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Yes here before this morning if you'd like to go ahead and take your seats we begin service by turning over the song number 75 We'll start the service this morning by going to song number 75 on the Jordan stormy banks number 75 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Your word Number 208 Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh We brought you We'll be back this evening at 5 30 p.m. And Thursday at 7 Genesis chapter by chapter So we'll be back this Thursday at 7 for that Well that you also have a church wide soul in the regional soul in times as well as the salvation's and the baptisms for both A month a year and then a couple of notes about our church there and family integrated The nursery is available in the back also the men's Bathroom is located outside and requires key if you need any have any questions about any of that Please feel free to grab one of the men or ladies our church And we'll be more happy to assist you over on the right-hand side. Don't forget next Sunday, March 3rd at 10 a.m We'll be having our monthly birthday donuts in honor of everybody celebrating their birthday in the month of March And then we have one more Eastside glitz so we've been doing this over the last month or so Going over a little farther east side of town where we normally don't get to And just spending the day over there a couple hours in the morning in the afternoon So we're going to be knocking on the doors out there. So we have the itinerary there. We'll be leaving the building at 930 Drive into our soul in spot during a couple hours of soul in it. Of course We have lunch and then some more soul in the afternoon And then we'll return back to the building So if you'd like to join us for that more than welcome to do so What encourage you to just go ahead and sign up on the back planning it coming again You don't have to sign up if you decide last-minute you want to come More than welcome to do that as well. Just gives us an idea of who might be joining us on the back We have the new memory verse Genesis 9 6 this might be kind of a heavy one Some people might say for a child memorize But nonetheless, it is the Word of God every word of God is pure He's a shield on them that trust in you. You're not ashamed of the Bible in members in it All Scripture is profitable for doctrine for proof for correction for instruction righteousness at the man of God may be perfect Clearly furnished into all good works. So even a verse like Genesis 9 6 is a great verse to memorize There's some politicians that could stand to refer back to this one, but that's about as political as I'll get this morning Children recite this word perfect. We're not relative in adult with a non-relative adult in the church. You'll get a prize this week We have some cookies but we'll be switching up soon and we're gonna get some chips in here Okay, so I know the chips are what's popular so you have that next week, but There's also last week's verse that can be cited before the end of today today Continue to pray for the expect ladies in our church course. These are ladies are from Tempe Church But in the last thing I'm sure appreciate the prayers speaking of Tempe There are several small-town facility trips coming up in the month of March One of the note here that I've been asked to promote is the one to York, Arizona. That's an overnight trip. So This always includes all your transportation food lodging. That's always provided There's always a time of recreation these trips this one's going to include a visit to the Coolidge camp So if you want to go see that that's something that's worth noting there that's going to do it for announcements Let's go ahead sing more song Preaching this morning Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh Oh One of the battle Nothing showing myself patterned good works in doctors showing up Bradley said Sarah sound speech that not be condemned that he doesn't the contrary part could be ashamed I mean no able thing to say Absorbed service to be obedient to their own masters and please them Well, no, that actually again not for loin to an open fidelity, but they may adorn doctor That our Savior and all for the grace of God and bring it salvation appear to all Oh Oh Later really at the end of the sermon, but if you want to go back to mark three We are going to continue on through the book of Mark. We've been going through the last Several Sundays now and just going through these not necessarily chapter by chapter more passage by passage verse by verse more so and we'll be wrapping up chapter number three this morning and I just want to look at Jesus's family this morning what it means to be a part of Jesus's family for us spiritually and Specifically about some of the people that were considered by his immediate relatives In when he was on this earth, so we're gonna look at verses 31 through 35 and just for a reminder We'll read them very quickly. It says in verse 31 There came then his brethren and his mother and standing without sent unto him calling him and the multitude sat about him and they said And behold thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee And he answered them saying saying who is my mother of my brethren and he looked around about on them Which sat about him and said behold my mother and my brethren So Jesus is in this house and as we've seen in the book of Mark, he's often being just thronged by people There's great multitudes that are gathering so much that he can't get anything else done Often he has to depart into a private place just to get some Respite from all the work that he's doing and if you remember last week we talked about how his friends came to him and said that he is beside himself and My opinion is that's why his mother and brethren are also there that the words kind of gone around that Jesus is just doing All this work and some of the people that know him best are concerned for him concerned What's what the some that may be about some of the things he's saying and they're coming to kind of try and talk him Down a reason with him if you read earlier on the chapter that's why his friends come to him and say he is beside himself meaning he's out of his mind and Though the scripture doesn't explicitly say it that I do believe that is why his his parents or rather his mother and brethren have Also come and we'll see here in a little bit that you know, his brethren weren't believers at the first They didn't immediately believe on Christ and I'm not even 100% certain that Mary herself did either There's not a lot of clear scripture on that but it's it's definitely up for speculation So I think that's the motive here of why his mother and brethren are coming and seeking to speak with him They want to kind of get a sense of where he's at and say hey is everything okay? Are you doing? All right, we've heard some things about you're saying, you know, you're upsetting the Pharisees It just seems like everything we're hearing you're doing all this work and and we're a little concerned Right, and this is obviously something that you know If we get serious about the things of God if we start to serve the Lord You know, we might experience this a little bit in our own lives, you know If we have relatives maybe that aren't believers or aren't zealous after the things of God, you know We might kind of stick out like a sore thumb as they say and we might even experience a little bit of this Hey, are you okay kind of a thing, right? But that's what I believe going on here and there's a couple things we can learn about this The first thing I want to point out here is that Mary is an ordinary person in the scripture You know Mary is ordinary and I take the time to point that out because obviously, you know, the Catholic Church Really lifts Mary up and exalts her above measure And in fact, they say that she is a mediator a mediatrix. They have many different You know false doctrines concerning here I'm not going to go deep on that this morning But I do want to point out that you know You kind of see Jesus that the attitude that he had towards Mary and his brother and his brethren It wasn't dismissive. It wasn't rude. It wasn't disrespectful, but he's he kind of knows why they're there Obviously he understands perhaps their motives and kind of says, you know I am busy about the work that I have to do and he's saying you know The people that are here listening to my word and believing on me. These are my mother and brethren and sisters These are the people that are considered by family now So again, the story is they're coming to him and they're trying to they're seeking for him people come to him and kind of interrupt what's going on and trying to get him out of there to stop what he's doing and Jesus shows us in this passage that Mary, you know isn't somebody that Jesus is gonna stop everything that he's doing and just go, you know and grovel or or You know placate or you know, figure it out, you know, try to please her in some way She's just an ordinary person in the scripture And if you would go back to Luke chapter number one Luke chapter number one Can take the time to point this out because it's an important doctrine that we understand that Mary was ordinary There's nothing extraordinary about Mary that that we need to lift her up beyond measure, obviously The Bible does say that she was that she will she said rather that all that all generations shall call her blessed Right, and that's something that came out of her own mouth. That's not something that the scripture said and Truly that that is true. It's it's a blessed thing to be The vessel that God used to bring the Christ into the world. Okay, we're not and obviously she was a humble Servant of God she was somebody that glorified God I'm not trying to rob her of anything this morning But what I am trying to do is get us to understand that we don't want to go overboard with things and lift up Mary beyond measure To the point where even in places like the Catholic Church where they're they're worshiping her and now they'll never say that they'll never say Oh, we're not we're worshiping her. We're just we're venerating her. We're respecting her Well, you know I know we have pictures of the Pope bowing down and kissing the feet of a statue that's supposedly made in her likeness But don't confuse that with worship it's like well if that's not worship, I don't know what is okay that looks like worship to me Okay, let's not forget the fact that the Bible commands us not to bow down and to worship graven images even bowing down to them Okay, you call it whatever you want then, you know venerating revering Worshipping, you know, it's all condemned in the scripture So I do want to take that's kind of why I'm going here this morning again We're just going through the text and we're just letting the Bible speak when we're going through These chapters and these verses and we see here that Jesus's reaction when Mary shows up Isn't that he drops everything and goes out there and tells everybody this is the queen of heaven This is you know, this is the you know, a mediatrix between you and God, you know You should worship her. He doesn't tell her everybody to you know Get beads and and and say a certain recite a certain prayer and everything in her name No, he says he looks about on everyone. It's wrong says well, these are my mother. These are my brethren These are my sisters. This is my family here and we see that Mary is just an ordinary person You look there in Luke chapter 1 verse 38 in verse 38 of Luke chapter 1 It says and Mary said behold the handmaid of the Lord be it unto me according to thy word and the angel departed from her so obviously this is when the angels coming and telling her about the virgin birth about the fact that she's going to Be overshadowed by the Holy One and she's going to give birth to Christ Okay, and she says behold the handmaid of the Lord. So obviously, you know, Mary has some good attributes. She's a very humble person and She's somebody that God chose to do this, you know miraculous to perform this miraculous event. Okay now go on to verse 46 When Mary later encounters her cousin Elizabeth who was also with child And also a miracle not in the same way But it says in verse 46 and Mary said my soul doth magnify the Lord and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior Now isn't it interesting that Mary is calling God her Savior. Okay, and this is an important doctrine This is why we want to base everything that we believe on the scripture. Okay, not the decrees of man Not what somebody else says not some extra biblical teaching. We base it on the scripture alone And this is what a great verse to debunk this idea of immaculate conception This is a doctrine that is taught about Mary now When you first hear that doctrine immaculate conception You might think that it's talking about the virgin birth of Christ that Christ was born sinless Which is true, right? He came unto his own. Excuse me, rather that he He became sin who who knew no sin, right? Christ was without sin However, the doctrine of immaculate conception is taught by the Catholic Church is in reference to Mary's conception Okay, they believe that she was conceived and born without original sin that she was without sin Okay. Now there's only one person that was ever born in the world without sin and his name is Jesus Christ Okay, so I'm not gonna you know You could see it's kind of a wicked doctrine to take something that's attributed to Christ alone and try to scribe it to Mary Who is just an ordinary woman as she said the handmaid of the Lord? She's just an ordinary woman. There's nothing special unique about her and it's certainly she is not without sin Okay This doctrine of immaculate conception is false and what we what we see in the scripture is that Jesus never exalts Mary In fact, I won't say that he you know takes her down a notch But it's like it's like the scripture gives us enough about Mary to see that Jesus is not exalting her beyond Really at all when you think about it if you would go over to Luke chapter 11 Luke chapter number 11 Jesus did not exalt Mary on this earth So neither should we and if we base everything we believe upon the scripture, you know, we won't Will actually, you know put Mary in her proper place You know and she is blessed, right? She goes on and says for he hath regard to the lowest state of his handmaiden for behold from henceforth all generations Shall call me blessed But you know, it's a big difference between calling somebody blessed and literally worshiping in their feet worshiping their image and you know saying prayers to her and You know You know exalting her above measure right and teaching doctrines that she's born without sin Okay, that's a big stretch from blessed. Isn't it? That's quite the leap And again, that's Mary saying that all generations shall call me blessed It's not the scripture. It's not the narrator. No, do I think it's wrong that say that Mary it was blessed No, obviously she was blessed You know, God obviously blessed her. Okay It's a very blessed thing to be able to be that vessel that God used. Okay, she was blessed But let's not get carried away with it and start teaching things like immaculate conception Look at a Luke chapter 11 verse 27 a great example of Jesus You know not exalting Mary but kind of just you know, saying it like it is kind of putting her Where they belong and it came to pass as he spake these things, of course He's giving a parable here in Luke 11. This is right after he you know He's talking about the man he's giving the parable about the man that was possessed with seven spirits and it was cast out and they went out into a desert place and later came cast out one spirit and returned With seven more spirits even more wicked than himself and found the place swept and garnished remember that Parable so has not he's just giving this parable. This is a parable about Israel Okay, and then all of a sudden, you know, somebody a certain woman just pipes up and says this, you know He's like teaching doctrine and then it's kind of it's kind of funny how it plays out Because this has nothing to do with anything that he's teaching She just says just pipes up and says verse 27 and it came to pass as he spake these things a Certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said unto him blessed is the woman that bear thee the paps Which thou has sucked? It's like well, that's kind of a hard right turn there. You're kind of jerking the wheel there, you know on the discourse, you know it's like It's like being in a class and you know in a math class and then asking an English question It's like it's not related. You're in the wrong classroom. Okay, so he's giving this parable about Israel then all of a sudden It's you know blessed is Mary, you know blessed are the paths which thou has sucked It's a reference to Mary right and the womb that bear thee and verse 28. Jesus doesn't go. Yes. You're right blessed She is blessed. In fact, you should venerate her You should worship her make images of her say prayers to her and and teach doctrines about how she was born without sin That's not what he says He says in verse 28, but he said yea rather Actually instead blessed are they that hear the Word of God and keep it More blessed is the person that hears the Word of God and does those things which are written in it It's Mary blessed, of course But you know who's more blessed the person who hears the Word of God obeys it and keeps The commandments that are written there in that's the more blessed person, okay So it doesn't sound to me like Jesus is trying to lift up Mary More than we ought to look at if you would go to Luke chapter number two Luke chapter two I'll look at John 3 You probably are familiar with this passage when he goes into the marriage at Canaan and it says in verse 3 And when they wanted wine the mother of Jesus saith unto him they have no wine Jesus saith unto her woman. What have I to do with thee? Okay, and this is a grown man. This is the Christ Responding to you know, the woman that bear him. Okay. I don't suggest Children that you speak to your mother in a way. I'm not suggesting Christ is being disrespectful here either. Okay But he is kind of you know, letting us know that you know in the grand scheme of things He's the Messiah. He is the Christ. He's the Savior. Okay, there's a difference between you and him By a long shot, all right So he but he's is saying, you know woman what have I to do with thee mine hours not yet come You know, you don't you don't get to just make demands of me or what do you want me to do exactly? What is it to me that there's no wine? And you know, there's more of that story and I want to take a lot of time to go into but I'll just say You know don't don't well you heard deacon this morning. Don't do that kids, you know And when your mom tells you to eat vegetables eat your vegetables go woman. What have I to do with thee? She got a lot to do with you Okay, and she's gonna have a lot more to do with you if you get an attitude and again I'm not saying that Christ was being irreverent or disrespectful his mother here Okay, but I don't want us to misunderstand that scripture and you know children. I hate to see anybody You know get one when they didn't need to Alright Luke chapter 2 look at verse 48 and when they saw him they were amazed and his mother said unto him son Why hast thou dealt with us? Of course This is when Jesus early on in his young life at 12 year of age Went down to the temple with his family and then Mary and Joseph assuming that he was with relatives Left and then boss track of Jesus. Okay, so I don't know how you lose track of your children let alone the Christ okay, but she did and and and she's going back and they find him disputing asking questions with the Pharisees and those in the temple and They she brings them and says son. Why hast thou dealt with us behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing He said unto them How is it that you sought me wish you not that I must be about my father's business now again notice the use of the word father there right because she says my father your father and I have sought thee sorrowing and He corrects Mary and he says, you know, cuz Joseph is not his father Okay And we all understand that and he may corrects her very mildly and says What's not that I must be about my father's business and it goes on it says in verse 50 and they understood not the saying Which he spake unto them and he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject unto them But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart and Jesus increased to wisdom stature in favor of God and man So again, here's another you know example of Jesus. No, not not You know saying I'm sorry or groveling or whatever, but he kind of corrects Mary and says well actually I'm about my father's business That's why I'm here doing what I'm doing So it's a very light mild Rebuff and when you're the when you're Christ when you're in the Son of God you can you can do this type of thing Or you have that authority, okay? But also I'd point out here that you know, Mary was just an ordinary person That's we're looking at at Mark chapter 3, of course But and I don't know that how much Mary, you know This is an interesting passage here in Luke Where it says that she kept these sayings in her heart that they didn't understand the saying that was Spoken unto him and it makes me wonder if you know, obviously Mary had to believe That Jesus was to Christ by faith just like everybody else. That's the only way she got saved So it kind of makes you wonder when that happened when exactly did Mary Understand that her son was to Christ the Son of the Living God and put her faith in him at for salvation You know, I don't know that the Bible makes that explicitly clear And I don't know that Luke chapter 2 is a great proof text of that But it does kind of suggest that they didn't understand everything at the first right because they did understood not the same which he spake unto them and Her mother kept these sayings in her heart What is clear is that whether it includes Mary or not that Jesus's family did doubt him? They did not fully understand that he was the Christ until later on in their lives Okay, so it wasn't like Jesus as he was growing up Everyone just understood that he was the Messiah everyone understood that he was the Christ and believed on him That's something that you know came later, you know, he had to show himself under the world He had to preach those things and everyone had to choose to believe or to reject what he taught That would include his family. Okay, and if you would go over to John chapter 7 John chapter number 7 So we see that Jesus's family doubted him and again I believe perhaps that's why they're coming to him in Mark chapter 3 and desiring to speak with him because they just are treating him like You know, this is his Mary son. This is the brother of her other children you know their half-brother and They're just they they don't fully understand yet. Okay, and they're trying to Talk him down a little bit or talk some sense into him or just express some concern. Okay And we say well, how do you know Jesus's family doubted him? Well, it's very clear in John chapter 7 that his brethren did not believe on him If you look at verse 1 it says after these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he would not walk in Jewry Because the Jews sought to kill him now the Jews feast of tabernacles was at hand his brethren therefore said unto him Depart hence and go into Judea that the disciples may see the works that thou doest So his brethren come to him and they kind of challenging him They're saying basically, you know, if you're the Christ, why don't you go show yourself to your disciples? Why don't you go up to the feast? verse 4 for there is no man that do with anything in secret and He's himself seek it to be known openly if thou do these things show thyself to the world They're basically saying prove it, you know back up what you're saying what you've been claiming verse 5 Why did they say that for neither did his brethren believe in him? Okay, so the Bible is real clear there that his brethren did not believe on him in the sense that he was the Christ Okay now later they would and we have very clear scripture on that if you want to go over to 1st Corinthians chapter number 15 1st Corinthians chapter number 15 James the brother of John or excuse me The brother of Jesus the half-brother is very explicitly shown up shown to have eventually believed on Christ. Okay Now in the midst of Jesus's ministry, what we're seeing is that his family is not believing on him. They're doubting him They might are even in some sense trying to whether they mean to or not are kind of getting in the way They're showing up in mark 3 and say yeah, whatever he's doing. Tell him we're here He needs to stop and come talk to us You know, we're seeking for him, you know, we're his family where his immediate family He needs to come talk to us. We we have some concerns about some of the things we're hearing about Jesus We have some current concerns about some of the things he's been preaching and believing and doing and we want to you know Check in on it. Okay They doubted him, but we know that later they would believe Okay, if you look at 1st Corinthians chapter number 15 begin looking at verse 3 it says for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures and then he was buried and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures and that he was seen of CFS right or CFS. Excuse me. That's Peter Then of the 12 after that he was seen of about 500 brethren at once Of whom the greater part remained out of this present, but some are falling asleep So the 12 CFS that's the Apostles right the 12 Apostles. That's who we're referring to there Okay, so we're not referring to James the brother of John who would be included in that number when we look at verse 7 Okay, that's not the James. It's referring to because Paul has already said he's been seen of the 12 Okay, which would include James in that number right though. He's one of the 12 disciples Verse 7 after that after he was seen of the 12 he was seen of James then of all the Apostles Okay So there were other Apostles as well and last of all you've seen of me being Paul also as one born out of due Time so the James there in verse 7 is referring to James the brother of the Lord the half brother of the Lord. Okay, who would later You know be leading the church in Jerusalem. Okay, and who was the author of the book of James? So Jesus family they doubted him at first, but eventually they did come around James is very specifically pointed out here If you want to go over to James chapter number one James chapter number one. I'll make some application here with all this But the Bible goes also says in Galatians chapter 1 verse 19 But other of the Apostles saw I not saw I none saved James the Lord's brother. So in Galatians 3 1 Paul again Explicitly calls James the brother of the Lord an apostle. Okay, and you can't be an apostle without having believed on Christ, obviously and James was present in the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 1 verse 14 and these all continued one accord and prayer and supplication With the women and Mary the mother of Jesus and with his brethren, okay, so that's a great verse that shows us that eventually Mary had believed and Also all of his brethren Okay the same people in Mark chapter 3 who I believe are coming to him out of concern and Maybe haven't fully believed on Christ John 7 makes it very clear that his brethren at the very least did not believe on him Now in Acts 1 they're all there in the upper room with 120. They're being numbered among the Apostles and Obviously that means they have believed on Christ Okay, and you know another application we can make from this is that we shouldn't give up on family Okay, you know family members who don't believe on Christ often are the hardest ones to win. Okay Why because they know us they know if we've got especially we got saved later on in life You know, they might just say things like oh you're on some kick You're just on some bandwagon, you know, our immediate family members are often the hardest ones to win to the Lord I know this is the case in my life. This is the case in many other people's lives This is something that's expressed to me often You know, we can go out and preach the gospel to a stranger and they'll get saved just like that but then we try to turn and preach that same gospel to somebody else that we really care about and really want to See you get saved and and they resist right they fight back. They don't want to go along This is especially true when it's the dynamic that we see here in the scripture when it's you know child to parent That's an especially difficult one that I've seen over the years when a believer is trying to get their adult You know when an adult believer is trying to get their parents to believe because let's you know, and you have to understand That and I'm gonna take the time point this out because sometimes I've heard people Just dismiss their parents or dismiss their family members and say well, you know, I've preached to them I've preached to them and they don't want to believe you know, they must be a reprobate or something like that Okay, let's not again be on a hair trigger to you know to to label somebody that you have to understand the dynamic That's at play there. Okay, we're talking about, you know life's greatest question. Okay, what's gonna happen when you die? What's the meaning of life? You know, who is God? Okay. These are deep questions, right and When a when a parent has their child coming to them and trying to explain them the greatest, you know Mysteries of the world the universe, you know, you could see how their pride might get involved a little bit, right? You're like wait a minute I'm the one who you know wiped your butt and fed you and tied your shoes and everything else and carried you around and Taught you everything, you know, and now you're gonna come tell me about who God is and what it takes to go to heaven So you have to understand and that can be a hurdle to get over and and that you know It requires a lot of humility to receive instruction from your children, doesn't it? Okay, now if your children are right they're right and if they got the Bible backing them up they're right, okay But I'm just pointing out that even Jesus dealt with this Where his own immediate family members are resisting him. They're concerned from him. They're not believing on him But eventually they came around now it took a lot didn't it? It took a lot of miracles It took a lot of preaching it took a lot of persecution I mean it might have been after the resurrection that they finally came around Well now that my my brother who I saw die on the cross and was crucified is alive again and walking around I believe he is the Christ and and I'm and obviously that's not going to be something that we do But it might take something dramatic like that to finally get our loved ones to come around Okay, it might take something beyond the ordinary to get them to start to see things The way you see them and understand that the scripture is true But again, let's let's look at James specifically here for a second. Okay, James the brother of the Lord Who is the author of the book of James? You know he obviously You know could have maybe tried to use that relationship to get some clout, right? He could have said well, you know, I am I am the half brother of Jesus Right, but the great thing about that is that he never does that we never see that in Scripture In fact in James, we'll just look at verse 1 of James 1 and then we'll just look at verse 2 Look how he refers to himself. He says James a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ You know, he could have said hey, I'm gonna write this epistle and just so you understand who it's coming from It's coming from the half brother of the Lord All right And maybe at this point he understands that even if he wanted to use that as clout he couldn't because he's kind of already Been outed by John right John's already telling us in chapter 7 Neither did his brother in belief, right? You know that they all knew the truth that it took him some time to come around Okay But eventually James does believe he does come around and he becomes a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ And what I want to point out here is that you know, James has a good attitude I really I really appreciate this about James because he he teaches us something and that's this is that God is not a respecter of persons And that's what we see in in Jesus's life He's not saying well, let me just stop everything. I mean after all it's Mary. Let me just stop everything off Obviously, it's my immediate family. I have to go and just you know, uh and just do you know I'm just available with their beck and call. I just have to answer whenever they They call for me, right? He's not a respecter of persons And James understands that that's why he refers to himself as a servant and not as the brother of the Lord He's not trying to stand on some you know, uh You know some status that he has by being a blood relation to Christ for having been one He's not a respect of persons and what we need to do and understand is that We as God's people must stand upon our own merits We must stand upon our own merits and not our associations. Okay, and this is true in our in our lives individuals This is true for a church We can't just say well, you know we're we're we're a church that associates with with this church and that church and this pastor and that pastor and therefore Just expect people to flock to this church or this church to just thrive and grow because of who we're associated with. Okay You can't uh, you we have to stand as a church on our own merits our own work our own labor We have to be servants You know, we can't just say well, you know, we're faithful word baptist church tucson And you know, we're associated with faithful word baptist church in tempe And you know and by default just we should just expect people to flock through the doors And to just flood this place out You know, we have to as a church understand that we have to stand on our own merits our own work our own labor And praise god, we've done that over the years. I'm not saying that's something we're lacking on I'm just saying that's something we have to keep in mind Is that we have to continue to preach the word of god to preach the gospel And to stand on our own two feet as it were as a church body And and do the work that we've been called to do here And continue doing that and god will bless that. Okay, and that is how this church has grown You know, obviously, you know, we did glean a lot from from that association at the beginning There were people that knew pastor anderson knew a faithful word tempe And were eager for a church like this to be started and praise god we have it and it's here It's been here five years now And but if it's going to extend beyond that, you know, we have to do the work that we're called to do You know, that's why we're doing things like the east side blitz. That's why we have the soul winning times That's why we reach out into the community and and preach the gospel, okay to let people know we're here and if people want it You know, we're here They want something else you got options. Okay, so We're here doing the work, but you know, that's that's true of a church. That's true as an individual, too You know young people you can't ride the coattails of your of your parents christianity You can't you can't you know say well i'm going to heaven because my daddy was a preacher I'm going to heaven because my parents believe in christ. No you have to You have to decide for yourself whether or not you believe on christ You have to decide for yourself whether the things that you were taught in your youth Are something you're going to embrace and something you're going to put into practice in your own life for yourself or not You have to decide for yourself whether you believe the bible to be the word of god or you don't okay We all have to stand on our own merits and not our associations. That's a great Example of james james didn't use his Association with christ being his half brother. He said, you know, i'm a servant i'm a believer in christ for myself I'm, somebody that has accepted christ as savior. I am a servant of god the father and of the lord. Jesus christ Okay, i'm just like everybody else That's kind of how jesus ends mark chapter three if you look there again I should have had you keep something there. I know you got something in titus, too Eventually, we're going to end up back there saying why did we read titus? All right, we'll end there But jesus is kind of making this point in mark chapter three verse 35 He said for whosoever will shall do the will of god The same as my brother and my sister and mother and again, it's interesting. He doesn't say father, right? Because he only has one father Whosoever shall do the will of god That's the same as my brother and my sister and my mother whosoever is going to do the will of god That's the person that i'm going to hold dear that's the person that i'm going to draw close to that's the person That i'm going to hold in esteem is the person that does the will of god, okay And when we apply this to salvation, you know, it's it's it's interesting Because obviously the the the relation that he's referring to there is brother sister mother, right? That's a That's a kinship. That's a that's a familial relationship, right? That's a blood bond, okay Now when we do the will of god, we also have not a blood bond in the sense that you know We share the same genetics, but we have a blood bond and that we're through the blood of christ Okay, we're brought into god's family. We're born again when we do the will of god Okay. Now if you would Go over to john chapter six john chapter number six Let me be explicitly clear what jesus means by doing the will of god to become a part of his family He's not saying if you do works that you're going to be a part of my family So wait a minute. He says if you do the will of god now, what is will? You know a will would be I I this is meaning I want you to do something, right? A will is something that you want. What is your will regarding this manner? You might think of the last will and testament, you know when a person dies they'll read that here's what I want done This is my will this is how I want things divided up. Okay, and sometimes they'll even put things stipulations in there, right? So and so doesn't get anything until they clean up their act, right? They're wanting their will to be done. Okay So what he's saying here in mark chapter three is that whosoever shall do the will of god the same shall be a part of God's family. Okay, and this is important to understand this doctrine Some people will twist this and say see you have to do things in order to be a part of god's family You have to work your way into god's family. You have to live a good life You have to repent of your sin You have to be baptized you have to keep the sacraments you have to join a church You have to do x y and z you have to do the will of god in order to be a part of god's family But that's not what is taught in the context of scripture. Okay Jesus in john chapter six look at verse 27 He said labor not for the meat which perisheth but for the that which endureth unto everlasting life Which the son of man shall give unto you for him hath the father sealed. So the the the meat that is that Endureth unto everlasting life is something that the son gives unto you. Okay, and he's saying don't labor for this Verse 28 they said unto him. What shall we do? That mean we might work the works of god They say well, we want this bread that endures unto everlasting life everlasting life sounds like a pretty good deal We want that what and then they ask the question what shall we do What is your will what is it that we might work the works of god? Okay Jesus answered and said to them. This is the work of god another way that we could say that it that is this This is the will of god. Okay So he's clarifying for us in mark what's said in mark chapter three when he said whosoever shall do the will of god Whosoever shall do the work of god. This is that work that god wants us to do in order to have everlasting life to have that meat that endureth and Forever this is the work of god that you believe on him whom he hath sent period period That's it What do I have to have do to have everlasting life to have eternal life believe on christ? That's it And this is such a simple truth But it's the one that so many people choke on it's the one that we see so many people tripping over We I mean it's constant if you go out we knock these doors and we ask people to their face What do you believe it takes to go to heaven be a good person? I mean, that's probably the most common answer Just be a good person Which I you say you say don't be a good person. Of course not Of course, we should love our neighbor. Of course, we should do those things But we have to understand is those things will never merit us Salvation we cannot that is not the work of god that is going to get us into heaven Because we're all sinners. I mean imagine getting before a holy god and saying why should I let you into heaven? Well, i'm a good person. Oh, so then what I guess jesus christ didn't need to do anything What did he need to come down here and live a perfect and sinless life for why did he have to take upon himself? Our punishment and our sin if being a good person is good enough And then we can ask the question. Well, how good do you have to be who makes that decision? The truth is is that the work of god the will of god in order to have everlasting life Is just as jesus said believe on him whom he has sent That's it Whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have everlasting life. He that believeth not is is Is condemned already because he hath not believed the only difference between a person who is condemned And not condemned as whether or not they have believed i'm a son of god That's why it says whosoever meaning anybody good bad It doesn't matter what kind of life they're living if they've lived believed on christ They have done the will of god to have that everlasting life Jump down to verse 40. This is the will of him that sent me That everyone would seeth the son and believeth on him. It may have everlasting son everlasting life And I will raise him up the last day Meaning that everyone that notice everyone that sees the son and believeth on him May have everlasting life now, obviously we haven't physically seen him But what did jesus tell thomas blessed are they which having not seen have believed? We look by faith in the word of god And believe Jesus is obvious saying this to people that could literally see him. Okay I don't believe that's what he's saying. You have to have that stipulation, you know, like, you know Well, we haven't seen him physically so we can't you know, we can't get saved That's silly. Okay, we could see by faith through the scripture. Okay, but what we can do is believe on him You can still believe on him. That's the definition of faith You know that it's the evidence of things not yet seen You know We believe on those things that we haven't seen that's faith And if we do that believe on him, we may have everlasting life so if we have somebody that has believed on christ and has Believed that he he died according to scriptures was buried rose again if they've done that It doesn't matter what kind of life they've lived They've done everything that jesus said you have to do to have everlasting life They've done it I mean that's what we're looking at the scripture you say well, I don't know about that. Well If then jesus would be a liar wouldn't he if I were to go to go to die and stand before god He said why I should let you into heaven and I said, well, I I believed on you I put my faith and my trust in you. Well, I know I said that when I was on earth That whosoever believeth on me may have everlasting life But what did you do on top of that? Did you do any work? You know that that's not that's not how that dialogue is going to go You say why why is god going to let you into heaven deacon because of the blood of christ That's it Because jesus blood and nothing else The only reason i'm going to heaven it's not because of how good I am because You know quite frankly my wife could tell you i'm not that good It's not because of the things i've done or haven't done it's because of this one fact that christ came Died for my sins and I and was buried in roads again and I put my faith in him alone for salvation That's the only reason i'm going And when we do that when we do the will of god Which is to believe on him the same are his brethren sisters and mother. We are a part of the family of god And there's so much scripture on this Let's just look at a few. I know i've got to wrap up But if you would go to galatians chapter number three galatians chapter number three Galatians chapter number three the bible says in romans 4 That therefore it is a faith that I mean by maybe by grace to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed Not to that which is of the law But to that which is of the faith of abraham who is the father of us all If we have the faith of abraham Which is what does it say about him or abraham that abraham believed god and it was counted to him for righteousness Romans chapter 8 the spirit bear itself Its spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of god And if children then heirs heirs of god and joint heirs with christ You know, it's a big deal to be saved It's it's a big deal to be a believer in christ You know, it's it's a big deal Yes to know that you're not going to go to hell when you die that your sins are forgiven That that your your sins have been washed away by the blood of christ that you have That promise of everlasting life that you've been Bought with with the precious blood of christ that you've been sealed on the day of your redemption. That's a great thing But you know beyond even that the bible tells us that we're joint heirs with christ That we're going to be uh, we're going to inherit even as he is inherited that we will rule and reign with him In in the millennium that we will be rewarded for the works that we do It's not just you know getting our ticket punched and having some kind of a fire escape out of hell It's much it's that yes, of course and that alone is great But you know if it's like that late night advertisement, but wait, there's more right? There's even more with salvation God gives us the opportunity to serve him and to earn rewards and to be heirs with christ Are you in galatians three look at verse 26 for a year all the children of god by faith in christ, jesus By faith if you've done the will of god if you believed in christ You've done the will of god and you are the child of god in christ For as many as you have been baptized into christ have put on christ for there is neither jew nor greek There's neither bond nor free. There's neither male nor female for you're all one in christ. Jesus and if you be christ's And if you be christ's then are you abraham's seed what an important verse Today, especially in light of everything that's going on in the world And airs according to the promise If you have christ's then are your abraham's seed That's what makes you abraham's seed is whether or not you have christ meaning if you do not have christ you are not abraham's seed Ephesians chapter 3 look at verse, uh, actually no go to titus. I told you i'd wrap it up So i'm going to make good Bible says in ephesians chapter 3 for this cause that bow my knees unto the father of the lord, jesus christ of whom the whole family in heaven And earth is named He bowed his knees unto the father of our lord, jesus christ Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named That's what it means to be born again. That's what it has happened When you believed on christ and been born again, you have been brought into god's family And I love how it describes the believers the saints as a family in heaven and earth It's here and on earth. We're family through christ and in heaven So if you think that, you know, there's somebody down here that you don't like Some other believer it's like well, you better get used to it Because it's family and on earth and in heaven Might as well start getting along folks because it's eternity And then we're gonna have to put up with each other. Okay? Titus chapter three look at verse five. He says not by works of righteousness, which we have done But according to his mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the holy ghost Which he shed on us abundantly through jesus christ our savior that being justified by his grace We should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life We're justified. We're made part of god's family and we are made heirs according to the hope of eternal life Go to titus chapter number two. You're not there already So god's will when it comes to salvation is that we believe on christ, that's it, right We I think that's very clear in the scripture That the only thing we have to do in order to go to heaven is to believe on christ He says that's easy. That sounds too simple Yes, but that's why john 3 16 says for god so loved the world God loves us so much that he made it easy. He made it that simple And the irony is is that that's what people struggle with the most is how simple it really is Because man's pride gets involved And they want to do their part you we can add nothing to salvation. What more can you add to the blood of christ? What filthy rag would we hold up and say well this is this is what gets me heaven You know all our works are as filthy rags before him the bible says Even if it's a good thing Even if it's a good thing If you're going to hold that up in comparison to the blood of christ, man, it's it's nothing It's an insult to the grace of god Look at titus chapter 2 verse 11 So yes, god's will to be saved is that we believe but god does have a will for us after salvation that we would work Okay The bible says in ephesians we are as workmanship created under christ jesus Unto good works which god hath before ordained that we should walk in them there are works that we should walk in not must walk in in order to Maintain our salvation but god has foreordained that there are works that we as god's workmanship in christ should walk in Okay, that's ephesians 2 10 with all love verses eight through nine Right, we're saved by grace your faith not of yourselves as it gives god not of works as any man should boast Verse 10, you know, we love that first part Where it's all salvation by grace through faith, amen But then verse 10 it's like we are as workmanship created in christ. Jesus unto good works Which god hath before ordained that we should walk in them You know, and we could all just get saved and just say well That's all i'm going to have to do with god and still go to heaven But the fact is is that god has foreordained works for us to walk in Okay And and you know a lot of it's very general, right? That just kind of applies to every believer god wants us to be in church God wants us reading our bibles. God wants us raising our families God wants us teaching our children and and bringing them up in the nurture and admonition of the lord God wants us to preach the gospel to all every creature Okay There is a work for us to do Look at titus chapter 2 verse 11 for the grace of god that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men The grace is there the salvation's there And it teaches us verse 12 that deny teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lust We should live soberly righteously and godly in this present world Why is it that we should deny ungodliness? Why is it that we should deny these worldly lusts? Why is it that we should live soberly righteously in this present world? Because the grace of god hath appeared unto all men Okay Now he's not now understand we've already gone over it at length salvation's by grace Okay, he's not saying deny these things so that because because of the grace of god so you can be saved He's saying deny these things because the grace of god has appeared unto all men And and and jesus christ is uh, the meaning between god and man, you know, and he wants all men to be saved Okay, that's his will that that he's not willing and he should perish You and I need to live soberly you and I need to believe righteously We needed to deny these ungodly things so that we can be a vessel meet for the master's use and preach the gospel Effectively and thoroughly and bring the gospel to a lost and dying world. That's what he's saying in titus Deny these things stop doing these things Why because the grace of god has appeared unto all men wants everyone to be saved And that's our job We are ambassadors for christ if our gospel is hit it is hid to them that are lost, okay Verse 13 looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great god and our savior. Jesus christ Who gave himself for us that he might deem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people zealous of good works So there's two things taking place there in verse 14 He gave himself for us That he might redeem us from all iniquity he saved us from our sins Then there's this and well, there's more to the deal right salvation's done that's taken care of But that's just the beginning of the christian life And purify unto himself a peculiar people Maybe your relatives aren't going to understand this new you Well, jesus knows something about that And he wants us to be peculiar and do what be zealous of good works You know, we ought to be zealous to do the works of god and that's what we're seeing in mark You know the book of mark is just I mean, it's the book where jesus is just doing all this work it's just verse after verse after verse of Healing and teaching and preaching and miracles. It's just work work work work work He's why because he's zealous of those things, you know, we ought to be the same way. You ought to be zealous of good works Because the grace of god has appeared unto all men and you know if if Family relations are getting in the way. We know we have to prioritize You know if some if friendships are getting in the way we have to prioritize Say what's the most who is it? You're trying to please in this life people Paul said if I should please men then I would not should not be the servant of god And look i'm not saying you have to go around being a rude jerk to everybody But you know if if people are going to get in the way if like in jesus's day They say hey, stop what you're doing. Come talk to us. We're your family And jesus said well, wait a minute I must be about my father's business And the people that are here hearing the word of god and believing it and doing it. They're my family now You know, we have to have that same mentality That we understand that, you know, we are part of the family that is named in heaven and earth through christ And what a wonderful thing that is but that he's also given us work to do And we have to work those works. We have to be like james be that servant stand in our own merit And do the works that god has has foreordained that we should walk in let's go ahead closing the word of prayer dear lord again Thank you for The opportunity that you've given us, uh to work for you in this life lord Thank you that salvation is by grace through faith that Or that you've done everything for us when it comes to to sell for salvation that there's nothing we need to add to The sacrifice that you made for us And lord, I pray that you'd help us to serve you Out of a grateful heart for that salvation that we would serve and be zealous Because we love you because we love other people And because you love them as well lord, and we would see great multitudes come to christ Here in tucson and throughout the world. We ask these things in christ's name. Amen All right. Well, we'll go ahead and sing another song before we are dismissed this morning And we're going to sing song number 343 revive us again Okay Song number 343 You want to turn with me to song 343 Is Yeah Me Hallelujah Hallelujah You