Untitled Sermon (2)

This is Serious!!!

Mark 9:42-50

I)            The Seriousness of Influence v.42

A. The Power of Influence

Offend (skandalizo) – cause to stumble, to fall away

Romans 14:12-13

12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God. 13 Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

I Corinthians 8:13

13 Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no flesh while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.

Romans 14:21

21 It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor any thing whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak.

B.  The Peril of Influence (Of a Bad Influence)

Mark 9:42

42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

II)         The Seriousness of Hell v.43

A.Reality He Confirms

What Jesus said about hell

Jesus called hell "the hell of fire" (Matt. 5:22) 

He called it "eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41) 

He called it "eternal punishment" (Matt. 25:46) 

He said it was a place of eternal torment (Luke 16:23) 

He said it was a place of "outer darkness" (Matt. 25:30) 

He compared it to "Gehenna," a trash dump outside Jerusalem 

B.  Representation He Compares

Macarthur Commentary on Mark

Gehenna (hell) appears twelve times in the New Testament, all but one of those uses by Christ. As the reference to unquenchable fire indicates, gehenna always refers to the eternal hell, the lake of fire, never to the place of the dead in general, which is identified by a different word, hades. The name gehenna derives from the Old Testament valley of Hinnom, located just south of Jerusalem. There the apostate Jewish people sacrificed infants to Molech, the abominable false god of the Ammonites, by burning them to death, an appalling practice that God strictly prohibited and strongly condemned. Both the wicked kings Ahaz and Manasseh sacrificed their children in the valley of Hinnom. Because of those sacrifices, the place became known as Topheth, which derives from a Hebrew word meaning drum. Evidently drums were beaten loudly to drown out the screams of the babies being burned alive. As part of his reforms, the godly king Josiah destroyed that place of sacrifice. The valley of Hinnom was turned into Jerusalem’s garbage dump, where a fire burned continually in the midst of the rubbish. It thus became a graphic illustration of eternal hell, a place where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

C.Recommendation He Confers

Jesus called for radical, severe action against anything that hinders the pursuit of holiness, righteousness, and purity throughout the Christian life.

III)      The Seriousness of Commitment v.49

A.The Association

Ezra 6:9

9 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams, and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail

Ezekiel 43:23-24

23 When thou hast made an end of cleansing it, thou shalt offer a young bullock without blemish, and a ram out of the flock without blemish.

24 And thou shalt offer them before the Lord, and the priests shall cast salt upon them, and they shall offer them up for a burnt offering unto the Lord.

Leviticus 2:13

13 And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering:

B.  The Application

The offering was an offering of consecration, symbolizing total devotion to the Lord. Just as salt symbolized God’s enduring faithfulness, so everyone, that is all believers, should make a long-term, enduring, permanent sacrifice of their lives to God

Romans 12:1

12 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

IV)       The Seriousness of Obedience v.50

A. The Principle

Mark 9:50

50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

In the days before refrigeration, salt was good because it was the most widely used preservative for food. Chemically, salt (sodium chloride) is very stable and does not easily degrade. But sometimes salt gathered from the vicinity of the Dead Sea was contaminated with gypsum. If not properly processed, it could lose its effectiveness as a preservative and become unsalty and tasteless

Jesus’ command, Have salt in yourselves, is a call to radical obedience; to a holy life preserved by righteousness

B.  The Practice

Mark 9:50

50 Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.

Matthew 5:13

13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.