In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ return to Nazareth, Jesus’ hometown. Pastor Babij explains how the town’s inhabitants, as they continually question and take offense at Jesus, actually display the most heinous sin of all before God. Pastor Babij also points out how many today are just like the people of Nazareth and explains how Christians ought to react to similar rejection.
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all right this morning let’s take our Bibles and turn to Matthew excuse me Mark chapter 6 verse one through six Mark chapter 6 verses 1.
through six and let me read that in verse 1 it says Jesus went out from there and came to his hometown and his disciples followed him when the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue and many listeners were astonished saying where did this man get these things and what does this wisdom given to him and such Miracles as these performed by his hands is not this the carpenter the son of Mary the brother of James and Josephus and Judas and Simon are not his sisters here with us and they took offense at him Jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household and he could do no Miracles there except that he lay his hands on a few sick and heal them and he wandered at their unbelief and he was going around the village teaching let’s pray Lord this morning as we look at this passage again I prayed Lord that as we study the gospel of Mark that we would get a understanding of who you are the way you reveal yourself and only that way I pray Lord that you would not allow us to add any more information or take away any any more information about you than what the scriptures revealed because if we do we will all be end up being wrong and I pray Lord being wrong about you is deadly don’t allow us to go there lord always feed our heart and soul with truth we can trust the truth and enable us to follow it and I pray this in Christ’s name amen title of my message this morning is Hometown rejection when Jesus visited his hometown of Nazareth that he had actually been brought up in um you would think that his popularity that preceded him would cause the hometown Folk to get together and receive him with open harms and give him a grand welcome wow this is Jesus coming to our town man we heard all about what he was doing but that’s not what happened something was already taking place deep within the recesses of the town’s people’s hearts in fact what was taking place was and is the greatest wickedness that exists amongst Humanity I will not at this point tell you what it is I will leak it out and let you find it out yourself but I’m sure by the end it’ll be clear to you what it is so in this narrative this is actually the second recorded visit Jesus makes to Nazareth his hometown was about 25 miles Southwest of Capernaum his previous visit did not go well at all in fact Jesus was Jesus was violently rejected it is recorded in the Gospel of Luke that the people were marveling over his gracious words that were coming from his mouth and they listened to him and as they listened to him speak about the electing grace of God toward non-israelites that the unbelief of Israel uh was apparent and they wanted to kill him by throwing him over a cliff but Jesus escaped from that situation so the visit in the Gospel of Luke came at the beginning of the great Galilean Ministry of Jesus that recorded here in Mark is a later visit to Nazareth in Luke’s account Jesus appeared alone announcing the beginning of his Messianic mission in the second visit he came as a well-known teacher accompanied by his disciples in the first visit Jesus invoked their violent uncontrolled rage and the second they responded with a cool indifference and a and actually a personal insult the violent rejection during the first visit did not keep the yearning Heart of Jesus from giving his home town folk another chance another opportunity to receive him now to get the background to this turn your Bibles to the Gospel of Luke and I want you to notice in Luke chapter 4 verses 14 through 30. this is one of the first visits some people say it’s the same visit uh the same event but it’s there are certain things that tell us different but notice in Luke chapter 4 verse number 14.
it says in verse 14 and it began teaching in the synagogue and was praised by all and he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up and it was as it was his custom he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read and the Book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to him and he opened the book and found the place where it was written the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor he has sent me to Proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind to set free to those who are oppressed to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord in verse 20 and he closed the book gave it back to the attendant sat down in the eyes of the synagogues were fixed on him and he began to say to them today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing and all were speaking well of him wondering at the gracious Words which were falling from his lips and they were saying is not this Joseph’s son and he said to them no doubt you will quote this proverb to me physician heal yourself whatever we heard was done at Capernaum do hear in your hometown as well in verse 24 and he said truly I say to you no Prophet is welcome in his hometown but I say to you in truth there were many widows in Israel in the Days of Elijah when the sky was shut up and three years for three years and six months when a Great Famine came over all the land and yet Elijah was not sent to none of them but only to zaraphat in the land of sidon to a woman who was a widow and there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elijah the prophet and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman the Syrian and all the people in the Son of God were filled with rage as they heard these things and they got up and drove him out of the city and led him to the brow of the hill on which their city was built in order to throw him down the cliff but passing through their midst he went his way and he came down to Capernaum a city of Galilee and he was teaching them on the Sabbath and they were amazed at his teaching for his message was with authority so in the sense that was the first visit now we’re looking in Mark I believe as the second visit and I the reason I believe that this is a separate event in Mark is because this time Jesus returns to Nazareth with his 12 Apostles accompanying him uh if you look at Mark chapter six back there in verse number one Jesus went out from there and came into his hometown and his disciples followed him so this visit to narrative came about a year after the citizens of the Town attempted to murder Jesus furthermore by this time Jesus popularity was at its height uh his preaching of the Gospel of the Kingdom has gone out to many and many had come into the kingdom believing it plus his miracles were well and widely known and his Apostles had already been chosen at this point now however for many the verdict about who Jesus exactly is was still out for many people after the evidence was in deciding as to who Jesus is may turn out to be a very dangerous time for these people now just for your information uh this is another conflict narrative in this gospel and it has the ABA pattern to it remember I was talking about the sandwich pattern there’s the top of the bread the peanut butter and jelly in the middle in the bottom well today we’re going to look at the top of the bread and the top of the bread is opposition in his own town in the middle of the bread is really the point or the focus of this narrative and the middle is in chapter six verse 7 to 13 and that’s the visit uh where the disciples were sent out on a given mission where they would go out without Jesus but um would accomplish a mission with all the authority of God and then of course on the other side was the rejection Story another rejection Story the arrest and death of John the Baptist so right now we’re looking at the top and that’s the first rejection narrative and that’s where we’ll begin this morning so as Jesus was his practice uh he went into it was the Sabbath and he found every Sabbath you found him preaching teaching and doing Mighty works and so in verse number two of Mark chapter 6 it says when the Sabbath came he began to teach in the synagogue and the many listeners were astonished I’ll let me stop right there now I want you to notice that the listeners response to Jesus teaching was that they were astonished now some suggest that this particular verb which is an unusual one can be translated dumbfounded I believe that is a good translation they were dumbfounded all right now remember he’s coming back to his hometown all those people in that town know everything that they can possibly know about Jesus probably in Nazareth the population was only around 200 people and Jesus spent from at least two years old to 30 years old there so the people knew who he was they knew his family they knew all those things so for them to be dumbfounded is a very very good word so Jesus Hometown folk were thinking he’s just an ordinary man whom we know so well we saw him grow up from the age of two into his 30s and he is saying astonishing things and we have heard about the incredible things he has performed which seemed to be utterly Beyond him what we know about him so this becomes a key thing in this passage listening to Jesus and receiving his message and his person with the wrong attitude can prove to be deadly to those that group of people or to individual people that we cannot make up things about Jesus we can’t just limit him to a certain category or a certain time frame or a certain amount of information we have to get the whole picture and that’s what the gospel does show us it gives us the whole picture so the characteristics revealed about the person of Jesus Christ can either go one way or the other in this sense there was a downward step into a vain very dangerous way of thinking and here’s the first thing that took place when you know someone’s heading in the wrong direction concerning Jesus you’ll find that they are limited in their knowledge of him so their astonishment the first thing is this their astonishment their bewilderment led to derogatory questioning they began to ask questions about Jesus so this astonishment led to a kind of derogatory form of questions which gave way to a different attitude towards Jesus an attitude actually of agitation and indifference actually in the next two sentences there are six questions one set of questions focuses on Jesus ministry the other set focuses on Jesus being just an ordinary Town homeboy and so let’s look at the questions that they ask concerning Jesus in verse number two it says this it says in the last part of the verse it starts asking questions it says they were astonished saying where did this man get these things that’s the first thing now what were they asking they were asking this what is the source of Jesus ability to do all these things to know all these things and so the source of things remember could be twofold it could be the source could be God or the source could be Angels or demons right that’s the source there’s no other sources that there are and so they’re thinking in this the in this frame with this framework in their mind and so the source of something is very important because the source could be either reliable or unreliable and just to remind you that the gospel of Mark informed us that the leadership of Israel had already concluded the source on which Jesus operated and of course the critics against Jesus accused Jesus of being a sorcerer In Cahoots with Satan so they all that was already in the mindset of the leadership that the leadership had already put out there and was trickling all throughout the land of Israel that Jesus listen he’s God he’s in cahoots with demons and that’s how he can do these things all right a second question in verse number two is this it gets more specific as saying and what is this wisdom given to him or again sort of wisdom could be God that means if it’s from God that it has to have a Heavenly Source it comes down from above all right it doesn’t originate here on the Earth or the source can be Earthly all right and that means it would be just human or demonic now so the town’s people knew Jesus didn’t study under any rabbis that he had no formal education so they concluded that someone had to give Jesus this wisdom because no commoner could have acquired what he was telling them and how he was explaining things but the Epistle of James of course later on that comes after uh this time uh brings our attention to the source of wisdom and there’s only two sources of wisdom or two forms of wisdom there is wisdom that comes from Below which is from the world around us it is a wisdom that is represents the best job that humans uh human intellect can can do to understand and execute life but that wisdom is apart from wisdom that comes from the fear of God from where it says in Proverbs Chapter 1 the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge right that’s apart from that that’s man trying to figure out life without God that’s what Earthly wisdom is all right and so in fact in James if you’d like to turn there in James chapter 3 verse 15 through verse number 17 it gives us a good picture of now remember James was the brother of Jesus at the time that we’re looking at this scripture James was not converted all right but we know that of course obviously he did get converted and he and he gives us probably the best understanding of what wisdom the two sources of wisdom are than anybody in scripture and it says in verse number 13 of chapter 3 who among you is wise and understanding let him show by his good behavior his deeds in gentleness of wisdom but if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth this wisdom is not that which comes down from above but is Earthly natural and demonic so he’s describing there there is a wisdom yes there is a wisdom that is from the Earth but that wisdom is limited to the the frail and finite life of ungenerate people trying to figure out the meaning of life without a relationship with the true and living God and then he said secondly that it’s natural that means it’s sensual it’s not spiritual it’s not possessing the spirit of God it’s just physical and material it’s life of the natural world the spiritual part of the world that people try to figure out without divine revelation wisdom from the mental and emotional impulses of Fallen Humanity depraved in their Concepts and their desires and their aspirations about what the true and living God is and then he says another thing about it in James that this wisdom is demonic it is demon fooled around with I call it it’s stuff that demons fool around with it’s it’s it is demonic in character proceeding from an evil spirit not necessarily Satan directly but demons and those who further Satan’s work in the world so James detects the work of demons as those who corrupt Harmony not only in the world but especially in the body of Christ where he says in verse 16 for where jealousy and selfish ambition exists there is disorder and every evil thing that is the result of worldly wisdom that’s all it’ll bring you it will not bring you anything else but that and that’s where it usually leads but James also tells us of another kind of wisdom in verse number 17 it says but the wisdom from above is first pure then Peaceable gentle reasonable full of mercy and good fruits unwavering without hypocrisy and the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in Peace by those who make peace in other words that this is wisdom that comes from God it is truly satisfying because it starts and it ends with the fear of the Lord the wisdom that comes from God is Not arbitrary wisdom based on subjective religious experience rather it is sourced in God’s revelation to man a revelation that is objective that is rational you can think about it that’s why the Bible always tells us that your mind needs to be transformed because it God doesn’t bypass your mind to teach you who he is he uses your mind he transforms your mind and he gives you Heavenly wisdom to be able to understand spiritual things from a perspective that is true and and honest and clear so see the word of God is Not only uh it is not only uh subjective but I mean it is not only rational but it’s also authoritative and clear and produces results and this wisdom is from above that’s why the Bible says here but the wisdom from above is first pure so Godly with wisdom is without hypocrisy it’s free from all sham and pretense it has nothing to hide it’s like an open book it’s straightforward it’s genuine and it’s sincere and the results of it is that the seed uh whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace so see the bottom line is that when someone receives the source of truth that comes from above they could have peace not only with God through Jesus Christ but peace with each other in families and in community and of course peace within their soul where the turmoil soul is calmed by their understanding of who God is see that’s the wisdom that leads someone to Salvation so people are going to search and obtain wisdom from some source the spiritual the God-fearing person will depend on spiritual wisdom while those who are unspiritual will follow after carnal and worldly and demonic and sense-based wisdom and the classic that classic allegory by Pilgrim’s Progress John Bunyan wrote If you never read that you should someday where he calls this particular person the Mr worldly wise man he’s wise but he’s worldly wise he’s not wise in the sense of scripture in the sense of getting their understanding from God’s word all right so back to the gospel of Mark and I want you to notice that so they’re asking these questions about who Jesus is and their their concluding their Answers by just Earthly wisdom and so that’s what it says in verse number two the last question there it says and such where did he get this power from uh it says and such Miracles as these performed by his hands so again they’re asking for the source what’s the source of Jesus power well the source is either going to be God’s spirit or it’s going to be good Angels or demons so that remember the scribes already documented as official opponents of Jesus that they were uh they could no longer downplay the authenticity of Jesus miracles so they had to come up with some explanation as to how Jesus in his power does what he does and of course they conclude in Mark chapter 3 the scribes came down from Jerusalem in verse 22 and we’re saying he is possessed by Beelzebub and he cast out demons by the ruler of demons in other words they were concluding that the source of Jesus power was demonic and they were concluding wrong so see there there thinking about what’s the source of where all these things are coming from so see these questions are not questions to get information to solve a problem these questions are derogatory questions these questions are driving them deeper away from Christ and not to Christ and that’s why questioning incessant questionly about whether the Bible is this whether Jesus is dead or on and on and on you know there has to be a time you have to stop questioning and start believing all right so questions could actually leave people in the worst state that they can possibly be in on this side of Eternity and that’s very dangerous all right so derogatory questioning led to rejection verse number three of Mark chapter six look what it says now they begin to question him as a common man they are saying in verse number three is not this the carpenter is not this the technon that was the that was a word used in the Greek that meant it was a general term referring to a Tradesman someone who worked in a variety or with a variety of materials whether Woodstone or metal now I know here it says in Scripture that is not this the carpenter but that’s very limited as to what this word actually means actually this some people say that Jesus was a stone Mason he was all those things because uh the townspeople concept of this long time Resident was that there was nothing extraordinary about him only that he was a skillful Craftsman in fact they most likely were recalling the things that Jesus made for them hey he made my plow in which I used to prepare my ground to plant crops he made the Yoke which keeps my oxen from wandering off while I worked them in the fields Jesus made my table in chairs and the utensils I use in my my house in fact Jesus Built the stone wall around my sheepen see they were thinking just in Earthly terms they could not get past this Jesus being just an ordinary man and some would say we remember him as a skilled Craftsman but not as a skilled Prophet or teacher we cannot picture Jesus as the bearer of divine truth we cannot recall him being very impressive or important so just imagine all those that time that Jesus spent in his own town being this Craftsman using uh tools and building things for people he never at one time displayed that he was any other than ordinary not until he turned 30. and he was called to the ministry of why he came into the world and that’s when everything changed Jesus laid down his hammer he laid down his tools and he took up the word of God in a way that no one could ever imagine in fact they go deeper into it and notice what they say in verse number three not only in verse number three is he just a carpenter but the son of Mary the son of Mary and brother of James and Josie’s and Judas and Simon are not his sisters here with us see what’s going on here Jesus is again being examined by them but in a very derogatory way Jews usually only name the father even after the father had passed away and here it’s recorded he’s the son of Mary now this this is an exceptional and out of the ordinary way of saying things because in his first visit to Nazareth it’s recorded in the Gospel of Luke if you remember me reading it there they were saying is not this the son of Joseph but here in mark they refer Jesus to Jesus as the son of Mary without reference to his father this is actually an insult and could even bring into question the legitimacy of Jesus birth now remember Mary was impregnated divinely Joseph did not know her sexually yet and so the people knew their people were thinking here we don’t even really know who who the father is you see this is very derogatory it’s very demeaning they are they are digging a hole for themselves that is not good and but you know what this type of reasoning happens all the time when it comes to the Bible when it comes to Jesus when it comes to truth it happens all the time and people think they’re Justified and uh and they’re even honoring the whole intellectual pursuit of finding out truth but in this case well we know that his brothers and his sisters were not the falling over to follow him we already found that out in chapter 3 verse 21 remember what happens in chapter three his mother and brothers come to get him because they thought he lost his senses that he was out of his mind the intention of the his family members was literally to get him in their power again his own family concluded that he had taken leave of his senses that Jesus had had kicked up so much dust and stirred up so much controversy it was time for him to come home and come less and be taught again that what he’s doing is all wrong but remember at this time his mother and his brothers were not Believers yet in fact that’s what it says in the gospel John chapter 7 it says this for not even his brothers were believing him remember his family was still part of the outside group they weren’t part of the Insiders they did not repent and believe in Jesus as of yet and of course the hometown folk weren’t helping anything there was nothing in this town that was leading to a proper conclusion of who Jesus is but remember thank the Lord for this that all of Jesus Brothers came became followers of Jesus after the resurrection we find evidence of evidence of this in other passages like it says in Corinthians the resurrection chapter Corinthians chapter 15 then he appeared to James that’s the brother of Jesus and to all the apostles and then in Acts chapter 1 these all with one of mine were continually devoting themselves to prayer among with among them the women and married the mother of Jesus with his brothers all right and then of course in First Corinthians 9 5 uh do we not have a right to take along a believing wife even as the rest of the Apostles and the brothers of the Lord and cephas all right so again in scripture the brothers the family Mary all were acknowledged as Believers in Jesus Christ but the townsmen could not solve the mystery as to how Jesus obtained these gifts the townspeople and his family members did not know that Jesus possessed such wisdom and miraculous power during his 30 years in Nazareth and if you look at the end of Mark chapter 6 and verse number three notice what it says and they took offense at him they took offense now this implies that these people in Nazareth were on the way of being trapped they didn’t think they were trapping themselves but they were actually trapping themselves trap being trapped by what well to come in contact with Jesus to recognize his word and his power is fatal for all who react to this contact in unbelief his homies refuse to recognize Jesus true personhood as Isaiah the prophet had displayed him where he read from the prophet Isaiah so that’s where Jesus says in verse number four that Jesus did grow up in an insignificant little town Jesus says in verse number four Jesus said to them a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and his own household so see Jesus home town of Nazareth was small and insignificant place but it was the place that God would raise up a prophet a prophet is someone who speaks to people in behalf of God someone who is commissioned and dispatched by one who has Authority author of the book of Hebrews highlights the authority of Christ where Christ is the first and foremost the one who has been sent by the father in fact Jesus said I speak nothing of my own authority I speak only with the authority of the one who sent me in other words God the Father sent Jesus to provide for man’s salvation if Jesus the prophet as said here brings a message from God the father and that message is rejected well then there is no other message he is the final word from God the Father there is no other message that comes from anywhere where men could be saved so Jesus said a prophet is honored everywhere except in his native town among his own relatives and in his own home have you felt that as a Christian yet that when you try to tell the gospel to your family it’s not like they’re opening their arms welcoming you me in and sitting at the table and listening to every word you say and responding to that in a very positive way usually they’re ushing ushering you out right they’re turning a deaf ear to you they’re not inviting you anymore when you walk in the room they walk out of the room see that’s a very natural thing because you’re bringing if you are faithful to bring the word of God and they know that they won’t want to hear it but there will be someone who wants to hear it thank the Lord for that so the townsman did not recognize that God was at work in Jesus in a new way inaugurating God’s Sovereign reign in the lives of those who who would respond in faith and repentance they thought they knew who Jesus was however the source of their conclusion was fleshly worldly and demonic they got Jesus wrong people don’t think that’s a big deal today but if you get Jesus wrong it is the greatest wickedness that will exist amongst your Humanity and what is the greatest wickedness that will exist amongst Humanity well if you didn’t figure it out yet it’s unbelief unbelief so rejection of Jesus by derogatory questioning is driven Now by the sin of unbelief look at verse number six and he wondered Jesus wondered at their unbelief and he was going around The Village’s teaching now the only time in Mark that Jesus is said to wonder or to Marvel well there’s only two times in Scripture that Jesus wonders and Marvels one of them is right here In this passage he wandered at their unbelief great unbelief and there’s a second place where Jesus marveled that great faith if you remember the passage it says when the the uh he was in Capernaum and the Centurion came to him and and treated him saying Lord my servant is lying paralyzed at home suffering and in great pain and he said to them I will come and heal him and then the Centurion answered and says Lord I am not worthy for you to come under my roof but just say the word and my servant will be healed for I too am a man under Authority with soldiers under me and I say to this one go and he goes and I say to another one come and he comes and to my slave do this and he does it and now Jesus heard this and he marveled and said to those who were following truly I say to you I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel see Jesus either Marvels at Great unbelief or he Marvels at great faith there’s no in between so no one should dare assume to be able to reject Christ repeatedly without impurity with impunity there are consequences that are eternal if you get Jesus wrong in fact back in Mark chapter 3 verse 29 it’s in there’s an eternal sin connected to it where it says but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of an eternal sin because they were saying he has an unclean Spirit see if you conclude Jesus wrongly and you don’t believe in him that is the sin that leads to death that is the sin that brings terrifying judgment that is the sin that leaves someone helpless and hopeless to ever have be able to have eternal life that is a sin that is the greatest wickedness that exists amongst humanity and that is the sin of unbelief and it’s not only the sin of not believing as Lord and Savior but it’s the sin a sin that’s also committed amongst God’s people when we don’t believe that he can do what he says he can do there should be no unbelief amongst us if we have the scriptures Hebrews gives us an exit or exhortation to avoid the sin of unbelief where it says in Hebrews chapter 12 it says take care Brethren that there not be in any one of you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the Living God see this passage is telling us to watch out for each other so there will exist no unbelief amongst us and it would be truly sad for someone to have such a heart because the term for heart is that term that talks about the center of our will who we really are the inner life and the trouble with unbelief is it always is in the heart it’s always deep inside of you it’s it’s the seat of your will so that’s why it’s the greatest wickedness that exists in the world is this thing of unbelief unbelief is is a special kind of evil because unbelief tends to make a heart evil and an evil heart has a tendency to turn from the Living God that’s what it says in Hebrews an unbelieved believing heart Falls away from the Living God that they are turning from the great and awesome and Dreadful God who is able to punish and avenge their sin for all eternity so not believing according to Hebrews not believing in Moses God’s faithful Apostle and mediator is one thing but not believing in the greater than Moses the faithful Apostle and high priest Jesus Christ is quite another thing because it is a damning thing if you reject God’s final Revelation and isn’t it a sad commentary and repeated so often today that people hear the message on how God provides Deliverance and they dismiss it and set it as uh set it aside as if it doesn’t apply to them what they’re really ex doing is expressing their unbelief they probably will not conclude that but that’s what the scripture concludes and the first thing really to notice if someone gets on the path of unbelief is that they will turn their affections towards the world and what it has to offer and how it concludes issues they will turn to serve and celebrate what their own hands can create and with their own minds can conclude that humans will idolize the wisdom from a human source from gurus and from imams and from priests priests and Shaman guides and fortune tellers and hand and card readers that are all over the place today and then some articulate professors and feisty talk show hosts who become moral and spiritual compasses of our day and people follow them and believe them and they are just using worldly wisdom and never will come to a knowledge of the truth with that wisdom to worship whatever went on in the culture is worshiping is is a deadly thing a second thing to notice if someone gets on the uh on and stays on the path of unbelief is that God will turn from them and give them up to the Twisted desires of Their Own Heart God will hand them over to worship the gods that they prefer like it says in Acts 7 verse 42 but God turned away and deliver them up to serve the host of Heaven as it is written in the book of the prophets it was not to me that you offered victims and sacrifices 40 years in the wilderness was it or House of O House of Israel you also took along the Tabernacle of Molech and the star of the god of Rama the images which you made were made to worship I also will remove from you who you beyond Babylon in other words if people if a person rejects God’s General Revelation and then when God gives them special revelation and that Revelation is unfolded to them and they reject that also then in both cases the only thing left for that person to do is to remain an idolater to worship the figment of their own imagination and their own thoughts or whatever else anybody else presented to them so looking outside of God’s plan for deliverance and blessing always leads to further bondage the one useful way that we can prevent such evil amongst us as found in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 13.
it says but encourage one another day after day as long as it is still called today so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin that’s in the same context about talking about an unbelieving heart so here’s the preventive medicine encourage one another day after day that’s regularly do it continually what do you do you urge people you urge others to continue in the faith toward God and not to fall into judgment by turning away from his full and perfect provision for sins through the sun and the high priest Jesus Christ so salvation is not only a present experience but also a future gift and these can only be obtained by perseverance in Christian development that’s the sanctification of the spirit that once a person believes in Christ they continue in that belief for the rest of the life so in a very real way our belief in Christ should be getting stronger and stronger and stronger till we can say like the songwriter this morning I have decided this I decided to follow Jesus even seeing his family members being killed see that’s that’s real faith and that’s the kind of faith that God wants to build into us he wants to kind of faith that God does great things amongst his people because they believe him they trust him that God actually converts people to himself and delivers them from the condemnation of sin because they genuinely believe because the spirit of God is a work is at work amongst God’s people and God is going to save people genuinely transform them and rescue them from their sin now if you’re right there in mark look at the last passage verse 5.
the sin of unbelief does something quite disappointing it shuts out the mercy and grace of God from the people look what it says in verse 5. and he could do no Miracle there except that he laid his hands on a few sick and healed them see the towns people unbelief is is really is in marked contrast to the faith of those who benefited from Jesus ministry at Capernaum the gospel of Matthew attributes the small number of Miracles performed in Nazareth to the unbelief of the people where it says in Matthew 13 58 and he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief so God will not work where he is not wanted he will not work where he is not believed unbelief leads to God restricting his power to restricting his blessings now the encouraging thing about this passage is that I think our Lord knew a few Believers were there and so because of that his mercy and Grace healed a few that’s it and so Nazareth the pla the very Hometown that Jesus grew up outright rejected the only one who could save them that’s a sad story but that is a story that’s often repeated so what was Jesus teaching his apostles from this first reject rejection narrative well this question was succinctly synthesized by professor and author Grant Osborne in his teaching on the text commentary on on the gospel of Mark where he says this in conclusion this is what he was teaching that mission to a lost world often will result in resistance and hostility God didn’t promise us a Rose Garden matter of fact people say to me oh since you know I’m sure when I become a Christian things will get better no things may get a lot worse when you become a Christian because now the flesh the world and Satan are against you before they were kind of you were flowing together with them but you have the spirit of God you have the word of God so there’s going to be resistance and hostility as a believer secondly those closest to a person often are the last to recognize that person’s gift and calling matter of fact they may be the ones like the townspeople and relatives that totally reject you that cast you out that writes you out of your their will because you became a believer of Jesus Christ that that’s part of the turf that proves you’re doing something and then the last thing that those who are not open to Jesus may discover that God is no longer open to them that the spirit of God may not be speaking to a person once they reject outright reject Christ so see this passage of scripture has many things going on in it and it’s something that we can learn from as we live our Christian Life that there shouldn’t be any unbelief amongst us that our faith should be growing strong that we should use our gift and if it’s not recognized by people so be it just use it tell the gospel but telling the gospel will bring resistance and hostility those are Givens don’t give up throw in the towel because those things happen matter of fact those are greater confirmations and you’re doing something than anything else and keep going and let your faith grow as you’re studying the word of God and the knowledge of God is getting more clear in your mind about what God has done what God is doing and what God is going to do live your life there and believe me I know one thing it’ll be an exciting life it’ll be an exciting life to live for Christ so that is the first rejection narrative next time we’ll pick up the middle of the sandwich and then the other slice of bread underneath and we’ll see what the main point is let’s pray Lord thank you again your goodness to us in allowing us to know the word of God to have it in our hands to be able to Grapple with it to be able to see how other people responded to it and we see the same response today gives us confidence and just helps us to know that this the word of God is the truth it is the very Revelation that you’ve given us on this side of Eternity to strengthen our faith once we believe not only the belief first in Christ as the only provision that God’s given for our Eternal salvation and the Forgiveness of sins but once we believe you and have your spirit and your word our faith just grows stronger and stronger and stronger where we realize Lord that we are just sojourners in this world we are just passing through and what we want the most is we want you to use us we want to be the the witness and the testimony to our families we want to have the faith in God where we see great things happen we see miraculous things happen we see that there’s nothing impossible with the god who’s created the Heaven and the Earth The God Who has given us our final Revelation in Christ Jesus and Lord Jesus you the very one who died in the place of Sinners who satisfy the wrath of God who shed your blood to forgive us our sins who rose again to defeat Satan in death and who ascended into heaven and is seated at this moment at the right hand of God and you are coming back again and we’re all part of that plan is Lord truly exciting and Lord use us and Lord please keep us away from the mindset that leads to unbelief and let us grow in faith and I prayed this this morning in the precious and the holy name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and all God’s people said amen