Gospel Living

How to Reject Christ | Mark 3:20–30 Shaun Marksbury | Quacco Baptist Church Sunday Evening Service | 28 May, 2017 Sadly, some will choose to reject Christ, and there are two kinds of rejection in this passage. First, we can reject Christ by treating Him trivially. Second, we can reject Christ by blaspheming Him bitterly. Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPHjnIUKvgI Audio: http://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=6317170360

28  “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, 29  but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— 30  for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.” God forbade blasphemy (Ex 22:28), and demonstrating its seriousness, He commanded death for those blaspheming in ancient Israel (Lv 24:10–16).  Coming from Jerusalem, the scribes now blaspheme Jesus as demon-possessed (3:22)—though not to His face, for He had to call them over to Himself (v. 23).  They recognize and resolutely reject their Redeemer, and now they remain without hope. They believe He works wonders.  This highlight from the Jewish Talmud notes “the ministry of Jesus: ‘On the eve of Passover Yeshu [Jesus] was hanged. And an announcer went out in front of him for fourteen days [saying], “He is going to be stoned, because he practiced sorcery and led Israel astray!” ’ ( ...

And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? 24  If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. 25  And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. 26  And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. 27  But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. A parable is a true-to-life story that metaphorically illustrates a spiritual reality.  It’s hard to believe that there would be a negative side to their usage, but that is exactly their context.  Rather than simply a creative outlet for Jesus’s instruction, He used them to hide truth from those rejecting Him. Jesus used smaller illustrations in His teaching in the past.  In the Sermon on the Mount, He called His disciples “the salt of the earth” (Mt 5:13) and t...

And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” Facing opposition from His family, Jesus now must contend with hostility from the one quarter that should have recognized Him.  The religious elite should have been awaiting the Messiah, doing their part to shepherd God’s people in preparation of His arrival.  Now that He is here, drawing His crowds, they respond with betrayal.  They fail in their task.   Scribes, or lawyers, were experts in interpreting the Law of Moses.  Many of them were Pharisees, though they also worked with the priests, and they would have known the specifics about the Messiah.  However, God sent John the Baptist to spark this ministry, and they refuse him.  The Messiah comes, and they discuss in Jerusalem what the official Word against Jesus would be.  It seems their only goal is to remain comfortably seated in authority o...