Day 6: Replacing Fear with Faith

Welcome back to day six of our study of the gospel of Mark. And by way of just super quick review, Mark is writing the sermons of Peter primarily. It is, to the Roman Gentile audience. It's super-fast, filled with action. And basically, Jesus has come to change the world. He's going to be a servant to give His life. And Mark basically is answering two questions. Who is Jesus? Where is He going? And then here's the big thing, will you follow Him? That's the theme of the book.

And so, we talked about our response to God's Word reveals our real relationship with the Lord. And it brings this whole issue up of trust. At the end of the day, you don't believe someone's word unless you really trust Him.

And my observation is there's two times when we tend to trust. Time number one is if you're desperate and don't have a choice, you trust.

The other one is like, okay I want to know who this person is. I want to know their character. I want to have a track record. And so, competence, character, and time is sort of the prerequisites of who you trust.

Now, here's what I want you to get. In our last time together. Jesus was like emphatic, the key to the Kingdom, the new paradigm: I'm the new wine and here's the new wineskins. It's not tradition, it's not religion, it's My Word. You need to trust My Word, I am God, fully human, the son of God, I have a mission, I've come to seek and save that which is lost, you are My followers.

And when I say it, you need to believe it. You can't believe and you can't follow unless you trust. And so, this is one of those times, especially for those that can, you know, not just listen but happen to watch this little series on Mark, is I've got a chart, uh, you can hear it, you know, if you're listening, that I love. And on the left side it has the parables and it talks about His Word and then He has some private time. And on the left side of the parables it talks about He just gave a lecture. He did the theological, the what of the Kingdom. They were hearing, and He gave these commands. You know, you've got to respond to the light, it's like the mustard seed, and He explained all this.

Well, now, He's going to say, let's go over to the other side. And He's going to go from His Words to His Works. And the author is going to be very clear, Mark is going to let us know. These four scenes go back to back to back to back. In rapid, procession, you need to understand Miracle 1, Miracle 2, Miracle 3, Miracle 4. And they're very, very specific. So that when you get done with them, disciples, you can trust Me with anything.

And with that as an overview, we go from the teaching to the training, from the lecture to the laboratory, from the theological - what, to the practical - who, and from the hearing to the doing, and finally, from commandments to enablement.

So, with that, let's, uh, pick it up at Mark chapter 4:35. Notice the time marker, that day. What day? The day that He just gave the lecture about your response to the Word. When evening came, He said to His disciples, let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd behind, they took Him along just as He was in the boat. There were also other boats with Him. A furious squall came up and the waves broke over the boat so that it was nearly swamped. Jesus was in the stern sleeping on a cushion.

The disciples woke Him and said, Teacher, don't You care if we drown? He got up, rebuked the wind, and said to the waves, Quiet, be still. Then the wind died down, and it was completely calm. He said to His disciples, Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith? They were terrified and asked each other, by the way, the right question. Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him.

Now we're going to go through these stories and I want to get your mind thinking so that you look at each story through a lens. These are professional fishermen and they are at the point of thinking, We're done. We're going to die. To the point that they shake Him and say, Lord, don't You care?

So, in their mind, they're facing an impossible situation. And I say that because each of these four situations will be impossible. And Jesus wants them to understand, you can trust Me with this impossible situation. And by the way, He wants you to understand, and He wants me to understand, and He wants all of us to understand we can trust Him with our impossible situation.

Notice also, what's the topic? Where is your faith? In other words, why don't you believe? What were they supposed to believe? What's the text say? That day when evening came, Jesus said - His Word - to His disciples. Let us go to the other side. Implicit is, is a promise. We're going to go to the other side. Okay, something happened, but why wouldn't you trust we're going to make it? And so, He, He finds men that are terrified and they're afraid in an environment that they're used to. And then I love how there's now a new shift, they were terrified and they asked Him, who is this?

I believe they were more terrified of who Jesus was - at that moment, in a good way - than they were of the waves. And by the way, how did He calm the waves? He spoke. Jesus speaks to wind. Jesus speaks in the natural realm, and He is the Lord of the natural realm.

And I just, in my mind's eye, I see Peter looking at John, and John looking at James, and all these other boats that are out there. I mean, this is an experience. I mean, who is He? Who is it that can speak to the wind? And instantly, whoosh! That's power. That's someone that you can trust.

Chapter 5 opens up. They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet Him. This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain. For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart, and he broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. Night and day, among the tombs and in the hills, he would cry out and cut himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of Him.

He shouted at the top of his voice, What do You want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that You will not torture me. For Jesus was saying to him, Come out of this man, you evil spirit. Then Jesus asked him, What is your name? My name is Legion, he replied, for we are many. And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area. A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. The demons begged Jesus, send us among the pigs, allow us to go into them.

He gave them permission and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about 2,000 in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned. Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and the countryside and the people went out to see what happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who'd been possessed by the legion of demons sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region. They were afraid.

Interesting story. Remember, this is all out of a lecture. Do you trust Me? When I speak, do you believe Me? Can you trust Me with your life? Trust Me with your future? For us. Can you trust Me with your family? Trust Me with your finances? Trust that when I ask you to do hard things, when I ask you to make sacrifice, Will you trust Me?

You know, the one thing God desires, the one thing that He asks more than anything else is that we trust Him. The word we use for that is faith. Without faith, it's not hard, it's impossible to please God. And those who come to God must believe two things. That He is, that He actually exists, and that He's a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

That's Hebrews 11:6 and what Jesus is teaching these followers is that you can trust Me. You can trust Me when the natural realm is overwhelming and you think you're going to die and now He's saying in the spiritual realm in the darkness, evil demonic spirits. I mean, it's not just a demon. It's a legion of demons. And this, this demon has very clear, correct theology. In fact, this demon has way better theology than the crowd, and probably than most of the disciples.

What do you have to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? And he understood, clearly, his power. And so, Jesus, I think, as a way to demonstrate to the disciples, and then later to the people of the town, and the people that were watching, He gives the demons permission to go to the pigs. Now, the irony of this, right? Think of Jews, think of a pig, think of kosher, I mean, there's a lot of little things behind all of this that bring a little irony and almost a little humor.

And demons don't want to be sent to the abyss. And so, what's interesting is, the demons go into the pigs, and, and the geography, if you know what's happening here, there's a steep cliff, and then they run off the cliff and die, and the word used for that area when you go that part of the water is similar to the word “abyss.” So, it was kind of a, a bit of a play on words. But why? He wants to demonstrate to His disciples. It would be one thing to say, Demon, you're gone. Well, he's gone. Looks like he's gone. See, this was visible. Jesus is doing things very specifically to show, I have power. I have power over the invisible world.

Jesus was teaching these disciples, I mean, can you imagine how weird that would be watching those pigs? And then, did you notice the response? Two responses.

One group is they don't understand, and they're afraid, and it's like, man, this is weird. We want you to leave. Also, think about the cost of 2,000 pigs. We don't know who this guy is, but He certainly is not good for the economy. I mean, He's disruptive, and guess what? Jesus is disruptive. He is not tame. He makes a difference. He changes things. And so, the disciples are learning He's the Lord the natural realm. Now He's the Lord the of the spiritual realm. And the lessons aren't over.

Mark wants us to know that these are back to back to back. And so, the people are absolutely amazed. And this man, what's the other response? He pleads with Jesus to let him go with Him. One group says, get away from me. The demonized man says, Oh, please let me go with You. And Jesus says, No, you go back to the Decapolis. It was a ten-city area. You go there - this is where the Gentiles lived - you go back there and you tell everyone what the Lord has done for you. He's planting seeds for what's going to happen in the future. After that, what do we get? The people were amazed.

Verse 21, When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around Him. While He was by the lake, one of the synagogue rulers, named Jarius, came there. Seeing Jesus, notice the pattern again. He fell at his feet. This is now a religious leader. He understands the consequences of going to Jesus. He fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him. My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live. So, Jesus went with him.

So now what we're seeing is there's a breakdown in the religious leaders. There are some people that are realizing we've been waiting on the Messiah. Anyone who does these miracles, anyone who teaches like Him, He is, in fact, the Messiah.

And guess what? Who do we trust? We trust people that we can evaluate their character and their competency, and over time. And we trust people when we're desperate. This guy could care less what the religious leaders think right now. He's got a little girl that he loves that's 11 or 12 years old, and she's dying. And he knows from where he lives and all the stories that this man can heal people. And he humbles himself and falls on his knees before Jesus and said, Please, will You please come and lay Your hands on my daughter? Like he's heard how He's laid His hands on other people.

Now notice, A large crowd followed and pressed in around Him, and a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered great under the care of many doctors, and had spent all that she had, yet instead of getting better, she grew worse. Another impossible situation.

When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind Him in the crowd and touched His cloak, because she thought, If I touch His clothes, I'll be healed. Immediately, her bleeding stopped, and she felt in her body that she was free from her suffering.

At once, Jesus realized that power had gone out of Him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, Who touched My clothes? You see the people crowding around you His disciples answered, and You ask, Who touched Me? But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her - watch this, came and fell at his feet, and trembling with fear, told Him the whole truth. He said to her, Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.

She's desperate and she has faith to believe that somehow, someway, if I could just get near Jesus, He would help me.

And by the way, let's not lose our everyday in this story. If you're desperate today, if you're hurting, if you just have nowhere to turn, the Jesus of this passage is alive today and He longs to help you. And if you'll come to Him the way Jairus comes and say, Oh God, I need You. I need You. If you come like the woman who, who's desperate, and I mean, the doctors can't do it. No one can help me. Jesus is teaching His disciples, Yes, I have power over the natural realm. I have power over the supernatural realm. I have power over the physical realm. But what did He say to her? Daughter, your faith has made you well. The goal for the disciples and the goal for us is that we would learn to trust Jesus.

I mean, if He can handle demons, if He can handle the natural realm, if He can handle the physical realm. So, what is going on in your life or what's going on in my life that He can't handle? That you couldn't say, if Your Word says this, God, I, I can trust Your character and I can trust Your Word. It may be hard. I may not like it. I may not even understand it, but I trust You. Therefore, I'm going to take this step. I'm going to obey You. I'm going to do what You say. That's what God is looking for.

Well, the story's not over. There's one more. He's going to show them, as amazing as all the other things were, He's the Lord of the eternal realm.

So, we pick up the story, the woman has been healed, Jesus has looked around, While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler, with some bad news. Your daughter is dead, they said. Why bother the Teacher anymore?

I just have to believe his heart sank. I was too late. There's no hope. Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler - I love this. Don't be afraid. Just believe. He did not allow anyone to follow Him except Peter, James, and John. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion with people crying and wailing loudly.

They had professional mourners. It was just part of the culture and someone dies and they would be outside and they would wail and moan. It was just part of what they did and so there's, there's a, I mean there's a group of people and things are really hopping and you know it's terrible and they're wailing and moaning over all that's happened.

And Jesus said, Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep. But they laughed at Him. They'd already verified that she was dead. And after He put them all out, He took the child's father and mother and the disciples who were with Him, and He went in where the child was, and He took her by the hand, and notice what does He do? He said - spoken word - He said to her, talitha koum, which means little girl, I say to you, get up. Immediately, the girl stood up and walked around. She was 12 years old. At this, they were completely astonished and He gave strict orders not to tell anyone about this, and told them to give her something to eat.

He wanted to make sure they knew, this is not a ghost, this is not a trick. This little girl was dead, and when I speak to the dead, they can rise.

The disciples are learning a really important lesson, and most of them would learn it to the point that as they started their ministry and whether it was Thomas making it all the way to India or whether it was Paul, missionary journeys because he's going to meet Jesus a little later in a very, very unusual way or whether it's Peter who comes near the end of his life and says, I'm not worthy to be crucified right side up, crucify me upside down. There was a loyalty and a trust. That transcended every difficulty, every pain that was above every relationship. They were not fans. They were followers. And the gospel of Mark is a word to you and me to say, God longs for followers.

He's got a purpose for your life. He's got a purpose for my life, and He wants us to follow Jesus, but you can't follow something or someone that you don't know.

Can I encourage you, get into God's Word. Can you read one chapter a day, right? You know, we just, we just covered chapter five today. Chapter six is coming up. Why don't you read that? Why don't you just follow along with me? Why don't you just say, Lord, it seems like these really desperate people trusted You out of necessity. I could choose to trust You.

I want to little by little become way less of a fan and way more of a follower. And I just would tell you, um, it'll be the greatest decision that you'll ever, ever make. He loves you, He cares for you, He's got a plan for you, and He longs for you to take steps of faith, with the light that you know, and He will respond with great clarity and great power.