SF924 - WHY WE MUST GO (Mark 10 17-31)
Mark 10:17-31
Introduction
John Piper is his book, Desiring God, challenges his readers to become “World Christians.” He says that World Christians are a group of Christians, who say,
We want to accept personal responsibility for reaching some of the earth’s unreached, especially from among the billions at the widest end of the Gap who can only be reached through major new efforts by God’s people. Among every people-group where there is no vital, evangelizing Christian community there should be one, there must be one, there shall be one. Together we want to make this happen.[1]
My prayer, my desire is that we all might become World Christians.
In the text before us there are two great incentives for becoming World Christians.
Ø The power of God’s grace.
Ø The pleasure of God’s goodness.
1A. The Power of God’s Grace (10:25-27)
1B. God’s grace does what no man can do.
Who but God can raise the spiritually dead?
Ephesians 2:5 “even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)”
Who but God can call the dead to life?
John 11:43 “When He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’”
Who but God can take out the heart of stone?
Ezekiel 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”
Who but God can draw people to the Son?
John 6:44 “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Who but God can open a heart to respond the gospel?
Acts 16:14 “A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul.”
Who but the Good Shepherd knows his sheep by name?
John 10:14 “I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me”
2B. God’s grace gives us the confidence to go. (John 10:16)
Jesus has sheep outside the present fold.
Revelation 5:9 “And they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are You to take the book and to break its seals; for You were slain, and purchased for God with Your blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.’”
Acts 18:9-10 “And the Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, ‘Do not be afraid any longer, but go on speaking and do not be silent; for I am with you, and no man will attack you in order to harm you, for I have many people in this city.’”
Jesus must gather in all His sheep.
Ø He gathers them by the preaching of the gospel.
John 17:20 “I do not ask on behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word”
His sheep will hear His voice.
Acts 13:48 “When the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord; and as many as had been appointed to eternal life believed.”
God is not stingy with His grace.
Ø Some worry that God has limited his grace and will somehow withhold his grace from those who desire it. I assure God’s grace is abundant.
Romans 5:20 “…where sin increased, grace abounded all the more”
2A. The Pleasure of God’s Goodness (10:28-30)
1B. Jesus makes up for every sacrifice.
Jesus calls us to deny ourselves the lesser good so we might enjoy the greater good.
Mark 8:34-35 “…If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it.”
“The measure of your longing for life is the amount of comfort you are willing to give up to get it.”[2]
2B. Jesus alone is all we need!
Philippians 3:7-10 “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, …that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death”
Romans 8:18 “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.”
Application
We must go! You must go! Why?
Hebrews 12:1-2 “Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
For in going we will find the greatest joy!!!!!
1A. The ______________ of God’s Grace (10:25-27)
1B. God’s grace does what no _________ can do.
Who but God can raise the spiritually ________? (Ephesians 2:5)
Who but God can call the _____________ to life? (John 11:43)
Who but God can take out the heart of stone? (Ezekiel 36:26)
Who but God can __________ people to the Son? (John 6:44)
Who but God can open a heart to respond the gospel? (Acts 16:14)
Who but the Good Shepherd knows his sheep by name? (John 10:14)
2B. God’s grace gives us the confidence to go. (John 10:16)
Jesus has sheep _____________ the present fold. (Revelation 5:9; Acts 18:9-10)
Jesus ________________ gather in all His sheep.
Ø He gathers them by the preaching of the gospel. (John 17:20)
His sheep __________ hear His voice. (Acts 13:48)
God is _____________ stingy with His grace. (Romans 5:20)
2A. The Pleasure of God’s Goodness (10:28-30)
1B. Jesus makes up for every ________________.
Jesus calls us to deny ourselves the lesser good so we might enjoy the greater good. (Mark 8:34-35)
“The measure of your longing for life is the amount of comfort you are willing to give up to get it.”[3]
2B. Jesus _____________________ is all we need! (Philippians 3:7-10; Romans 8:18)
Application
We must go! You must go! Why?
Hebrews 12:1-2
For in going we will find the greatest joy!!!!!
----
[1] Piper, John, Desiring God, (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah, 1996), 196.
[2] Piper, 203.
[3] Piper, Desiring God, (Sisters, Oregon: Multnomah, 1996), 203.