How Unbelief Hindered Christ
INTRODUCTORY WORDS
We wish to take up two questions of Mark 6:2
1. The first question: "From whence hath this Man these things?"
(1) We have back of the question an under-estimate of the Lord Jesus Christ. They called Him "This Man."
(2) We have in the question an unmistakable quandary. They said in effect, He is a man, yet He works like God.
2. The second question: "What wisdom is this which is given unto Him?"
He not only wrought as none other ever wrought, but He spoke as none other ever spoke.
He spoke the truth as none other ever spoke. His Words were the Truth. He Himself was Truth. He never made a false statement nor presented a false claim.
He spoke the truth theologically. Of course He did, for He was God, and knew God. He did not theorize or guess He knew
He spoke the truth historically for He spoke in knowledge of all things, for He was before all things.
The people said, "Never man spake like this Man," yet they would not acclaim Him God.
What wisdom was His? He, Himself, was Wisdom. Wisdom came from above, because He came from above.
I. HIS MIGHTY WORKS (Mark 6:2, l.c.)
Here are the works which we would consider for a moment: "Such mighty works are wrought by His hands."
1. Consider His first miracle: turning the water into wine.
2. Consider His second miracle.
3. Consider the miracle that immediately preceded this study in Mark 5:1-43
4. Consider the feeding of the multitudes and the necessary multiplying of the loaves and fishes.
5. Consider the storm on Galilee and the Master walking on the waves.
6. Consider the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and of the widow's son, and of Lazarus, who had been four days dead.
Even so, Christ still lives and He still works.
II. HOLDING JESUS OF NAZARETH DOWN TO A HUMAN GENEALOGY (Mark 6:3)
Here is the way our Scripture reads: "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?"
The people of that day, however, were no more prone to humanize the Lord than are the people of our day. There are multitudes who defame Him by denying that He is Son of God, and God the Son. They are quite as willing to put Him, in His birth, along with Mary's other sons and daughters. They are quite as willing to make Mary an impure woman, with a son begotten out of wedlock.
1. To rob Christ of His Deity, begotten, by the Spirit, robs us of the Lord. The Book of Mark opens with those memorable words, "The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God." It must ever be true that if Jesus Christ were the Son of Joseph, He was not the Son of God; or if Jesus Christ was the Son of God, He was not the Son of Joseph.
Stated in another way, If Jesus Christ were the Son of Mary by Joseph, He was a sinner, as well as all other men are sinners; and He could not, then, be the Saviour, nor Lord.
2. To rob Jesus Christ of His Deity, begotten by the Spirit, therefore robs us of the Saviour. Had Christ been Joseph's Son, He would have had sins of His own, and could not save others, for Himself He could not have saved.
As son of Joseph and Mary Christ could not have been holy, or undefiled, or separate from sinners; and without these attributes He would have had no value with which He could have redeemed the unholy, the defiled, the sinner.
III. MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE FOR CHRIST TO DO MIGHTY WORKS (Mark 6:4-5)
1. Unbelief steels the heart against the Word of God. "He could there do no mighty work." He could do, and did do, many mighty works in many places; but He could do none there. And why not? For this simple reason: God's mighty works are dependent upon our faith. These townsmen denied Christ as God, made Him a mere man, and thus they gave the Lord no soil in which the seed of truth might grow. They gave Him no basis on which they could be recipients of His mercy.
2. Belief is ever the pivot on which God works. Have you not read, "According to your faith be it unto you"? Again have you not read, "What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them"? If unbelief shuts out the blessing, faith brings the blessing. Unbelief is black with the frown of God: belief is bright with His smiles.
3. Instead of increasing our works of unbelief, let us increase our work of faith. The church is ofttimes doing much, and believing little. The church is too frequently denying the miraculous, and emphasizing the vigor of an untrusting service.
How much the rather should we work in faith. After all, it is much better to believe than to work. Best of all is to work the works of faith.
May we pause to observe the mighty victories of faith that have marked the pathway of saints during the ages. The Holy Spirit has given us, in Hebrews 11:1-40, a partial statement of these. They lived and wrought and God was glorified.
IV. MARVELING AT THEIR UNBELIEF (Mark 6:6)
The Lord Jesus did not marvel at their wisdom, their might, their buildings, their herds, nor at their squalor or their sin. He marveled at their unbelief.
1. He marveled at their unbelief, because He was the fulfillment of the very Prophets they read daily in their synagogues. This significant passage of Scripture magnifies this truth: "For they that dwell at Jerusalem, and their rulers, because they knew Him not, nor yet the voices of the Prophets which are read every Sabbath Day, they have fulfilled them in condemning Him." "And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they took Him down from the Tree."
2. He marveled at their unbelief because He was the One they needed to meet their every need. He had come to them as a Prince and a Saviour. He had come to save them from every power of the wicked one, and to set them free. He had come that they might have life, and have it more abundantly; yet they believed Him not.
He went about doing them good, yet they loved Him not. He healed their sick, raised their dead, fed their hungry mouths, yet they believed not on Him. The truth was, they loved darkness rather than light, Satan rather than Christ.
3. He marveled at their unbelief because they had every chance of knowing the truth, yet knew it not. Before their very eyes He stood as the One who had come forth from the Father. They were familiar with the facts of His birth and life; the message of the angels and their glorious magnificat; they knew of the visit of the shepherds, of the coming of the Magi, and the worship they accorded the Infant Christ. None of these things had been done in a corner.
They knew about Christ's visit to the Temple at the twelfth year, of how the Lord had reasoned with the Masters of Israel.
V. HE WENT ABOUT TEACHING (Mark 6:6, l.c.)
"Never man spake like this Man." When we think of Christ as a Teacher, we cannot but weigh the Words said of Him by some of the leaders of His day. We use them as our heading, because they place Christ above every other Teacher no man ever spoke as He. He stood in a class by Himself. Would you not like to have slipped in to hear Him speaking? for instance, when He went up into the mount, and sat down, as His disciples gathered around Him, and He opened His mouth and taught them saying, "Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven"? Then, sentence after sentence, what matchless words of wisdom and beauty fell from His lips. We call it "The Sermon on the Mount," and it is known and loved the world around, even after twenty centuries. His Word still holds an undimmed beauty.
Perhaps you would, the rather, join with the people who heard Him in Nazareth. We read of that day: "And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth."
Perhaps you would, the rather, have joined the resurrection group to "whom also He shewed Himself alive * * by many infallible proofs, * * speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God."
It does not matter when or where He spoke, His words were ever the Truth and the Life. When He spoke the winds and the waves obeyed. When He spoke the dead came forth, the sick were healed, the demons departed.
His very words were Spirit, and they were life.
VI. HE GAVE THEM POWER (Mark 6:7)
1. He sent them forth. In our key verse, the Twelve were sent forth. But, if we will listen deeply, we too may hear Him saying to us, "As My Father hath sent Me, even so send I you."
It was the days on which He went up that He gathered His followers around Him, and said, "Go ye.." Beloved, let us be obedient to His commission. Let us go.
2. He gave them power. This was His portion. He never asked us to do a task for Him without first providing us with the needed strength for our task. He said, "I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves." He also said, "Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you."
Unto this day, every ambassador of God is sent under the power of the One who said, "All power is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth. Go."
3. How great is the power of the true witness of Christ. of the minister and His Word is a place of power such as no man else on earth possesses.
He gave them power over demons. Do we have less power than they?
Hear the once vacillating Peter at Pentecost as he thundered out the words of condemnation with one breath, and then the words of saving grace and redemption with his next breath.
Hell itself must move when a minister, backed with power from on high, speaks the words of truth.
VII. PREACHING REPENTANCE (Mark 6:12)
1. Repentance is a vital message for saint and sinner alike. We do not mean that a sinner may be saved by repentance alone. We do mean that a sinner comes to the Saviour who saves him from his sins, and therefore he must turn away from them.
Christians should always repent of any sin or wickedness that may overtake them. Here is a Scripture we do well to weigh. "God * * now commandeth all men every where to repent." Here is another, "Repent, * * every one of you." Here is still another: "And that repentance * * should be preached." If we leave the message of repentance out of our preaching, we do not well. Hear John the Baptist as he preached, saying, "Repent ye: for the kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Christ also began to preach and to say, "Repent: for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." Shall we excuse ourselves by saying that we are living in another age? Impossible! Paul said, "The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance."
2. The message of the Church, like that of John the Baptist, and Jesus, and the Apostles, should be a call to all men to repent of this their wickedness and to return to God. As we see it, repentance is indissolubly linked with saving faith. Could any man seek to be saved from sins which he was wholly unwilling to leave and renounce?
3. The call of God to the saint is a call to the negation of sin. In the Old Testament it reads this way, "Let the wicked forsake his way." In the New Testament it reads this way, "Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world."
AN ILLUSTRATION
It is all-important to have a Saviour whom we can fully trust.
Jesus Christ is the only Hope of sinners. There is none other name whereby we must be saved.
Look to your passport if you wish to enter in to Glory.
Travelers to foreign lands will be familiar with the above demand, and will know how essential it is to possess a passport properly made out to meet the requirements of the authorities. If otherwise, serious difficulties may be encountered at ports and frontier stations.
While on a journey in the Near East in 1928, four of us were stopped at the frontier between Syria and Palestine, During examination of our passports and baggage, an official saw about half a dozen oranges in our car, and said to us, "You are not allowed to take oranges into Palestine." We began to eat them, and so were allowed to enter "The Holy Land."
If you desire entrance into any country you must comply with the regulations in force, or be refused admission. Yet some people think that they can enter Heaven, the land of pure delight, without a proper passport, and without paying due regard to God's conditions of entry.
Concerning the Holy City, God has said, " There shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life" (Revelation 21:27).
What is the passport for Heaven? "The Blood of the Lamb." John Newton.