In this sermon, Pastor Babij shows that many in the crowds following Jesus during His earthly ministry did not actually believe in Him; some in the crowd just wanted miracles and freedom from Rome, others thought Jesus was insane, and still others claimed Jesus used demonic power. Pastor Babij explains Jesus’s response to these attitudes and what being a true follower of Christ looks like.
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all right let’s uh take our Bibles this morning and we’re looking at the gospel of Mark chapter 3.
and we are going to be looking at verse 20 to verse 35 that’s the whole rest of the chapter and today we’re going to be looking at really And discussing Outsiders and insiders it’s very important uh under uh understanding what we should have as believers and the question is are you on the inside or are you on the outside there’s always a crowd but just because you’re in the crowd doesn’t mean you’re on the inside so that’s what we’re going to look at this morning In this passage of scripture many things going on here so take your Bibles take your uh iPads your phones whatever you’re using today and follow along as we look at this and I am in The New American Standard Bible so um it may be a little different if you’re using the ESV but that the difference is very slight let’s pray let’s pray this morning Lord we thank you today for your grace and mercy to us we thank you for the word of God we thank you that uh we’re able to open it up and read it and study it and hear it and I pray Lord that as we do that our hunger for the word of God would increase and it would never decrease and Lord if it does decrease then we would know we would have to look for sin because sin is the very thing that stifles us for having a desire for the word so Lord let us do that repent and turn from that sin and then get back into following you hearing your word and then putting it into practice in our life and so Lord I pray today that we would all know whether we are on the inside or the outside and I pray in Christ’s name amen all right so chapter 3 verses 20 through 35.
now before I look into the text I just want to let you know that there’s been a widespread Fame of Jesus Christ all throughout the land north south east west uh and of course everybody heard about what Jesus was doing in his miracles in casting out demons and healing and preaching with authority that no one ever heard before and so they were coming from everywhere uh to hear about Jesus to see him uh to touch him all kinds of things were going on and so because of this exponential growth it drew different crowds and of course those crowds Drew opposition and also problems now throughout The Narrative of the Gospel of Mark the audience of Jesus really splits into two groupings followers and opponents now just because someone’s an opponent doesn’t mean later on they can become a follower and it doesn’t mean just just because someone’s a follower later on they can drop out and not follow Jesus Anymore so both of those Dynamics are going on throughout the gospel of Mark all right of course you want to be asking yourself am I a follower so even when Jesus picks those who will be close to him to be his pupils and in Fury and that’s his Apostles in infuria it infuriates the religious leadership of the day and how does it infuriate them well remember that when a young man wanted to be under the tutelage of a religious teacher like a rabbi and go to an advanced Torah class or into some kind of training the teacher would not seek out the student the student would seek out the teacher well Jesus in this case is seeking out the pupils so he’s doing completely opposite of what is the norm in the day and so Jesus prophetically calls to himself 12 men who will be his apostles and how does he do that well from Mark chapter 3 verse number 13 he prays all night prayer meeting before the father he asked the Father which ones he should pick and then he gets up the next day and he picks them in verse number 13 of chapter three he summons uh the workers to himself and if you notice what it says in chapter 3 verse 3 13 it says and summon those who he himself wanted and they came to him all right and then this group would become the Inner Circle but remember even in this Inner Circle there was someone who would betray him and of course that we all know is Judas Iscariot all right and then what he does is he appoints them in verse number 14 of chapter three he appointed the twelve so that they would be with him and that he could send them out so he wanted them around him so he could teach them and who does he choose he chooses fishermen he chooses unage uneducated men doesn’t mean they weren’t smart men it just means they had no formal education he chooses stubborn men tough man he chooses skeptical men and he chooses attacks collector and an insurrectionist who wanted to over throw the government of Rome so all these men are in his group called The Twelve so Jesus is committed to invest in them to teach them and to prepare them to carry on his mission how does he do it he teaches in all kinds of way he uses brevity he uses imagery he uses vivid language he uses parallelism he uses rhyme and Rhythm he uses pairs in alliteration he uses the fourisms he uses all kinds of things and he also connects events with instruction and involves himself in memorable dialogue with other people before the disciples and even in controversial discussions before the disciples before the apostles so they could learn how to do it so they were his followers and the 12 were considered to be the inside Circle and what were they to do they were do they they were to do the exact same thing that Jesus was going to do and that was summarized up in two words that Jesus was going to go preach the gospel of the Kingdom all right and that’s the only way anyone can get into the kingdom is by receiving the message of the Kingdom all right and then of course he was going to dismantle the kingdom of Satan and that’s exactly what they were going to do in verse 14 and verse 15 of Mark chapter 3 they were going to preach and then to have authority to cast out demons so the 12 are specifically appointed Servants of the Kingdom to help carry out the work of Jesus Christ and the twelve again were the inside crowd however there are those who are part of the crowd that surrounding Jesus and they think they are followers of Jesus but actually they stand in opposition to him because they want him for the wrong reasons they want him just to heal them they want him to do something for them so you see a person may be on the outside crowd near Jesus and never be part of the inside crowd this Lord’s Day I would like you to consider in our text and think what section of the crowd would you find yourself and I think at the end it’s going to become abundantly clear whether you are in the inside crowd or the outside crowd now let’s pick it up in verse number 20 but before I read that I want you to let you know that in this section of scripture there are three groups mentioned and there are these three groups reflect three responses to Jesus ministry only one group and one response is correct the rest of them are not you’ll find that you’ll see that in the text so Jesus and his disciples have come back either to Peter’s house in Capernaum or to Jesus home we don’t know which one he came to but they’re very close together so after much demanding Ministry they’re weary from travel they’re weary from work and all they want to do is they want to get a little lunch that’s all they want and they want to relax all right but look at what happens and this will pick it up and this shows us about the general group this is the general group first verse 20. all right look what it says and he came home he’s talking about Jesus and the crowd gathered again to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal so they get to the house and they can’t even get in to eat the crowd is was demanding the crowd was needy the crowd was thick and to such an extent that they couldn’t even get some something to eat and rest a while the crowd really didn’t care about Jesus now uh nor do they care about the chosen Apostles that he just picked the only wanted to get something from him something from them so then the general crowd of followers we’re still on the outside but they wanted to get near Jesus but instead of getting near Jesus they were actually an obstacle for his mission and not a benefit for his mission so this is troubling in in the crowd that is at the door that is blocking the way where they can’t even eat but what is more troubling is what happens next and here’s the first group and the first group is this Jesus family who seems to misunderstand him at this point and they actually become his opponents and they are Outsiders also look what it says in verse 21 it says when his own people heard of this they went out to take custody of him now let me stop there for a minute now it says here his own people came to him now who are they some say that they are his associates others say it’s referring to his family and his friends now in my investigation it what I found out it leads me to conclude that this group is family um and why do I say that if you look down to verse 32 it shows up again they show up again and say look at verse 32 chapter 3 a crowd was sitting around him and they said to him behold your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you all right so again there here is the crowd and the family comes to that particular area and where Jesus is that house and they’re asking for Jesus all right in this case they are too so verse 21 uh why did they come for Jesus well it wasn’t to his enhance his ministry it wasn’t to uh encourage him in any way it wasn’t even to feed him being that he couldn’t get any food in the house if you look in verse number 21 this it tells us that it says when his own people heard of this they went out to take custody of him for they were saying he has lost his senses now this is the view of his family the view of his family is this listen he’s beside himself he’s out of his senses he’s out of his mind he’s somewhere down the line has lost it now those closest to Jesus have a mistaken apprehension of him and instead of becoming his followers they become the crowd outside crowd that is actually against him and they’re just like the religious authorities so instead of being Jesus Advocates they become his opponents and his own family had concluded that he had taken leave of his senses and that it was time to take him home now what was their response their response was that it was time literally it means to get him into their power the scripture says that it was time to take custody of him some translations say to seize him so they were there to say okay I Think Jesus has gone let’s have a family Forum him Jesus has gone too far he’s inflamed everybody in this whole country and he needs to be stopped all right maybe today we say let’s bring him home and give him some medication and let him settle down a bit because he’s too focused he’s got too much zeal and let’s let’s do that and and and so that’s what they wanted to do they wanted to take him back home and kind of settle him down a bit and Jesus of course remember had kicked up so much dust and stirred up so much controversy it was time for the family to intervene now it may be good to remember at this point that his family members did not yet believe in fact the Gospel of John says this in chapter 7 for not even his brothers were believing now we do know that his brothers did believe later on so but now they’re in the outside crowd right and they’re kind of getting upset about what he’s doing in fact Mark is using a literary device here called the samblage story and what that means think of think of a sandwich you’ve got the top slice of bread you have the meat uh and uh Tomatoes or lettuce in the middle and then you have the bottom slice of bread okay this top slice of bread is that they come to the house and the crowd surrounds the house and on the outside entrance and so Companions of Jesus try to control him or suppress him so that would be a b a if it’s in a kind of a chiastic structure a would be the top piece of slice of bread another a would be the bottom slice of bread and that would be in verse number 32 where his family shows up again and says hey your family’s outside and they’re looking for your brothers and mother they’re looking for you and so again there’s the sandwich and everything else in between is going to be what Jesus is teaching now the first time they wanted to bind Jesus and suppress him the second group really comes for the same reason to suppress him and to try to take him away because he’s lost his mind but in the middle section we’re going to see this is what happens and we’ll get we’ll get there and it’s the b a b is the middle it’s the meat and it’s the middle of the sandwich that Jesus binds the strong man Satan and freezes captives to become followers of the strong man Jesus or the strong man God’s son so the authority of Jesus binds the prince of demons so people come to bind him suppress him his family and others but now Jesus is the one doing the binding all right now we’ll see that as we develop now let me just back up a minute in our text because some suggestions uh some reasons of why his family would come to this conclusion about him uh and of course it would be no sensible man would take such risks as Jesus and why is that well here’s the first thing it doesn’t make sense to leave a flourishing Carpenter’s business with a regular income to become a vagrant who didn’t even have a place to lay his head Jesus said that of himself all right so Jesus throws away his security it’s all about security isn’t it all right people cherish security but Jesus throws it away a second reason could be this it doesn’t make sense to put himself up against the powerful influential and political powers of the day see the odds are he’s not going to get away with it for a long time he’s crazy to stand up against the Pharisees and the scribes and the political herodians and the rabbis and so he throws away his not only security but his safety he is opening him up to the tax from all over the place and then another reason it doesn’t make sense that any man should get mixed up with such odd followers fishermen a former tax collector and a fanatical nationalist see Jesus what he’s doing is he’s throwing away social except acceptance all the things that we cherish social acceptance people would like us that we would have Security in our our life and that we would have safety he’s throwing every one of these things away and they don’t mean anything to him see it didn’t matter what people would think and say about Jesus he was not Lord in by Societies or families acceptance or approval see he was considered just to be too fanatical now what is funny and of this kind of teaching here is this isn’t it funny that as soon as a Christian gets zealous about their faith and passionate about the word of God and following Christ they are considered in a negative way fanatics right but someone can paint their face with two colors of their favorite sports team and go into a stadium a public stadium and act like a nut before cameras and be considered in a positive way fans seems so ironic but that’s what happens and I’m sure I am sure you have been uh if you’ve been a Christian for any length of time someone has probably already labeled you as a fanatic a Holy Roller a brainwashed and a cult uh you lost your mind and hopefully someday you’ll gain back your senses only because you follow Christ only because you say Christ is the only way only because you say that the only one who could be right with the father is through coming through the sun in Repentance and faith to enter into the kingdom of God only because you say my life is and and show your life is different than it used to be you don’t go and do what you used to do anymore you don’t go and get drunk and take drugs and and you know live this uh promiscuous lifestyle anymore why because you came to Christ and then people are calling you crazy when in reality when you come to Christ you become sane and every before you came to Christ you were insane you get that because you start seeing reality the way it really is why because the Bible is real the Bible is a real book the Bible is communicating to people it’s not a must deal thing that and some old Fable up there and I just and you know that we shouldn’t follow no it’s real it’s alive it’s active it’s cutting because it comes from God and God’s our creator so God knows exactly what we need and how to bring it to us so that’s group one group number two is found in verse number 22 and this group are the critics who accused Jesus of being a sorcerer In Cahoots with Satan of course they clearly become his opponents now before I read verse number 22 remember the scribes are already documented as official opponents of Jesus at this point they could not downplay the authenticity of Jesus miracles however they had to come up with some kind of explanation for Jesus authority over demons they were past asking insinuating questions now it was time for our frontal attack so look at verse number 22 here’s the frontal attack and the opponents attacked the source of Jesus power it says this the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying verse 22 he is possessed by beelzebol and he cast out demons by the rulers of demons now this is their response to Jesus ministry and their response is they decide to attack the source from which Jesus acquired his power to be able to cast out demons the religious leadership concluded that he is also insane and he is insane because he’s possessed by evil spirits or he’s driven by your evil spirits so that’s their accusation that’s the response to Jesus ministry now what is amazing in the next several verses is Jesus does not display a man who is insane he displays a man who is in charge of his faculties and look what he does to the accusations against them he really says to them listen your accusations my friends are ridiculous and I’m going to prove that and because Jesus called his critics out and began to speak to them in Parables now look at what it says in verse 30 23 of chapter 3 and he called them to himself and began speaking to them in Parables now let me just stop for a minute because this is the first time Jesus is using parables in his ministry and so what is a parable well a parable is a teaching device all right and it really means comparison or analogy now there’s a couple things about parables first they are connected with the central message that God has begun to assert his kingly power against evil and the promised salvation that was already at hand because the message of the Gospel was being preached so that’s connected in all the Parables you’re going to see from now on second thing about Parables is this it’s not meant to be fully obvious what Jesus is saying matter of fact it’s meant is not meant to be transparent it requires the hearer or reader to use some effort to get their points and then provoke the hearer or the reader to a response of either repentance meaning this you know what I was thinking this way and man my thinking is all wrong about how you get into the kingdom of God but now that I hear what you’re saying I Repent of that thinking and I embrace the truth that God is communicating to me or it could also bear the response of outright rejection so that’s what parables are all right and they are meant to be hid to those religious rulers and open to his disciples all right and we’re going to see that matter of fact the next section of scripture is going to be the parable of the sower so he he exp he does that whole Parable the next time so there’s one thing about a parable that it is not and I want to stress this very emphatically it is not simply stories illustrating moral truths it is not that some people like to make it those things but it is not all right back to the text look at verse number 23 Jesus as asks the question all right you accuse me of this that I do these things in the power of Satan all right look what he says in verse number 23 how can Satan cast out Satan now of course he doesn’t wait for their response because they don’t really have a good response all right they have no response so Jesus responds and he responds by using the if word now I don’t know we don’t always get this in the English language but in the Greek there are different classes of if all right and he uses two classes of ifs here he uses a third class conditional if and then he uses a first class conditional if now of course that seems all very technical but look what it says in verse number 24 it says if a kingdom is divided against itself that Kingdom cannot stand all right you see that well here he uses a third class conditional if and that simply means this it’s the condition of reality all right it’s it’s a condition of reality and so it would go something like this in other words if this really takes place that a kingdom is divided against itself in purpose and in goals it cannot stand you know that’s like a no-brainer here everybody knows that so see the reasoning is not that of an insane man it’s that of a very rational and clear thinking person and then notice the second thing in verse 25 he uses a second illustration the first one about was about the kingdom the second one is about a house but it’s the same thing illustration two verse 25 if there’s the same third class connection conditional is a condition of reality if a house is divided against itself that house will not be able to stand now everybody knows that if you have fighting and bickering going on in a home constantly constantly constantly constantly and it never lets up and there’s never any solution it will finally fall apart everybody knows that so Jesus is using the most common sense you could use in fact the condition is a condition of reality and if it this is really takes place that a household is divided against itself in purpose and goals it cannot stand common knowledge that everyone understands so that’s what’s happening so Jesus is saying listen here’s the accusation against me but now that you accuse me of this I’m just showing you that if that’s the case that I’m empowered by Satan to cast out demons than his kingdom his house is going to fall apart so the next condition in Mark chapter 3 verse 26 the if term switches to a first class and the first class condition is for the sake of arguments type of condition for the sake of arguments and to convince his opponents Jesus for the moment admits what they really claim namely that Satan has risen up against himself and has been divided so the first class if switches to the past situation namely Jesus past exorcisms in which Jesus is Accused by the scribes of complicity with Satan in such an Endeavor so Jesus response is that if that had been the case or if that is the case then Satan has risen up against himself and if Jesus were casting out demons by Satan’s power then Satan’s kingdom will not stand look at verse number 26 if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided he cannot stand and then it says this but what he’s finished he’s shooting himself in the foot he’s shooting himself in the head he’s killing himself he’s destroying any power that he has now what is again unique about scripture is what is actually happening happening is the opposite see the op here’s the reality the opposite is true the reality of the situation is that Jesus has been snatching demoniacs out of Satan’s power by the power of the holy spirit of God and that’s what it says in verse 27 all right but no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property unless he binds the strong man and then he will plunder his house now this is what he says to them Satan is the strong man his house is the realm of sin and sickness and demon possession and death his possessions are people who are enslaved by one or more of those things and demons are his agents to carry out his diabolical activity throughout the whole world and no one can enter his realm and carry off his possessions unless he first binds the strong man that means that one has to show themselves more powerful than the person who owns the stuff all right when he overpowers him then he can rob his realm and release the enslaved victims so in other words Jesus is the strong one he’s the one empowered by the Holy Spirit his mission is can to confront and overpower not to cooperate with Satan but to deliver those enslaved by him and how does he do that by the gospel so see Jesus is saying you’re thinking this is going on this is what’s really going on I’ve been preaching the gospel and I’ve been snatching people from Satan’s kingdom ever since matter of fact that’s what the church has been doing ever since because that’s our job too all right and we don’t do it by casting out demons by binding Demons by doing those we have no power to do that we do it by preaching the gospel of the kingdom and when you preach the gospel of the kingdom and someone believes that the demons can’t stay they have to leave and they’ll go somewhere else but in the midst of that Jesus also says something very very very strong to them a very strong warning to them matter of fact that warning is to us too this is probably one of the most scariest passage of scriptures I would know in this part of the Bible and look what it says and I want to read it to you because this has to do with blasphemy against the Holy Spirit or the unforgivable sin and it says this truly verse number 28 I say to you all sin shall be given the sons of men and whatever blasphemies and whatever blasphemies they utter but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness but is guilty of Eternal sin why verse 30 because they were saying he has an unclean Spirit now let me just back up for a minute because this is really an important text I want you to misunderstand it blasphemy can be used in a very general way and blasphemy can be used in a very specific way well right here in our text it’s used in a specific way all right so but let me just give you the general sense of blasphemy blasphemy in general is a verbal sin it’s one committed with the mouth or with a pen it involves speaking a word against God one theologian um said this it is a desecration of the Holy character of God it can involve insulting him mocking him dishonoring him and in a sense it is the opposite of praise it is the opposite of any worship even casually using the name of God by saying and everybody does seems to do this oh my God or OMG if you’re texting I I would encourage you to stop doing that and stop saying that uh because that even constitutes General blasphemy because God is cannot be brought down to that level to some casual language that we kick around like just anything else if we have reverence if we understand God is Holy if we understand that God does not take a neutral position against sin that either God forgives sin or he judges judges sin there’s no in between then we would be more careful how we would use this kind of slang cultural language that slips off our tongue like it’s all right so be careful about that particular phrase now we can be thankful that the unpardonables the unpardonable sin the unforgivable sin is not just any kind of blasphemy because it is uh if it were none of us would have any hope of eternal life but we would all be damned so General in other words General blasphemy can be forgiven but there is a specific sin that cannot be given so specifically what has blasphemy against the holy spirit in the context of our passage Jesus opponents charge him with doing his work by the power of the devil rather than the by the power of the Holy Spirit however they were not slandering the spirit not quite according to RC Sproul and I believe that because see Jesus says any blasphemies against me can be forgiven but any blasphemy against the spirit of God cannot be forgiven so right now the blasphemy that was being committed by them was really against Jesus himself all right now that’s that’s important because this these statements are directed against Jesus so he said to them you can blaspheme me and be forgiven but when you question the work of the spirit you are coming perishly close to the unforgivable sin you’re right at the line you are looking down into the abyss of hell one more step and there will be no more hope for you so Jesus In this passage is giving a strong warning to be very careful not to insult or to mock the spirit or to say the spirit is doing something evil Jesus warns them now I don’t think they were ready for that I don’t think anybody’s ready for that the idea of of the unforgivable sin has haunted the minds of sensitive people All Through the Ages however Jesus warn is Jesus is warning against disregarding his message by calling it Satanic and that is a specific deed I believe that Christians are prevented from saying that and doing that now I could pick it up in Hebrews chapter 6 and go a little further with that but I have no time to do that so if you remember back in the first capillar of the Gospel Mark the Bible already told us the source of Jesus ministry right at his baptism what does it say that the heavens opened and the spirit like a dove descended upon him for what reason so he can carry on the work of God in the fullness of the power of the spirit of God so see these guys got it wrong they got it completely wrong and they were right on the brink of committing the unforgivable sin so when Jesus stood up also in the synagogue to read the scripture he remember open up the book of Isaiah and what he said what did he say there he said and he took the book and this and he said this he opened the book and found the place where it was written in Isaiah the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he anointed me what to preach the gospel to the poor to proclaim the release of captives and to recovery of of sight to the blind to free those who are trodden down to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord see so in the word of God the Bible is telling us here that God Jesus Christ was doing everything by the spirit of God and you can add tribute attribute anything to the to that of anything evil or demonic so The Source by which Jesus carries out all his ministry was the Holy Spirit now that’s the second group now the here’s the sandwich here’s the bottom of the sandwich and that means the first group shows up again look at verse number 31. all right the first group shows up and of course that is his family who still misunderstands him and notice what it says in verse 31 then his mother and his brothers arrived and noticed the language notice Lang I want you to see the specifics standing outside they sent word to him and called him now see that word outside why wasn’t his family near him inside because they weren’t yet believing that’s why they were still on the outside they were still in the crowd that was his opponents and against him all right so Look what Jesus says and here’s the third group and remember the third group is the only group that you want to be in and here it is look at verse number 32.
and now notice this a crowd was sitting around him and they said to him behold your mother and your brothers are outside looking for you there’s that outside again look at how he answered verse 33 and answering them he said who are my mother and brothers look about at those who are sitting around me he said around him he said behold my mother and my brothers and he said he was doing this everybody sitting around you were saying these are my mothers and my brothers why is that so look at it look at the last verse it says verse 35 for whoever does the will of God he is my brother and sister and mother so what was he saying here one Theologian rightly concluded that these words were not a repudiation by Jesus of his mother and brothers instead they are a profound teaching about the union someone has with Christ that Jesus declared that those who believe in him and do God’s will have a relationship with him that is closer than any blood relationship between parents and children and siblings so what is the response of this third group it’s the only correct one here’s the response it’s those who sit at the feet of Jesus as disciples these are doing the will of God and are treated favorably as Jesus true family what were they doing sitting around him you know what they were doing they were listening to his teaching they were hungering after everything that came out of his mouth they were watching everything he did and they have concluded that this is someone greater than a man this is someone who’s fulfilling Old Testament prophecies this is someone who is doing something by the power of God this is someone I want to follow that I’ve never met before this is someone that when you meet Jesus you can know go nowhere else there’s no one else to go to that’s what they concluded so here’s the point if you want to be considered in to be an Insider you have to be spiritually related to Jesus and that entrance into the kingdom of God is gained by doing the will of God so how does such obedience begin well I’m glad you asked that it’s by hearing it’s by believing it’s by following the Son of God now if you remember back in the first chapter of Mark in verse 15 it says the time is fulfilled the kingdom of God is at hand repent and believe the gospel so the human obligation was to hear the gospel to obey the gospel and how did you obey it by repenting of your sin and turning from it to believe and that means you turn to someone and that’s someone and that object of your belief is Jesus Christ so to believe in something is to accept the truth value of that proposition and the person who gives it and it changes then your thinking and it changes your behavior and it changes your direction the direction of these particular disciples that sat around Jesus wanted to follow him they were in The In Crowd so by the preaching of the word of God the scriptures revealed the status and dignity and significance of Jesus Christ by the gospel by believing the gospel means to obey the message concerning our Lord Jesus Christ that he is the Son of God he is God’s Own Way of Salvation that God sent Jesus to the cross that God put all our sins on him and punished them in him now that message is going to become clear soon in the gospel of Mark but believing the gospel means that you stop all self-justification and every lie Reliance upon your good deeds and all your own efforts either you are dependent on your own righteousness or God’s righteousness most think that entry into the kingdom of God is predicated on the prerequisite of human righteousness and obedience however the kingdom of God is not a matter of human effort it’s a matter of God’s grace it’s a matter of receiving the gift that he offers us to offers to us so no one can enter the kingdom of God without repentance and without fleeing from sin and putting trust in Christ alone but the key here is that to be in The In Crowd you cannot waffle on these imperatives to enter the kingdom of God once you enter you will be the crowd who is forever sitting around Jesus you are the crowd who is Ever following Jesus you are the crowd who is ever learning from Jesus you are the crowd who is Ever worshiping Jesus you are the crowd who is Ever growing in love for God and others because of what Jesus has done that is the group you want to be in you don’t want to be on the outside group and remember even those nearest to him his family weren’t considered in his group yet they will will later on when they believe the gospel after the resurrection so getting he’s getting his disciples prepared to go out to be servants in this world to live and proclaim the gospel to continue to plunder Satan’s kingdom by rescuing souls for Christ by the gospel preaching the gospel and the source of power for believers is the spirit of God not their own and so I must ask what group are you in are you in the inside group or are you in the outside group so I think you need to make sure today that you’re a disciple of Jesus Christ because if you are you will continue you will march on through difficulties and problems through ups and downs in valleys and on mountain peaks you will continue because you’ll continue in God’s power and God’s strength and he will take you someday you and I into the Eternal kingdom of God where there will be nothing but righteous no sin no crying no death none of those things that we’re used to here no curse and we will be with Christ forever and ever in a new Heaven and a new Earth and that day is coming so now though is the day to make sure you’re sitting at Jesus feet let’s pray I prayed this morning Lord for your people I pray Lord that they really understand the gospel I pray Lord that they would not straddle the fence and live a duplicit life while saying they believe because we know Lord when someone comes to believe in you as their lord and savior Everything Changes in their life not that they become perfect immediately but they the direction of their life means they want to follow you and serve you they want to put off sin they want to confess and they don’t want to live the way they used to so I pray Lord that you show everyone here this morning where they stand with you as far as discipleship and I pray Lord that they would have believed in you by repentance and faith and that they would be the ones sitting at the feet of Jesus learning the rest of everything you want us to know and I just asked you Lord you would use this in a way to bring those who don’t know you to Christ those who are who think they’re near you but are not to you and those who Lord uh have not yet believed just to come and confess you as their lord and savior and follow you the rest of their life I pray that you would do that today and use this message for that purpose and I pray in Christ’s name amen