Mark, chapter number 6, Mark, chapter 6, and we began here this morning. talking about the life of a disciple and what that looks like. And Mark chapter 6, we'll begin reading. As a matter of fact, we'll just read verse 1 for time's sake tonight. Mark chapter 6 and verse 1, the Bible says, and he went out from thence and came into his own country and his disciples follow him. Lord, we pray that you will help us to be challenged to do that this evening. I ask, Lord, that you would speak to our heart about the level of our commitment, the consistency of our commitment, the selflessness of our commitment, that we might be all that you would have us to be and all that we can be so that you might use us in a spiritually impactful life in this world. I pray, Lord, please, for the cleansing of sin. Help me to be controlled by Your Spirit and faithful to preach Your Word. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. And so we picked up from this phrase in verse 1, and His disciples follow Him. There are a lot of folks that would profess the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that believe they are following the Lord, when in reality they're holding back some area of their life in some way. And Jesus called this kind of thing out. We mentioned this morning the man that came to the Lord and said, I'll follow you whithersoever you go. And Jesus said, Well, the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head. And he was challenging the man's genuine commitment. It's easier to talk the name Christian than to live the Christian life. Much easier. One of the greatest disciplines of our life is the increasing discipline that it requires to be a true disciple of Christ. And we looked at Luke chapter number 14 in verse 25, beginning in verse number 25, and how that the Lord said that if you're gonna build a tower, you've gotta count the cost. And he made that statement in the context of the topic of discipleship. It costs something. And you know, maybe you've heard it said that we are increasingly living in a freeloading world, and in a lot of ways that may very well be true, but it can never be true of an individual that is a genuine follower of Christ. What I mean by that is this. We have a whole lot more religion than discipleship. And we need more discipleship. Matter of fact, the Lord emphasized that when he said to go and teach all nations. He said that word there has the idea of making disciples. And that means much more than going beyond in this world the matter of salvation. Now, discipleship begins with salvation. Jesus said you must be born again. But then he tells us to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And think about this. How long have you been saved? And then ask yourself, by the measure of the word, how much of the image of Christ have we been conformed to? In all of those years, are we more like Christ? Do we see more of our Savior in our heart's attitude, in our mind, in our commitment, in our steadfastness, in our perseverance, in our patience, in our long-suffering, in our joy in service? or are we increasingly finding a challenge there because of selfishness? And let me say right from the outset tonight that the only hindrance to true discipleship in any believer's life is selfishness. Because discipleship is living for him and which means living for others. And so we either serve ourselves and our interests and our goals or we serve our savior. Now, if we're a Christian, and some people say genuine Christian, well, if we use the word Christian correctly, that's it. You're either Christian or you're not. You're either saved or you're lost. There are no other issues about that. Of course, there's a lot of deception about that, isn't it? And I told you this morning about the news story I saw about how apparently or supposedly there's supposed to be an increase in the number of people that are wearing crosses. And we looked at Jesus' words there when he said that we've got to bear a cross, and we were reminded it's not jewelry at all. It's talking about mortification of our life, death to self to live for God, Galatians 2.20, and all of that. And one of the newscasters was bragging about how that she wears a cross, and she showed it, and she said, I wear a necklace with all the Marys on it. Now, do you reckon that's going to get her anywhere at the judgment seat? Not at all. Look, so you can wear a cross means nothing, really. I mean, I'm glad that the cross is out there. It's a reminder, at least in some fashion, when you see a cross, people think about Jesus. I mean, isn't that something? People don't think about Barabbas. They don't think about the thief. You know, they think about Jesus. And so I'm glad that's out there, but personally speaking, wearing jewelry doesn't mean anything as it relates to a personal knowledge of and walk with the Lord Jesus Christ. I know that kind of thing can be very meaningful for people, maybe heirlooms or things passed down from family, and that's great. But if it does not reflect our heart's knowledge of and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ, it's really just jewelry. And so we want to be clear about what genuine discipleship is. And that's what we're trying to do, or we started out to do this morning, recognizing as a part of this cost of genuine discipleship is the rejection of us by association with Him in an unbelieving world. The world does not really appreciate the Christian message rightly declared. So much of our world now, because of the nature of our churches, is seeing a compromising Jesus. Things that used to be true in the lives and minds and hearts of the church are now being compromised for the sake of gaining crowds or keeping the peace with the world or something along the line. But when you begin to live and share and declare the truth of God's Word, in a lot of ways, in an unbelieving world, that's going to bring rejection. And we don't like that. We don't like being rejected. We want to be received. We want to be accepted. And unfortunately, the temptation there is for the believer to, because of a desire to be accepted in the world, compromise on the Lord. A true disciple will not do that. a true disciple. As a matter of fact, when we read this phrase in the last part of verse number one, His disciples follow Him, that is actually the meaning of disciple, a follower of, a mimicker of, an imitator of. That's what it means. And so are we genuinely following Him? And if we are, The cost of this will include, as I said, unbelieving rejection. We said this morning that unbelief discredits the Lord, and that's what they did in the first three verses when they said, isn't this the carpenter's son? And we know him, his family's here. What they were doing was saying, you know, he's nothing special, he's just one of us. And how often unbelief then takes that which is majestic and tries to just make it common, make it common. And so unbelief always discredits the Lord. Unbelief deters the Lord. In verse five, we said that there he could do there no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them. Now remember, Jesus is ministering and working here in his hometown. And that's why he said in verse four, a prophet's not without honor, but in his own country and among his own kin, his own house. And again, we reminded you that there's not a question mark at the end of verse four, there's a period. So it's not like Jesus was asking, is this the way it is? He's saying, this is the way it is. And sometimes the hardest people to reach are our own family. And our friends may be the newest before we were saved. So I always encourage people, look, the very best thing you can do in that circumstance is just to live a consistent life for Jesus Christ. When my wife and I were married, we eloped. I don't recommend you do that. I mean, we just took off and got married and it disrupted our family. to say the least. And, you know, my dad and my stepmom at the time were not real happy with that choice that we made. And they watched us with some skepticism. Matter of fact, I think my stepmother at the time said, I'll give them six weeks. And I don't know, it's going on 40 years, amen, amen. But not, but because of the Lord Jesus Christ, amen. And you know, some people say, well, you know, I wish I was like Jesus and his family be saved. Jesus' family didn't believe on him. And and that means you're gonna have family that may not believe on the Lord and the best thing you can do is be genuine be here's why because they know you and so if there's gonna be a real impact on your family there needs to be a genuine change in your heart and a Genuine change in your life. The worst thing you can do is put on religion around them That's the very worst thing you can do be a faithful follower and believer in Jesus Christ and over the long period That'll be the greatest impact you can have on your family But they didn't believe him and this disbelief in his own town deterred him. He wasn't able to work like he would have because of their unbelief. And then I'd like to mention as well here that in verse number six we see that unbelief directed the Lord. We could say redirected him, but it certainly doesn't prevent his continued work. If you look there in verse number six, the Bible says, and he marveled because of their unbelief. If he hadn't been the Lord, it would have been shocking, but he was stirred by this rejection. And he went round about the villages teaching." We see there. And so the idea of went is that he kept on going. The Lord taught this when he talked to us about evangelism. He said, you know, if you go to a place and they don't receive you, shake the dust off and go to the next place. We're not able to make people get saved. As badly as we'd like to be able to do that, because of the eternal consequences, you just can't do it. And so, but because you've been rejected in your witness at one point doesn't mean you stop there. You continue on for the Lord Jesus Christ, not everybody that Jesus preached to believed on him. And so we just keep going for his glory, and we find that with our Savior. The Bible says in Romans 3 and 3, for what if some did not believe? Shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? And that word faith there has the idea of faithfulness. If some don't believe, is that gonna stop God's work in the world? No. He's gonna continue to do that work. And you and I should as well because not everyone is going to believe. If somebody said, if you expect somebody to get saved every 10 minutes as a result of your witness, you'd better find something else to do. In John 1 in verse 11, the Lord set the example, he came unto his own, and his own received him not, but as many as received him. To them gave he power to become the sons of God. And so there's rejection, but there's a continuance. Not everyone is going to believe, and we cannot allow that to stop us. The scripture says of the disciples when they were beaten and rejected in Acts chapter 5 and verse 41, they departed from the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for his name. And in Acts 5 and 42, and daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to teach and preach Jesus Christ. So just because some had not believed Just because some did not believe didn't mean they weren't going to continue doing what the Lord had told them to do in preaching His Word. And so let's face it, if you're going to be a genuine disciple of Jesus Christ, you are going to face rejection. That's part of the cost. That's part of the cause. And I'll remind you that Jesus said, the servant is not above his Lord. Now let's be clear before I move on to the next point, and that is this, that we're not talking about rejection, as I've said before, because you're obnoxious. If you're obnoxious, that's your fault. Amen. And let me just say this, obnoxion, is that a word? Maybe Miriam Webster was making the word of the year. Obnoxion is a result of the flesh, not the spirit. The same is sarcasm. The word sarcay means flesh. It's a work of the flesh, not the spirit. And so if we are being rejected because we are obnoxious, that's on us and it discredits the Lord. Discredits the Lord. But if we're faithful to love our God and to love people and to behave ourselves wisely in the world, and we're rejected in spite of those things, that's something that we should expect as true disciples. The second thing, if you are going to be a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ, you're going to have to deal with rejection. The second thing is a true disciple of Jesus Christ is one that is consistently in the work of evangelization. That's what disciples do. not just follow their savior, but declare him to others. Jesus said in Luke 19 10, for the son of man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. That's why he came. And when he ascended to heaven, he left the orders to go and preach the gospel to every creature. Ye shall be witnesses unto me in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria and unto the uttermost part of the earth. While he's ascending to heaven, that was his command. And not just here and there, but all the time and everywhere. We're to be evangelists for him. That's why the Lord said that we need to lift up our eyes and look. He told the disciples that. And they were fighting about food and whether or not he had eaten. And Jesus said, hey, lift up your eyes and look on. He said, I have meat to eat you know not of. And he said, lift up your eyes and look on the field, for they are white already unharvested. We need to put our eyes where they need to be. And the Bible tells us that Jesus said in Mark chapter number one, back a few chapters, let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also for therefore came I forth. He said, I came for the purpose of preaching everywhere. And he told us clearly in Matthew 4 and verse 19, follow me and I will make you fishers of men. If you look at Mark 6 and verse 1, his disciples follow him and Jesus said, if you follow me, I will make you fishers of men. Look, for a genuine disciple, evangelism is not an afterthought. It's the first thought. It is the first burden, it is the greatest concern, to keep the gospel at the forefront of our mind. And so look at verse number seven, he called unto him the twelve. The Lord has called us to be faithful witnesses for him. He called them out, then he commissioned them, in the last part of verse seven, and began to send them forth by two and two, and gave them power over unclean spirits. And so in this commission are two things. One is sending. Now notice that the gospel is a message of offense, not defense. I think sometimes we're, a lot of times, we're trying, if you put it in the analogy of a football team, we're trying to score on defense. We're trying to get the pick six or something. But here's the thing. Genuine evangelism is an offensive effort. Not offensive, well, to some it will be, but offensive effort. It means you've got to put some gumption to it. You have to make up your mind, I'm going to be a witness. You have to make up your mind, you're going to be ready to witness at all times and everywhere. And to make sure that you have those gospel tracts with you, make sure you're ready to put on a kind face and try to open an opportunity everywhere you go. and every opportunity you have. That's what disciples do. Why? Because we're saved 24 hours of every day. I mean, this is not a hobby, it's a way of life. And if Jesus has done anything for you, then your burden ought to be that he has the opportunity to do it for others. This was the work of the book of Acts. They went everywhere preaching the word. Can I ask you tonight, with whom have you shared the gospel message this last week? How have you shared it with them? A true disciple has this on the front of their mind. I've got to come up with a better analogy, but not as a vacuum salesman. That's not how we do it. We meet somebody and we flip a switch and start trying to sell them something. No, we have a joy in the Lord, and a walk with the Lord, and a fellowship in the Lord, and a burden for people, a genuine concern for people. And look, we're talking in our Sunday school class right now about the matter of spiritual liberties. And that in order to live correctly according to what the Bible teaches as it relates to Christian liberties, then we have to have a genuine respect for people. Now I know there are a lot of people in this world that we would say they don't live respectably, don't act respectably, they don't talk respectably, they don't dress respectably, but I want to remind you of this, that Jesus died for them on the cross of Calvary. Every soul is eternal, and that is worth respect, because it was worth the sacrifice of our Savior on the cross of Calvary. So a disciple is thinking about that eternity. And we recognize that the Lord has sent us and we see, that's in verse seven, and then we see that he also promised to supply them. And there are two ways that we see he supplied for them. One was God's power and gave them power, last part of verse seven, over unclean spirits. Look, this work of evangelism is a spiritual work and it requires spiritual power. That is, the enablement of the Holy Spirit of God with wisdom and walking in the power of the Spirit so that that Spirit can convict of sin and draw to Christ. He provides that power. He provides not just power, but He provides provision. In verse 8, notice this, and He commanded them, they should take nothing for their journey, save a staff only, no script, no bread, no money in their purse. And notice here the urgency of the thing. We could summarize verse 8 by saying, look, don't burn yourself down with stuff that's gonna unnecessarily wear you out. But that's exactly what happens to a lot of believers, so that their life is such a burden to bow with so many cares of the world, as the Savior said, they're not the effective witness they should be. But he says here in verse number nine, but be shod with sandals. That reminds me, you have shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. But be shod with sandals and not put on two coats. And he said to them, in whatsoever place you enter into house, there abide till you depart from that place. Now what he said is once you enter to home, and again, he's capitalizing on the Eastern practice of hospitality. And people would take these travelers into their home and care for them. And he said, when you go into a home, look, you stay there. And the point of that was this, really, you get into a home and maybe you find out it's not what you expected. All right. Don't be trying to go around and find a better place. The point really of verse 10 is contentment. Contentment. And so he says in verse 11, and whosoever shall not receive you nor hear you when you depart, then shake off the dust under your feet for a testimony against them. Verily I say unto you, it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. All right? So he reminds us then that he will supply power and provision and he's given the precept in verse 11. And that is we preach the gospel, we do everything we can to help people understand how to be saved, and if they choose not to believe in the end, that is on them. And that's very clearly what he says in verse 11. Where we fall into difficulty is where we have a responsibility to be a witnessing disciple, and we're not. We're not. As to refer back to Ezekiel, we basically have been assigned as watchmen and we haven't warned, and so therefore their blood is on our hands. And so we find the call, we find the commission. Now all of that's good. Every Christian has been called to be a witness. You won't find it listed in the list of spiritual gifts. It's a command. Go on and teach. Every Christian has been called, every Christian has been commissioned. The difference between us and the disciples is found in verse 12, and they went out and preached that men should repent. That's the compliance. They did exactly what the Savior told them to do. They did the job. They went out and preached that men should repent, and that is to turn to the Lord and trust Him as their Savior. And they were faithful to do this so that we find that, I love that we don't have time for all this passage tonight, but the fact of the matter is they went to every corner of society with the gospel. You find that they went to the commoners in verse 13, they cast out many devils and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them. And so they were right in there where the people needed the message. That's what a disciple does. We're engaged with the world around us. And so they preach the gospel to the common people. I thought of this as I was reviewing here this afternoon that the Bible tells us in Mark 12 and verse 37, the common people heard him gladly. Amen. They still do. If we'll give them the message. But they didn't stop there because we also find not only did they preach the message in the commons, but they also preached it in the court. Look at verse 14, and King Herod heard of Him. And so their witness was so through and through that it began to get even into the court of Herod. So they did quite a job of evangelizing and declaring Jesus Christ as the Messiah and preaching salvation and forgiveness of sin in him. They simply did the job. Now, when it comes to Herod, an interesting account is given here of how that while they preached the gospel in the court, there was somewhat of a shallow reception of John the Baptist in the court. In verse number 20, if you'll look at that with me. For Herod feared John, and knowing that he was a just man, and an holy, and observed him. And when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly. That's a very interesting verse. Herod feared, the reference there really had to do with a couple of things. One was a concern about if he did anything untoward that he'd have a problem with the people. But the other here has to do obviously and clearly in this verse with the testimony of John. That word feared would not be shaking in his sandals, if you will, but a respect for John the Baptist. And why did he respect him? Because John was just. And he was holy. And that's the way you and I ought to live. Look, if we're not living a consistent Christian life, we'll never be able to be a consistent witnessing disciple. John was, now notice this here, in the middle of verse 20 it says, and he observed him. He was watching him. And there are people that are watching you. And what in the world are they seeing? Are they seeing a consistent Christianity? Are they seeing the glory of the Lord? Are they seeing a gentleness and a sweetness and a walk with God? Are they seeing that there? He observed him. And when he heard him, verse 20, he did many things. What does that mean? It basically means that there were some aspects of John's message that Herod said, you know what? I need to be doing that. You ever heard somebody say that, maybe they're not even saved, but they try to practice some parts of Christianity? That's the idea. When he heard him, he did many things and he heard him gladly. And so there was this, at least this shallow, somewhat seeming reception of John the Baptist in his message, but it didn't hold. Because the Bible says in the following verses that Herod respected John the Baptist, but he also executed John the Baptist. We're reminded then of John 3 and verse 19. This is the condemnation that light is coming to the world and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. The thing that turned Herod from a respecter to an executioner was a trampy woman. Yeah. And he basically was willing to sell out half his kingdom for that. That's a disaster. But it shows you how shallowly interested people are in faith sometimes. They may give the impression, but then they don't come through. That's just part of gospel witness. By the way, we could also say, if we were just to point out here, John the Baptist himself. Now you want to talk about discipleship costing you something? It hadn't cost you your head yet, but it cost his. And why? Because he was faithful in his message. See, he got the opportunity to speak to Herod, and he laid out there Herod's sin just like everybody else's. And, you know, the end result was, of course, that he had him killed. Philip and Herodias, terrible thing that they did. And so they went out and preached. So we see the call, the commission, the compliance. And then I'd like for you to see the completion is in verse 30. And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus. So get this now. They went out and did the work that he had told them to do. And then they came back and gathered together unto him and told him all things, both what they had done and what they had taught. And so we find them giving a report to the Lord. Now think about that for a minute. You and I are gonna do the same thing. Everyone is gonna give an account to God. Everyone is gonna answer for the things done in this body, whether good or evil. Every one of us is going to answer for our obedience or lack thereof to his commandment and his commission to preach the gospel. And so they completed this mission with an answering to the Lord. And I wonder what our answer will be. What will our answer be? Now, I want you to notice something about the challenge of this work, beginning in verse 31. They came back after a preaching tour. And in verse 31, He said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place and rest a while. So they had been so busy about this that they had worn themselves out. Now I'm gonna tell you this, there are a lot of people that are worn out, but I'm not sure how much of that wearing out is because of a faithful gospel witness. Notice what he said here in verse 31. For there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. Who were the many? That were the people they were ministering to. Look, there are a lot of Christians that are wearing themselves out on themselves. But these disciples had given themselves to the ministry, to others, and there were so many needs and so much opportunity that they had no leisure and so much as time to eat. And sometimes we understand at least a little bit about that. This morning, I finished up in Sunday school and went to my office to put some stuff up and get ready to come to service, and I recognized, this is unusual, that I had five minutes to get from my office to the auditorium. And I passed by Brother Anthony, and I said, you know, it's bad when five minutes feels like an hour, because you can just rest a minute. Because the work continues. The effort continues. And so he told them to come apart. And the Bible says in verse 32, they departed into a desert place by ship privately. And the people saw them departing. Many knew him and ran afoot thither out of all the cities and out went them and came together unto him Jesus when he came out so much people moved with compassion toward them because they were as sheep Not having a shepherd and he began to teach them many things Notice here the Lord told his disciples come apart before you come apart and then as they were trying to come apart What happened? more people more needs, more ministry. And Jesus continued in that work because of the needs of the people. He finished that work and sent them on a journey. We spoke on this ship journey, this tribulation that they had to endure. So here they're trying to find a place to come apart, and the needs are just always right there. And then they end up on a boat in a storm. You get the picture here? You feel like you don't have any rest. You feel like you don't have any relief. What about these disciples going from one thing to the next, from one problem to the next, from one challenge to the next, trying to think about a minute to stop and eat? Which one of us have really labored for the Lord to that point? Which one? And so we find that if you're going to be a disciple, you're going to have to deal with rejection. If you're going to be a disciple, your life is evangelization and the preaching of the gospel. And then also, as we follow from this point to the next, you're going to have to walk with God through some tribulation. That's all there is to it. And tribulation works patience. And God uses it to help us have patience, to help us grow, to help us think and to see and to consider as He does. So that's part of the life of a disciple. But Peter said, look, be careful not to let some fiery trial and you think it's strange that some strange things happen to you. That's the life of a disciple of Jesus Christ. Count the cost. And so we're going to have to deal with this tribulation. But then I want to finish this, and that is that we're going to have to commit to the continuation. And this is kind of an addendum then, an add-on, an expansion of what we talked about last Sunday when it comes to the matter of being steadfast, persevering in the work of the Lord. So we see in the last part of verse number six, chapter 6, rather, and down in verse 54. They just came through a storm. They had all kinds of spiritual challenges in the storm. They found out some things about themselves that maybe they didn't realize was going on there. And so verse 54 tells us, And when they were come out of the ship, straightway they knew Him. Who's the they? That's the people. They knew them. and ran through the whole region round about and began to carry about in beds those that were sick where they heard he was. And whithersoever he entered into villages or cities or country, they laid the sick in the streets and besought him that he might touch, if it were, but the board of his garment, and as many as touched him were made whole." That's the life of a disciple. There are no end of needs. There's no end of burdens. There's no end of weariness. Now, we'll do all these things for our own sake, you understand? But I'm talking about a disciple of Jesus, a follower of Jesus. Chapter number six and verse one, and his disciples follow him. If in some way these various things are not characteristic of your life, maybe you need to check the depth of your discipleship tonight. Because following Him is going to require us to check our commitment level and to be steadfast, unmovable. And there's that phrase, always abounding. in the work of the Lord. Because your labor is not in vain in the Lord. And so if that's the measure of discipleship, how do we measure up tonight? Let's stand together and bow our heads.