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[0:00] This is the First Mustang Pulpit Podcast, a podcast of the weekly preaching and teaching at First Mustang. Thank you for joining us.!

[0:10] Always, thank you for leading us to focus our attention on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work. We do these every other month or so. It will be Tuesday from 6.30 to 8.30. Ladies of all ages are welcome. Ladies from anywhere are welcome.

[0:41] We typically have a number of churches represented here that come and are a part of that, and I'd like to invite you to come and be a part of that. We always have children and teenagers and adults who are here together. We'll meet right here in the sanctuary this Tuesday, 6.30 to 8.30.

[0:59] So ladies, come. Be a part of it. Invite people to come with you. Let me ask this church family, if the Lord brings it to your mind, to pray for me this week as I get ready to teach that.

[1:12] I'll be teaching our institute class this afternoon with our men, and then teaching Tuesday with our ladies in here. And if the Lord brings that to your mind, I would appreciate that. I'm also preaching at a conference in South Lake, Texas Thursday to pastors and spouses.

[1:27] And so if the Lord brings those things to your mind, I would appreciate your prayers for a busy week of ministry, and we pray fruitful. We are in Mark chapter 6 as we're walking through the gospel of Mark.

[1:43] If you were not with us last Sunday, it may help you this afternoon or sometime this week to go back and watch the message from last Sunday.

[1:57] I'm going to just do a very brief review, but it may help you to go back and watch that so you can more fully understand even the text and the portion we look at today.

[2:09] Jesus has done amazing ministry, and he now finds himself back home in Nazareth. And the crowds there are so familiar with him and so accustomed to him, having grown up with him, they have lost really any interest in him.

[2:30] I want to read verses 1-6. We looked last week in verses 1-3, and I'm going to pick up with verses 4, 5, and 6.

[2:43] I'm going to read the text, but I'm going to try to summarize what we looked at last Sunday in the reading. So I'm going to read this and give just a couple of brief explanations.

[2:57] I'm going to try to read it in the tone that it would have been heard and understood when it was first recorded. I labored last week to try to help you understand some of the language and the context behind the words.

[3:14] And so let me just read it with that in mind. It says, He went away from there and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.

[3:25] And on the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished as they said, Where did this man get these things? The idea here, where does this guy get this?

[3:40] Who does this guy think he is? What is the wisdom given to him? And how are such mighty works done by his hands?

[3:52] The hands of the man who was just common to him. The same hands that they saw growing up that would hold a hammer and tools and build things and just common kinds of work.

[4:09] How are those hands? How are his hands? Supposedly doing these mighty works. Verse 3, Is not this the carpenter?

[4:20] The word is tectone. Is not this the tectone? Is not this the man who's just a worker with his hands? A word that can refer to a carpenter or someone who works with stone or someone who works with brick?

[4:35] Is not this the builder? Is not this the builder? In other words, this isn't anybody special. This isn't anybody with some great education.

[4:47] How are his hands doing this? Is not this the builder? Isn't this the son of Mary?

[5:02] Leaving out Joseph, his father? Who though very possibly deceased at this point. The customary polite thing would have been to refer to a man's father by saying this is the son of Mary.

[5:18] It's just reminding people of the questions that surrounded his birth. His parents, by earthly sense, Mary and Joseph had no physical union before they were married.

[5:34] That's what they said. That's what was true. But that's not what the gossip and rumor around town was. Isn't this just the man, Jesus, the builder, the son of Mary?

[5:50] And notice, and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon and are not his sisters here with us? Why does he point this out?

[6:02] Here's why. Because even at this point in Jesus' ministry, even his own family, his own brothers, the scripture tells us, did not believe in who he was.

[6:16] The people at Nazareth say, this man is teaching in our synagogues. He's saying that he's the Messiah. He's saying he's the son of God. Isn't this the same man that we grew up with?

[6:27] Isn't this just the same guy who walked these streets? Isn't he just the same guy who worked to build things, who came to fix your steps, who came to build a ramp for you?

[6:45] Isn't this just the man who does common kinds of things? And oh, by the way, don't you remember when his mother got pregnant before her wedding was completed?

[6:58] And oh, by the way, his own siblings are here. And you just ask them, is your brother the Messiah? They'll tell you, we think he's out of his mind.

[7:09] And because of that, at the end of verse 3, it says they took offense at him.

[7:21] The word here means it was a scandal. They were scandalized by him. So in verses 1 to 3 last week, we looked at this truth that Jesus is rejected by his own hometown.

[7:37] He was rejected by his own hometown. They asked three questions. Where did this man get these things? What wisdom was given to him?

[7:50] And how are such mighty works done by his hands? They gave three reasons for their unbelief. One, he was just a carpenter, just a tectone, just a common laborer.

[8:04] Two, he was the son of Mary, meaning his earthly conception in their mind was shady. And three, his own siblings didn't believe in who he was.

[8:22] Those three questions and those three reasons merged together to form one verdict. And that verdict is they were offended by him.

[8:37] They took offense at him. They wanted nothing to do with him. So the first thing we saw is that Jesus is rejected in his own hometown.

[8:49] Second, we see this morning that Jesus responds to their unbelief. He responds to their unbelief. Look at verse 4.

[9:01] Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.

[9:12] Now, do you understand why he responds that way? Because those who were offended by him, part of their argument is, Your own siblings don't believe in you.

[9:27] Your own family fails to recognize you as the Messiah and the Son of God. And Jesus responds by saying, A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown where he is and among his relatives and in his own household.

[9:46] The very people that they are saying is a reason for why they don't believe in him. This was a well-known proverbial saying in the day of Jesus.

[10:00] Jesus inserts prophet to speak of the context of what he is. These would have been words they would have been familiar with, that someone is not without honor except among those who are most familiar with him.

[10:16] The argument of the people of Nazareth is that Jesus was just too common.

[10:28] He was just too ordinary. The choir just led us in an offering of praise to the Lord called Isaiah 53.

[10:41] Let me take you back to Isaiah 53. Verse 2. For he grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground.

[10:51] He had no form or majesty that we should look at him and no beauty that we should desire him. Isaiah 53 is prophetic of when Israel will one day be converted.

[11:10] And this is their testimony of faith and of their rejection as a nation when Christ first came to this earth.

[11:21] Verse 3. He was despised and rejected by men. A man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

[11:31] And as one from whom men hide their faces. He was despised and we esteemed him not.

[11:43] This will be the confession Israel makes in the last days. And where does that confession come from? It comes from in part Mark 6.

[12:02] Where his own people say we have no interest in him. He grew up around here.

[12:15] We sat in education classes together. We played stickball in the streets together. We played hide and seek together.

[12:25] He didn't have any great job. He and his dad went to the shop and chiseled on some stone and built some things out of brick.

[12:41] Maybe worked with some wood if it was around. This guy had a shady beginning. Don't you remember when Mary was pregnant before their wedding was official?

[12:55] And if you don't believe us, ask his own brothers. Put his brothers on the stand. Do you believe your own brother is the Messiah? And one by one at this point in time, the brothers would say, no, I do not.

[13:11] He was despised and rejected by men. He had no form that demanded that they be impressed.

[13:25] Jesus responds to their unbelief by saying that a prophet has honor wherever he goes, except in his own hometown, his own household, and his own relatives, where he can be so common that people no longer respect him.

[13:41] And the results of their unbelief, verse 5, he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them.

[13:56] Matthew 13 records the same thing, saying that Jesus did not do many mighty works there. And the reason is not because his power was in any way limited. It's because due to their lack of faith in him, people would not come to him.

[14:12] A few did. And Mark tells us, a few sick people came to him, and he healed them. But Jesus did not do the many mighty works at Nazareth that he was doing everywhere else, because at Nazareth, they did not believe.

[14:32] In all these other cities and villages, you've got people who believed and they were coming. Jairus, by faith, came to the Lord and said, if you would come with me, my daughter can be healed.

[14:45] And the lady with an issue of blood for 12 years knows if I can just get to him and touch him, I believe that he can heal me. And the friends that had their friend who was on a mat knew that if they could just cut out a hole in the roof and lower their friend to Jesus, they believed that Christ would heal.

[15:05] And yet in Nazareth, his own hometown, he was just a little too common, looked a little too ordinary, and they did not have faith, and they wanted nothing to do with him.

[15:16] And because nobody came to him in faith, he does no mighty works there, though there were a few sick people that would come to him, and he healed them.

[15:29] And a fascinating statement in verse 6, and he marveled because of their unbelief. Only two times in Scripture does it say that Jesus marveled.

[15:48] One is in Matthew 10, at the centurion's belief, the other in Mark 6, at his own hometown's unbelief.

[16:01] I think that we are meant to catch this. I think that Mark tells this story through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit very purposely for you to catch these bookends.

[16:14] Verse 2, Jesus is teaching, go back to verse 2. On the Sabbath, he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astonished.

[16:27] Now at first reading, you might think, as we looked at last week, that this means they were amazed. They were thrilled. They were lost in praise and worship.

[16:40] But as I explained to you last week and this week, that's not how they were astonished. They were astonished that this common man in their mind, this ordinary man from their own hometown, would make these claims.

[16:56] They were astonished. And after Jesus deals with their unbelief in verse 6, he marveled.

[17:07] In other words, the crowd says, it's astonishing to us that you would claim these things. And Jesus says, you want to be astonished by something, I'm astonished at your unbelief.

[17:22] I think Mark wants us to catch this. They are, in a sense, putting Christ on trial, as if to say, who do you think you are?

[17:38] We're astounded that you would make this claim. And Jesus says, you're not putting me in the box. I'll tell you what's astounding.

[17:51] Is that you stand here six feet away from the Savior of the world and you want nothing to do with me. That's astounding. Jesus is rejected by his own hometown.

[18:09] Jesus responds to their unbelief. Now, I just want to draw out one third brief reality here, that Jesus refuses to be distracted. There is so much power in this one sentence that may at first reading seem to be insignificant.

[18:29] It's anything but that. Go back to verse four. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.

[18:44] And so he could do no mighty work there except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marveled because of their unbelief, their rejection, their indifference, their coldness, he marveled at their lack of faith.

[19:08] And you might think, well, does that distract him from his mission? I mean, if your own hometown doesn't believe in you, if your own siblings say you're out of your mind, does that make Jesus pause and think, maybe I'm doing this all wrong.

[19:33] Maybe I ought to just go home and rest a little bit because this isn't going well. This is going to look bad for me when people find out that those who have known me the longest and those who know me the best don't even believe what I'm saying.

[19:49] Maybe I ought to just tone it down a little bit. Maybe I ought to go back and just forget being a preacher. Maybe I ought to just be a tech tone again, just a worker with my hands again.

[20:03] Look at the end of verse 6. And he went about among the villages teaching. I love this sentence.

[20:19] His mission is unchanged by the rejection of the crowd. Doesn't mean he didn't have compassion for them.

[20:37] Doesn't mean he wasn't impacted by it, but the rejection of the people held no sway over his commitment to do his father's work.

[20:50] Christians, if there is a verse we must know in the world today, it's Mark 6, verse 6. The crowd has unbelief and he went about the villages teaching.

[21:03] So many believers today are obedient when it's easy and silent when it's hard.

[21:16] Bold when it's met with affirmation. And painfully weak when somebody questions the message.

[21:29] If you want an example of faithfulness and how we are to do our ministry, here it is. Preach Jesus and if people reject, keep preaching Jesus.

[21:47] Period. Teach your class and if nobody responds, teach your class.

[21:58] Share the gospel and if your friends laugh at you, share the gospel. Tell people that you believe in Christ and if they scoff at you, tell people you believe in Christ.

[22:24] Jesus marveled marveled at their unbelief, very next sentence, what are you going to do now? I'm going to go teach. I'm going to go preach.

[22:38] But people rejected you. Right. I'm going to go preach. But people are mocking you in your own hometown. I know. I was there.

[22:48] I'm going to go preach. Church. Church. Let's absolutely, as Jesus, be moved with compassion by those who are in need of a shepherd.

[23:03] Let's absolutely let our hearts break over the lostness of those around us. Let's absolutely refuse to be indifferent to the needs of people around us and at the exact same time, never let rejection be an excuse for stopping to be faithful.

[23:28] Now from these brief six verses, let me just pull out a few implications for us before we move to the Lord's Supper.

[23:40] Number one, there is great danger in learning about Jesus. There is great danger in learning about Jesus.

[23:54] The danger is that if you do not believe and you do not love Christ, the familiarity with the stories can make you completely indifferent to the truth of who He is.

[24:16] It's a dangerous thing to come to church and to come to Sunday school and to come to elevate on Wednesday nights teenagers. It's a dangerous thing to come and be surrounded by the teaching of the gospel and just ignore it.

[24:35] That's what happened in Nazareth. It's also a dangerous thing because you are fully accountable for what's been presented to you.

[24:50] Children, teenagers, adults, if you come to this church and you sit in classes, if you bring your children to Awana, you bring your youth to Sunday school, you come sit in teaching services in here, you are absolutely being exposed week after week after week to the truth and if you do not believe it, obey it, and love Christ, you're training your heart to be indifferent.

[25:38] It's a dangerous reality. Not to mention how accountable you will be before the Lord when you die for all you were given and the access that you had.

[25:55] it's a dangerous thing to learn about Jesus. If you do not love him and worship him, it's dangerous.

[26:13] Second, don't let go of your opportunity today. Don't let go of your opportunity today. the Holy Spirit is working in your heart convicting you of sin.

[26:27] Do not harden your heart today. Do not presume that you will deal with this later. Do not mistakenly assume that the Lord owes you another chance or another day or another opportunity.

[26:45] Do not harden your heart. You're here today. You have heard the gospel in song. You have heard the gospel prayed. You have heard the gospel read.

[26:57] You have heard the gospel preached. You know today that we are sinners. Christ is a Savior. Jesus is God's Son. He lived a perfect sinless life.

[27:09] He died on the cross for our sin. The wrath of God was poured out upon Christ so that all who would believe and call upon his name would be saved and give an everlasting life.

[27:23] That's the gospel truth. And for any in this room who would believe that today you shall be saved. But if you decide that you will deal with this later what you are wrongly assuming is the Lord owes you one more day and he does not.

[27:43] And besides if this day you have heard the gospel and pushed it aside what would possibly give you reason to think the next time you hear the gospel you would respond any different way.

[28:02] In fact your heart would be even more hardened. Do not let go of your opportunity today to respond with faith to Jesus.

[28:17] Third to the believers we should expect rejection. We shouldn't expect rejection. Christ was rejected.

[28:30] Don't expect anything different. Don't be surprised. Don't be distracted. you do what Mark 6 verse 6 says that Jesus did.

[28:45] Keep doing the work. Keep doing it. You're discipling your children and maybe they're going through a season of rebellion.

[28:58] Keep discipling them. You're having family devotion time in the evening gathering your children together as best you can to teach them the Bible and your children seem disinterested.

[29:11] Keep training your children. You're praying for people to be saved and they're not getting converted. Keep praying for their salvation. You're sharing the gospel with your friend and they refuse to believe.

[29:27] Keep sharing the gospel with your friend. You're doing your ministry in the church. You're not seeing the results that you thought you would or hoped that you would or expected to keep doing the ministry that God's called you to do.

[29:43] Expect rejection. It doesn't make it easy. It doesn't mean there's no pain or tears. It just means we're going to refuse to quit no matter what.

[29:58] Christ was rejected. His own brothers were not believing in him. Don't expect your ministry to be easy.

[30:11] Don't expect your evangelism to always be well received. Don't expect your offerings of love and ministry and service to always be gladly welcomed.

[30:28] But do refuse to give up and quit. And then fourth, let me draw out one last implication by way of question.

[30:40] Is your heart becoming more devoted or more disinterested in Jesus? Is your heart becoming more devoted or more disinterested in Jesus?

[31:05] If you love Christ, every song we sing about Christ makes your heart leap with praise.

[31:17] heart is your heart and heart is your heart and you say to yourself, how many more songs do we have to put up with?

[31:30] If you're becoming increasingly more devoted to Christ, you love to hear the word of God explained to you. if you're hardening your heart, you check your watch, you check the internet on your phone, you scribble notes back and forth, that's a dangerous place to be.

[32:01] That's a dangerous place to be. That's a dangerous be. to have the praises of Christ put before you to sing and to pray and to hear and to say, I'd rather pass a note to my friend to say, I'm more concerned with what I need to do tomorrow to say, this isn't my favorite song, I'll just sit this one out.

[32:48] My dear friends, with each opportunity that you are given, your heart becomes either more devoted or more disinterested.

[33:04] And if you want a picture of what happens for people who are surrounded by Christ without love and faith and worship, look at Nazareth.

[33:21] It's a sad place to be. but there are a few, praise God, there's a few who live every day of their life knowing that they deserve judgment and yet in mercy have been given grace and they never get over it.

[33:55] And they would, as the hymn writer said, wish for a thousand tongues to sing their Redeemer's praise and the glories of our God and King and the wonders of His grace.

[34:16] Today, you have heard the gospel sung and you have heard the gospel explained. Do not let your heart be indifferent.

[34:31] With faith and trust, cling to the truth that Jesus is Lord.

[34:45] Let me ask you at this time, if you would please bow your head and close your eyes as I invite the deacons of our church to join me. You're at the front as we prepare to worship through the taking of the Lord.