Mark 1:16-45

Steve Schwetz: If you think your pastor is busy, wait until you get a glimpse of Jesus' schedule when he was on earth. Welcome to Through the Bible. I'm Steve Schwetz, and in this study, Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to take us to the Gospel of Mark for a look at Jesus' daily activities. And as you grab your Bible, Greg and I have some great letters from some of our ministry's most faithful prayer warriors.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Yes, we call them the world prayer team. And you may ask yourself, what is the world prayer team? Steve, what is it?
Steve Schwetz: World prayer team. Well, it is a great group of committed believers who love the program and have committed to getting a daily email only Monday through Friday that show that where we, figuratively speaking, travel the world on our knees. And so you get a daily email typically from a particular region that we're focusing on. There's usually a testimony of some type of impact that Through the Bible is having, and then an opportunity for you to pray through some prayer points. Takes 3 to 5 minutes to go through it, and it will revolutionize the way you go through your inbox because there's so much stuff there that we don't want to read. And hopefully it's an encouragement to you that God is moving in significant ways around the world and continuing to use Through the Bible to accomplish a lot of what he's doing.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Yeah. Yeah. And we're so grateful cuz there are thousands of people and and the open rate is very high. People actually open these emails. So you can sign up on our website or on our app. Just go to the subscribe tile and just input your email. You want to read though a great letter from Marsha.
Steve Schwetz: Yeah. In one of your recent emails, you shared a letter from a woman in Finland. She listened faithfully and started taking her phone to bed at night to listen while unwinding from the day. I do the same thing. I started in 2023 when my mom died, and it brought comfort. What a pleasure it is to know a sister across the ocean from me who does the same thing.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: And and we hear a lot of this from the World Prayer team members that they feel connected to each other through the stories and and to our other listeners around the world.
Steve Schwetz: Yeah. Another benefit to being on the World Prayer team is, okay, fine. They're listening to the radio at the same time, but there will be, I believe, in heaven since we've got eternity and there's a whole lot of time that part of what we will be able to learn in glory is we will be able to hear how the Lord answered our prayers and I think meet the people that we prayed for. So if you want to have a busy itinerary when you're in glory, then join the World Prayer team and start praying for these people and you'll get to meet them in heaven. Who can beat that?
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: I love that. That's a whole new facet to this that you revealed to me.
Steve Schwetz: There you go. That is a theological stretch. It's just speculation, but I think it's going to happen.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Thank you. Yeah. I think it's in the I think it's it's based on solid biblical thinking like everything that you do. All right. So let's let's go to Daniel who says, I've been on the Bible bus for 30 some years and a steady listener for three or five round trips now. At first, I did not want to hear the letters. I just wanted to get to the meat and potatoes with J. Vernon. Later, I started to support the ministry and all of a sudden I enjoyed the letters. That drew me to join the World Prayer team. God is mysterious. Thanks to the volunteers and people involved, I pray for all of you and where the word goes out. It gives me great joy. Keep sharing these letters. It's an encouragement to me.
Steve Schwetz: Yes. Of course. Okay. So just to connect the dots, if you're a little annoyed by the letters for any reason, maybe you need to start supporting the ministry financially or joining the World Prayer team. Just a suggestion.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Oh, I love this. Steve, you're getting amazing insights today.
Steve Schwetz: It worked for Daniel. Maybe it works for you. Greg, pray for us as we begin our study.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Father, thank you that we can laugh, we can enjoy our our humanness. And Lord, we just love what you're doing through the ministry, through the Bible, and all of the people that it's connecting and all the people it's reaching. And we pray that you would do it again today as your word goes out around the world in Jesus' name. Amen.
Steve Schwetz: Let's dive into Mark 1 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now back we come to date to the Gospel of Mark and we have not gotten very far, but it's not our purpose to rush through this time in the 5 year program. But we wanted to put down a good solid foundation for this Gospel of Mark as it has been misunderstood and bypassed a great deal. Now we saw that a great deal is covered in this first chapter. This is the way that we have it given here that John the Baptist is the one that introduced him and God the Father identifies him and the temptation initiates him and now he's being illustrated by his words and his works as we shall see in the remainder of this chapter. We have here not a genealogy, but the credentials of Christ. This Gospel is slanted to the Romans. They were men of action. They rule the world. This Gospel is addressed to the man of power. The first Gospel is addressed to the religious man. This one to the strong man. And then Luke is addressed to the thinking man. And then John is addressed as we shall see to the wretched man. The one that needs salvation. Now as we come here to verse 16, our Lord began his ministry in Galilee. And we find now as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me and I'll make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him. And when he'd gone a little farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother who also were in the ship mending their nets. And straightway he called them and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants and went after him. Now this is not the first time that he's called them by the way. If you go back over to the Gospel of John, you'll find out that when he went up to Jerusalem, that was the first time that he met them. And actually that was a general call. It was very informal and casual. They won't know where do you dwell. John the Baptist had marked him out and some of the disciples of John the Baptist now followed the Lord Jesus, but they didn't stay with him and he didn't ask them to at this time. But now as he begins his ministry, we find that they've gone back to their nets there in Galilee. And now he goes along the sea and he calls them to discipleship. That is to be fishers of man. But we'll find that again they went back to their fishing. We'll find that when we get to the Gospel of Luke in the fifth chapter, then you have a final call. And that will come to in this Gospel. It'll be a call to apostleship. Now it's recorded in this Gospel and again in Matthew 10 and in Luke 6. I called attention to this when we went through Matthew. Actually three calls and you will remember, I'm sure that at the time that they went back to fishing when Simon Peter saw him why he said, Depart from me, Lord. I am a sinful man. In other words, what Simon Peter's really saying is, why don't you go and get somebody else? Let me alone because I failed you so. I'm such a sinful man, but our Lord didn't give him up and thank God for that. Now this is actually the second call of these man. And now will you note they leave their nets. They follow him and they will be returning. They go with him now for a while. Now will you notice verse 21. And they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. Now Mark brings us here in this section just actually a typical day in the ministry of Jesus. And it was a busy day and he was certainly busy and actually was the Sabbath day. And you will recall that when they questioned him, these religious leaders about doing what he did on the Sabbath day, he could make it very clear, I must be about my Father's business and my Father worketh hitherto and I work. So we find out here his was not an 8 hour day. He that keepeth his real will neither slumber nor sleep. Now will you notice he begins in Capernaum, verse 21. And they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. Now that was in the morning. The time is the Sabbath. It is morning. And he entered into the synagogue and taught. And the center was not actually the center of a vital religion in that day. The place is Capernaum. Now the best I can tell from the Gospels is that when he left Nazareth and his own people would not receive him, he went down to Capernaum and he made that his headquarters and he continued his headquarters all during his earthly ministry. Now will you notice verse 22 and they were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. Now here we have the potency of truth and the manner of a man and then see the effect of it. My criticism today of the church and of the ministry is that we do not speak with authority. And the reason that the ministry does not speak with authority that we've lost our faith. And when I say we, I do not mean I have by any means, but I'm saying now as a class, the ministry today does not attempt to preach and teach the word of God. There is a departure today. There's a radical departure. There is between the pulpit and the word of God a tremendous bifurcation. You talk about a gap, a generation gap. Well, here you have a Bible gap. And in our Lord's day as I've indicated, the synagogue had nothing vital in that day. And as a result, why when our Lord came, what a difference there was in his message. Now they were astonished at his doctrine. Verse 23. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. Now we have here the example. Now this is the first miracle that our Lord performed as far as the Gospel of Mark is concerned. And it's in the spiritual realm. Only God is in control in the spiritual realm. This is the manifestation of demonism. Now there was that in the Roman Empire and there's a great deal of historical evidence that it was actually rampant in the entire Roman Empire at this particular time, a manifestation of demonism. And the only way to meet it, the only way that it could be met is by the Lord Jesus. He alone was able to move in this realm. And that's the reason Mark gives this as the first miracle. He brings this one that he performed and presents it as the first because frankly, if he has power in this realm, there are two things that are implied. First, he'd have power in any realm. And second, only God could do this. And this was part of his credential, you see. He had authority, he had power. He taught as one that had authority and he demonstrated that he had power. This is really a tremendous thing. Now I do not need to labor this point because if you are aware of what's taking place in our contemporary culture today, you recognize that Satan worship has become very prominent and there are certain things happening today in the realm of the occult that can only be explained on the basis that it is satanic and that it is supernatural. You cannot explain reasonably why young people today will leave homes where they are loved and don't buy all of this propaganda that's being given out. Right now the young people have a state of mind of self-pity. If you listen to them, you'll discover that. I talk to them a great deal and it's self-pity that they manifest. If you listen to them, they sure feel sorry for themselves that they don't have freedom and they don't have this. Never has a generation of young people had what this generation has and they're crying. Now when I was a kid, they would not let me cry. And I can remember as a kid having to chop cotton and pick cotton. And I don't mean to cry myself, but friends, it wasn't easy. But I didn't dare cry on that day. It was assumed that that's what I should do. And I hated that chopping cotton, friends. That's a job you can have and there's not but one thing worse than chopping cotton, and that's to pick the staff. Oh, I didn't like that, but that's what you had to do. Now these young people today have everything, and yet you see this self-pity. Now they're trying everything. They've tried dope, they've tried everything. Well, Satan worship has become very prominent and there's a great deal going on today in the occult. That's satanic, friends. And I'm not sure but what we are going to see actual demon possession if this continues. And Christian friend, only one way to deal with it, and that's in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone can control that. That's the first miracle that's given to us here. Now they said to the Lord Jesus, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the holy one of God. Now verse 25. And Jesus rebuked him saying, Hold thy peace, come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed in so much that they questioned among themselves saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. Now I noticed these demonstrated in two realms and that of teaching. He spoke as one having authority, power, friends. And here in the realm of miracles, why they could not understand it. He has authority that they could not at all understand. Power in two realms, you see. Now verse 28 and immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee. Now that's the area around the Sea of Galilee. Now we're given another incident and this evidently took place sometime in the afternoon. And forthwith when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John, but Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever and anon they tell him of her. Now she's not called a mother-in-law. She's called Simon's wife's mother. My mother-in-law used to call my attention to that that that was the nice way of saying it, and I'm sure it was. Verse 31. And he came and took her by the hand and he lifted her up and immediately the fever left her. She ministered under them. Now this is another miracle already and it took place that same day. And then verse 32 and it even. Now we've come through the day and it's in the evening. When the sun didn't set, they brought unto him all that were diseased and them that were possessed with demons. Now Mark's going to do the same thing that Matthew did. Call your attention to the fact that we have only very few incidents of him healing that literally he healed thousands of people, but only a few are given as incidents to them. And we're told here, they brought unto him all that were diseased, them that were possessed with demons, and all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases and cast out many demons and suffered not the demons to speak because they knew him. The very interesting thing here is the demon world. They recognized him. And we're told that they believe and yet they're not saved, of course. Now we find that what happened that we go through a day with him and he's very busy. Now we're told in verse 35 and in the morning rising up a great while before day. Now you'd think after a busy Sabbath day that he'd sleep in that morning. Well, he didn't do it. I know a lot of preachers take off Monday. They want to rest after a busy Sunday. But here you have that and you'd think that he would rest, but no. Rising up a great while before day, he went out and departed into a solitary place and there prayed. And Simon and they that were with him followed after him. And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns that I may preach there also, for therefore came I forth. Now this is the beginning of the Gospel, you see. He's now by his teaching preparing them for that which is salvation. That is his death and his resurrection. His teaching will not save you, friend. It is what he did for us on the cross. Now we find that he wants to cover that entire territory in his 3 years ministry. Verse 39. And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee and cast out demons. Now it's well to note that that there was a great manifestation of demon power at this time. The fact of the matter is that we have three periods during the time of Moses, during the time of Elijah, and now during the time of our Lord on earth. Now we come here to the last miracle in this chapter. And again, these are hard cases and they're all different. This is a leper. Leprosy was not incurable as we shall see in Leviticus, but it was one of those diseases that was a killer. But it doesn't mean it was incurable. Verse 40. And there came a leper to him, beseeching him and kneeling down to him and saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand and touched him and saith unto him, I will. Be thou clean. Now you'll recall that back in Matthew that I called attention to the psychological side of this miracle that our Lord touched him. Well, you didn't touch a leper and he hadn't been touched in many years. In fact, he hadn't been able to touch anyone. I imagine his family brought out the food and drink for him and left it and then they retired and he came up and got it. He probably could wave at them, but he could never come to them again. Never hold them in his arms. They could never touch him. Well, now the Lord touches this man and he cleans him and he says, I will. Be thou clean. Verse 42. And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed. And he straightly charged him and forthwith sent him away and saith unto him, See thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priests and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded for a testimony under them. Now the cleansing of the leper was to follow the Mosaic ritual. Our Lord never really broke the Mosaic law. Now verse 45. But he went out and began to publish it much and to blaze abroad the matter. Now this man instead of keeping quiet about it, he went out and published it. Well, if you want to get a thing out, why you publish it. And if you want to make it known, why just put it in the paper or get it on radio or something. Well, that's what this man did and to blaze abroad. And that means to set a forest fire, to set something on fire. And friends, if you're having trouble getting your neighbors to listen to you, why you just set your place on fire and the whole neighborhood will come around you. I can assure you that. Well, that's exactly what happened here. Years ago I told a preacher over in Prescott, Arizona there and pastor of the First Baptist Church and I was holding meetings. And that Sunday morning I just casually made the remark. I said, If you want to get a crowd here this week, all week, set the place on fire. And you know when I was preaching there that night, why this man got up and he walked to the back out in the Sunday School department. He came in and he just pushed me aside and he said, Friends, the church is on fire. And he asked them to file out and they did it very orderly. And by that time you could hear the sirens and the fire engines were coming. And I want to tell you we did have a good crowd that Sunday night, but I'm sure we wouldn't have had Monday night. But the meeting had been on the back page of the paper on Saturday, but we were on the front page on Monday that the First Baptist Church is on fire, that we were still having meetings there. And did you know that we had a crowd there that week? So I got so I recommend every preacher for a whole meetings that they set the place on fire. That's one way to get a crowd. Now this fellow did that. And he disobeyed our Lord. I preached for a preacher in Texas years ago. I'd go over and preach for him after I preached for myself. He was a very wonderful man by the way. And I've got over one evening before he finished preaching and I want to tell you, he said the wisest thing I've ever heard about that he was preaching on this. He says the Lord told him not to tell anybody, and he told everybody. And he says he tells us to tell everybody and we tell nobody. Well, I thought that was good and I want to say, friends, that that disobedience to this man, I like it lots better than our disobedience today. We're told to tell everybody we tell nobody. Well, that brings us to the conclusion of this chapter. Believe me, our Lord's busy as he not. So until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
Steve Schwetz: Have you told someone about Jesus today or this week or this year? You know, Jesus' last words before he went back to heaven were, Go into all the world and preach the Gospel. For help, click on How can I know God in our app or at ttb.org or call 1-800-655-BIBLE and we'll send a few resources by mail. And when you're in touch, tell us how you listen to Through the Bible. Is it the app? Is it online? Is it YouTube? Or maybe your local radio station. However you catch the Bible bus, that quick note really does help us follow God's leading as we carry his whole word to the whole world. I'm Steve Schwetz, so grateful to be going through the Bible with you.
Greg; Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Through the Bible exists to take God's whole word to the whole world. And we invite you to stand with us with your faithful prayer and financial support. Where will God's word go today?