The Most Important Question

Introduction

How many remember watching or have ever seen The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe?

I remember Christmas of 2005, going to see that movie, and loving it. For those of you who know, this movie is an adaptation of a series of CS Lewis novels called The Chronicles of Narnia.

What I remember most about the movie is coming home and having my father point out to me all of the Christian symbolism in the film. I found it absolutely fascinating. Aslan represents Christ, the Witch represents Satan, the children represent man… and so on.

This began an interest of mine in the man who wrote these novels, Clive Staples (C.S.) Lewis. One of the most intellectually gifted minds of the twentieth century. He actually began his adult life as an atheist, but was converted to Christianity through many conversations with J.R.R Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings.

After converting, Lewis went on to write several books, and one of the things he is credited with is an intellectual exercise that he claims provides logical proof of the fact that Jesus is who He says He is.

This “test” or exercise goes like this: Jesus claims to be God, therefore we are presented with only three options. He is either a lunatic (self-deceived), a liar (He knows He isn’t God but portrays Himself to be), or Lord (He is actually telling the truth).

By turning to Mark 3, we can see the sequence of these three examples play out in real time in our text this morning. I’d like to perform that same test with you this morning, and ask the most important question: “Who is Jesus?”

I. Lunatic

When we see Jesus coming back to Capernaum, news regarding what He has done has traveled back home to Nazareth.

Nazareth is where Jesus is from, so his brothers and sisters would be there as well.

Now, at this point, Jesus is thrusted well into His Messianic ministry. He is healing, He is preaching, He is casting out demons, and so on.

Therefore, He has amassed a great following. So much so that v. 20 tells us that He and the disciples could not even eat.

So, v. 21 tells us that His family hears about this, and becomes concerned. They hear that He is performing miracles, healing people, casting out devils, and that He even forgives sin and claims to be God incarnate.

So, their initial reaction is to go get Him, and stop Him from what He’s doing. They think He ‘s going to get Himself hurt or imprisoned or killed. And worse, they think He has lost His mind.

Now, we know that after the resurrection, Jesus’s family will have a much different opinion regarding Him. James becomes the leader of the Church at Jerusalem. Jude (Judas) writes an epistle in the NT. So, we know how things will shake out.

But, for now at this point their opinion is this: He is out of His mind.

This is the world’s innate response to Christianity. Like Jesus’s brothers, when the world sees us - our commitment to Christ, our fascination with Him, our devotion, the fact that we meet together once or more a week, that we give our tithes and offering to the church, that we love one another as brothers and sisters.

When they see us doing that, they have the same exact response: those people are out of their minds.

Why? Well lets look at Jesus’s brothers. Why do they respond the way they do? They grew up with Jesus, right? Well yes, but Jesus had not revealed Himself in His supernatural power at that point. Remember the wedding at Cana? He told Mary, “my time has not yet come.”

Jesus did not reveal Himself as the Messiah until He began His public ministry at the time of His baptism. This would have been AFTER He left His home in Nazareth.

So, His family here has not witnessed the great miracles of Jesus. They have not experienced Him in the same way the disciples have experienced Him.

Now, is that not so indicative of the world? They look at us, and say we are crazy. BUT the only reason they are saying that is because they haven’t witnessed Him. They haven’t experienced Him like we have experienced Him, so of course they think we are crazy!

They haven’t seen Him heal broken homes, they haven’t felt Him in the midnight hour stick closer than a brother, they haven’t experienced a visit from the Great Physician, and most importantly they have not experienced revealing their lost condition to them while at the same time revealing calling unto them to trust on Him as their Savior and being plunged in the blood of Christ.

So yes, to the ones who has not experienced the love of Jesus, the belief in Jesus seems to make no sense. Paul said 1 Corinthians 1:18 “18 For the word of the cross is folly (foolishness) to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”

We were all there at one time, and you might be there right now, but thankfully you dont have to stay that way. Just like Jesus’s brothers believed once He revealed Himself to them, so can the same thing be said about you. Titus 3:3–5 “3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 4 But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit,”

II. Liar

The second group on the list is the kind of person whop outrightly rejects The Lord, and would attribute Him to just being a liar. That, when He says, “Before Abraham was, I AM.” He is lying.

That group would find themselves having a lot in common with the people we encounter in v. 22 of our text. For context, Jesus just casted a demon out of a man (parallel passage Matt. 12:22-23). This ability, and the authority with which it was done, is evidence of the fact the Jesus Christ is the Messiah.

But, the scribes and Pharisees didn’t want to believe that, so, they accuse Jesus of something much more nefarious. They accuse Him of lying and say He casts out devils in the name (or with the power of) Beelzebub… this is a Hebrew name for the Devil.

We can see that this is obviously just an attempt on their part to justify their rejection of who Jesus really is.

So, Jesus takes them to task on the claim that He is actually lying about His power, and that He secretly derives strength from some demonic source. (Mark 3:23–27 “23 And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24 If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25 And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26 And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27 But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house.” )

Explanation:

Mark 1–8: The MacArthur New Testament Commentary Liar: The Accusation of Jesus’ Foes (3:22–30)

(Coming from

Since Jesus clearly demonstrated that He not only had the power to bind Satan, but demonstrated that power time and time again. Therefore, it is obvious that seeing what the Pharisees had seen, Jesus was who He said He was.

But, He doesn’t stop there, pay very close attention to these next few words… very solemn/grave.

Mark 3:28–29 “28 “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29 but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”—”

These are very heavy words from our Lord. Though these words have sparked confusion for some, it is very clear from this passage what Jesus is saying. In His life, Jesus was: perfectly submissive to God the Father, completely empowered by the Holy Spirit. fulfilling the prophetic words of the OT in His birth, baptism, temptation, ministry, miracles, message, and ultimately in His death and resurrection.

At every turn and opportunity, Jesus had revealed Himself to be who He truly was: the Son of God. Yet, there were many, like these Pharisees, who saw all of those things, yet were unwilling to accept Jesus as the Son of God.

In their rejection of Him, with the Spirit of God revealing these truths to them (remember Simon Peter at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus said “flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my father…”) They had hardened their hearts to Christ, choosing rather to reject Him than accept the truth of who He was. In doing that, they had blasphemed against the Holy Spirit.

They had permanently hardened their hearts against their own Messiah. Consequently, because their rejection was final in the face of sufficient evidence, there was no possibility of forgiveness.

This should serve as a very sobering warning to us: if we have been exposed to the truth of who Jesus is, that is the work of the ministry of the Holy Spirit. If we, then, continue to reject Him in the face of the Holy Spirit convicting us… eventually, He WILL harden our hearts, and we will be guilty of blaspheming or rejecting the Holy Spirit, and will never be able to be forgiven. That sounds harsh - but that’s the truth.

Hebrews 2:3–4 ESV

3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Hebrews 6:4–6 ESV

4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt.

The blasphemer of The Holy Spirit, like the unbelieving religious leaders of Jesus’ day, are those who have been fully exposed to the truth of the gospel and yet walk away from Christ in spite of the overwhelming evidence they have been given. That is why it is an eternal sin—because no forgiveness is possible for those who refuse to stop rejecting Christ.

III. Lord

That leaves only a third option, the only option if we are truly honest… That Jesus is Lord.

We see this in v. 31-35… Mark 3:35 “35 For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.””

Jesus very clearly shows that the only relationship with Him that truly matters is not a physical relationship, but a spiritual one. He explained this to Nicodemus in John 3 when He said you must be born again. IT is not earthly birth that places you in God’s family, it is a spiritual one.

Jesus makes it clear the one who is truly my brother or sister is the one who does the will of my Father. What is God’s will?

John 8:31 “31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples,”

1 Timothy 2:3–4 “3 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, 4 who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

What’s God’s will for you? His will firstly and primarily is this: that you be saved.

Conclusion

Only the Holy Spirit can do the work of conversion, not me. However, I want to assure you that you fall into one of these three categories.

1. The Lunatic: You think this is crazy, you think right now that I’m out of my mind. Yeah I might not be the smartest one in the bunch, but I promise you, as soon as you meet Him, you’ll understand what all the fuss is about.

2. The Liar: Maybe you think it’s just not true, or you just won’t allow yourself to believe it. You could be here, and service after service, message after message, you feel the Holy Spirit of God drawing you to finally surrendering your life to Him but you continue to reject Him. Can I tell you, there is only so much that God will allow before you turns you aside. Don’t walk out of those doors rejecting Him, and walk into an eternity in Hell.

3. The Lord: The youth said it last week in their testimonies: The most important thing about you is not your gender, your skin color, your money in the bank, your career, your popularity…the most important thing about you is what you think of Jesus. Is He your Lord? He can be, today is the day of salvation.