Last week, Fred preached a sermon about what is best for the family, the family that chooses Christ. What I'm preaching about this morning is directly related to that premise. There are not a lot of options. Last week, Joshua said, choose God, or if you're not going to choose God, well then choose one of these other idols, because there is nothing else. There are only those two options. And today we are kind of bouncing off that same truth. Choose the truth or choose a counterfeit. There are only two sides. We're going to be considering this morning what it means to be on Christ's side. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do thank you for your word. We thank You that we can be in Your presence. We thank You that Your Holy Spirit works in and through Your Word to convict us if we need convicting, to change us where we need to be changed, to bring healing to us where we need to be healed. Lord, everything necessary for life and godliness is found in the knowledge of Christ, and the knowledge of Christ is found in Your Holy Word. So give us ears to hear. Eyes to see and a heart to receive your truth, your word this morning. We pray this in Christ's name. Amen. Mark chapter 9, beginning in verse 38. John, the apostle, said to him, to Jesus, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he wasn't following us. But Jesus said to him, Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in me to sin It would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown 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 has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves. and be at peace with one another. That's the reading of God's Word for us this morning. His name was Simon. He was a famous man in his town. Everybody knew who he was. And his fame actually spread beyond his little town and spread to the whole region. And to understand his popularity, I think it would be helpful if we imagined David Copperfield, the great magician. Imagine what would happen if David Copperfield were to travel back in time, back to the first century, to Samaria. And what would happen if he were to do his magic back then? What would happen if people saw him flying around a room? What would happen if people saw him go to, say, the Tower of Pisa and make it disappear? Or some other well-known architectural work of the day? What would people conclude? Wow, he's got awesome power. Right? And this is who Simon was. He was an illusionist. Remember Pharaoh's illusionists? We're not sure how they did it, but somehow they were able to mimic some of Moses' great feats. Not because they actually did it, but because their magic arts, their works of illusion made it look like they could. That's who Simon was. Simon did amazing things that the people couldn't explain. And he was so successful at doing these amazing things, these magical things, though they weren't really magic. He was so successful at this that he even successfully branded himself as the man with the power of God. Things were going well in Simon's life. His fame was increasing, his influence over people was increasing. If he wanted it, he could afford it. And then one day, he's at the top of his game. And one day, Philip, a deacon in the church, comes to his town. And he starts preaching about the gospel. He's preaching about Jesus Christ. And he preaches that Christ alone is the way of salvation. And then to back up his words, Philip begins to perform some mighty works. Some miracles. And his miracles were of such a magnitude that when Simon saw them, Simon himself was amazed at what he did. Magicians will tell you it is hard for fellow magicians to impress them, right? They've got an idea of how the trick works, and so they'll be able to make sense of the illusion as it's taking place. But Simon, when he looks at what Philip is doing, he's taken aback. Because he doesn't know how Philip is working these tricks, at least in his mind. Philip is greatly impressed. And he's greatly impressed with the words that he's heard as well. Several years ago, there was a movie with Steve Martin in it called Leap of Faith. A fascinating movie, what they are saying in it. Steve Martin plays this charlatan faith healer, and he goes around as an illusionist, creating the impression that he is doing incredible works for God. These incredible miracles are happening at his hands. And they're in this one particular town, and something happens that he can't explain. An unexplainable thing happens with the boy. And he makes this comment. He says, I've been pulling off one kind of scam or another since I was your age. I'm talking to the boy. He says, if there's one thing I know, it's how to spot the genuine article. Because that's what you have to watch out for as a scam artist. Simon sees Philip's miracles and he says to himself, that's real. That's not an illusion. And he begins to listen intently to the message that Philip is preaching. And it begins to strike a few chords with him. And shortly after this is taking place with Philip, the report goes back to Jerusalem. Jerusalem hears what's happening here. And so a couple of the apostles go up there. Peter and John go up to this town. And they begin to preach the gospel. And Peter and John begin to lay hands on the believers. And the Holy Spirit comes upon the believers. And the believers there begin to speak in other languages. They begin to speak fluently. In this blue Simon way, this is awesome, he says. Wow. He had to learn how to do that. He goes to Peter. He says, Peter, name your price. I'll pay you anything if you can teach me how to lay my hands on people so that they can speak in other languages. Languages they've never even heard before. Peter, tell me how to do that and I'll give you whatever you want. And Peter looks at Simon and says, Simon, may your silver perish with you because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money. You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. From the time Simon heard Philip's message until this time when he tries to buy the power of God, if you would have examined his life, you would have thought he belonged to Christ. You would have thought he's a Christian, he's a believer. You would have thought he embraced the gospel and had been changed by it. All we discover in this story of Simon is that he is a classic example of what fake Christians look like. At so many levels, they look like the real thing. They appear to have some knowledge. They appear to have some faith. They appear to want what is good and holy. But over the course of time, the deepest desires of their heart, those selfish desires, those wicked desires begin to come out until they're exposed. And their hearts are revealed. And what's discovered is that they were never on the Lord's side to begin with. In our text, we are brought face to face with an awkward reality. John points to a guy, says he's a fake. He doesn't appear. He's not with us. He's counterfeit. Jesus, we saw this guy casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him. You can almost hear Jesus' response to John here. John, how do you know that he's a fake? How do you know he's a counterfeit? John, how do you know that what he is doing is not in line with what I believe? John, how do you know he's not on my side? John, what evidence do you have? And John answers verse 38. Let me read this in the King James. I think you'll get a better sense of it. Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us. The guy's doing something that John thinks he shouldn't be doing. And in making this assertion, I think John sounds a lot like the Pharisees. Remember them? Remember what they said to Jesus? He said, Jesus, the reason you're casting out demons is because your B.L. is above. Jesus responds, Jesus corrects them. The house divided against itself can't stand. John, what evidence do you have? So John produces the evidence. We told him to stop because, Jesus, he's not one of us. He's not following us. The word for following here is to accompany. He's not part of our company. And because he's not part of our company, our group, therefore he has to be against us. He has to be a fake. Smacks of arrogance and pride, doesn't it, on John's part? As I talked through this passage Wednesday with Bob, I made the mistake of saying Peter. You guys got to understand that though, right? Because Peter has done foolish things. Peter has said crazy things. It almost sounds like Peter would do something like this. Hey, you got to stop. The truth of the matter though, this isn't just a Peter issue, is it? It's not just a John issue. It's a Christian issue. It's an issue for all of us. We need to be careful. Because every single one of us, I think, can jump to the same conclusion that John jumps to. We could look at somebody and say, oh, they're not one of us, so they must be against Christ. Now, there are people and groups that are, indeed, better ministers than others. There are people and there are groups that have a better understanding of truth and scripture than others. There are people that are more mature in the faith than others. My question for us though is how can we tell the difference? How can we tell the difference when we look at somebody, how can we look at them and say, they're on the Lord's side or they're not? What standard do we have before us in order to make this judgment? How can we tell who's on the Lord's side and who's not? Verses 39 and 40. Jesus gives us this standard in response to John. Jesus said, don't stop him. Here's why you shouldn't stop him. Here's how you can tell that he's on my side. Watch what Jesus says. Jesus gives us the definition of someone who's on the Lord's side. And there's two parts to this definition. Jesus says, first, look at what is being done. Jesus says, don't stop him because he is doing a mighty work in my name. Again, there was that time when the Pharisees accused Jesus. You're casting out demons. And they accused Jesus of casting out demons by the power of Beelzebul. And Jesus corrected them. Now back then, I suppose it would have been possible for people to intentionally fake exorcisms for deceptive purposes. But I can tell you one thing Satan never will do Satan will never cast out demons for the glory of Christ. Satan will never do anything for the glory of Christ. Look at what this guy's doing. He's casting out demons. Why? So that Christ gets glorified in the name of Christ. This guy is doing what the followers of Christ did in that specific era of the apostolic history. He's glorifying Christ in what he does. But there's more to this standard. Not only must he be working for the glory of Christ, secondly, he must be teaching the truth of who Jesus is. Jesus says you can't be his follower if what you have to say about him isn't true. See the second half of that verse? No one can go and do a mighty work and then turn right around and immediately speak evil of Jesus. Remember the seven sons of Siva? Remember those guys? Those seven Jewish brothers? They encountered a guy that was demon-possessed, and so they spoke to the demon. They said, I adjure you. Come out of this guy. I adjure you by the Jesus who Paul proclaims. That's Acts 19.13. Remember what happens? The demon jumps on them. And the demon ends up casting those seven brothers out of the house. And the demon kicks them out of the house naked and abused. I bet they never invoke the name of Christ again. They probably never invoke the name of Paul again either. It's interesting the way Jesus phrases this. He puts the two tests together as if they're two sides to the same coin. You can't have one without the other. They go together. You can't be about the work of Christ, glorifying Christ, and at the same time speaking evil of Christ. You can't do those two things. They don't go together. If you're going to do the work of Christ in His name to glorify Christ, then the things that you are going to say will be true and good about Christ. I heard a testimony of a man. before I get there. Paul is an example of this. In Philippians chapter 1, Paul's addressing the motivations of why people preach Christ. Paul recognizes some people are going to preach Christ out of selfish ambition, right? Paul's writing Philippians 30 years after the time when Christ walked on the earth, right? And already by that point, there are people trying to use Jesus for their own profit. Use Jesus to fill their own bank account. And Paul is already preaching against that. So it must have been fairly obvious, at least to Paul, that such a thing was happening. And yet, look what Paul says in Philippians 1.18. He says he rejoices that the name of Christ is going out, even though there are those who are preaching it from a false foundation. I heard a testimony of a man this week who came to Christ because of a conversation he had with Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses confronted him about his eternal destiny, and they so confronted him, his heart was so troubled, that he goes and he pulls out his Bible and he begins to study. And he discovers in the process, these children's witnesses, they don't have a clue about who Jesus is. Oh, but the word of God that was given to him in the scriptures, that's where he found Christ. I find it remarkable that our Lord will use heretics to advance his kingdom. Right? This does raise the issue for us, though, that sometimes it's hard, it can be hard to tell the difference between who is on the Lord's side and who isn't. And what makes it difficult is the reality, the fact that there are wolves in sheep's clothing, aren't there? There are two kinds of clothing that these wolves will wear. It will be one of these two outfits. Either they will, the first one, they will perform incredible works. Again, think Simon. Incredible works that he did. This is where I find the Jarvis Witnesses and Mormons and many of the cults. They're going to be kind people. You know, look at them and look at their morality and say, wow, look at all the good things that they're doing. They'll probably excel at hospitality. Their morality would appear to be off the charts. Sometimes we might even think that we want to be like them in the way they live their life. But when you ask them what they believe, When you ask them, and when you listen to their profession of faith, if you get an honest answer from them, what you're going to hear from them is that the Jesus they believe in is not the Jesus revealed in Scripture. And therefore, the Jesus of the Bible, they speak evil of. The Jesus of the Bible, they say, can't save you. You need the Jesus that I'm presenting to you. That's their first outfit. They have the right words, but the wrong words. The second outfit that the wolves will wear is just the opposite. They might be able to say the right things, but when you look at their life, it leaves you scratching your head. Because it doesn't match up. Now in reformed circles, I think this second wolf is perhaps a little more prevalent than the first. I think this is the danger of the whole Revoice movement. Where they might say a lot of good things. Should we love those who are sexually broken? Absolutely. Should we speak to the truth to them? Should we offer them the hope of Christ? Absolutely we should. But then when you look at some of the things that they are doing, you discover that they're promoting a sinful lifestyle, or sinful desires are just overlooked. They say what they're saying isn't matching up with what they're doing, what they're living. And may I tell you that the closer a counterfeit is to the real thing, the harder it is to tell the difference between the two. The deeper the heresy is buried under layers of truth words, the harder it is to get at. Let me ask you to examine your life and your faith. If you were to put your actions from this past month up here on this screen, and we were able to watch a video of your life, what kind of works would we see? Would we see the Christian life on display? Would we see you living the fruit of the Spirit being produced in your life? Or would we see something else? And if we were to take the things that you believe, and the things that you teach, and the things that you say, and if we were to put them in a Word document, and pass out that Word document, would we be able to say, yeah, this lines up with Scripture? This lines up with what Scripture tells Christ is? Or would we discover there is something different? Something... Hetero orthodoxy hetero orthodox Now if you put my life up there on the screen and on the document, you know you would find You'd find things I need to repent of you would You'd find things in me that need to change you would see things up here and you go my pastor is doing that My pastor said that? Yes. But alongside that, I hope you would find a heart that desires to change. I hope you would find in me and see in me a desire that David expressed there in Psalm 27.4. Remember that verse? One thing I ask of the Lord. The one thing that all my life boils down to. This one thing I asked Lord, I want to dwell in your house. I want to be in your presence. I want to be where you are And Lord I want to gaze upon your beauty I want to be in awe and memorized by how wonderful and how holy you are And I want to come and inquire truth of you not what I can conjure up in my own mind Lord, make this the desire of my heart so that what I believe, what I profess, what would be written down on that page would be straight from Scripture and the way I live my life, what would be on display would be a display of Christ in me. Are you understanding this definition of what it means to be on the Lord's side? That which I do, and that which I say, run together in perfect harmony for the glory of Jesus Christ. Now Jesus doesn't end his correction of John with just this definition. Jesus goes a step further and explains what the disposition of God's people look like. What does it look like? What is the disposition of the people that are on the Lord's side? Jesus is here summarizing the heart of those that are following Him. Verse 41, here we have the first trait. For truly, Jesus says, I say to you, whoever gives a cup of cold water to drink, to you to drink, because you belong to Christ, will by no means lose his reward. Now, how precious is it to give a cup of cold water to somebody? It can be a great act of service when they're really thirsty, when they're weary and worn down. Right? It can just be an act of kindness. But notice the additional words. You give somebody this cup because they belong to Christ. This is a kindness that is motivated by love. By love for Christ Jesus. One of the attributes of love is that if you love someone, you love who they love. Go back to your dating days. Think of some of the people that you dated. I don't know if you loved cats or if you loved dogs, but if the person that you were dating loved cats or loved dogs, guess what you did? You at least pretended you loved cats or loved dogs, right? What they loved, because you loved them, you loved what they loved. If you're a follower of Christ, guess who you love? You love those whom Christ loves. And this is the description here, of someone going the extra mile, even if it goes unnoticed. It's a description of kindness, in spite of the fact that no one else might notice. I mean, after all, it is only a cup of water. Easily forgotten. I think of Jesus' words that are in Matthew 25. Jesus shows us that whatever you do, even to the least of these, Jesus said, what are you doing? You're doing it unto me. If you're on the Lord's side, you will have this disposition of kindness, because the love of Christ constrains you, or compels you to be kind, to be loving, to seek the well-being, of those that belong to Christ. There is a second trait in this disposition of those on the Lord's side. Not only is there kindness, but there's also going to be carefulness. There's a great warning here, right? Be better. If you cause one of these little ones to sin, it would be better to have a great millstone hung around your neck and then be thrown into the sea where you drown. That would be better. That drowning would be better for you than causing one of these loved ones of Christ's to sin. When I read that, I kind of stepped back and said, whoa, Jesus, this sounds extreme. Then it began to make sense to me. Jesus loves his people so much. What did he do? He died for them. He died in order to redeem them from the wrath of God, right? Well, you hear about that in justification, right? But in sanctification, we also learn that the power of Christ, the death of Christ, is effective to redeem us from the power of sin. From the indwelling power of sin. You shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. The very work and grace of God is to free us from our sin. And so if that's the work, if that's the goal, if that's the purpose of Jesus Christ in us to sanctify, if that's what his spirit is doing in us, and it costs Jesus his life to do that, how dare we come along now and shackle people up? and cause them to fall into sin. People whom Christ died for. What does that say about our heart towards Christ? That the very people Jesus died for, we leave them back into harm's way. The harshness of warning here conveys to us the strength of purpose and intention of God's benevolence. How do we heed this warning? How do we heed this warning to be careful in the way we live our life so that we don't cause others to stumble? How do we do that? Well, the third trait is the answer. How do we not cause others to sin? How do we cause others to sin? Have you ever stopped and think about that? He warns us, don't cause others to fall into sin, but how does that happen? Sometimes, perhaps on rare occasions, honest-to-goodness mistakes can cause somebody to fall back into sin. Occasionally that may happen. Another way it may happen is because of our own ignorance. I didn't know you had a problem with alcohol when you came over and I offered you a beer. Our own ignorance sometimes can cause somebody else to fall into sin. Far and away, I think, the most often way we cause others to sin is by the sin we ourselves commit. Exodus tells us that the sins of the Father are what passed on to the third and to the fourth generation. Where we sin, we will lead others to sin. And so here's Jesus's answer. If your hand caused you to sin, cut it off. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Now Jesus is not being literal here. I gotta tell you, because some people have tried to take this literally. In the Muslim world, if you sin, what's the consequence for theft, for stealing? Sometimes they'll cut off fingers, they might cut off hands. Is that really going to fix the heart that desires to sin? That desires to steal? No, it's not! Because the sin of stealing, the sin of the hands or the sin of the feet brings the places where you shouldn't go. Proverbs speaks of feet that are swift to shed blood. The sin of the hands, the sin of the feet, the sin of the eyes, lust, greed, envy, covetousness. Those sins are removed. Right? They're not removed by removing the tool that enables such sin to happen. Right? But they are removed in the heart. So you say, why does Jesus say, cut it off, pluck it out? You know, I think Jesus is describing the attitude of the heart here. If in the providence of God I have to live without a hand, if I have to live without something, in order for me to live a holy and pleasing life, I should be rejoicing to God for His providence, shouldn't I? And I ought to willingly give it up also, instead of looking at God with regret or bitterness. Lord, take away anything in my life that might cause me to stumble. Lord, if you take something out of my life because it's for my good, Lord, I'm going to thank you, because it's going to change my heart. Paul suffered a thorn in the flesh. Remember? It was an affliction of some sort. And he prayed three times, God, remove this from me. You remember what Christ's answer was? Paul, you have this thorn in the flesh because you need it. You need it. You need a reminder of your weakness. Because, Paul, in your weakness, my strength is made perfect. My grace is sufficient for you. Jesus, if that's true, then go ahead and make me weak. Make me lame. Make me crippled. Make me blind. If that's what's going to be best for me, so that I can live a life holy and pleasing to you. Is this the disposition that rules your heart? Lord, do whatever is necessary. Is there a kindness in you that you follow Christ, and that the kindness comes out because you're following Christ? Is there a carefulness in you because one of the worst things you can do is cause one of your brothers and sisters in Christ to sin? Is that carefulness in you? Is there a desire for holiness? Are you willing to suffer the loss of all things for the sake of Christ and His glory? There's one last thing that Mark records for us in Jesus' response to John. Jesus is given the definition of being on the Lord's side. He has given us the disposition of being on the Lord's side. Finally, he gives us the devotion of being on the Lord's side. In order to make sense of these last two verses, we need to understand something about salt. The first time I learned this was back in Sebring from a man who used to be a tour guide in Israel. Spent many years as an evangelical Christian touring Israel and teaching people. And this guy, as it turns out, had a PhD in ancient Israeli studies. He knew what he was talking about as he went back in history and as he explored the symbolism of a variety of different things. One of the things he brought out was the symbolism of salt. Now we often hear that the symbolism of salt is all about preservation or perseverance. And he says, yeah, in some contexts, that works. That works OK. He said, but there's a deeper reality to the symbolism of salt. It's not just about perseverance and preservation. The real symbolism of salt is loyalty. Loyalty. They didn't have refrigeration back then, right? So in order to preserve meat, they salted it. Very practical use. But if that's all salt was for, how do we make sense of Lot's wife? Remember Lot's wife is there leaving Sodom. She turns around and she looks back. God said to them, don't look back at the city. Flee and don't look back. She looks back and God turned her into a pillar of salt. The significance of the salt there is that it revealed to us where her loyalties lie. Right? Where her heart longed to be. Her heart was still in Sodom, even though she was leaving. Jesus says everyone is going to be salted with fire. Commentators have disagreed on where this verse 49 applies. I think it goes to the whole context here that John is talking about. Everyone's going to be salted with fire. Everyone's going to be tested with fire so that your loyalties are going to be revealed. When you squeeze a lemon, what comes out? Orange juice? No! Lemonade comes out, right? Lemon juice comes out. Right? When you are squeezed, when you are crushed, what's inside comes out. That's what trials and tribulations do. They squeeze us. They test us. And what comes out? What comes out is where our hearts long for. What our hearts long for. That's the test of loyalty. James says, count it all joy when you face trials and tribulations because you know what? The testing of your faith produces steadfastness. Another word for steadfastness? Loyalty, right? Loyalty. The testing of your faith will reveal whether or not in your heart you are loyal to Christ or if you're just using Christ for your own purposes. Everyone is going to be tested to see where their heart's loyalties are. Is your heart loyal to your sin? Or is it loyal to Christ? Now, salt is good. This last verse. But if salt has lost its saltiness, how are you going to make it salty again? Right? If you look at that from a scientific standpoint, you can't, right? I think they didn't have the science of today, so it's more of a rhetorical question. Loyalty is good, but only as good as the object to which you're devoted. If your loyalty, if your heart is loyal to sinful things, or to the world's things, or if your heart is loyal to the Father of Lies, what good is that? Since those things are actually making a mockery of this concept of loyalty. Instead, Jesus says, have this sense of loyalty within yourselves. Have a sense of loyalty within yourself. Not in yourself. Don't be loyal to yourself. But within yourself. Have this sense of loyalty. Am I loyal to Christ? To the gospel of Jesus Christ? And I think it's right we supply the object here of being Christ. Am I loyal to Him? Is my heart devoted to Him? To His glory? To His beauty? Because if the answer is yes, Mark puts a nice little bow on the section of our passage. He wraps it all up nice and tight for us. Because remember, how did it start? It started with Mark saying, He's not one of us. So we were trying to stop Him. We begin this whole passage with a division within the body, the followers of Christ. And now Christ has taken us to the place where we see there is a unity within the body of Christ. If we have loyalty towards Christ, we're going to have peace with one another. We've come full circle. John says, He's not with us. There's division, there's friction. Jesus says, no, let's look at the definition of those on the Lord's side. And let's look at the disposition of those on the Lord's side. And let's look at the devotion of those on the Lord's side. And what's it gonna take all of us who are on the Lord's side? We're at peace with one another. Can we pray? Heavenly Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for working through Mark to record this conversation for us. For Lord, we do struggle with this. In our pride and our arrogance, we can sometimes write people off. We can cause friction. We can cause division where there shouldn't be. Lord, fill our hearts with devotion to you. Shape our hearts. so that our disposition is one of kindness and carefulness and holiness. Lord, may we indeed be on your side, on the side of the one who has saved our soul from eternal damnation. Be gracious to us, we pray. Work in us, we pray. In Christ's name, amen.