The Hand of Sovereignty (Part A)

The gospel was preached to us as well. Ask them what the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard Esther submitting kind that's the faith that includes surrender.

That's the faith that says I myself will myself interest must decrease so that God Christ in me can increase and expand can gain power and gain the upper hand. This is cross reference radio with our pastor and teacher Rick Gaston. Rick is the pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Mark, please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about cross reference radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching, but for now let's join Pastor Rick in the gospel of Mark chapter 6 as he begins a new study called the hand of sovereignty.

We are in the gospel according to Mark chapter 6, beginning in verse 30 through 45. Then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things both what they had done and what they had taught.

He said to them, side by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while. There were many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat so they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves, but the multitudes saw them departing, and many knew him and ran there on foot from all the cities they arrived before them, and came together to him in Jesus when he came out, saw a great multitude and was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd.

So he began to teach them many things.

When the day was now far spent, his disciples came to him and said this is a deserted place, and already the hour is late, send them away that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread. They have nothing to eat but he answered and said to them, you give them something to eat and they said to him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give it to them if something to eat, but he said to them, how many loaves do you have go see and when they found out they said five and two fish. Then he commanded them to make them all sit down in groups on the green grass so they sat down in ranks of hundreds and in 50s and when he had taken five loaves and two fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to his disciples to eat before them and the two fish he divided among them all. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up 12 baskets full of fragments and of the fish of those who had eaten the loaves were about 5000 men immediately.

He made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side to the side of while he sent the multitude away. You may notice that I included the first verse of the Verse 45 because it is it is a very important part of the story and belongs to both paragraphs the hand of sovereignty is what we are considering this morning and of course it is the hand of Christ that is sovereign sovereign. That word means to have supreme authority and power. It's interesting that in our English authority and power in our Greek New Testament's deemphasis is made that Christ had authority and power. Using these two Greek words. Due to Mr. where we get our word dynamite and excludes the he had the right and he had the might, that's our Lord's sovereignty belongs to him, and none of us are surprised by this fact, we become Christians without surprise at all his glory.

That just flying off the pages into our lives we drink it in, we develop a hunger and thirst for God's word because we have a hunger and thirst for God and I'm not surprised by this miracle. I'm not saying was not very impressive. Not saying that all.

I'm just saying is God is the Lord Jesus Christ. Of course he could multiply fish, you could walk on water. He could stop the storm, he can raise the dead, not surprised. You may say well I agree why you even mentioning this, the apostles, they weren't getting it. They did, they were so busy in ministry that they really didn't have a time to digest all of these things and the Scripture the Holy Spirit. He points these things out and we are to read them and say okay this is a message to me to be careful not get so caught up in learning about God that I'm missing the point very easy to do. According to sovereign God man has no right to believe whatever he wants about God comes with the sovereignty.

It comes in the package with him being God, that human beings do not have the right to shape him to form him into their image.

The other way around.

God's rights and ultimately they will all be enforced every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that he is Lord man is no right to disagree with truth. The truth of God. When God gives it to him in man sees that he has no right to dismiss. It is a mood does that Judas Iscariot did. Satan himself did that here Satan in heaven with our around all the glory of God and still he thought he could outdo God man has no right to make up things about God, about good about evil about hell about the spiritual world there are a list of things that man has no right to do and because man goes off in time goes ahead and does it anyway becomes accountable for these things. It is sin. If he is again consciously disagreeing or rejecting God man is no right to confine God to man's opinions. So as you sit you know we we, and we encourage you to bring your Bibles to church to open them up to go through the Scripture together so that you're not being dictated to. They were all being exposed at the same time allowing the Holy Spirit to do what he and only he can do that is to isolate us to pinpoint to be very specific with whatever it is that he feels needs to be specified, and we love to have it so we love for God to point out a verse, and we say that's it.

That's right, especially when we're interacting with someone who's lost or in need of a word in season, and we get the verse and we say, thus says the Lord. And so it shall be, that is authority that comes from on high. Continuing my line of rights with which man has not man has the right actually to submit when faced with the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Every human being has that right to submit to God. What will they do it because you have right it does mean you going to benefit from an unused advantages are no longer advantages, missed opportunities in this case, it is critical to the soul here is Jesus Christ is God the son, and he is sovereign over all creation.

And in this section. It flashes out before us and we do not ever want to be so familiar with Christ multiplying the fish and bread that it becomes a ho-hum event.

Not surprised we are still impressed. In fact, being impressed is not enough. We want to be moved into action. We want to be used week you know that player on the bench that says coach just put me in use me. Sometimes coaches know you need rest of the timepieces get in and we need big hit than such as the Christian life is God and must not be seen as less and that's what were getting from God Mark in this chapter as we been getting it from Mark we get a format we have the whole Bible in the end these truths from this entire Bible. They benefit those who submit to them. Those who stop pretending and resisting benefit from his sovereignty. He puts us in heaven, world without end without pain without suffering forever and no one will ever take us out sovereign hand of God is a big deal, so those who think they have the right to dictate terms to God.

I think of summed up in this word by JW toes and I'm about to quote because there are those are many of them to believe in what is called the Universal father ship of God. Another was ease everybody's father Bible does not agree with that closure rights fatherhood of God can be stretched to include everyone from Jack the Ripper to Daniel the prophet, thus no one is offended and everyone feels quite snug and ready for heaven. That is right on their those that want to tell themselves going to be okay and even if they get the hell Bill somehow work it out the name so so we look now at the 30th verse of Mark chapter 6 remembering.

Hopefully as we go through this. These sovereign points concerning our Savior is more then our Savior. There's more to Jesus Christ and what we see in the Scripture is more to Jesus Christ and him saving us from hell he would be every bit wonderful, glorious and beautiful if he never created us if he never created the universe.

If you never died for us, he would be no less, who is the fact that he has done these things serves to let us know that not only is he sovereign is loving his merciful his mercy and his love are also sovereign to the point where nothing can touch those things. Nothing can alter this power or love verse 30 then the apostles gathered to Jesus and told him all things both what they had done and what they had taught they were excited.

He had sent them out. We covered that in verses 12 and 16 of Mark's gospel chapter 6 when he sent them out to minister.

Now they're back and they're very excited about all the things that they had accomplished in his name. And remember, Judas is in that number, but there's bad news waiting for these men and there's a gap of information between verse 30 and verse 31 what Mark does. Mark gives us a parentheses. He tells a story of Christ sending out the apostles in verses 12 and 13, and then the parentheses coming sizzle and by the way what Christ is doing all these think this is what Herr Rod is doing Herod and they're trying to figure out who Jesus is. He's got all the screwball ideas.

The man is a monster. In fact, let me give you the details of why he's a monster so he has this will party his birthday party and he is this dance going on and then he trades for the head of John the Baptist.

He was sorry but he wasn't repented and it will all he was impenitent.

We would say and so Mark gives us that there in verses 14 and 15, but Matthew adds this right at that point.

Matthew 14 covers the parallel version of this story, not a contradictory version just little bit more insight from a different angle.

He says when Jesus heard it, he departed there by boat to a deserted place by himself.

Matthew tells us I have to go to Matthew to read it to you it's your fault. If you'd memorize all of Matthew 14, I wouldn't have to do this. Matthew tells us in verse chapter 14 verse 12 and I should add these the things a pastor praise does not happen in the pulpit erratum I can find the look I can even see at this point. Matthew tells us that at this moment, the disciples of John came and told him that John was murdered by Herr Rod and that is happening at the same time that the disciples are coming back and saying, Lord, look what we've done in the ministry. Here's our report memo John disciples come say they've killed John and Jesus says, verse 31 now and he said to them, side by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while for there were many coming and going and they did not even have time to eat nor to grieve those disciples of John. They had the gruesome task of having to take the headless body of John and entombment as Mark tells us, and now that they bring word to Christ. He's not going to have time to really grieve. The only moment of rest and grief that they will experiences on the boat ride from where they are likely in Capernaum to bedside on the way to bedside things will change actually not beside it to their resting place. Mark does not return to the story of Herod because Herr Rod is unimportant. He's made his point… That part of the narrative evaporate and he continues with the story. The lesson that comes from this is that, as horrible as it is that we've lost John. Life goes on and when life goes on for the believer.

So this ministry simultaneously go on and as life goes on. We come across those craving people. John tells us as this market. Matthew that they were looking for miracles and the apostles. They saw the cravings they felt they were part of Jesus satisfying those needs.

But then the apostles begin to care about the people likely exhausted themselves and wanting to be rid of the people for addiction.

Likely very much what was going on.

So the craving people.

The caring apostles sketch the alliteration and the compassion of Jesus. These come off the pages for us think sovereign God is working it out in this life with us. Life goes on. In spite of all the things that we find ourselves in conflict with, and of those who minister do not come aside from always serving they will come. Apart from always serving and so he says, side by yourselves to a deserted place, and rest a while. Time for a Sabbath, you can always minister so you plan to take breaks within those breaks are interfered with. This is the story before us.

Verse 32. So they departed to a deserted place in the boat by themselves.

Now the Lord chose no less then four men who fished and sailed this lake and knew it very well. He chose those bulls for maybe more, but at least those for to be with him and here we see him using their skills whenever he needed their skills he called upon. Of course he could overrule their skills when those skills were not sufficient, such as that strongly read about for chapter that almost drowned them all. Christ skillfully guides whatever skills I may have whatever talents I may have whatever abilities I may acquire and or develop. He is still the master craftsman. He is still the master Psalm 78 verse 372 so he shepherded them to the integrity of his heart and guided them by the skill fullness of his hands. You can say that of a father you can say that of a leader, pastor, but it belongs to Christ belongs to God who is there who is involved so that when I am struggling when I am perplexed when I can't figure it out when I've had about enough of all this stuff, I still find myself submitted to him and waiting in my perplexity trusting by faith that he'll do what he needs to do when he's ready to do it and it is my business to be ready when he is ready, regardless of how much squirming I may find myself doing verse 33, but the multitude saw them departing in many knew him and ran there on foot from all the cities they arrived before them and came together to him, this is the peak of his popular enthusiasm.

This is the time in his ministry. When people are just seeking him and wanting him there last listening to him there's going to be a twist at the end of the story, but they're coming out in droves. John adds in chapter 6 that a great multitude followed him because they saw his signs which he performed on those who were diseased. Matthew says. And when Jesus went out, he saw a great multitude and he was moved with compassion for them and healed their sick. So if you've got people coming out there is the first that initial group that beats him to destination. The boat was headed towards they just before Laura Palmer ran along the shoreline and then the others that they were picking up the momentum was gaining the word was bad. You don't Jesus is coming to someone's always heading to this and and people are closing up shop and they're all racing to this place that was supposed to be the place of rest.

Jesus said my father works until now and I do to know the words is no rest for God. God is working all the time. His tireless and I'm working also. We see this in action verse 34. Now in Jesus when he came out, saw the great great multitude and was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. So he began to teach them many things.

Just a moment ago I read you the two verses that said they were also coming out bringing their sick with them because Mark leaves that part out of the story so we just bring it in from the other ones. This compassion for them as a shepherd seeing them as a flock vulnerable without a protector without a shepherd. Latin word pastor is an Old Testament expression being used here by Mark Ed when he says he was moved with compassion for them because they were like sheep not having a shepherd. All that is picked up in Kingston, Ezekiel, Jeremiah hammers, it speaks of inadequate and or corrupted leadership sheet. Having no shepherd may have a leader but if he is corrupted. They have no leader.

They had no shepherd.

They have a ruler. So they began to teach them many things interesting. He sees them coming out bringing their sick. He has compassion on them, so he teaches them. Now a lot of people might take issue that why didn't he just, you know, meet their social needs. Why didn't you give them all new sandals. They decided going to give him a Bible study. The carnal recoil at that annexing a Bible study fixes everything. Not at all other times, which is not appropriate to give someone a Bible story, but there many times when it is and we better take those times, like were doing right now with taking those times the time did was seizing the moment to preach the word of God the way exposition works is God appoints his servant.

He works with him in his study to filter out a lot of the junk organize the thoughts to be able to present something that when everybody can follow to some degree and then after the focus of listener while they listening the Holy Spirit himself comes alongside of them may point out things during the message may pointed out later may pointed out years later, decades later, all of a sudden you have a flyer number. Pastor said this one that handsome one. I remember that guy I know everybody says that but I'm too modest to bring it up to you. Anyway, he begins to teach them that they knew they needed to learn a new V left them in the dark stumble would be able to see which we mustn't lose this when Jesus came across the two grieving disciples on the road to Emmaus.

He did not pamper them.

He expounded on the Scripture Moses and the prophets, the whole Scripture. He opened it up to them as much as he could on that walk. When I see those guys and have them write it. We were delighted he say so. He knew he knew that they had to learn how to conduct themselves or they would never really develop skills to be used by God. Jeremiah chapter 3 verse 15 one of my favorite verses and I will give you shepherds. According to my heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. This is the will of God. Got a sense what I'm going to do because is what I want to do and it's going to happen.

Sadly here. Many who profess Christ don't appreciate these things. They don't get it. They reduced you know pastors to sort a like baseball cards do not like this when I do like that when this was good in us on the swappable something in a non-understanding the divine processes in back of these things Pastor could have no powerless. It was given to him from on high, from heaven is God's process. It is not because of the man on cow much schooling he goes through. I don't get how much he reads his Bible and praise.

It is the work of God towards nothing and it's a good system well they received his sermons. Many of them not to their benefit. Many of them are just like it just about how heartbreaking, how heartbreaking it is to teach God's word, only to have it sort of turned against you when you're innocent and that's what Christ is going to experience. Hebrews chapter 4 verse three. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well, as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it as the submitting that's the vein that includes surrender estimate that says I myself will myself interest must decrease so that God Christ in me can increase and expand and gain power and gain the upper hand move. Thanks for tuning in to cross reference radio for this study in the book of Mark cross reference radio is the teaching ministry of pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia to learn more information about this ministry. Visit our website cross reference radio.com once you're there you'll find additional teachings from Pastor Rick.

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