What role does repentance play in the message of the receipt of the gospel? Who needs to repent and just what is repentance anyway? Since Jesus was doing miracles that produced great popularity for Him and His disciples, was it for this cause that He came into the world? Or was there another more serious reason? How should a believer think of the Sabbath? Well friends, listen in as we return to our on-going study in the gospel of Saint Mark, in the 2nd chapter, as Pastor Landis preaches a message called: “Calling Sinners To Repentance”
Old Testament Scripture Reading: Isaiah 1:9 – 18 (KJV)
Isa 1:9 Except the LORD of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should have been as Sodom, and we should have been like unto Gomorrah.
Isa 1:10 Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.
Isa 1:11 To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the LORD: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.
Isa 1:12 When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my courts?
Isa 1:13 Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
Isa 1:14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary to bear them.
Isa 1:15 And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.
Isa 1:16 Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
Isa 1:17 Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Isa 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
New Testament Scripture Reading: Mark 2:11 – 28 (KJV)
Mark 2:13 And he went forth again by the sea side; and all the multitude resorted unto him, and he taught them. Mark 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him. Mark 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. Mark 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? Mark 2:17 When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Mark 2:18 And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? Mark 2:19 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. Mark 2:20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. Mark 2:21 No man also seweth a piece of new cloth on an old garment: else the new piece that filled it up taketh away from the old, and the rent is made worse. Mark 2:22 And no man putteth new wine into old bottles: else the new wine doth burst the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will be marred: but new wine must be put into new bottles. Mark 2:23 And it came to pass, that he went through the corn fields on the sabbath day; and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of corn. Mark 2:24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful? Mark 2:25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him? Mark 2:26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the showbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him? Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Mark 2:28 Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.
Transforming Power Statements:
#1) The works of Messiah were an obvious testimony of who He was and most of the time they were over-shadowing to some extent the message of the Kingdom, which required repentance toward God and faith in Messiah Jesus based on His preaching of His own personal provision of the atonement that He was scheduled to soon provide and be the most cataclysmic event to transpire in the history of mankind, second only to the final resurrection of all human souls, some to eternal life, (Heaven) and some to eternal death. (Hell)
#2) Jesus teaches us in this section of Scripture many great things which defy the teachings of many cults such as: 1) sick people need a physician, 2) A sinners salvation from sin, {which includes complete healing} is better than being healed then going to hell, 3) All people are sinners and all therefore need to be healed; 4) Love and compassion with mercy are better than rigid theological orthodoxy without understanding; 5) The Sabbath is a gift from God for the benefit of man and the pleasure God; and was not intended to be an imposed burden nor a grief.
#3 Jesus’ defense to the objections of the so called religious leaders that bought Him to contest were mostly done by pointing out what was written in the very Bible that they were professing to be experts in, and showing them how they had overlooked or misapplied the simple facts that were on display there for centuries to their own error, proving that the best possible illustrations of what is true are the ones in the word given by God. (Beware of commentaries!)
