Tonight, I invite you to turn in the Scriptures to Mark chapter 3. Mark chapter 3. And by way of introduction, this is a different sort of section of Scripture that's what Mark is particularly doing here. This is a summary. Mark has essentially given us a summary section early on in the Gospel. And I thought about what's the purpose of this? Why is he doing this? We all want sermons that provide a lot of what now? We all want that question, that answer. What now? What now? That's always an important question to answer and I always strive to do that. However, not every sermon you get that. Some sermons you should just say, Thank you, Lord. Thank you. And you've heard it correctly. And that's this type of passage tonight. It's a summary of the ministry of Jesus. So we're going to be looking at verses 7 all the way through 21. Mark 3, verse 7. This is the word of the Lord. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea, and Jerusalem and Idumea, And from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon, when the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God. And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. and he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired and they came to him and he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons he appointed the 12 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 Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus and Simon the zealot and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Then he went home and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him for they were saying he's out of his mind. May the lord bless the hearing of his word there is a particular psalm that uh stood out to me in my preparation for this sermon tonight and i want to read a little bit of psalm 80 and this particular psalm psalm 80 it is a cry of israel to renew israel it's a cry from all the oppression and darkness that israel had faced due to due to her rebellion from god psalm 80 is the cry and i want you to listen to the passionate plea for just a moment of Psalm 80, and I believe it'll help us in light of what we're considering tonight. Give ear, O shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh. Stir up your might and come to save us. Restore us, O God. Let your face shine that we may be saved. O Lord of hosts, how long will you be angry with your people's prayers? You've fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure. You've made us an object of contention for our neighbors and our enemies laugh among themselves. Here it is. Restore us, O God of hosts. Let your face shine that we may be saved. Turn again, O God of hosts. Look down from heaven and see and have regard for this vine the stock that your right hand planted and for the son whom you made strong for yourself but let your hand be on the man of your right hand the son of man whom you have made strong for yourself then we shall not turn back from you give us life and we will call upon your name restore us oh lord god of hosts let your face shine that we may be saved did you hear that restore us come restore us when you restore us we'll never turn back again maybe we've heard all these cries in this altar and we've thought for a long time well when when are these things going to be fulfilled when are these cries did the lord ever hear those cries how did he answer those cries uh did he stir up his might did he come to save when is the lord going to restore Israel? It's a big question. When would the brightness of his face shine upon them again? And I believe what is before us tonight in Mark chapter 3 is a sort of answer, a beginning answer to the prayer of Psalm 80. Why do I say that? It's shown to us as a summary of the entire ministry of our Lord presented in Mark's gospel. The answer of Psalm 80 when they asked, let your hand beyond the right the that man of your right hand the son of man whom you've made strong for yourself mark 3 when we read it tonight presents christ's kingdom come in power and the renewal of israel begins the effect is to say make us stand in awe that when israel made that christ so many years ago god not only answered but god we're going to see this tonight has opened the doors to all, to you, so that you might come in and become members, as Paul described in Romans 11, of that olive tree being brought into the household and family of God. God has been faithful to answer this, and God has brought us into His kingdom. And the point of this section in Mark is for us to stand back tonight and look at the big picture of what we've been considering so far, that He has brought in His kingdom, his presence has signaled the arrival of that kingdom and the promise that he made so many years ago that he would answer them has proven true the gates of hell will not prevail against his church there's a big there's not a big call in this tonight it's not a sort of wow sermon that makes us say i'm going to go out and do something it's the kind of sermon that makes us stand back and see in fulfillment the marvelous work of god when mark recorded this it must have been one of those moments for him under the inspiration of the spirit of great joy excitement to put this down he wanted to capture it for you early in the mid early probably one of the earliest gospels early in the century think about this if you had heard this section of scripture for the first time in the days before the cross i believe you would have seen in this a forecast of the future what do i mean you see preparations for the future at this point a decisive break has happened in the ministry of jesus after this great sabbath confrontation and this awful legalism that had just happened where they were beating Jesus and his disciples with their rules, their superimposed rules and Sabbath keeping, Mark gives us some indication of what's going on in the mind of Jesus. What's going on in his mind? In verse 6, we read that the Pharisees went out after this knock-down, drag-out Sabbath fight where he had healed a man and they criticized him for doing good on the sabbath probably planning a man in there in the synagogue on the sabbath to catch him in a trap jesus heals him he's angry they're angry at him we read in verse six they go out and immediately plot with the herodians how they might destroy him they want to kill him things are escalating already in mark's gospel they're already moving somewhere They're moving toward the appointed end for which he came. And it's happening. We might say at this point it's starting to happen prematurely. He has to go and die on the cross. It's a time appointed. It's going to be his time. The father appointed. But it's not yet. Mark wants us to understand that everything is in his control. Everything. And He has other things to accomplish first. Other things to accomplish first. And at this point, we get this sort of summary and forecast of the future. We read in verse 7 that Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed Him from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. This is really important. He's away from Jerusalem and multitudes of people are coming to him. In fact, Mark doubles up on making the emphasis, this is great multitudes, great multitudes, it says here. That should have some kind of effect on us to say, and by the way, great multitudes, it's probably thousands, if not ten thousands. and that should have some kind of effect of us saying wow look at the power of his ministry nothing can stop the masses from coming to him when mark doubles up on this great multitudes from galilee judea jerusalem idumea beyond the jordan and from tyre and sidon are coming to him anyone should read verse 7 and say wow that sounds a little bit like acts sounds a little bit like acts one in other words remember acts one that you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you and you will be my witnesses in jerusalem and in judea and samaria and to all the ends of the earth mark's giving us a glimpse into the fame of jesus mark's giving us a picture into his fame his name is already making it out it can't help but happen for who he is this is a a foretaste of what the program's going to look like this is a foretaste of the future multitudes would come to him from the ends of the earth and everyone should say look at his power look at his kingdom the effect is the pharisees are out at this minute plotting how to kill him and yet nothing can stop the success of his ministry. And we have, if you will, a preview of coming attractions. In the same breath, I also say there's something in the present circumstance that's not right. Something needs to be fixed. There's a tension here. We often say about Jesus' ministry and I've looked at it. You look at John 6 and you see all the 5,000 that leave him. And we often say, well, it wasn't a popular ministry. No, it was a really popular ministry. It was a powerful ministry. We might think he didn't have many followers. He only had these 12, one of which was a devil, Judas. And the success of it seems to be in question. And I believe we're reading the Gospels wrong if we draw that kind of conclusion. I believe Mark is presenting a sweeping summary of his ministry and he wants to challenge that. He wants us to understand the ministry. Great multitudes, great multitudes. For Jesus, however, you get the sense that the breakout of his kingdom, ready to happen, is still on hold. What do I mean? His eye is on the cross. He's got to get there. it's not as if he's unsuccessful everything's going just according to plan everything is coming in its timing but right now it's premature to break it out like this it's premature to break it out like this people do not grasp him for what he has come to do that's why there's so much emphasis on the healings people have not understood nor could they until he finishes the work the father gave him to do and the spirit comes and jesus said that when i'm lifted up from the earth then i'm going to draw all peoples to myself it's premature at the moment but mark wants to open the door for you tonight he wants you to look at the big picture mark sees the future mark sees the big story and in this section we see how it's going to unfold jesus is making preparations for the cross so here's the picture we have tonight many many multitudes thousands of people are following him everyone's talking about him his power is being put on display he's healing he's casting out demons his kingdom has come remember what mark told us he wanted to keep moving to the next town he didn't come to be free health care provider he wanted to preach this is what jesus loved to do jesus loved to preach it's why he came forth it said in mark chapter one why he came forth and something of that is captured here as the multitudes come to jesus and and they realize that if they just touch his garments they're going to be healed and so what happens is he realized he's going to be crushed by all these people just wanting to touch him so much that it says as many as had afflictions pressed about him to touch him so jesus says i want you disciples to keep a little boat ready picture this i want you to keep a little boat ready i'm going to go a little ways out into the sea i'm going to sit in that boat the thousands are going to be on the shore and i'm going to preach this was his emphasis in the ministry chapter 4 will begin his parable of the famous sower in the boat it's his little pulpit he's preaching this is why he came it would be a prime spot for him sermons would come here he would preach from here he would preach the gospel so this is the scene multitudes are coming from all over they want help the sign that jesus told john that the kingdom have come was the blind receive their sight the lame walk the lepers are cleansed the deaf the deaf hear the dead are raised the poor have the gospel preached to them kingdom has come but here's the problem tonight it's received nothing but opposition from israel shepherds it should be israel who's receiving her messiah but the ones that should have been heralding the gospel the ones that should have been caring for the poor the ones that should have bound up the brokenhearted the ones that should have been recovering the flock of god had ripped down the kingdom jesus had just met face to face in the sabbath synagogue helping a man with these kinds of shepherds and the play out of ezekiel is right in front of us remember ezekiel this is the lord all the shepherds of israel who have been feeding yourselves should not the shepherds feed the sheep the weak you've not strengthened the sick you've not healed the injured you've not bound up the strayed you've not brought back the lost you've not sought and with force force unless this harshness you've ruled them the false shepherds ruled with harshness god's people and the lord said behold i i myself will search for my sheep and i'm going to go get them i'm going to seek them out here he is his kingdom has come multitudes are coming to him but it's premature israel has been completely run over by these guys and here's the strange contrast at this moment in the midst of this all of a sudden there's another realm that's recognizing Him. Remember this in Mark 1? What Mark wants us to say is, he's summarizing what we've studied so far. His kingdoms come with power through His teaching ministry, His healing. Everything else is followed from this. It's blown people's minds, His teaching. And lo and behold, what Mark wants you to see is that this has thrown the kingdom of Satan into chaos israel's not received her messiah the shepherds are not preaching their messiah she didn't know the day of her visitation but somebody else did another realm did verse 11 but wherever the unclean spirit saw him whenever they saw him they fell down before him and cried out you are the son of God what a testimony what a testimony do we understand how profound that is they just declared who he is Israel had not Israel would not it's absolutely crucial we saw this early in Mark when he was in the synagogue and when jesus was preaching remember one day he's preaching and as he spoke with authority it was so powerful a man a demon leaped into a man remember chapter one and he screams out in the middle of the sermon i know who you are the holy one of god i know now it's so collectively got out in the demon world who's come on the scene of history every time a demon saw him they start crying out and bowing down isn't that something collectively now you're the son of god they're right they know who he is they've heard this voice as i worked through this i thought to myself shouldn't the shepherds in israel been preaching him this way shouldn't the shepherds in israel jesus was doing works that proved it he testified his works proved it and they said he has a demon they did nothing but assault him in other words here's what's happened now in the gospel of mark he wants you to see the wrong ones are proclaiming him the wrong ones are proclaiming him just earlier mark jesus immediately silences them sternly and he says i don't want you making me known i don't want you making me known he silenced the whole demonic realm and would not allow the demonic realm to testify of him why his testimony would not come from demons his testimony would not come from demons remember he said in john's gospel if i bear witness of myself my witness is not true but there's another the holy spirit who bears witness and that witness is true and then he said and john is bore witness you get that privilege in no way would he let the truth of his divinity be proclaimed by demons but the shepherds of israel had failed what a sad tragic picture huh is it a picture that we can resonate with that happens the demons would proclaim it if they could they can't they would bow the knee but they're silenced and israel can and yet won't and instead wants to kill them what a strange twist now why is that important well if psalm 80 is ever going to be answered if israel is ever going to be renewed it's got to begin with the renewal of the shepherds you understand that it's got to begin with the renewal of the shepherds jesus knows he has a short time jesus knows his days are marked the leaders want blood now but you ever thought why he extended his time on earth one of the reasons was that he had to lay a final foundation for the house of god one of the reasons is that he had to lay a final foundation and what an act of mercy there would be more time he needed to fulfill that what did he have to do it's as if at this point mark takes us immediately to the beginning of that project as israel's leaders are out plotting to kill him and are stepping up to that he immediately begins to rebuild notice that they've gone out purposely now and are planning to kill him he now purposely goes out and begins to renew who's going to carry forth the mission who's going to make him known to the multitudes knowing he has to go to the cross he now gives us another sweeping summary of how this kingdom will be built as he makes the preparations for it so he goes up on the mountain and here's the scene he goes up on the mountain in front of the multitudes and then he calls from the multitudes it says in verse 13 to him those whom he desired and they came to him verse 14 and he appointed 12 whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons i don't know if you caught what just happened everything jesus has done mark has presented has been an offense think about what we've seen he forgave sins right in front of them even though he knew they would say it was blasphemy he dined on the jewish fast with the tax collectors and sinners hanging out with the scum of society knowing they knew that they thought they were unclean and he was breaking their fasting rules he ripped he totally broke their sabbath rules and then healed a man purposely on the sabbath to make the point and now imagine this he walks up on a mountain he opens up his arms and he starts calling in power 12 men now why is that important israel was founded on 12 men the patriarchs remember jacob's son he goes up and he calls out 12 men whom he now appoints and makes apostles so they might be with him and what's he going to send them out to do preach preach have authority to cast out demons this is a fascinating section israel was divided into 12 they were the heads of the 12 tribes of israel in broad daylight on the mountain he summons up a new 12 do you see it what he's just done the offense of that that they might then be with him and he sends them out to preach What did He just do? He's answering Psalm 80. He's renewing Israel. Lord, renew us. Restore us. Cause Your face to shine upon us again. This Lord on the Son of Man of Your choosing, visit Your vine again. Oh, He opens up His arms and it's as if He says the time of renewal begins. And there up the mountain come twelve men. The foundation, Ephesians says, built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets with Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, He says, these are them. Here they are. Let me present them. Mark wants you to be introduced to them as His ambassadors. The new Israel has come. The time of fulfillment and restoration has come. Before He would go to the cross and be lifted up from the earth, He would have these apprentices. He would spend time training them at his feet. He would work diligently with them. They would be responsible once he was gone. These 12, one being a devil, we know that he'd be replaced by Matthias, remember? But one being, well, Paul, but we'll get into that later. That's another subject. But he would take, and these men would be responsible for taking the gospel to the ends of the earth, to lay the foundation. I'm always amazed at the end of John's Gospel that Jesus said to them, if you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them. If you retain the sins of any, they are retained. Jesus said to them, you're going in my authority. And as you preach, the main goal of your ministry is going to be, think about the shepherds of Israel, recovering my sheep by forgiving their sins. and it was through that ministry, not them, through the ministry of the Word that that would be accomplished through His pardon. So this is the fulfillment of the promise of the new covenant, that He would remember our sins. This time has come, and the Lord is handing the disciples a ministry of reconciliation. He's sending them, and they would go out to the ends of the earth and preach. Who were they? Mark introduces them. Here's what I love about this. There are 12 extremely ordinary men. Very ordinary. You'd never think the King of Kings and Lord of Lords would pick these guys. Seven of them were fishermen. One being a freedom fighter, he's called. One a tax collector. They had no formal theological education. Not the norm, of course. But none. in all places in the gospels you have them arranged into three subgroups of four with a leader sort of at the front because they're all arranged the same way and presented the same way i believe this was to be read later by those knowing the character of these men looking at the character of these men and the effect was make them to make us all stand back and say you built your kingdom with these guys these guys simon is presented to us first who the lord gave the name peter andrew was the one in john's gospel who brought simon to jesus and jesus looked at him it's a fascinating scene in john's gospel jesus looks at him and says you are simon the son of john you shall be called cephas which means peter what kind of person was he he was rash he was unstable he was impulsive he always spoke when he shouldn't he always said things that you just stood back why did you just say that he was fiery that guy really encourages me you know someone you really couldn't reason with i think you can reason with me he was his own man he was bullheaded god takes this these normal fishermen when you were younger peter you went where you wanted and you did what you wished when you're older you're going to go where you do not wish you know what tradition says happened to peter he'd be crucified upside down not wanting to go the same way be crucified the same way as his lord because he felt unworthy. James, the son of Zebedee and John, the brother of James to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder. They were hotheads. What do I mean by that? They were the first ones ready to call down fire from heaven on unbelievers. James was the first martyr. James was the first one to make it into glory. John was the last. banished to the island of Patmos as an old man in chains where he would write the book and receive the revelation. Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James, the son of Alphaeus and Thaddeus and Simon the Zealot. And then at the end, who always gets the end position to make it very clear, the Lord knew what was going on was Judas Iscariot, the traitor who betrayed him. I always found Philip interesting. Philip was the one Jesus tested with the loaves and says, where shall we buy bread that these may eat? Jesus was testing him. Philip said, well, 200 denarii's worth of bread is not sufficient for them that every one of them may have a little. He was always calculating. Nothing would work. We don't have enough. We don't have enough to do this. Lord, can you give us, Philip, can you show me the Father then it will be sufficient? what you want unmediated access to the father philip thomas i will not believe unless i see you look at these guys whom the lord worked with in the gospels what a story it is all of his choices to build his kingdom were strange they were strange. One pastor said, uneducated, untrained, yet from God's standpoint, they were the perfect choice. Weak and imperfect instruments through which his power would be gloriously displayed. Before their lives were over, they had been used to turn the world upside down. He took these 12 ordinary plain men and made them powerful foundation stones of his church you seeing the picture tonight the big picture all this section is preparation and forecasting for the future the lord was beginning to answer psalm 80 the time of israel's renewal was at hand and when jesus came his kingdom came with power israel would be renewed to the ends of the earth through these men in Christ's death and resurrection he would overturn the world and from a little upper room in Jerusalem think about where the gospel's gone today the spirit would come in power they would be sent to the ends of the earth and through these men through these bumbling men the gospel would be preached and that should be the greatest encouragement and a reason to say thank you to the lord tonight i know you all worry about the state of the church i constantly worry about the state of the church i've got news for you it's always been bad it's always been bad it was bad in the days of jesus it's bad today but guess what christ has promised through it all he's working look what he just did in the midst of everyone wanting to kill him. His own family thinks he's insane. He's building. And it's happening. And look what happened to this day. Only the Lord knows how many are true. But do you realize there's, I think the going number is 2.2 billion on the face of this earth right now who profess faith in Jesus Christ. 2.2 claim to believe. Only the Lord knows, but one thing is true. He's answered that prayer of Psalm 80. His Word remains true. He's building His church. He does it, and He did it through men like this. This is what the ministry is accomplishing. When it's all said and done and we're in glory, you will be in awe at how the Lord worked through everything you thought was foolish and weak and dumb. He worked powerfully. Be encouraged. You're a part of it. If God can build His church through these men, He can continue to build through us. It's a wonderful message to us. And Mark wants you to see it. Look at the big picture to which you are a part of, in which you share. You're recipients of that work back then in the midst of that hostility. Wherever His gospels preach, there you find today the same power. The same power Christ displayed when He walked on earth. The same power that filled those 12 is the same power that we have today that is put on display in your lives. When you believe and you trust and you serve in his name, be encouraged that you are all living stones being built up to a spiritual edifice before God. And we always praise him for his wonderful ministry of reconciliation. Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for what you've done. Certain passages show us different things. And this summary tonight helps us to see the big picture. Your power you have taken and reigned, says Revelation. And we see it here. We see that everything was under your perfect control. You were building in the midst of such opposition. You were building your church and the gates of hell would not prevail. And if the church was built from a little room, that foundation we think of, all the way, you always had a church throughout history. But as that final foundation was set and the promises showed forth themselves, we see Your power put on display in such weakness that today to the ends of the earth, You've fulfilled Your Word. You've renewed Your Israel. And in the end, as today, Jews and Gentiles together will call on the name of the Lord. And we do that as the Israel of God. We praise You today for making us a part of Your church and kingdom. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.