The Gospel of Mark

By Dane Gardow

See also:
• Mark 6-10
• Mark 11-16

This portion of Scripture mentions the beginning of Christ's ministry, His gathering of the disciples, the casting out of demons and healing of the people, teaching in parables, and various other miracles. It is quite interesting to see how subordinate, fearful, and weak the demons are, when approached by the Lord, in comparison to how they are usually depicted in popular media. They fear and tremble before Christ because they know who He is and what authority He has. Sadly, this usually is a stark contrast to the way we live our lives: a complacent or flippant approach to Christ and the things of God with little or no fear and reverence for the Lord. The testimony of how the demons approached Christ is a challenge to meditate on the Lord and consider who He truly is, to stir up within us reverence and adoration for Him and especially gratitude for His salvation, which was not offered to the demons.

There is an interesting teaching of Christ found in this section: the parable of the four soils. In this parable, Christ mentions four types of people who hear the gospel. One does not understand, two hear and receive it but end up falling away, and only the last type hears, understands, and endures with fruit. This teaching should have great impact on our methods of evangelism and discipleship. Knowing that there will be people who hear the gospel and seem to truly receive it, but who are only temporary, should prevent us from imposing upon potential converts and granting them false assurance of salvation.

We dare not tread lightly on this issue for two reasons. First of all, it should be left up to the Holy Spirit alone to grant such assurance. The apostle John declared that it is He, the Holy Spirit, by whom those who are truly saved know that they abide in Christ and God (1 John 4:13). Secondly, we cannot grant people assurance of salvation by telling them that they are saved when we do not know if they are those temporary ones Jesus warned about in the parable. If we do not heed these things, we may become guilty of convincing people of a false hope when in fact many of them are those who are only temporary. I would definitely not want to be one of those prophets spoken of in the Old Testament, who promised the people, "Peace, peace!" when there was no peace, and their blood be on my hands.

I have always been disturbed by the practice of telling someone, or telling others on behalf of someone, that they "got saved" just because they acknowledged various biblical truths and expressed interest in coming to Christ. We should keep the parable of the four soils in mind when we witness to others. If someone in fact does repent and express faith in Christ, this is exciting, no doubt. But according to this parable, such faith needs to stand the test of time.

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Sharif

Praise the Lord for your firm stance in the Truth of Christ Jesus and the glory of God alone! The Holy Spirit has lead you to set up this website and bless many who come across it. I have been a regular visitor for the past 6 months and enjoy the clear way in which the gospel of Christ is presented. It is an encouragement to see another brother in Christ without compromising the good news and doing it in love for the furthering of the Kingdom.

The parable of the soils is ever so true and evident in this age. We have a huge problem with false conversions in England because of heretical teaching and prideful men luring people to a false sense of eternal security. Watered down sermons lead to 'easy-believism' prayers and a 'cheap-grace' offered plea are polluting the pulpits every Lord's day in this country. Seldom would you see a broken and contrite heart at a Sunday morning service in desperation for the Lord's forgiveness and a desire to know Him.

The biblical Truth has been forgotten and evangelism to the lost is old and outdated news for many here. And that is just the professing Christians saying that! The people definitely have exchanged good for evil and evil for good. Lord have mercy on them.

Leonard Ravenhill said it well: "If you're going to be a true Christian, I'll tell you one thing amongst others: it'll be a lonely life. It's a narrow way and it becomes narrower and narrower and narrower." We are experiencing this now. We need to the Lord's grace and help as we evangelise in our city and around the country. We need the love to do it and that we may weep for souls to repent and trust in God and be regenerated in Spirit and Truth and strive for Christ until the end of their life until they see the Lord in glory!

7:21 AM 02/21/12

John 8:31-32

The Gospel of Mark

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