speaking perverse things to draw away the disciples after themselves.

Messing with the witnesses. How do you draw away from Christ to me? My ministry. John, the apostle, he orders this to the church.

He says, Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. While the apostles were still living, they were dealing with these people. And so there we see them upholding the Scripture, the right way to the flock, appealing to their faith, saying to those who attended their churches, I know you got problems, but you also have a mission, and you're supposed to do them both at the same time.

One is not supposed to stop because of, your mission is not supposed to stop because you've got problems in your life. You're still called to be a loving. You're still called to tell what you've seen in Jesus Christ. And so, again, this is not a prohibition against validating ministry, but instructions against having the wrong spirit go unchecked. And it continues in verse 40, for he who is not against us is on our side. It is very basic, but we need to hear it come from the mouth of Christ.

The impossibility of neutrality. You can't be neutral with Christ. Well, you know, he's all right. He's one of the prophets, or there are others too.

You're either with him and against anybody else who claims to be eager with him, or you're not. Jesus said this himself. He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters abroad. Each individual should be saying to themselves, what does that mean, gathering with Christ?

Because if I'm not gathering with Christ, am I guilty of making a mess of things, scattering abroad? If a man is in no sense against Christ and his word, then he is for him. If someone begins to disagree with him, well, I don't think that's right.

I think it was wrong. Then he really doesn't believe. Our Lord warned in Matthew chapter 7, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. So when he makes these claims, Christ does. As we look back again at verse 39, do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me, for he who, verse 40, is not against us is on our side.

And then couple that with Matthew 7, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father in heaven. It's all tied in. It's all connected. The New Testament is inseparably connected to the Old Testament and vice versa. And we love that it is so. So we get to verse 41.

He continues. He says, for whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name because you belong to Christ, surely I say to you he will by no means lose his reward. It's pretty powerful.

He's saying this. He says if someone is ministering to you, being kind to you, blessing you because of me, that's pretty powerful. Imagine if I said that. Well, if somebody does a favor for you because of me, then, you know, they won't lose their reward in heaven. Well, there may be lesser elements of truth in that for us, but not at the absolute as it is here with Christ. And what is this because you belong to Christ? The heart after God. The heart that is interested in God and what he has to say no matter what. That Daniel, when Daniel opened the window, I don't care what the world is saying. I don't care what they're going to do to me. I have this personal relationship with Yahweh and I'm going to maintain this personal relationship with Yahweh, and if they throw me to the lions, I will probably be eaten. What? It will be a meal of someone who has a personal relationship with Yahweh and the lions will love it.

Of course, that didn't happen. God protected him. We read these things in the Bible and we love them. We're drawn to them until it's our turn to face pressure. You know, verses like this. God has not given us a spirit of fear. How many Christians do not hesitate to be afraid? But of love, how many do not look to love? And of a sound mind, how many conduct themselves as though they have lost their mind?

These are questions that we cannot just ignore. Verse 41 again, Because you belong to Christ, I say to you, He will by no means lose His reward. 1 Corinthians chapter 15, For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures. Paul is saying it's the Scriptures that validate it all.

Take that away. You've got some serious questions. He continues, Paul does, and that He was buried and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. Something as incredible as the resurrection, Paul says it's got to be connected to God.

It's got to be part of His program. Otherwise you run the risk again of being in Deuteronomy 13, where God says you're going to have people that do some extraordinary things, but if they're leading you away from Me, you're being tested, and it is the devil that is doing the testing, and we're going to find out what happens after that. 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.