MARK

Mark Chapter 3

• Mark 3:1 And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand.
• 2 And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day; that they might accuse him.
• 3 And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth.

I know in these last days we live in, there have been rumors and maybe even facts of charlatans and false teachers who make merchandise of the gospel and even may go so far as to fake healing to get a crowd to follow them. They may be after money or fame.

I personally do not know of any unless it would be Jim Jones. Some start out good and fall away from the right path and sin soon brings them down. Nevertheless, I try to avoid accusing preachers and finding fault with ministers and men or women who are trying to spread the gospel. The reason is, I would rather miss a few fakes than false accuse a man of God.

The scribes and Pharisees followed Jesus around not to learn the way of truth but to try to destroy his effectiveness. They were jealous and afraid that the people would follow Jesus as their religious leader instead of them (the Pharisees).

We need to constantly judge our own hearts and motives when we see a fault in preachers of the gospel. Are we motivated by envy? If another denomination is growing and people are being healed, do we desire to see them exposed as fakes? Should we not rejoice that the sick are being healed and people are finding God? Let's be people of truth and give workers the benefit of the doubt. God is able to expose the fakes in His own time. We must avoid false accusations and gossip the best we know how.

If good is being done, that is what counts. One thing we should remember especially if miracles are being done, is to always give God the glory. We can do nothing. Only by the power of the Holy Spirit can a soul be save and the sick be healed. We are only vessels. God does the work.

• Mark 3:4 And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace.
• 5. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other.

This is what to look at. Is good being done or evil? Is people being brought to Christ or are they following a man? Is the sick being healed? We should rejoice if the sick are being healed even if it happens in another denomination or ministry as long and Jesus Christ receives the glory for the work being done. The Pharisees should have been thankful to see a miracle such as this. I would have liked to have seen it.

• Mark 3:6  And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

Jealously caused the Pharisees to even go so far as to want Jesus destroyed. They began to stir up trouble by murmuring against the Lord. If we begin to murmur and complain about a preacher, we are doing just what the Pharisees did to our Lord and Savior. The work of the Lord will not be hindered by giving our brothers and sisters in the Lord the benefit of the doubt.

• Mark 3:7  But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea: and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judaea,

This does not mean that we can't warn against false doctrine. If lies are being preached and people are being turned away from the word of God, we have to warn. All of this takes the leading and power of the Holy Spirit. We must however, make sure of the facts and not go by word of mouth or gossip. We have to hear it ourselves.

• Mark 3:8  And from Jerusalem, and from Idumaea, and from beyond Jordan; and they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.

The result of the real genuine power of the word will draw crowds. People are actually hungry for the truth of the word. Church meetings should never be boring. As long as the anointing of the Holy Spirit is present it will not be boring unless the hearers are dull of hearing and do not want to hear the truth. Jesus even had to get into a ship because the crowds were so great.

• Mark 3:10  For he had healed many; insomuch that they pressed upon him for to touch him, as many as had plagues.

Notice that healing usually does not come unless we seek the Lord for it. God does not force healing or salvation on anyone. We must ask in faith. Naturally if someone is a child or unconscious another must ask in faith for him or her. Even in that though, we can't limit God to our own thinking, He can do anything and is not limited in any way.

• Mark 3:11 And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, Thou art the Son of God.

Unclean spirits cause some things and that type of thing needs cast out. Usually this kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting. .

• Mark 3:12 And he straitly charged them that they should not make him known.

Here again for some reason, Jesus does not want the demon spirits to let it be known who He was. The devils knew who Jesus was. It would appear that Jesus did not want to become famous, His goal was to die for sins. Remember He could have used this power of His to rule the world at that time and not die on a cross. He freely gave His life for our salvation.

• Mark 3:15  And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out devils:

Jesus is calling his disciples here and gave them power to heal sickness and cast out devils. Here we see that the ministry that Christ came to do is to continue through His apostles. It does not stop until the coming of the Lord a 2nd time. They were to heal the sick the same as Jesus. Notice the power comes from God and has to be given by God. True ordination comes from God.

The gifts of the Spirit never stopped with the apostles. There is no where in scripture to support the limitation of any gift of the Spirit confined to the days of the apostles. Many teach this, but scripture does not support it. The verse in 1 Corinthians 13 that speaks of "When that which is perfect shall come then that which is in part shall be done away," could not be talking about the gifts of the Spirit being done away with at the completion of the New Testament. There are absolutely no grounds for interpreting that scripture in that manner.

The only time when there could possibly be a time when the gifts of the Spirit will not be necessary is when Jesus Himself returns and there is no more sin, sickness, or death to deal with. Jesus is that which is perfect and He will perfect everything when He comes. Until then there is a need for the operation of the gifts of the Spirit.

• Mark 3: 17 And James the son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James; and he surnamed them Boanerges, which is, The sons of thunder:
• 18 And Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Canaanite,
• 19 And Judas Iscariot, which also betrayed him: and they went into an house.
• 20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
• 21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
• 22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.

Some people had a hard time figuring Jesus out and even went so far as to say the works that He did was of Beelzebub, the prince of the devil. We have to be very careful here. I have heard that in this day and age too. I've heard people scoff at preachers who lay hands on the sick to heal and accuse the miracles to be done by the devil. This is scary. Let's leave that kind of judgment up to God lest we accuse someone who is represented by the Lord Himself. Sure there may be charlatans and crooks pop up but we better leave their judgment up to God and not try to destroy the wheat while trying to pick out the tares.

False doctrine and teaching though has to be corrected. As for the other, much prayer and seeking God must be done in order not to false accuse and speak evil against the very work of the Holy Spirit.

A good way is to increase the emphasis on teaching the truth. In teaching workers in a store how to spot counterfeit money, the emphasis is on teaching them what the real looks like instead of putting the emphasis on the counterfeit.

• Mark 3:23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?

Jesus corrects those false accusers soundly and we must take heed to what He says. "How can Satan, cast out Satan?"

Beloved, let's not add too or take from the scriptures.

• Mark 3:24 And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
• 25 And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
• 26 And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.
• 27 No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house.
• 28 Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:

It looks like attributing the works of God to the devil just may be the sin of Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. There has been lots of speculation as to what this means but Jesus mentions that unforgivable sin in connection with the accusations of the people who are accusing Him of doing the works of Satan. Very scary stuff. Perhaps it is better to keep quiet and pray about these doubts and fears.

• Mark 3:29 But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation:

What ever this sin is, it is very serious and not to be taken lightly.

• Mark 3:30 Because they said, He hath an unclean spirit.

They accused Jesus of having an unclean spirit so that may be what is meant by blaspheming the Holy Spirit. DC