So please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark. We have slowly preached our way through the whole Gospel of Mark. Anyone want to take a wild guess how many sermons we have had in Mark so far? No one? I will tell you towards the end of the sermon. Hopefully that entices you to pay attention. But because we've kind of gotten through the end, Lord willing, we'll finish up next week looking at the real ending of Mark. But I wanna go back through Mark's main point together. And so I want to invite you to open to chapter one. I'm gonna read verse one through 15, and we're gonna go through pretty quickly through the whole gospel of Mark. So I encourage you to flip along. It might be a little hard, because we'll move rather quick, but it might be worth seeing what we see together. But I'm gonna read chapter one, one through 15, as we begin. Hear now the word of God. The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way. The voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. Now John was clothed with camel's hair, and wore a leather belt around his waist, and ate locusts and wild honey. And he preached, saying, After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. In those days, Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. And when he came up out of the water, immediately he saw the heavens being torn open and the spirit descending on him like a dove. And a voice came from heaven. You are my beloved son. With you, I am well pleased. The spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him. Now, after John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the gospel. Thus ends the reading of God's holy, inerrant word. May its truth be ever written on our hearts. Let us pray. Dear Lord God, Show us Jesus in this sermon. Help us to see Jesus more completely, that we may love you with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. O Lord, may the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be ever pleasing and acceptable in your sight. O Lord, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. How many of you were teachers or are teachers? A couple of you? More specifically, how many of you ever graded a paper or an assignment? Maybe you switched papers with someone in class when you were younger and had to grade each other. Anyone do that? Most of you? Well, this might sound a little weird, but I want us to grade Mark's paper today. When I was in undergrad, I was a TA for the Biblical Studies Department, a teaching assistant, and I had to grade a lot of papers. And one of the main things you kind of do is you have to make sure that they are supporting their main claim, that they are making an argument and defending it. And that main claim is what we call the thesis statement. It's what the author is arguing for in their paper. If you remember all the way back to our first sermon in the Gospel of Mark, I called Mark 1-1 Mark's thesis statement. Read it with me. It says, the beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Here, Mark is making a claim that Jesus, this wandering peasant rabbi who lived 2,000 years ago, is the Christ, the promised King of Israel, and the Son of God, that he is God in human form. Mark's thesis is that Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus is God. And I want us to go through Mark's work and see if he does an adequate job defending this. And here's the main point today. I'm just gonna give it to you up front for you to follow along. The main point is that every chapter of Mark shows us that Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus is God. Every chapter of Mark shows us that Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus is God. So let's work through this together and see how Mark reveals Jesus to us. First, we're gonna see that Jesus is God. In chapter one, right at the very beginning, starting at verse three, it says, the voice of one crying in the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. This is actually quoting a verse from Isaiah, chapter 40, verse three. And if you went back there, you would see in your Bibles, most likely, the word Lord is all capitalized letters. Because in the original Hebrew, it's the divine name, Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh, Jehovah. It's the name of God. And so, Mark is saying that someone's gonna come in the wilderness, preparing the way for God Almighty. And you might expect Jesus to show up, preparing the way for God, but the next verse, you have John, who appeared in the wilderness, preparing the way for Jesus. So Jesus is the God that John was preparing the way for as the promised fulfillment of Isaiah. And if you look down at verse 11 really quickly, you see the voice came from heaven, from God above, saying to Jesus at his baptism, you are my beloved son, with you I am well pleased. God in heaven even declares that Jesus is his son. In chapter 2, verse 5, it says Jesus saw the faith of these people and he looked at this paralytic man and he said, your sins are forgiven. And this angers the scribes who are there because who can forgive sins but God alone? And Jesus, knowing this, asks the question, what's easier to say, your sins are forgiven or to say to a paralytic man, get up and walk? Well, it's a lot easier to say your sins are forgiven. There's no like test to prove if you're right, right? But he says, so you know that the Son of Man, a title Jesus uses for himself quite often, so you know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to do both, he says to the paralytic man, get up and walk. He gets up and picks up his mat and leaves, showing that Jesus doesn't just heal, but that he has authority to forgive sins, something only God can do. In chapter 3, verse 11, the unclean spirits saw Jesus and they fall down before him and cry out, you are the son of God. The demons, the unclean spirits, know that Jesus is the son of God. They declare it throughout the book. In chapter 4, Jesus calms a stormy sea. In Psalm 107, it says God, or the Lord, calms the stormy seas. So when Jesus calms the stormy sea, he is doing something the Old Testament says that God does. In chapter five, it says Jesus raised a young girl from the dead. Well, who is the one that gives life but God alone? God is a God of life, not a God of death. And so Jesus not calling out to God above to work through him like the prophets in the Old Testament did, but rather simply speaking, little girl, Get up! Raises a girl from the dead because he is God. In chapter 6, verse 48, Jesus is walking on the sea. In Job 9, 8, it says the Lord God walks on the waters. Jesus is doing something that God is supposed to be doing. In chapter seven, Jesus heals a man who is deaf and mute. In Exodus 4.20, God says, who makes the mouth to speak and the ears to hear? So Jesus is doing something that God says he does. In chapter eight, Jesus provides food for 5,000 people in a desolate place. just like God provided manna for the Israelites in the wilderness. And in chapter nine, we have the transfiguration, where Jesus shows his deity, his earthly godliness, by becoming whiter than anyone could possibly launder. He becomes radiant. His clothes become cleaner than anyone could possibly clean. He meets with Elijah and Moses. In the Old Testament, Elijah and Moses are the only two prophets who meet directly with God. And so, the only two prophets that meet directly with God Almighty meet with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration because Jesus is God. In chapter 10, verse 27, the disciples ask them, how can anyone be saved? And Jesus says, with man it is impossible, but not with God. Well, we also learn later that Jesus is the one who saves us from our sins, gives us a route into heaven. So then Jesus is the God who has the power to save. In chapter 11, verse 14, Jesus curses a fig tree. And by verse 20, it withers from its very root. showing that Jesus is the God who has power over creation. He can curse a fig tree and cause it to wither away. In chapter 12, Jesus talks about how the Messiah, the Christ, is greater than David. Well, if David is the greatest high king in Israel's history, who is greater than David other than the God that he served? And so if the Messiah is greater than David, and if Jesus is the Messiah, which we'll look at in a minute, then he must also be greater than David because he is God. In chapter 13, verse 27, Jesus speaks of the Son of Man, his favorite messianic title describing himself, sending out angels and gathering in the elect from all the nations. Who can command the angels but God alone? who gathers in the people of God from all the nations, but God alone. Jesus is saying, he does things only God can do. In chapter 14, and perhaps the most significant statement about who Jesus is in all the gospel of Mark, the high priest questioning Jesus in verse 61 asks, are you the Christ, the son of the blessed? Now remember that Jews do not use God's name. So when this high priest asked, are you the son of the blessed? He is saying, do you believe yourself to be the son of the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the Old Testament? And look what Jesus says in verse 62. Jesus said, I am. Jesus himself is saying he is, in fact, the divine son of God on earth. In chapter 15, when Jesus is crucified, the Roman centurion watches on, and what does the Roman centurion say? Truly this man was the son of God. This Roman centurion, not being Jewish, would have no prejudice of thinking that God could not be in human form. Romans often believe that God's took human form. And so when he says this, he must be saying that Jesus is actually divine, that he is actually God in human form. And in chapter 16, Jesus raises from the empty tomb. And it specifically says in verse five, the young man sitting on the right side dressed in a white robe and they were alarmed. Now Mark doesn't say much about the young man, but we know from other Gospels that it's an angel. Who are the angels messengers to or of? God. It is God who commands the angels to give a message. Who is giving a message? An angel. So Jesus must be God able to send an angel with a message. And he resurrects showing that he is the God who conquers death itself. Every chapter of Mark's gospel shows us that Jesus is God. Every chapter of Mark's gospel shows us that Jesus is God. And this is important because this is part of what makes Christianity unique. We don't just believe God is some ethereal spirit out there that we can't fully know. I'm not saying we'll know everything about God, but we believe that God has revealed himself in a person named Jesus. that Jesus came as God in human form, and we can actually know God personally by knowing who Jesus is. Many religions actually teach about Jesus. He's a rather prominent figure in history. Islam, the Quran, teaches that Jesus is one of the great prophets. Most Buddhists would accept Jesus as a great teacher. Even Jews have no problem saying Jesus was a great ancient rabbi. The thing that makes Christians unique is not just that we believe that Jesus was a good teacher to be followed, that he's an example, but rather we believe that he is God in human form. And to deny that Jesus is God is not just to deny ancient Christian teachings, it's to deny the very word of the Bible. This is what every chapter of Mark shows us about Jesus. But it's not just that Jesus is God. Mark's making one other point, that Jesus is also the Christ. The Christ is the promised King of Israel who would bring together all 12 tribes of Israel and unite the nations in the worship of God. And so if you go back to Mark 1 15, what is the message that Jesus is bringing? The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand. Jesus is ushering in the messianic kingdom of God. And when he's saying it's at hand, he's saying it's here, it's with him. He is bringing it because he is that promised king. In chapter two, Jesus teaches that he is Lord of the Sabbath. And he says this is because the Sabbath was made for man. Well, as Christ, is he not the King of man, which makes him the King of the Sabbath? And in that same passage, just a couple of verses earlier, he connects himself to King David, the primary example of the Messianic King, showing that him as to Christ is following the footsteps of King David. In chapter 3, verse 14, Jesus goes up on a mountain and appoints his 12 apostles, just like God establishes 12 tribes of Israel, showing that Jesus is reestablishing Israel. In chapter 4, Jesus teaches in parables. You might wonder why Jesus teaches in parables, but look at the reason he gives in verse 11. Those who are traveling with him, his disciples, ask him, why the parables? And he said to them, to you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything is in parables. As a good king speaking to his people, he speaks in a way that his people will understand and be drawn to what he's talking about, but everyone else will be confused. As a good king, he speaks for his people. In chapter 5, Jesus casts out a legion of demons, or an army of demons, and they enter a group of pigs that go and drown themselves in the sea, just like the armies of Pharaoh drowned in the Red Sea as the Israelites escaped. This shows Jesus is a mighty warrior king, able to defend his people. In chapter 6, we look at a crowd of people and Jesus sees them as a sheep without a shepherd. In the Old Testament, shepherds are often used to speak of Israel's leaders, their kings, their prophets, their priests, and they are often leading people astray. But Jesus is the good shepherd, who takes compassion on his flock, who feeds them with the truth. Jesus is the great king who cares for his people. In chapter 7, it says that a Gentile woman, a non-Jewish woman, comes begging Jesus to heal her daughter. And Jesus says, let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. He is, in essence, saying he came first for the people of Israel, because he is the Christ, the promised King of Israel. It's not that he's not for the Gentiles, but he is first for the people of Israel, because that's what it would mean to be the Christ. In chapter eight, verse 29, you have the climactic hinge of the entire gospel. Jesus is walking along with his disciples and he says, who do you say that I am? Who do people say that I am? And they say, well, some say John the Baptist. Others say you're Elijah. Others say you're one of the prophets. And then Jesus turns to them and says, but who do you say that I am? And Peter says, verse 29 of chapter eight, You are the Christ. And Jesus doesn't correct him. He doesn't say he's wrong. He doesn't give him some teaching. He simply says, don't tell anyone. Because it's true, Jesus didn't want the word getting out and messing up the work he came to do. He had a mission he was set for, and he didn't deny being the Christ. He simply said, it's not time for people to know. Because deep down, he really is the Christ. In chapter 9, Jesus foretells his death and resurrection in verse 31, saying, The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days, he will rise again. The Son of Man is a messianic title that Jesus uses regularly to refer to himself, a Christ title from the Old Testament. And he's picturing himself like the suffering servant in Isaiah 53, the Messiah who would come and suffer and die for the sake of his people. And so Jesus is saying that he is that Christ that's the suffering servant. In chapter 10, Two of Jesus' disciples, James and John, come to him in verse 35 through 37, and they say in verse 37, grant us to sit one at your right hand and one at your left in your glory. You see, James and John, believing that Jesus is the promised king of Israel, believe he is one day gonna sit on the throne, and they are asking if they can sit at his right hand and left, if they can have power and authority and a position of honor in his kingdom, because they believe he's the Christ. In chapter 11, it begins with a triumphal entry. It's what we think of on Palm Sunday. And Jesus comes riding into Jerusalem on a donkey's colt to fulfill Zachariah, who says that the Messiah will come riding on a donkey's colt. And as he rides in, in verse 10, the people are singing, blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David, Hosanna in the highest. the people lining the streets during that triumphal entry, see Jesus riding on the colt as a fulfillment of the kingdom of the Son of David, the Messiah, the Christ. In chapter 12, verse 35, Jesus goes into the temple and he's having this discussion, and we just looked at this, this is where Jesus is saying that David said the Messiah, the Christ, is his Lord. And so Jesus is God, as we just talked about. He must also be the Messiah, because the Messiah has to be greater than King David. In chapter 13, verse 10, Jesus says, before the end times come to end, the gospel must be proclaimed to all the nations. Remember the Christ is to bring together all the nations every nation tribe and tongue to worship God Which means the gospel has to be proclaimed This is a messianic vision for the whole world showing that Jesus is the Christ in chapter 14 But we get the same thing we saw earlier where the high priest says, are you the Christ, the son of the blessing? And Jesus says, I am. Verse 61 and 62. Jesus is saying he is God and that he is the Christ. This is who Jesus himself claims to be. And in chapter 15, when Jesus is crucified, what is the charge above his head? The charge before him is the king of the Jews. The Messiah, the Christ. Chapter 16, one through eight, then confirms all of this with the resurrection. Proving that Jesus is the only one who can actually reign on the throne of David forever. Because he's the one that conquered death. So every chapter of Mark's gospel shows us that Jesus is the Christ. that he is the promised king, ushering in the kingdom of God on earth. You see, since Genesis 3, the whole earth has been in rebellion against God. We are all in rebellion against God apart from Christ, but Jesus comes being the promised King who brings about restoration, who brings about God's will and God's kingdom and God's plan for redemption in the world. And so when we accept that Jesus is the Christ and we make him the King of our lives, we actually enter back into God's kingdom, his design, his plan, his rule over everything. So every chapter of the Gospel of Mark shows us that Jesus is God and that Jesus is the Christ. Every chapter of Mark shows us that Jesus is Christ and that Jesus is God. And we're just scratching the surface here. If we had more time, if you go back and listen to our previous sermons, you will find that there's a lot more than just what I showed here today. This is just scratching the surface of Mark's great work. Because every chapter reveals this. So as we wrap up, I want you to grade Mark's work. If you look at the little printout in your bulletins that I gave, there's a little section, put a grade if you want to do that. I know this sounds weird. But if you think that Mark made an absolutely convincing argument, he gave a good amount of support, and you think you are convinced that Jesus is in fact the Christ and that Jesus is God, give him an A. If you think you're convinced that Jesus is the Christ and Jesus is God, and that Mark did a pretty good argument, but he left out some stuff, maybe you want some more details, like in Matthew or Luke, give him a B. If you were already convinced, but you don't think Mark did a great job explaining this, give him a C. Or if you think Mark did a really good job defending his argument, but you're not convinced, give him a C. If you think Mark did a mediocre job, and you're not convinced, give him a D. And if you think this whole thing is butt kiss and that Mark is just making stuff up about this guy named Jesus, give him an F. and take a moment, give them a little grade, and I'm gonna give you some final thoughts based off the grade. If you give Mark an F, first, let me say I'm glad you're here. You are more than welcome any time, though it might sound like I'm about to say something other than that. If you are new to Christianity and you're just beginning to explore this, you've maybe been coming to church for a couple months or you've just began to really kind of get into what this all means, and you gave him an F, but you're new, I encourage you to think of that more like a C or a D. And if you gave him a C or a D or an F and you're new to this, I encourage you to keep studying because I actually think that the Bible has good answers. Feel free to ask questions, come to our theology on tap on Thursday, start coming to Bible study, ask good questions, because I think the Bible actually makes a rational case that Jesus is in fact the Christ, the Son of God. And it has answers to all our biggest problems. But if you gave him an act and you have really put in the time and effort to study Mark's gospel and maybe the other gospels, and you're still not convinced, you think this whole thing is kind of just made up, Especially if you've gone to church for years, maybe you've been to 50 of our 62 sermons through the Gospel of Mark so far, and you're still not convinced and you've still given up. If I could be so bold, maybe you should stop coming to church. Don't get me wrong. I want you to believe this. I want you to be convinced. I think this is absolutely true. And I think if you don't believe this, you're not a Christian, you're not saved, and you're not going to heaven. But I think if you've gone through the work and you still are not convinced, then you probably don't care that much about that. And so why waste your Sunday mornings coming to church? If you think I'm wrong, then ultimately this life is really all you have, so go make the most of it. Go spend your Sunday mornings playing golf or watching repeat games or whatever, sleeping and spending time with your family. But if this is true, it involves a lot more heart and devotion behind it. And so if you think this is absolutely absurd, maybe it's time to consider something else. And if you have questions, if you want to know more, talk to me. But if you've really done the work and you're not convinced, I'm sorry, but this is what it is to be a Christian. So why play religion? But if you haven't done the work, or if you're new to this, or if you're just not completely persuaded, keep coming, keep getting involved, come to Wednesday nights, and learn more. Because I think there is truth to be found. But if you gave Mark an A or a B, it means you are pretty well convinced that this is true. So what do you do if you are convinced by this? Well, you might expect me to say, come to church, read your Bibles, pray, all that's great. But I think Jesus actually gives us the right response in chapter one, verse 15. When Jesus comes proclaiming the gospel, he says, the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel. How are we to respond to this good news of who Jesus is? We are to repent. We're to turn away from our sin, from our rebellion against God, from being in the world's kingdom, and turn back to the kingdom of God to make Jesus our King and our God. We are to believe in what Jesus has done. to trust in who he is and what he has done for us in his completed work on the cross, and to love him and adore him and worship him. Mark didn't just write this gospel to give us some facts about this historical person named Jesus. He wrote this to convince us that Jesus is God and that Jesus is the Christ, so that you would know that Jesus is worthy of your worship, so that you would know that Jesus is worthy of your devotion, so that you would know that Jesus is worthy of your whole life. And so the proper response to believing that Jesus is in fact God and that Jesus is the Christ is not just to know that intellectually. but to believe it for yourself. To make Jesus your God. To make Jesus the one you worship, the one you pray to and from, the one that you devote your life to. And to make Jesus your Christ, your King. To submit yourself to Him, to follow Him, to love Him, and to trust in Him. That's the response. Every chapter of the Gospel of Mark shows us that Jesus is the Christ and that Jesus is God. And if you believe that, you should repent and believe in Jesus. Amen? Let's pray. Dearly God, thank you that you have revealed yourself to us in your word, that we don't have to run around acting like we don't really know God, acting like you can't be known, because you have shown yourself in Jesus. Lord, help us to believe that. And in so doing, trust in him, to follow him and devote our lives to him, because that is what it means to be a Christian. And that's what it means to be saved and to live with you forever. We pray this for our good and your glory, in Jesus' name, amen.