Again, good morning, church. I can tell it's an hour earlier than it really is. We're continuing on our study of Mark's gospel, and we're in the ninth chapter this morning. I would encourage you to turn there with me if you would. We'll be looking at Mark chapter 9, verses 36 through 50. Mark chapter 9, verse 36 through 50. If you have found your way there, would you join me as we stand together for the reading of God's holy, inerrant, and infallible word. Jesus, then verse 36, taking a child, he set him before them and taking him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. And whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me. John said to him, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us. But Jesus said, do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name and be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. For he who is not against us is for us. Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say unto you, he will not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, you get that, a hole in the middle of a millstone just wide enough for your head to fit through, to be cast into the sea. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands, to go into hell, into unquenchable fire, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life that's eternal life, lame, than having two feet and to be cast into hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, if you are I. causes you to stumble, throw it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two, to be cast into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good. But if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Amen. Let's pray. Our God and our Father, again this morning, we're so grateful for this opportunity to allow Your Word to speak to our hearts. We have spoken to You in our songs, in our prayers, in our confessions of faith and sin. Now, Lord, we pause and we ask You to speak to us. This is Your Word. It is timeless, eternal, perfect, all authoritative. and you have something you want to say to us this morning. We do pray for the one who preaches, his sins are many. Keep him out of the way that we might hear you, see you. May we lay our hearts bare before you. Father, may you grab our attention for a brief time. May we hold audience with you so that we might not just be challenged but changed, not just confronted by the truth before us, but conform to the image of your Son, even Jesus. And we pray these things in Christ's name, amen. You may be seated. What we have before us are directives, commands, commands and directives for our life as Christians. The context I will remind you again is that Jesus is on his final journey. Of all the places he has gone through Mark's gospel, he is on this final journey that is leading him to Jerusalem and ultimately the cross. And Jesus, during this final journey, as I've said many times, and we'll say it again, is focused on his problem. His problem is the disciples, i.e., the training of the 12. They're not ready for him to leave. They're not ready for the mission that they've been called to. They're not ready for any of this. And so these directives are essential for them. These commandments are essential for them and for us. And you'll notice, as I read these verses, the repeated use of the refrain, in my name. Verse 37, whoever receives a child like this in my name receives me. It's in verse 38, John said to him, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. Again in verse 39, but Jesus said, do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name. It's even inferred to in verse 41 where Jesus says, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, there's this repeated use of the concept of being people who are in the name of Christ. And here are directives, commandments about living life in his name. living a life which bears the name of Christ, or simply stated, living as Christians. This morning I'm gonna give you two big words, new to some of you, not so new, maybe familiar to a few of you. The first word is indicatives. Say that with me, indicatives. The second word is imperatives, say that with me. Indicatives and imperatives are actually moods of New Testament Greek, moods. What is an indicative? What is an imperative? An indicative is the mode of what we might call certainty or actuality, a spiritual actuality, a truth claim, an indicative, from where we get the English word to indicate something. The Bible is primarily, the New Testament is primarily indicative. It's telling us things. Some people preach as if the Bible isn't indicative, and that is primarily, second word, imperative. An imperative is a command, a command, a divine directive, an order from God. Indicatives, truth claims. Imperatives, commands. But what is so important to grasp is the relationship between how the Bible uses indicatives and imperatives. I was talking to my daughter about raising kids, her kids. She's one of my kids that I raised. And I can tell you that your kids don't want to hear about raising their kids. But when I was raising kids, I would be asked, I'd tell them to do something that's an imperative. And they would say, why? And I would say, because I said so. Everybody say amen. The Bible really doesn't work that way, although certainly God would have every right to say to us, because I said so. Everybody say amen again. But isn't it interesting, this relationship between the indicative and the imperative, between the truth claim and the command. The imperative, that is the command, always rises out of the indicative. The command rises out of the certainty. Do this because this is true. Everybody got that? There's so many of these. I mean, they're everywhere throughout the New Testament. I remember many years ago, teaching through Colossians and Colossians three stuck in my head because the entire chapter is imperatives based on indicatives. For instance, verse one, A, Colossians three. Here's a truth claim, you have been raised up with Christ. Here's the command, the imperative, keep seeking things above. Why do we keep seeking things above? Because we have been raised up with Christ. Verse 1b, here's the truth claim, the indicative, Christ is seated at the right hand of God, here comes the imperative. Therefore set your mind on things above, not on things that are on earth. Another indicative, when Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you will be revealed with him in glory. Here's the imperative, the command, therefore consider the members of your earthly body dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, greed, which amounts to idolatry. It goes on and on. Verse six, truth claim, the wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. The command, the imperative, verse eight, therefore put aside anger, wrath, malice, slander, abuse of speech from your mouth. I could go on and on and on. I point this out in our study of Mark's gospel at this point because thus far in this final journey, the focus thus far has been on the indicative, the truth claims. Jesus' focus has been on allowing the disciples to grasp the truth claims. Jesus soliciting from the disciples to get them to say, you are the Christ, that's a truth claim. or the Mount of Transfiguration, where God the Father weighs in, this is my beloved son, truth claim. Or Jesus' repeated declaration that the Son of Man must be delivered over into the hands of men, they will kill him, and when he's been killed, he will rise three days later, truth claim. So Jesus is concentrating, crash course, trying to prepare the disciples for what lies ahead. And so far it has been truth claim after truth claim, after truth claim, all indicatives, all actualities, all certainties, all realities. But really for the first time in this final journey in our texts, because of these truth claims, these indicatives, comes imperatives, commands, Directives that rest on the truths that they have grasped so far. Commands for living in his name. And by the way, as we walk through this text, I just wanna say that these commands or directives kind of grow in increasing seriousness. They get very serious by the end. And therefore, the amount of time I spend on each of this will reflect those realities. So command number one, you ready? Notice verse 36 through 37, I call this receive the lowly. Command number one, an imperative, a command based on the truth claims, the indicatives. The first one, receive the lowly. Verse 36 through 37, taking a child, he set him before them and taking him in his arms, he said to them, whoever receives one child like this in my name receives me. Whoever receives me does not receive me, but him who sent me. This is a command. You will remember that prior to this indicative, prior to this command, the disciples have been regularly arguing among themselves about which one of them is the greatest. 12 men walking behind Jesus, trying to separate themselves so he won't hear them, arguing, arguing among themselves about which one of them is the greatest. Can you imagine that? Have you ever been with a group of men arguing about which one of them is the greatest? It's not uncommon. How do sinners argue with other sinners about who's the greatest, especially men, you might call it, or I call it one-upmanship, right? Here in the mountains, it's something like, my truck's bigger than your truck, right? They would engage in outdoing each other, right? Bragging, waiting for the other guy to finish so their story can be bigger and better. their accomplishments, their wealth, their education, experiences, how strong they are, how skillful they are, how knowledgeable they are, one-upmanship. But you know, one of the most common ways in which we one-upmanship is and deals with who you know. We actually have a name for this kind of one-upmanship, we call it name dropping. Careers are built by knowing the right people. Status in our fallen world is often determined by lots of the right people and none of the wrong people. Jesus often talked about dinners where the right people sat in the places of honor and the wrong people sat at a distance. The first will be last and the last will be first. Again, remember the scene. Verse 33, Jesus was in a house. You see the word house there? It is the word oikos, household. And he takes someone in that household, verse 36, a child. And yes, if I could take the slant right here, yes, this is another infant baptism reference, in case you're wondering. Who was in the household? A child. They were baptized with their household. Who's the household? A child. And he picks up this child in his arms, sets this child who is in the oikos before them, and says to them, receiving a child like this is essentially receiving me, and even beyond that, not just receiving me, but receiving the one who sent me, that is God. Receiving a child is like receiving me. What's significant about a child? Nothing. No power, no authority, No good for name dropping. Nothing to offer to your status. Hopeless, helpless, under authority. And I suggested last week that this child, that is really how Jesus explains his own role in coming into the world. He is the father's son, the father's child. That's why he's gonna obey the father if it takes his life and it does. Receiving a child. If you receive a child, you receive me. And if you receive a child, not only are you receiving me, but you're receiving the one who sent me. What does it mean to receive the lowly? What does it really mean? What is Jesus after? Where I believe the meaning of concerning receiving someone is clear, right? In the text, look at it. Verse 36, and Jesus took this child, listen, up in his arms. Up in his arms. That's what it means to receive. To receive the lowly is to embrace them. This is the first directive. Embracing the low, Embracing the needy, the helpless, the vulnerable. Embracing those who have nothing to give. We're good at embracing those who offer. Embracing those who offer nothing to your status. Embracing. Yesterday, my four-year-old granddaughter was looking into this jar that Deb and I throw our change into. Pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters, she looked into it. She came to me and she said, Papa, why are you so rich? It's all perspective, isn't it? You see, embracing the low, the needy, the helpless, the vulnerable, those who offer nothing to your status, that's exactly what Jesus has done and continues to do. Jesus embraced those 12 men. And those 12 men, what's distinguishing about them? Nothing, nothing. They are low, they are needy, they are helpless fishermen, uneducated, that's who they are. Those 12 men offer nothing to Jesus. You'll never see Jesus somehow made better by the 12. And every one of us, like that jar of change, it's all perspective, is that child. Jesus is saying, as I have loved you, love one another. Jesus is saying to the 12 and to us this morning, forget about your greatness, because you're not. You're just like this child. And throughout the New Testament, how many times do we have the one another, love one another, be devoted to one another, give preference to one another, accept one another, serve one another, patience with one another, be subject to one another, submit to one another, comfort one another, encourage one another, and on and on and on and on. And we are never more like Jesus, never more like the Father than when we embrace and receive the lowly. Never more like the father, it's divine. It's the very character of God himself. John Lux, who is professor of English and poet in residence at Houghton College, reflects this in a short piece he writes that I find moving. It goes like this. His feather flame dulled by icy cold, the cardinal hunched into the rough green feeder but ate no seed. Through binoculars I saw his festered, useless beak broken at the root. Then two, one blazing, one gray, rode the swirling weather into my vision and lighted at his side. Unhurried, as if possessing the patience of God, they cracked sunflowers and fed him. Beak to wounded beak. Choice meets. Each morning and afternoon, the winter long, that odd triumvirate that's a reference to the Trinity, that Trinity of need, return together to eat their sacrament of broken seed. Receive the lowly. Receive the lowly. That's command number one. Command number two, I call rejoice with all. Verse 38 through 40, John said to him, teacher, we saw one another casting out demons in your name and we tried to prevent him because he was not following us. And Jesus said, do not hinder him for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name and soon be able afterward to speak evil of me. For he who is not against us is for us. The disciples may argue amongst themselves about which one is the greatest, but this is another situation. This is someone outside their circle. How dare he? And what may even make this worse is that this outsider, this guy is apparently successful in his exorcisms. Well, only 20 verses prior to verse 38 and to 40, right? In Mark 9, same chapter, verse 18, you remember the demon possessed boy. The father says it seizes him, slams him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, he grinds his teeth, he stiffens out. And the father says to Jesus, I told your disciples to cast it out and they could not do it. Here's an outsider who is showing us up. Everybody got it? What a dig to their self-perception. I remember when I first started preaching, we were in Northern Virginia just outside Washington, D.C., and a little church had invited me to preach, just cutting my teeth on the whole idea. And every Sunday morning that we would drive to this little church, my wife and I, we would pass a megachurch. In fact, when we were doing that, this megachurch was actually flying in Tim LaHaye from Texas each Sunday morning to preach there. Tim LaHaye, you remember the Left Behind series? And we would pass this megachurch. And there would be dozens and dozens of police officers directing traffic, cars lined up as far as the eye could see in both directions. It had, I remember distinctly, it had an American flag that was the biggest American flag I've ever seen in my entire life. So big, it was mounted in the parking lot, but it hung and flew out over the causeway in DC. Huge operation. I'd pass all that and pull up into a dirt parking lot with six or seven other cars. enter a dilapidated church building, and I had to remind myself, listen, to rejoice. I used to be conceited, but I want you to know your pastor's now perfect. I had to remind myself to rejoice with the thousands that were hearing Christ proclaimed there and the dozen that were hearing Christ proclaimed here. That's at the heart of this. And the disciples' own eyes, they were special. At least they were supposed to be special. They were important, they were unique. To them, it was sort of us three times four, no more, close the door. Who does this guy think he is? Verse 38. John says to him, teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and I love this, and we tried to prevent him. What in the world did that look like? It makes me laugh. Was it violent? Did they wrestle him to the ground? What happened when Peter tried to prevent Jesus from being arrested? It wasn't pretty. These are the same disciples that when some Samaritans in Luke chapter nine reject Jesus, they come to Jesus and say, Lord, listen, Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? To which Jesus says, are you kidding me? We tried to prevent them. And Jesus gives us this principle, do not hinder him, for there is no one who will perform a miracle in my name and be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me, for he who is not against us is for us. And I believe this is the second principle, it's a general principle. And that is that as Christians, we need to rejoice with all who operate in the name and serve Christ as a general principle, all. Even, here's the point I think, even if they're not one of us, Right? Even if they're not Presbyterian, oh God forbid, or they're not a member of grace, or even if their theology's a little different than ours, as a general principle, we need to embrace them. If they do what they do in the name of Christ, don't hinder them. And there's a sense in which Jesus looks to the future, soon after, to be able to speak about it. There's a sense in which Jesus says, whoever he is, give him time. Give him time. Let the work of God, the work of sanctification, the work of the Word and the Spirit have its way. Don't hinder him. Don't stop him. And I talked to Christian about this. I do believe that, in essence, this is a general principle. And I say that because clearly there are some who operate in the name of Christ who are not to be received, can't be received, because they're heretical. There are some who operate in the name of Christ whom we should reject. A lot of examples. Not too long ago, we were teaching through 2 Corinthians. How was Paul's relationship with the superlative apostles in Corinth? Not very good. He would call them peddlers of God's word, deceivers, deceitful workers, even referred to the fact that they were being inspired by Satan, angels of light, deceiving. I think of the Church of Thyatira in Revelation 2 where Jesus says, I have this against you, that you tolerate a woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and leading astray my bondservants. I have this against you, that you're ambivalent with this false person. Are there false teachers, false prophets? You bet there are. I would suggest to you that the sum total of what the New Testament tells us is that there are many of them and that this many of them will mislead many, many. and that they will ultimately bring destruction upon themselves, and that as Christians we are to test all ministries' voices in terms of Christianity according to the word, looking at their deeds, relying on the Holy Spirit. But I don't want to undercut that because here is the principle. In general, we are to rejoice with all, all who do what they do in the name of Christ. We are to fellowship with them, we are to engage with them, we are to join them, we are to cooperate with them, we're to pray for them, we're to support them. That's the principle. It's gonna get more serious now. Command number one, receive the lowly. Command number two, rejoice with all. And command number three, remember the consequences. Remember the consequences. Notice verse 41 through 42. Jesus says, for whoever gives a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, as Christians, truly I say unto you, he will not lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. In these verses, we have two contrasting actions. Verse 41, we have a small act of kindness, a drink of water. Verse 42, we have just the opposite, causing someone to stumble. And though these two contrasting actions are contrary, they actually have one thing in common, and that is that they both have consequences. Consequences. Verse 41, giving a drink of water has a consequence. What's the consequence? You'll not lose your reward. Causing someone to stumble has a consequence. What's the consequence? Something worse than having a millstone around your neck and being cast into the sea. What is Jesus saying? Jesus is saying from one end to the other end, from one pole to the other pole, all of us live lives and do things, say things, think things that have consequences. Consequences. Remember the consequences. The biblical and historic context here is dealing with how we treat outsiders, how the disciples are relating to this man that they see. He's an outsider. And Jesus says, listen, if you give someone like that a drink of water, the consequence, you'll not lose your reward. However, if you cause him to stumble, there's also consequence. The drink of water in that world, the ancient Near Eastern world, was common as part of how people treated each other. Travelers, missionaries, refugees, so forth, they come through and you have an opportunity, though they are outsiders, treat them with kindness. There's consequences. On the other hand, if you cause them to stumble, someone also outside your circle, there's consequences. You can cause them to stumble because this person may be someone you disagree with, someone that you deem as less informed than you, less mature than you, less knowledgeable than you. Jesus is saying be sensitive because there are consequences. I love the adage that God didn't give us a hammer because when you have a hammer, everything has a tendency to look like a nail. God didn't give us a hammer, God gave us a cross, be sensitive. As Presbyterians, typically pretty well taught, frankly, it would be easy to cause someone to stumble outside the circle. Unleash a barrage of theology and doctrine and Calvin's Institutes, all of course, all in the name of Jesus, causing a person to stumble. Don't. There's consequences. We need to remember that sanctification, maturity, and all of this is really a gift, isn't it? It's a gift. We're not all in the same place. God hasn't done the same kind of work at the same kind of pace in all of our lives. There's consequences, there's consequences. And how important is this? Notice how Jesus goes on to spell out the grave nature of consequences. Verse 43 through 48, don't miss this. If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. where it'd be better to enter life crippled than have two hands and go to hell in an unquenchable fire where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Verse 45, your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life lame than having two feet be cast into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. If your eye, verse 47, causes you to stumble, throw it out, for it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two and be cast into hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. I don't know about you, but these verses are disturbing. Are they not? Essentially, verse 43 through 48 is one warning repeated in three different ways. And again, Jesus is emphasizing in context the serious consequences of causing someone, a Christian, to stumble. You'll notice the word stumble, which in the Greek is scandalizo, to scandalize someone, appears three times in these verses. Verse 43, verse 45, verse 47. And you'll also notice that Jesus uses body parts. And the idea is that this refers to the whole aspect of your life. Verse 43, if your hand caused you to stumble. Verse 45, if your foot caused you to stumble. Verse 47, if your eye causes you to stumble, this is the whole gospel to the whole man. Serious, the whole man, careful, great warning, consequences. How severe a consequence? You'll also notice that these three statements all involve the idea of hell, hell. Somebody once said you can know whether a church preaches on hell or not by the number of pickup trucks there are in the parking lot. But Jesus didn't drive a pickup truck, and yet he is the theologian on the doctrine of hell in the entirety of scripture. In these few verses, Jesus refers to hell in various ways. Verse 43, he says, it is an unquenchable fire. Verse 45 through 47, it is a place where some will be cast. Verse 44, 46, 48, a place where worm does not die and fire is not quenched. An exegetical comment, you'll notice that verse 44 where it says the worm does not die, the fire is not quenched, and verse 46 that they are in brackets, which means simply that in the oldest manuscripts that phrase only appeared in verse 48. and was probably inserted by a copyist as history went on, but nonetheless, the truth is still there in verse 48, where the worm does not die and fire is not quenched. Jesus talked more about hell than he did about heaven. He is the chief theologian in the entirety of scripture on the subject of hell. No one explained, warned, described hell like Jesus did. In fact, if you remove the words of Christ from our doctrine of hell, we would know very, very little. And when Jesus spoke about hell, he purposely used imagery, familiar imagery. He used familiar imagery to describe what is unimaginable. Do you understand that? How can I describe something that's beyond imagination except using weaving together imagery? You'll notice that in all three warnings about hell through this text, the word hell in the Greek is the word Gehenna. Gehenna, Jesus uses a word, Gehenna, to describe hell. What is Gehenna? Well Gehenna is a reference to a valley outside of Jerusalem that was in the Old Testament time referred to as Hinnon Valley. By the time of Christ it became known as Gehenna. And it is where the Kidron Valley separates Jerusalem from Mount of Olives and the Tyropoeon Valley on the other side come together to form Hinnon Valley, Gehenna. I remember when we were in Jerusalem one day, we had off and everybody was going to go shop and go around through ancient Jerusalem. And I said, Deb, I'm going to take you. Where are you guys going? I said, I'm going to take my wife to hell. And we went out the back gate, climbed along the city walls, and we got to Hinnon Valley. Why would Jesus use this valley to describe hell? Well, Hinnon Valley was the cesspool and dump of Jerusalem. With my own eyes, Deb, it is a steep, ugly, craggy valley. Nothing beautiful about it. It is pockmarked with caves and chambers, even crypts where the poor were placed to die as a burial place, a resting place. Because it was the cesspool, the dump, the sewage, The ground was scorched, smolders constantly, burning rubbish constantly. The place is filled with stench, open sewers. It is toxic fire, smoke, worms, maggots, rot, filth, crows circling above. And even in Old Testament times, Judah actually engaged in child sacrifices in the Valley of Hinnom. And Jesus uses this valley as an image of the unimaginable, an image of what hell is like, where the fire never stops burning and the worm never stops crawling and creeping. Eternal. Some people believe that hell is just separation from God. It's not. It's just the opposite. R.C. says this, Sproul, he says, a breath of relief is usually heard when someone declares hell is a symbol of separation from God. Sproul goes on to say, to be separated from God for all eternity is no great threat to the impenitent person, the unbeliever. The ungodly want nothing more than to be separated from God. Their problem will be that in hell, there will not be separation from God, it'll actually be the presence of God. The presence of God there will torment them in hell. God will be present in fullness, the fullness of his divine wrath. He will be there to exercise his just punishment for the damned, and they will know him in hell for eternity, God, as a consuming fire, hell. Some points on the doctrine of hell is that the suffering in hell is beyond any experience of misery to be found anywhere in this world. And if the Bible uses descriptions and symbols to define the reality of hell, then the reality of hell will be worse than those symbols. Hell is in fact the presence of God in the fullness of his wrath and judgment. Hell is not a place of cruelty, it is a place of perfect justice. And yes, hell is eternal. No escape from hell of either. by either repentance or even annihilation coming to your end. It's unimaginable. As unimaginable as heaven is, hell on the other end is equally unimaginable. If of heaven Paul can say, I has not seen nor heard nor has it ever entered in the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love him, certainly I has not seen nor heard nor has it ever entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who don't. And what used to bother me so much as a young Christian still bothers me is when Jesus says, verse 43, if your hand caused you to stumble, cut it off. If your foot caused you to stumble, cut it off. If your eye caused you to stumble, cut it off. What is he saying? He's saying this, that if you and I were to end up in hell, you and I would give anything we had to get out of there. No cost. would be too great to escape eternal hell. You would, I would cut off my foot, cut off my hand, pluck out my eyes, anything to escape the eternal reality of hell. Let me put this into some context. As Christians, you and I are guilty of all kinds of sins, certainly. However, causing another believer to stumble should be one sin that we are extraordinarily sensitive to. We should bend over backwards so as not to cause another to stumble. How about the Apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 8 verse 11 and following says this, for through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined. Again, barraging somebody with knowledge. and you cause them to stumble. For through your knowledge he who is weak is ruined, the brother for whose sake Christ died. And so by sinning against the brethren and wounding their conscience when it is weak, Paul says this, you have sinned against Christ. His conclusion, verse 13, therefore, if food causes my brother stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I may not cause my brother to stumble. Yes, we're guilty of all kinds of sin, but if there is one sin that we must be extraordinarily sensitive to, it is causing another believer to stumble. To which Jesus warns of the consequences of hell. How that fits into justification by faith, that's for us to figure out at another time. Nonetheless, we do not want to relieve the sting of this warning. Command number one, receive the lowly. Command number two, rejoice with all. Command number three, remember the consequences. And finally, command number four, realize the fire. Realize the fire. Notice verse 49 to 50. For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt becomes unsalty, what will you be made salty with again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Verse 49, for everyone will be salted with fire. What does this mean? By the way, this saying only appears in Mark's gospel. And it is, again, verse 49, to quote it again, for everyone will be salted with fire is considered by many scholars to be one of the most difficult verses to interpret in the entire Bible. What does it mean? Edmund Hebert goes on to say one of the most difficult verses in the Bible, New Testament. J.C. Ryle, J.C. Ryle in his commentary says, I have no idea what this verse means. And the first issue is, verse 49, what does the word everyone mean? Is Jesus talking about everyone being every unbeliever that ends up in hell, will be salted with fire? Or is he referring to the disciples, all of you, everyone there? Who many were martyred will be salted with fire. Does it refer to unbelievers, refer to believers, refer to disciples? What does everyone mean? Well, I want to suggest to you that everyone means everyone. Everyone will be salted with fire. Everyone, that includes unbelievers, will be salted with fire. Inevitably, most surely, where? In the afterlife. Believers, when will they be salted with fire? In this lifetime. Those who do nothing, those who do nothing to avoid hell as well as those who do everything to avoid hell in different ways will all be salted with fire. Jesus is saying something like this, the believer will walk through Gehenna to get to heaven, and the unbeliever will walk through heaven to get to Gehenna. Christianity isn't a cakewalk. These commands, I can run through them, you can take note, but Christianity is not a cakewalk. Receiving lowly is not an easy thing to do. Rejoicing with all is not an easy thing to do. Living one's life completely aware of what you do, what you say, what you think, and doing all of that with an enormous amount of sensitivity to eternal consequences is not an easy thing to do. Cutting off whatever might keep you from heaven to avoid hell is not an easy thing to do. It is, for us, being salted with fire. And Jesus turns this metaphor towards his own. And in verse 50, he says, salt is good. The sting of salt is good. But if the salt becomes unsalty, what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. Again, the refining fire of this world going through Gehenna to get to heaven, Jesus says is good. All that the believer goes through, everything that is entailed with Christ's invitation to take up our cross and deny ourselves and to follow him, it's all good. We don't think it's good when we're going through it, but it's good. It's James 1, consider it all joy, brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance, it's good. Endure it, embrace it, count it with all joy. It's purging, it's cleansing. It's the Father's work in your life. It's evidence that God is preparing us for something. But the warning of verse 50 is this, what happens when the salt becomes unsalty? What is that a reference to? That's a reference to apostasy. To those who give up the faith, who turn their back on Christ and the gospel. And I think by implication, those who because of the fire, walk away from Christ. who because of the refining work of the Spirit and the hatred of Christ in this world, walk away from Christ to avoid it, to become worldly, to fit in. And again, what happens when the unsalty, when the salty is made unsalty? How do you get back? And is there grace? Yes, but I'll tell you what. Those warnings about it is now impossible to return those who once were or throughout the entire book of Hebrews. Great warning about walking away from Christ. Salt is good. Here's the warning, what happens when the salt becomes unsalty? How do you get back there? You don't, by and large. And then Christ ends with this, the end of verse 50, isn't this interesting? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another. In other words, here's these guys who are all concerned about this outsider. And Jesus is saying to them, don't worry about him, be at peace with him, worry about yourselves and the fire you're gonna have to go through. Worry about where you are on your walk, what you're going through, what God's going to bring your way. Be at peace with Him. Be at peace with Him. I'm going to ask you to do me a favor and leave Mark's gospel, one final passage, and I'll be done. Look with me, if you would, at Philippians chapter 3. Do I believe in the security of salvation? Yes. Do I believe in the keeping power of God to keep and maintain His own? Yes. But do we take that for granted? It's a great danger. A great danger. Philippians chapter three, notice verse seven, where Paul says this, but whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. That's fire. More than that, I count all things to be lost, that's fire, in view of this passing value of knowing Christ my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, fire again, and count them as rubbish, fire, so that I may gain Christ. And we found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, derived from the law, law-keeping, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith. Why? That I may know him in the power of his resurrection. That means avoiding hell. And here it is, the fellowship of his sufferings, fire. Being conformed to his death, fire. In order so that I may attain to the resurrection from the dell and not Gehenna, not hell. What I'm gonna do is draw your attention to verse 11, just for a minute, please get this. where Paul says, in order that. In order that, all that fire, in order that, I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. In order that. In order that is one word, I poskat nao, and it means something that carries a very clear element of doubt, of doubt. Eipos Katanao is translated in the New Standard Bible as if by any means. The Bible in basic English, if in any way. The common English Bible, if I may perhaps. Holloman English Bible, assuming that I will somehow. The Good News Bible, in hope that I will. New Revised Standard Bible, if somehow, Revised Standard Version, if possible. If by any means, if in any way, if perhaps, assuming I can somehow, and hope that I will, if possible, if somehow, that I might attain to the resurrection of the dead. That's how Paul lived his life. Not there. Striving. Striving. Aware of consequences. Aware of this directive, receiving the lowly, rejoicing with all, remembering consequences, realizing the fire. Everyone will be salted with fire. The question is, when and where are you going to be salted with fire? Right? Let's pray together. Our God and our Father. Even as I bow my head before you, I'm reminded of a conversation that I believe you led concerning our family, my wife and our family. In a message that was preached about Lazarus and the rich man. And we responded, do we realize how serious hell is and how long eternity is? And the conversation turned to crickets. That's what Paul is concerned about in Philippians three, and that is certainly what Jesus is concerned about in Matthew, excuse me, Mark nine. Father, we come together, get dressed up, come to church, sing your songs, do our confessions, and yet there lingers before us an inevitability. Death will come, and then will come the judgment. And much of what we have spent our lives concerned about will be pretty insignificant. Much that we have laid awake, thinking about, worrying about, planning, scheming, will be pretty insignificant. And yet we have the gospel ever before us that measures all of reality out before us. It's amazing, Father, to me how concerned you are about the way we treat one another, even as our liturgy led us to the great commandments, loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself, that you would even pair those two together to speak volumes. about the way we treat one another. Father, I pray as your people that you would guide us through your word, that you would convict our hearts, our souls, our minds, the way we live. Help us be very aware of consequences. Help us, Lord, to learn self-control, patience, kindness, fruit of the Spirit, love. Help us, Lord, to lowly see ourselves. as no better than the child Jesus held up and embraced. We are that child. Help us to learn, Father, to be supportive and rejoice in the work of others who serve in your name. Though the differences at times can be glaring, help us, Lord, to know that the name of Christ is preached, and therefore we rejoice. Help us, Father, truly to think about consequences, Sometimes when we do what is evil or wrong and we don't receive immediate response from heaven, we think in our mind's eye that we've gotten away with it. No. Sorely, sorely wrong and mistaken. And help us, Lord, to do all that we can to strive that if by any means we might attain to the resurrection by faith in Christ and a life that reflects that faith. I do pray, Father, this morning for that person maybe here today who has never personally trusted in Christ as Savior and Lord, this is the gospel call that has been proclaimed since the time of Jesus. Repent of your sins, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, and His word says you shall be saved. I encourage you, whoever you might be, to do that. Don't leave this place having heard the call of Christ hardening your heart. Don't do it. Don't do it. Crawl through hell in this life in order to get to heaven in the next. You can count the consequences and you will find them worth it. And on the other hand, you would give anything you had to get out of the wrong place. Sober words you have given us, Lord, help us to take them to heart. And we ask these things in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Would you join me as we stand together for the benediction? May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up his countenance on you and give you peace. Amen. Praise Him, all ye Jews, hear me now. Praise Him, all ye who believe. Praise God, Christ, and all who believe. Amen.