The Move of the Slave-Savior's Gospel Service (2) & (3)

0:00We praise the Lord for thy great plan that we Thy dwelling place may be. Welcome to Life Study of the Bible, a presentation of Living Stream Ministry. Witnessly, a servant of the Lord for over seven decades, culminated his ministry with a 21-year book by book exposition of the entire Bible, which he called Life Study. This Life Study is the basis for our program today, and includes short portion of the spoken messages given by Witnessly. Now, let's join today's program. March 6 presents us with four seemingly unrelated cases. To our shallow understanding, these four cases seem to be merely four separate stories of events that took place during the Lord's earthly ministry. However, if we receive even a little enlightenment,

1:01we can see that once again, the sequence in the divine record of how these events are unfolded is really marvelous. And that, when taken together, these four cases really are layers of meaning and significance. So here are four cases, two negative and two positive, that individually show us the rejection, hatred, injustice, and even martyrdom that typifies the world's response to the gospel. But collectively, they fill us with encouragement, conviction, and even a renewed determination to go forth, to proclaim the gospel of the kingdom, to the whole inhabited earth. Bob Danker is joined us, and Bob, among these four, I haven't mentioned them yet, but one stands out as being probably well-known among all believers. Anyone really who's familiar with the Bible has heard the story of the feeding of the thousands with just a few lows and fishes. But it's very insightful, isn't it, to see this case as part of this collective, this group,

2:03and the three other ones that we tend to ignore, but together they really are significant, aren't they? They really are, Chris. We really need to take them together also. It's certainly easy to consider every story in the Bible as a kind of isolated event. But in the gospel of Mark, in this chapter, we see that there are four events that are presented in a marvelous sequence to portray a picture of the wonderful service of Christ as the slave of God. Here we are looking at this marvelous person, Jesus Christ, who is God's slave, serving God, carrying out God's commission and the ministry of the gospel, and he encounters many things, many different situations, some positives, some negative, as he is carrying out his service. And when we put these four together, we get a marvelous picture of this wonderful person. In the opening word, Bob, I took a little liberty and borrowed some language from the gospel of Matthew,

3:04which is the gospel of the kingdom related to the Lord's commission to go forth with the gospel of the kingdom to the whole inhabited earth. But I really don't think it's that out of place because we're coming through a section of Mark where Mark also has been stressing the kingdom. And among these four cases, these four stories, there is the sending out of the disciples to proclaim the truths and riches of the gospel. So I think it's an appropriate application. Don't you think we can take this much liberty today? Absolutely, Chris. Bob, in this section, and we're really talking about Mark chapter 6, verses 1 through 44, a long section, we're going to read a few of these verses today to try to get a good context. We will see, witnessing talk about in our first portion today, really the first of these four cases. Let me set that up with a few verses here from the beginning of the chapter. And he went out from there and came into his own country and his disciples followed him. And when the Sabbath had come, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many hearing were astounded, saying, where did this man get these things?

4:07And what is this wisdom given to this man? And how is it that such works of power take place through his hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us? And they were stumbled in him. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor, except in his own country and among his own relatives and in his own house. And he could not do any work of power there, except to lay his hands on a few of the sick and heal them. And he marveled because of their unbelief, and he went around the villages in a circuit teaching. This is the story, Bob, of the rejection that the Lord Jesus had in his own country, even among his own relatives, his own folk. Really astounding, isn't it? Really astounding, Chris. Okay, here's what we're going to sleep with our first portion. Right after the Lord's marvel was doing to bring in the pricings of the kingdom, he came to his own country.

5:14You see? And he is country people, including his relatives, probably even his household, his folks joined the drove to despise him to reject him. Right? All the others he got was, never used this term, carpenter. Isn't this carpenter? My goodness. This is a despising expression. Yes, they heard his words, and they saw what he was doing. But they said, who is this man? What can status he has? In other words, using today's term, what degree he has? I'm a PCD. What degree he has? What degree carpenter? Right? Why did they got the temple? Because on the one hand they heard the wonderful word out of his mouth, and they saw the marvelous doings under his hand.

6:19Yet he didn't have any status, degree to confirm. He was a carpenter. So they couldn't believe that he was a high person. No, they got the temple. Here is a carpenter, small nasserine. He doesn't have any degree. He doesn't have any high status, yet he has the reaches of the triangle. And he has also the depths of the scriptures. When he opened up one verse, my, that surprises people to death. What do we want? We don't want any kind of high status. We want Jesus. We want the reaches of Christ. We want the depths of the divine truths in the holy ratings.

7:21Am I right? We want these. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus was doing. He was carrying the reaches of the Trinity to the poor people, and he was presenting the depths of the divine truths from the holy ratings. This is our what we want. And this our what we have to do. Bob, this is really a striking case to me. You know there's this expression. I don't think it from Proverbs or somewhere in the Old Testament. It might be, anyway, something like familiarity breeds contempt. And it's exactly what the Lord Jesus experienced here. He was back to his, in a sense, his home. And he had been speaking this rich, marvelous word, and doing these incredible deeds of power. Yet his own people, his own folks, were stumbled by his low status and standing. It's remarkable, isn't it?

8:25It is remarkable. So remarkable that at the end of this section, it says the Lord marveled at their unbelief. It was just a situation that was extraordinary, that although they heard the word out of his mouth and they were amazed at the depth of his wisdom and knowledge of the scriptures, and they saw the wonderful deeds that he did, and those deeds could have been only done by God or a man who was one with God. Yet they were stumbled because they knew him so well, according to his natural human status. And that status was a rather lowly status. And this, of course, corresponds with Isaiah's prophecy in chapter 53, that the Lord would come as a root out of the dry ground, and would have no outward form of beauty or attractiveness. So these ones who knew the Lord so well, they looked only at his outward situation. They realized he was a lowly carpenter.

9:27He was without a high human status. And they were somehow looking for someone who had a high status, and they were stumbled because the Lord was not such a person. But the Lord was pleased to be a person of low status, so that he could minister to them the divine riches in the Word of God and bring God's grace and blessing to them. Actually, he was the man of the highest status because he was God himself in humanity, full of the divine riches, full of the divine wisdom. But unfortunately, these ones who knew him so well could not realize this or receive what he wanted to give them. So in a very real sense, of course, the one from eternity in the Godhead, he could have, as you said, taken upon himself any status. But he, as the hymn says, laid aside his splendor, put on this low estate. And this became to them, and in a sense becomes to people today a kind of a test, doesn't it?

10:32Absolutely, Chris. It seems the Lord is very pleased to put his riches into men of outwardly low estate, and then to send them out and to give them the grace and the power to minister these riches. We have to be those who don't care for outward status. We have to be people who just care for the Lord Jesus, the divine riches, the riches of God, and the riches and the depths of God's Word. Once we encounter someone who has the riches of the triumphant God and the depths of the understanding of His Word, we need to open our whole being and receive what this one is bringing to us. Well, Bob, this next section will be really kind of an overview of all four of these cases. We've had the case now of this rejection from his own people in his own region. He follows this by, instead of being discouraged and put off by this, he sends out the twelve to preach the gospel, in a sense, and to carry on and even intensify the work that he was doing.

11:38So certainly not a sign that he was discouraged or defeated at all by this rejection. It almost became a kind of a further encouragement to him. Then we see the other two cases also referred to, the third case is the beheading of his forerunner, John the Baptist. In the fourth case, the story that we mentioned earlier on, the feeding of the thousands with just a few lows and fishes. So here's what is lead with a very good concise overview of this whole section in the Gospel of Mark chapter 6. It's quite interesting to see these four cases. The first one is that he was being despised by the despised Nussarins, and the second is that he sent out the twelve to preach. The third is that the Pope Tyder John was murdered, and the last one was the feeding of the five thousand. As soon as these are just stories, yet we have to believe that this is the record of the holy writings, breathed by God.

12:52He was written by Mark, yet we must realize this is also a part of the holy writings, breathed out of the mouth of God. Thus far what I can see and present to you is this. First thing, you have the rejection of these safe saviour. This actually didn't bother him. This didn't despond him. The saviour wanted to do something, but they would not open up. So he was not despondent, rather he was engaged, because right after this he sent the twelve to do the same thing as he was doing. And this was kind of a strong indication that he was not despondent, rather he was encouraged to do more, not just by himself, but by another twelve persons.

13:58Then, following these, something happened, which was a very bad indication. That is, his foreigner was murdered. Similarly, this was a very, very disappointment, yet he was still not despondent. And following these, you have a case, a case that he had five thousand. He satisfied five thousand. The rejection of the Jews in his country didn't despond him, rather that encouraged him to send his twelve disciples. And the martyrdom of his foreigner didn't despond him, rather that also encouraged him to feed more people. There is some principles, regardless how much blazing the preaching of the gospel could bring in regardless of this.

15:05And this hurts. What does the attitude that people have toward the gospel? What rejection? Then what? Should we be distracted? Should we be disappointed? Should we be stopped? Should we give up the kingdom job? The preaching of the great aliens? No. We should be encouraged by this kind of negative attitude. Bob, this is such a good word. These four cases, negative positive. The rejection of his, even his family, and those close to him, followed by the sending out of the twelve. Then the rejection gets to even to the point of hatred, resulting in a martyrdom of John the Baptist. And the response to this is that the crowds still come, and now he's feeding five thousand. So, this is a very strong word to us, isn't it, even in our own Christian walk and service? It really is, Chris, there's a strong principle here that we should never be disappointed or discouraged by anything negative that we encounter as we are working for the Lord, preaching the Lord's Word or opening up the divine truths of His Word.

16:16Rather, we should take everything as an encouragement to go on and even as the Lord did to intensify the work by carrying out more. The more preaching of the gospel, teaching of the divine truths, not only ourselves, but through others, as the Lord did through the twelve, because actually God is still on the throne. He is still the sovereign Lord, and He still has His chosen ones who are waiting for us to come to them, to contact them with the gospel and with the riches of the Word. And then, as the Lord fed the five thousand, one was murdered, that was John the Baptist, someone so close to the Lord, actually, the Lord's forerunner. And yet, after one was removed by the hatred and the injustice of the worldly people, the Lord encountered five thousand who needed to be fed.

17:17So, there was a great number that the Lord fed. This shows us that while we are going on with the Lord, carrying out the ministry and the work of the Lord, we will encounter many negative things. But because the Lord's work can never be frustrated, we just need to press on. We should be encouraged. And the Lord will somehow, through us and through others, intensify our work, and He will cause us through our ministering of His Word to feed multitudes of people. Let's come now to this fourth case, the most well-known of these stories. Well, of course, I think the beheading of John the Baptist is well-known. But probably few people have connected it in sequence to the feeding of the five thousand. Get an interesting kind of window here, Bob, at the beginning, I'm going to read a few of these verses to set this up, even though the story is well-known. But the disciples that had been with the Lord through all of this now, these previous cases, they were understandably kind of weary here.

18:19And the Lord suggests that this maybe would be a good time to go away and get a little rest, but not what they'd quite had in mind. All right, I'm going to pick it up at chapter 6, verse 30, and read a few verses here. And the apostles gathered together to Jesus and reported to Him all that they did and all that they taught. And He said to them, come by yourselves privately to a deserted place and rest a while, for there were many coming and going, and they did not even have opportunity to eat. And jumping ahead, not a verse 41, and He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples to set before them, and the two fish He divided among all. And they all ate, and were satisfied, and they took up twelve full hand baskets of the broken pieces of bread and of the fish. They thought they were going away to get a little rest, and this horde, this crowd of five thousand come, and they are in great need, and the Savior is going to meet that need and satisfy them all.

19:24Here's what I sleep with our last segment. After this, what the Lord Jesus did, I tell you, this intention was to go away, to rest a while, but the crowd still followed. Thank God, I tell you, on this earth, yes, there is this category of things. What category? Dispice, rejection, hatred, injustice, martyrdom, killing, yes, but listen, meantime, the crowd still comes. Hallelujah. The crowd still comes. Wonderful. The foreigner was martyred, and the Savior went away for a while to rest, but the crowd still came. Then what? According to the concept of the disciples, we cannot fit so many, no restaurants, no food to go, how could you fit them?

20:32Let them go, let them go hungry. Listen, the Savior says, I had compassion upon them. I don't let them go hungry. I like to fit them. It's wonderful. You all know the story, the feeding of 5,000, with five loaks and two small fish. Don't say you don't know much, you don't have much. There's two fish, good enough. Five loaves, good enough. Just according to what you have. You present what you have, he will be still, his unlimited blazing upon what you present. The five loaves, two little fish, the 5,000 with left over, more than what was present. This shoe seal, his divine blazing. Again, in this case, we could see his divinity, his deity.

21:44Bob, we have the obvious miracle here, but I think I'm a little more interested in another principle that comes through. We've got a principle in these other cases that the negative outward things should not discourage us, but even to encourage us all the more. Now we have a principle of what we are to do, and we are confronted with a situation where our portion is nowhere near up to what the Lord has presented before us in terms of the work that needs to be done. That's right, here we had 5,000 who needed to be fed, and there was only a little food, five loaves and two fish. How could this small quantity of food feed so many? Well, the only way is, first of all, this little food, whatever they had, had to be presented to the Lord. Then let him come in with his divinity, with his divine blessing, and multiply it, and bless it, and somehow we don't know how.

22:45What we have, that small portion that we have, not only meets the need, but it issues in a large left over. How can this happen? Well, you say it's a miracle. Yes, it's a miracle. But it really is a sign of the Lord's abundant, unlimited blessing. He's the unlimited God, and if we will just offer to him what we have, little though it may be, he will add to it his divine blessing, and it will more than meet the need. It's really amazing here. He could have easily said, I don't need your measly five loaves and two fish. You know, I have never ending sure supply. I'll just do it all, but that's not the principle in his work on the earth among men, is it? It isn't, Chris, and it's a very good point you brought out. Surely the Lord as the unlimited God could have created fish and loaves. Why did he need the small amount that the disciples had? Well, this is the principle. The Lord God wants to work, not by himself, but through his people. So we have to cooperate with him. We need to offer to him what we have, and then he will do his part to bless it in an unlimited divine way.

24:03Well, I have to say, Bob, I like this view, seeing these four stories presented together. I don't know about you, but I feel like I'm among the thousands that got fed today. We came in, I don't know how much you brought. I had far less than five loaves and two fish, but somehow I feel somewhat satisfied. I believe the Lord has blessed the small portion that we had. Bob, always a joy to have you, and we experience this kind of blessing virtually every time we come together. So you, as always, have a standing invitation to join us in the recording booth and help us with these programs. Really enjoyable. The Gospel of Mark, isn't it? Really enjoyable, Chris. Well, we hope that you are enjoying it, that you're getting fed, and that your day-by-day being encouraged to even offer your portion to the Lord as you encounter those who need feeding. And the Lord has now equipped you in whatever way to fill that role. So to help you, we hope that you'll not only keep listening day-by-day, but that you'll get the printed life-study messages to dive into this material and assimilate and absorb it.

25:04We're only able to present small portions, just morsels of these few loaves and fishes each day. But the whole life-study message itself is a full meal. If you want to contact us, you can do so by calling our toll free number 1-888-life-study, 888-543-3788. And stay with us as we continue on this life-study of the Gospel of Mark for Bob, Danker, and Chris, while thanks very much for listening to us. Dear Lord, we give ourselves to thee. Receive us into thy mightest. Thank you for listening to Life Study of the Bible with Witnessly, produced by Living Stream Ministry. To contact us, please call toll free, triple eight life-study. That's 888-543-3788. Thanks for listening.