Immediately Gospel

Recap

As we continue our study through The Gospel of Mark, we have gone over who Christ is, how he calls us to repentance, how he gives us the gift of the Holy Spirt to cause us to walk in his commandments. We read and learned how we will be tested by God and Tempted by the devil. We learned that Christ was and is our example for righteousness and how we after receiving that saving power should strive to walk just as he walked.

We have walked through the new believer life cycle over the last month, now we have reached the reason why we exist as these new creatures. This is why we exist in the world, the reason why we become believers, the reason why we become disciples is to make more disciples.

Immediately Gospel

Today we are coming from Mark 1:14-15

Mark 1:14–15 BSB

After the arrest of John, Jesus went into Galilee and proclaimed the gospel of God. “The time is fulfilled,” He said, “and the kingdom of God is near. Repent and believe in the gospel!”

Immediately Decrease

John the Baptist has been arrested because he continued to speak out against Herod for trying to marry his brother's sister but remember what John the Baptist had already said in John 3:30

John 3:30 BSB

He must increase; I must decrease.

He said that Christ must increase and he must decrease. This is the first step to evangelism; this is the first step to preaching the Gospel and honestly the first step in a Christan life. You must decrease so that the Messiah must increase. You must give up what you wanted to do in your life so that God can work in your life. You must give up what you think in right and wrong and submit to what God thinks is right and wrong. You have to become a new creature and admit that your life is not you're own but that it belongs to God.

We see this theme all over the new testament starting with the Messiah

Luke 9:23 BSB

Then Jesus said to all of them, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow Me.

The Messiah tells us that if anyone wants to follow him, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow him. You have to deny those things that you may want, that life that you may have wanted, that house or that car that you may have wanted. We all set landmarks or Goals for life and we say , I want to buy a house by this age and have a car by this age, I want to marry this person and have this many kids, and I want to have this Job and I want to live here, and those are good plans to have but at the end of the day we must submit ourselves fully to the will of God. You know when I was coming of age, I wanted to move to Mississippi, and I really wanted to leave Georgia and never come back. I was fine with moving to Tennessee, I was fine with Florida, but Georgia was something I did not under any circumstances did not want to do. So, I moved to Mississippi, and then I left and went and lived in Florida, and then God said go to Augusta, GA. I felt like Jonah, like God out of all the places why would you tell me to go to Georgia, you know I don’t want to go to Georgia, I will go anywhere but Georgia, but where are we standing today? Regal theater in Augusta, Georgia. Why because at the end of the day I may plan, I may want something, but God orders our steps

Proverbs 16:9 BSB

A man’s heart plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps.

Proverbs 19:21 BSB

Many plans are in a man’s heart, but the purpose of the LORD will prevail.

All of our plans by brothers and sisters are tentative to approval from the one who owns the cattle on a thousand hill. My wife and my mother know I already have this in my mind at all times, If you ask me something about a plan that I have for now or for in the future, I will tell you my plan but It's all ways going to end in this phrase. Most High Willing because more times than I can count I have made and plan and started to move on that plan without consulting God and he turns my plans a complete 180 in the other direction.

The overseer James tells us the same thing. James 4:13-15

James 4:13–15 BSB

Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business, and make a profit.” You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord is willing, we will live and do this or that.”

We also have to remember that the gifts and callings of God are without repentance. Romans 11:29

Romans 11:29 BSB

For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.

God gives us gifts and the first thing that we think sometimes is how can this benefit me and not how can this benefit the kingdom of God. We have plan for careers are you willing to give that up for God? I run a youtube and tiktok show 3 days a week for 3-7 hours a day. The set up that I use for that now, the camera, the microphone, the sound board, the computer the Montier the lights everything, do you know why I bought it? I was going to make gaming videos, but God said o no you are not you are going to glorify me. We have to submit ourselves to God. I wanted to be a lawyer at one point, I wanted to be a football coach at one point, but now I want to only be one thing, and that is whatever God wants me to be. Everyone isn't called to preach but everyone is called to be whatever they are for and to the glory of God.

These Gifts don’t come and go with repentance, Some people God blessed them to be singers for the sake of the kingdom, they may have rejected the Kingdom they are still singers, God bless them to be to be great speakers, God blessed them with business acumen, God Blessed you to be a great teacher, leader, he blessed you to be welcoming, all of that every gift that God gave you was in some way shape of form for the kingdom. Now of course God is a God that wants you to live well and take care of your family, so even as you are using them for the kingdom you can use them to provide for your family and if you make sure to give God the glory even then you are still using it to build the kingdom, but we can’t forget the primary use. We also can’t forget that we should not use these gifts for evil or to promote wickedness. We are to use our bodies our Gifts and our time to bless God.

Romans 12:1 BSB

Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

Present Yourself as that scarifies, that offering why because you are not even your own, you were bought for a really really really high price, the blood of the Son of God. 1 Corinthians 6:19–20

1 Corinthians 6:19–20 BSB

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.

It should no longer be you who lives but Christ who lives in you through the power of the holy spirit. That old man is no more, now we live as a new man that was born with one purpose and only one purpose to be the hands and feet of Christ in the earth.

Galatians 2:20 BSB

I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.

Paul again lays out the mindset of a mature believer in one short sentence Philippians 1:21

Philippians 1:21 BSB

For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain.

If we live , we live to Christ and if we die we gain it all eternal life in his pretense and either way I am more that content I am Happy.

Now Jesus began to proclaim the Gospel with this “The time is fulfilled” Christ is saying that Gods appoint time has come. Paul tell us this Galatians 3:19

Galatians 3:19 BSB

Why then was the law given? It was added because of transgressions, until the arrival of the seed to whom the promise referred. It was administered through angels by a mediator.

Paul is telling us here that the sacrificial system was only until a certain appointed time, it was here to cover sins until the time of the one who will take away sins would come the Messiah.

Daniel tells us something very similar Daniel 9:27

Daniel 9:27 BSB

And he will confirm a covenant with many for one week, but in the middle of the week he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. And on the wing of the temple will come the abomination that causes desolation, until the decreed destruction is poured out upon him.”

Immediately Fulfilled

The Messiah says that the time to confirm the new convent has come, he will put an end to the sacrificial system as was prophesied.

Jesus is saying, I am the one that is come the time is here the system is changing, so you better change your ways, no longer will there be a temple to just go sacrifice, no more just sinning and sinning and never really repenting, now the system is come to me all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Now this system is I will judge the heart of man, now all judgment is render to me. No more Pharisees being hypocrites and adding to my law and shutting up the kingdom, I am opening up to all who worship in Spirit and In truth, as long as you repent and you want to change.

and side note do you know some of us we do the same thing today. We see the young lady walk in with her skirt a little to short but she’s trying and now all eye are on here either to Judge or to sin or for some people both. We don’t teach we judge. We teach people the rules of How to be a Christian but not the rules of the bible. Somebody says one cuss word, and you look at them like that crazy and you actually curse people. We act as if we are better than the sinner that just walked in the door or ask you about Christ and we are more of a sinner then they could ever dream of being. We see the young lady who used to do only fans, but she's came out of it and we still judge her as if her fornication was worse than ours? We see the young man who used to sell more weed than anyone else in the city and now he is trying to come to Christ, he might don’t have it all together but neither do we and we judge him life we weren't smoking his week 6 months ago. We shut up the kingdom like its ours . Like we even deserve to be there and I hate to break it to you, but I don’t deserve to be there, you don’t deserve to be there none of us deserve to be there o but God made a way that we could make it there, Christ took our sins so that we can make it there. and the same God that took you sins so that you can make it there took theirs to so shut your mouth unless you are preaching that Gospel.

Now back The Messiah that came and died we have been waiting for this time since the fall of Adam and even because what did God say? Genesis 3:15

Genesis 3:15 BSB

And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”

Now notice the wording here. The seed of the woman. Not one other time in the bible do you see this phrase “Seed of the woman” becuase who is the only one in the bible who is the seed of the woman. Jesus Christ the Messiah, he is the heel that has crushed the serpent's head. We even see in the Targum Johnathan. Targum Johnathan is a 1 centuery commenty of the bible, that tells us what the jews at that time understands this verse to mean and it says this

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between the seed of thy son, and the seed of her sons; and it shall be when the sons of the woman keep the commandments of the law, they will be prepared to smite thee upon thy head; but when they forsake the commandments of the law, thou wilt be ready to wound them in their heel. Nevertheless for them there shall be a medicine, but for thee there will be no medicine; and they shall make a remedy for the heel in the days of the King Meshiha.” - Targum Johnathan Genesis 3:15

So they even understood that remedy for this bruised heel is the Messiah

When the promise came to Abraham Genesis 22:15-18

Genesis 22:15–18 BSB

And the angel of the LORD called to Abraham from heaven a second time, saying, “By Myself I have sworn, declares the LORD, that because you have done this and have not withheld your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies. And through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”

again we see here the singular through his offspring all the nations of the earth will be blessed. That offspring was Christ. The time has been fulfilled Gods promise to man has come.

The Promise God Made us in Isaiah 61:1-3 , 10-11

Isaiah 61:1–3 BSB

The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of our God’s vengeance, to comfort all who mourn, to console the mourners in Zion— to give them a crown of beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and a garment of praise for a spirit of despair. So they will be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified.

Isaiah 61:10–11 BSB

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. For as the earth brings forth its growth, and as a garden enables seed to spring up, so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations.

and again the promise to us in Isaiah 53:1-6

Isaiah 53:1–6 BSB

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.

Now that the promise has come and we know that the Messiah who has come to give his life for the sins of many so that we can be forgiven and walk according to the commandments of God what do we do now, what's the next step? The Messiah tells us.

Immediately The Gospel

He says the time is Near, repent and believe the Gospel. because the kingdom is near

We have already gone over the repentance, the turning away from sins, the changing of the mind to a new man. The appeal to God for a new conscience.

Now this Gospel that you must believe once you have turned away from your sins is simple. It was the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

The Messiah has come , the king of Israel has arrived, and he requires something of you that is very simple. Repent and Believe on him, believe that he is the son of God, believe that he was sent to die for your sins, believe that he is the king of the Jews and the Promised Messiah, believe that he did of the cross for you sins and was risen on the 3rd day. Earlier we read some of Isaiah 53 but now we are going to read the whole thing, if anything is the gospel this is the gospel Isaiah 53

Isaiah 53 BSB

Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet He did not open His mouth. He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is silent, so He did not open His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away, and who can recount His descendants? For He was cut off from the land of the living; He was stricken for the transgression of My people. He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with a rich man in His death, although He had done no violence, nor was any deceit in His mouth. Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush Him and to cause Him to suffer; and when His soul is made a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, and the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand. After the anguish of His soul, He will see the light of life and be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant will justify many, and He will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.

Now when you hear this Gospel, where you read that he was beaten to the point where you could not tell if he was a man, when you read that he was mocked that they said, they trust in God, let God save him, when the pierced his hands and his feet, when they made him carry his own cross, when they spit on him, when the cast lots for his clothing, When they tried to give him vinegar to drink, when his mother watched him die, when his disciples left him, but he knew no sin, he knew no transgression so why did he come down from Glory, why did he come down from heaven, born of a virgin, why did he stay here in the flesh for 33 years, why did he stay on that cross when he could have called down a legion of 10,000 angel, why did he never open his mouth to say a word other than father forgive them for they know not what they do. Why did he have to endure the worst of all the pain separation from his father, something that he had never felt from eternity? Because he took my sins upon himself and he took your sins upon him, that hell that pain, that separation from the father that you were supposed to experience for eternity, he took that. He who knew no sin became sin for us. He became a curse to redeem us from the curse of death. He went through all of this to give you a chance to be what he already was and is. He came to give us a chance to be children of God, born of the will of God. He not only brought us forgiveness of sins, but he also gave us the holy spirit so that we can have the power to overcome the flesh, and walk as he walked. Now that you have heard the Gospel, now that you know what he did for you, I only have one question. How will you respond to that Gospel? How do you respond to what he did for you? There is only one fitting response to that Gospel and that is giving your life to him, and not in word only but I deed, whatever he commanded us I will do not because it saves me because he already did that, not because it justifies me because he already did that, not because I’m scared to go to hell, because I know he won’t leave my soul in hell, but because I love him because of what he did for me. I love him enough to give myself away. Enough to know that and believe that my life is no longer my own, but it belongs to him, give your life to him it will be the best decision that you have ever made. Come to the second Adam, the first Adam and Eve said that we know best we have the knowledge of Good and Evil, we make our own decision, we are our own God. The Second Adam shows us that we submit to Gods will, he knowledge, he rules, his regulations, his law. Come today, he has already done his part. His Kingdom has come. accept him as your king.