The Parables of Jesus (Part 1)
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Throughout the past several weeks we have been studying the book of Mark. We have been in a series that is looking at the life of Jesus as the Suffering Servant. Today we want to continue our study of the book of Mark as we look at the last part of Mark chapter 3.
Last week, we saw four different responses to Jesus. We had the Curious, the Committed, the Crazies, and the Cantankerous. This morning we are going to look at two parables that Jesus used with regard to the Cantankerous, and the Crazies.
The word “parable” is a transliteration from the Greek word “parabolē” which means “comparison.” Usually a parable is a short discourse that conveys spiritual truth by making a vivid comparison. A good working definition of a parable is an earthly story that conveys a heavenly meaning. In Jesus’ day the use of parables was a common rabbinic device—a device used by rabbis. However, Jesus was particularly skilled at using parables.
If you have your Bibles, I want to encourage you to turn with me to Mark chapter 3, and we will begin with verse 22. Last week we closed with this verse.
And the teachers of the law who came down from Jerusalem said, “He is possessed by Beelzebub! By the prince of demons he is driving out demons.”
It is in response to this statement that Mark records for us one of the parables of Jesus. Let’s look at what Jesus said.
The Parable: Satan Verses Satan
The Parable: Satan Verses Satan
So Jesus called them and spoke to them in parables: “How can Satan drive out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan opposes himself and is divided, he cannot stand; his end has come.
A House Divided
A House Divided
Jesus begins by saying that there is no way that Satan can drive out Satan. If that was what was going on it would be a kingdom divided. Jesus tells the listener, if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. Likewise, a house that is divided against itself also cannot stand!
So if Satan is divided against himself, he cannot stand, and he will be ruined!
The Strong Man
The Strong Man
In fact, no one can enter a strong man’s house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man. Then he can rob his house.
Jesus goes on to say that no one can rob from the house of a strong man, unless the strong man is first tied up. Once the strong man is tied up, the thief can do whatever he wants, because the danger is stopped.
Sins & Blasphemies Forgiven
Sins & Blasphemies Forgiven
I tell you the truth, all the sins and blasphemies of men will be forgiven them. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven; he is guilty of an eternal sin.”
Jesus tells the people that all the sins and all the blasphemes can be forgiven by God. All of then except one! Verse 29 tells us, “But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. . .”
The question becomes, what does it mean to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit? In light of the context of verse 30:
He said this because they were saying, “He has an evil spirit.”
blaspheming the Holy Spirit refers to an attitude (not an isolated act or utterance) of defiant hostility toward God that rejects His saving power toward man, expressed in the Spirit-empowered person and work of Jesus. It is one’s preference for darkness even though he has been exposed to light. John talked about this in John 3:19.
This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
This persistent attitude of willful unbelief can harden into a condition in which repentance and forgiveness, both mediated by God’s Spirit, become impossible. This person is guilty or “liable to, in the grasp” of an eternal sin.
This tells us that there are some people that no matter how many times they hear the good news of Jesus they will never accept it! And dying in your lost state is something that will NOT be forgiven!
Parable: Mother’s & Brothers
Parable: Mother’s & Brothers
Now Mark returns, give us a parable about Jesus’ mother and brothers. Remember back in verse 21 we read:
When his family heard about this, they went to take charge of him, for they said, “He is out of his mind.”
When we come to verse 31, Mark picks up the rest of that story.
Then Jesus’ mother and brothers arrived. Standing outside, they sent someone in to call him. A crowd was sitting around him, and they told him, “Your mother and brothers are outside looking for you.”
Remember that we just read in verse 21 that they though Jesus was “out of his mind.” When the crowd tells Jesus that His mother and brothers are looking for Him they expect Jesus to go to them, or at minimum to make room for them inside the house. After all they had been “searching” for Him. But that is not His response. Look at verse 33.
“Who are my mother and my brothers?” he asked. Then he looked at those seated in a circle around him and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”
Jesus ask those around him a rhetorical question. “Who are my mother and my brothers?” In asking this question, Jesus is setting up the scenario where He can show the far deeper issues of a person’s relationship to Him.
Jesus is really asking, “Who are the sort of people who are My mothers and My brothers?” It would be the kind of people who would sit encircling Him, listening to Him. And it would be the kind of people that would carry out God’s will here on earth!
John echos this idea in the Upper Room Discourse in John 15. In John 15:9-10.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
So often the church today separates loving Jesus from obeying Jesus. Yet the truth is we cannot say we love Jesus if we do not obey Jesus. In James 1:22, James says that we need to be a doer of the word and not only a hearer.
Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it—he will be blessed in what he does.
I love the picture here! We have all been somewhere where we’ve seen a person, and wondered (or maybe even said) “Did they look in a mirror before they left the house?” James tells us that anyone who hears God’s Word and doesn’t apply it to their lives is like a person who looks in a mirror—sees all the things he/she should do, but then walks away and doesn’t fix anything—they leave the house with their hair a total mess!
On the other hand the person that continually looks at what God is asking them to do, and continues to do what He asks, not being a forgetful hearer—well, that person will be blessed.
Two parables of Jesus. What do we learn?
So What?
So What?
Division causes destruction! This is true of Satan’s kingdom. It is also true of our nation, our church, our homes, and even our lives!
If you die still rejecting the good news of Jesus—you will have committed a sin that cannot be forgiven!
Loving Jesus requires us to be obedient to Jesus!