It is always an immense privilege and great joy to be able to open up the Word of God and minister it to you this morning. And we will do that again by looking at Mark's gospel as we continue to go through it verse by verse this morning, we will be in Mark chapter one, verses 14 through 20. So if you will take your Bibles and turn there, Mark chapter one, beginning with verse 14 through verse 20. And what we will be seeing is "Jesus Regal Power, and Action", which is the title of my discourse to you this morning. Let me read the text beginning in Mark one, verse 14. "Now, after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the gospel.' As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 'Follow Me and I will make you become fishers of men.' Immediately they left their nets and followed Him. Going on a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John, his brother, who were also in the boat, mending the nets. Immediately He called themand they left their father Zebedee, in the boat with the hired servants, and went away, to follow Him."

This is a remarkable passage of Scripture, there's much to be gleaned from it. But before we look closely to it, I want to frame our thoughts a bit with respect to how important this passage really is, to those of us that are living in this culture, where we just see a moral freefall, the things that make us shake our heads and just wonder how can people be this wicked? How can they be this insane. And as we look at this passage, we are going to see that it is not only an amazing passage of Scripture, but it is also profoundly encouraging. Because in it, we see that the Lord is continuing to build his church, regardless of what's happening in the culture. And in this I rejoice, because so often, it seems like our team always loses. But in the end, we win because of Christ. You know, when Jesus asked his disciples in Matthew 16, beginning in verse 15, "'Who do you say that I am?' Simon Peter, answered, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.' And Jesus said to him, 'Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.'" In other words, Peter, the confession that you just made, that I am the Son of God, the Christ was not something that you figured out on your own. But this is a result of a divinely regenerated heart, something that God initiated. And may I ask you, do you remember that season in your life when somehow God, in his infinite mercy, caused you to see the light? To see your own sin and to see who Jesus really is? That time when the Spirit of God breathed life into that spiritual cadaver and caused you to be raised from spiritual death to spiritual life? Do you remember that time? I hope you do.

He went on in verse 18, of Matthew 16. He says, "'I also say to you, that you are Peter, and upon this rock, I will build My church and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.'" Fascinating statement, it's a play on words. He says, "'You are Peter'" in Greek, it's "Petros," is referring to a small kind of a pebble of a stone. But then he says, and upon this rock, Petra, which speaks of a bedrock or a massive rock formation, symbolizing this confession that it is like a boulder that the church will be built upon. In other words, based upon this foundational boulder of your confession, that I am the Christ, the Son of the living God based upon this, I'm going to build my church. And he says "the gates of Hades will not overpower it." Hades is where the spirits of unbelievers go upon death to be punished. So Jesus is literally saying, not even death, not even Satan's most powerful weapon can stop me from building my church. Despite all of the wickedness in the culture, then and today. Remember folks, Christ is the foundation stone of the church. Ephesians two beginning of verse 19, "You," he says, "are of God's household having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together is growing into a holy temple in the Lord in whom you are also being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit." Not only is Christ the foundation of the church, he is also the head of the church. Paul says this is well in Ephesians five beginning in verse 23, "Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Savior of the body," and we're all part of that body responding to its head. I want you to notice here Christ is the head of the church, not Peter. There's no apostolic succession here. There is no uninterrupted transmission of spiritual authority from the apostlesto successive popes and bishops as taught by the Roman Catholic Church. Beloved, Christ is the head of the church, not the Pope. Sometimes he's called the Holy Father and the Vicar of Christ. Those are names that only apply to God himself. The Pope, as you probably know, is a pro-sodomite Marxist socialist heretic. He manifests all of the qualities of the Antichrist. By the way, as a footnote, apostolic succession stemming from Peter was a heresy that was fought in the Protestant Reformation. You may remember John Haas, was burned at the stake in 1415 because he confronted the heresies of the Roman Catholic Church, especially the whole issue, that the Pope is not the head, it's Christ, who is the head of the church. This was reflected in the Westminster Confession of Faith that was written in 1646, by the great divines of that day, There we read, "There is no other head of the church, but the Lord Jesus Christ, nor can the Pope of Rome in any sense, be head thereof, but is that antichrist, that man of sin and son of perdition, that exalts himself in the church against Christ, and all that is called God."

So with that little introduction, what we are going to see here, in Mark's gospel, is Christ, the foundation and the head of his church, in the beginning stages of his public ministry, that's where Mark is taking us. Now remember, he has been coronated as the messianic king, at his baptism, he was anointed by the Holy Spirit. And then he was taken into the wilderness where he defeated Satan. And now he is going to exert his regal power, yet again, in building his kingdom. And we see this manifested in basically three categories that I hope will be helpful to you. We're going to see it manifested in his preaching of the Gospel, his kingdom, his calling, and his promise. So notice the text, verse 14, "Now after John had been taken into custody." And by the way, Mark will expand upon this later on in Mark chapter six; you will recall that Herod took him into custody and eventually had him beheaded. And all of this now is taking place about six months after Jesus baptism. So he says, "After John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God." Now a little background prior to this, Jesus had been ministering in Judea. He had cleansed the temple you read about this in John chapter two through four, and he had also journeyed into Samaria. There you have the story of the woman at the well and the Samaritans, many of them believed and came to faith in Christ. But Mark now is focusing his historical narrative on Jesus public ministry when he returned to Galilee after John's arrest. And I find it fascinating; the fact that Jesus would first exert his royal authority and power by launching his ministry in Galilee, is certainly a direct refutation and rejection of all of the apostasy that was going on, and the elite religious leaders in Jerusalem. So he first exerts his messianic power in building his kingdom through the preaching, number one of his gospel. Again, notice verse 14, "Jesus came into Galilee preaching the gospel of God." Now remember, both the Jews and the Romans, the Gentiles, understood the word gospel, "euaggelion", they understood it as meaning, "good news." The arrival the ascendancy of a coming king, the enthronement of a coming king. So they understood that. a coming King that would save the people and bring them peace and prosperity. So Jesus is building his case now in his public ministry by telling them, preaching the gospel, by telling them that he is the rightful monarch to be worshipped, not Caesar. And also by way of remembrance, he's writing primarily to Romans. In the first eight chapters, he's going to demonstrate how Jesus Christ is the indeed the Son of God, the most glorious of all kings and all of this is proven by his authoritative words and his miraculous deeds.

Now, I want to give you a little bit more context of what's going on here, because it's really fascinating. And to do that, I'm going to take you to Luke's Gospel, where he expands upon kind of what's going on here, where Mark has taken us. So in Luke chapter four, beginning in verse 14, we get some fascinating background. There we read, "And Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and news about Him spread through all the surrounding district. And He began teaching in their synagogues and was praised by all. And he came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as was his custom, he entered the synagogue on the Sabbath, and stood up to read. And the book of the prophet Isaiah was handed to Him. And he opened the book and found the place where it was written, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, gave it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on Him. And He began to say to them, 'Today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.'" Oh, my goodness, talk about throwing the cat in amongst the pigeons. In other words, he's claiming to be the Messiah. The text goes on to say, "And all were speaking well of Him and wondering at the gracious words, which were falling from His lips." In other words, they have seen all of the miracles that he had been doing, especially in Capernaum. "And they were saying, 'Is this not Joseph son?' And He said to them, 'No doubt, you will quote this proverb to Me, 'Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we heard was done at Capernaum do here in your hometown as well.'" So you see, he knew they were flabbergasted with what he had said, they knew that he had been performing these miracles. And now he's claiming to be the Messiah, and they're doubting him. And so here's what he says in verse 24. "And He said, 'Truly, I say to you, no prophet is welcome in his hometown. But I say to you in truth, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah. When the sky was shut up for three years and six months, when a great famine came over all the land; and yet Elijah was sent to none of them, but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them was cleansed but only Naaman the Syrian.'" You must understand this was a huge insult to those people in the synagogue. Jesus was not seeker sensitive in his presentation. You see, the widow of Zarephath and Naaman of Syria were both Gentiles. And he's telling them that Gentiles were recipients of God's grace, these Gentiles that are outcasts that you all utterly despise; but you must remember the context. Israel at that time was in a season of full-blown apostasy, and unbelief. So Jesus point was simply this, because of the apostasy in that day, because of their unbelief, God's sidestepped all of the widows and all of the lepers in Israel, and lavished His grace upon Gentiles. And what he is saying is basically, and here we go, again. Verse 28, "And all the people in the synagogue were filled with rage as they heard these things; and they got up and drove Him out of the city and led Him to the brow of the hill on which their city had been built in order to throw Him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, He went His way." In some supernatural way, he just evaded them. I don't know what he did. I don't know how he did it. But that's what happened. Now, that's the context here, of Mark's narrative.

So let's go back to Mark one, verse 14, "Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand.'" Now when he says the "time" in Greek, it's "kairos." This "time is fulfilled." It's a....he's referring now to a decisive moment in history. He saying, a decisive moment in history has now arrived, the fulfillment of all the prophecies in the Old Testament culminating in messianic deliverance, that time has now arrived. And then he says, "And the kingdom of God is at hand." And frankly, wherever he would be, the kingdom of God would be but now he's basically saying, Now, my reign in the hearts and lives of men is going to begin to manifest itself consistent with the kingdom promises of the Old Testament prophets, and so forth. And then he says, "Repent, and believe in the gospel." You see, Kingdom citizens cannot enter that kingdom apart from entering through the narrow gate of genuine repentance. Matthew seven, Jesus talks about that, and that's what he's preaching here. So Jesus now exerts his regal power, first, through the preaching of the gospel.

Secondly, through the preaching of the kingdom. We see that here in this text, I might add another text in Matthew four, verse 17, Matthew says, "From that time, Jesus began to preach and say, 'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" Now again, he was referring here to the kingdom proclaimed by the Old Testament prophets, which was an earthly kingdom under the Messiah with a restored Israel and blessings for all of the nations. You read this in Matthew 19:28, for example. So and of course, repentance was the key to be able to enter into the kingdom. Now remember, Messianic Kingdom expectations in the first century, were running extremely high. They were longing for and looking for the Messiah to come and free them from Rome. You will recall the angel Gabriel informed Mary in Luke one, that she would have a son, that he would be great and sit on the throne of his father David, he would rule over Israel forever. You remember Zachariah, the father of John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah, Zachariah prophesied that God was remembering the Abrahamic covenant and would deliver Israel from her enemies. You read about that in Luke 1:72 through 74. In Jerusalem also the Holy Spirit had come upon the righteous Simeon, you remember that? And he, it says "was waiting for the consolation of Israel," Luke 2:25. Moreover, the prophetess Anna was one of several, quote "who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem", Luke 2:38. So the expectations are running high here. And what you have is John the Baptist coming. And now Jesus coming and proclaiming the same message, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Now, by way of clarification, the kingdom of God is the primary theme of Scripture, the center of gravity around which all other themes providentially orbit and in bringing glory to the King of kings in the Lord of lords. And there are essentially three aspects of the kingdom of God there is a universal kingdom, there is a mediatorial kingdom and there is a spiritual kingdom. God's universal kingdom can be defined as God's eternal and sovereign rule over all that exists. We read about this, for example, in Psalm 145, verse 13, and David's great song of Majesty and love, he says, "Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations." So he's speaking of the universal kingdom, many other passages proclaim the same thing. But Scripture also affirms another aspect of God's universal kingdom. And that is a mediatorial kingdom that can be defined as God's sovereign rule over the earth through divinely chosen human representatives that speak on his behalf, and who represent the people before him. And here, God exercises absolute authority in his invisible kingdom on earth through the agency of divinely chosen men. And there were a number of them throughout scripture. But in addition to the universal and mediatorial kingdom, aspects of God's Kingdom program, Scripture also reveals a spiritual kingdom that can be defined as the invisible kingdom that exists only in the hearts of those who have trusted in Christ as their Savior and King. Now, this aspect of the kingdom came after Israel rejected their Messiah. While the kingdom of God can have spiritual requirements and characteristics, I might also add that this does not rule out the land and physical prosperity promises that are also included in the Abrahamic and Davidic covenants as well as the New Covenant.

Now, the early chapters of the gospel, are replete with proclamations concerning the nearness of the kingdom, because the son of David has appeared and his regal credentials now were substantiated throughout these gospels, through his widespread miracles, and they were accepted by both Jesus and his apostles, but Israel rejected her Messiah, as we know, and these proclamations gave way to a new emphasis, and that is the emphasis on the cross. And discussions concerning the kingdom became now more future oriented, looking towards what was originally at hand and near, now they're looking towards something more distant, an earthly kingdom that would come later on, but here in Mark, we see God restoring his mediatorial kingdom on earth. And this I might also add, is very consistent with the four eternal and unconditional covenants that we have in Scripture. You have the Noahic Covenant, you have the Abrahamic covenant, you have the Davidic Covenant, and you have the new covenant. And together they all pointed to Jesus, the Noahic Covenant, in other words, the covenant that God made to Noah that we read about in Genesis eight is where God promised us the stability in nature, which would provide all of the necessary stability for his promises to come to fruition upon the earth. And then in the Abrahamic covenant, in Genesis 12, which was made about 500 years after the flood, we see that God in his uninfluenced elective love, set that love upon a particular ethnic group of people, the Jews later called Israel. And in that Abrahamic covenant, you have a unilateral, unconditional, irreversible covenant that God made to Abraham that would further orchestrate His sovereign plan to redeem the people and to ultimately restore the kingdom and that covenant is found, as I said, in Genesis 12. It contains essentially four elements, that out of Abraham would come, first of all, a seed referring to Christ, who would be both the Redeemer and the king, he would be both the lamb as well as the lion. But it also contained promises concerning land, a specific territory, that God would set apart for his people; a place where he would one day dwell with them, in in holy and intimate communion. It also included the promise of a nation where Abraham's magnificent reputation and legacy would be displayed materially and spiritually and socially, and the glory of God's grace would be put on display for all of the world to see. And then finally, a promise of divine blessing and protection, that God would curse those that curse you and bless those who bless you. So that's the Abrahamic covenant. And then you have the Davidic Covenant in Second Samuel seven, verses 12 through 19. And there God linked the role of David and his descendants with the establishment of God's earthly kingdom, which would bless both Israel and all of the Gentiles. That's the one that we are waiting for now. And then, of course, the new covenant that we see delineated in Jeremiah 31 and Ezekiel 37. There, God revealed his plans to be, to enable his people to love and serve him from their heart, not just externally but from their heart, and to be able to worship them with a new heart through the power of the indwelling Spirit.

So all of this is the background here. And so what we have is Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, verse 15, now, "'and saying, the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel.'" Now it's time for all of these covenant promises to begin to be fulfilled. And of course, those who repent and believe in the gospel are immediately transferred out of the domain of darkness and into the realm that is ruled by the Son of God; Colossians one and verse 13. And of course, today we will await for the return of our glorious Savior and King and when He comes, He will establish His earthly kingdom for 1000 years, but for now, we remain in this invisible, spiritual kingdom. So he commands everyone notice to "Repent, and believe in the gospel." My what a simple and yet profound invitation. I want you to repent and believe in the gospel. And of course, to repent means to essentially change your mind, change your direction, change your purpose, turn and go in a different direction. Repentance is not reformation. It is not just a a resolution to somehow do better to turn over a new leaf. Moreover, repentance is not contrition. It's not merely feeling sorry for sin and all of its results. But true repentance is a god induced hatred of sin. It is a turning from sin. And it is a Spirit empowered forsaking of sin resulting in a turning from God. True repentance is a reality in the heart of a believer that is so powerful that it grips the soul, it grips a person's heart, it causes them to fear God more than anything else and cause them to hate sin more than hell itself. That's what repentance is all about. And I trust all of you have repented and come to faith in Christ. And in your loathing over sin, true repentance desperately embraces the truth of the gospel as the only hope of one salvation, knowing that there is no other way you can be saved, then to trust in Christ. And then on that basis, by the power of the Spirit, you're able to decisively commit yourself, to deny yourself and follow Christ, regardless of the cost. So that's what he means when he says, "Repent," but it's not only repent, it's also "and believe;" they go together. And believing is not merely having a basic understanding of the truth of who Jesus is. It's not merely knowing the truth about Christ. I mean, Judas was convinced that Jesus was the Christ, Matthew 27, verses three through five. In fact, in James two and verse 19, we read that the demons even believe in Jesus and they shudder. So it's something much more than that. You see true belief is saving faith. It moves beyond basic knowledge it moves beyond just mental assent to the truth about Christ. And it comes to personally trusting in Christ, and depending upon Christ, for salvation for the forgiveness of sins, for reconciliation to Holy God. So in other words, belief and faith beginswith knowledge. It begins with a cent, but it goes much further. true belief will animate a person's heart to be utterly reliant upon Christ as their only means of salvation. That's what it is to repent and believe. John Murray insightfully said this, quote, "Faith is knowledge passing into conviction, and it is conviction passing into confidence. Faith cannot stop short of self-commitment to Christ, a transference of reliance upon ourselves and all human resources to reliance upon Christ alone for salvation. It is a receiving and resting upon him." And sadly, I fear this message is missing in modern evangelicalism today.

I was recently asked to listen to a prophecy expert, quote, unquote, whenever I hear this, I'm always a little boy, I wonder what this is going to be like. A prophecy expert that was being interviewed, and I can tell real quick he was a prosperity preacher. And he quoted all kinds of Scripture, and he linked all kinds of prophecies with things that's happening today in America. I mean, it was, it was really incredible. He linked for example, Rosh Hoshannah, which in Hebrew is the start of the year, with Isaiah 61, the day of God's vengeance, that’s speakingabout the second coming of Christ, but he's talking about all that's happening now. And all of this is going to happen between now and June 21. And he tried to prove from scripture that Trump is going to come back into power that Babylon is going to fall and the deep state is going to fall and the arrival of the kingdom is coming. And we're all going to be wealthy. And, you know, some of those things may I mean, Trump may come back into power. I don't know if some of those things may be true. But Scripture is not telling us that. But he's, he's getting it to say that. That's the idea. And he linked historical dates and events to predict the future. I had the laugh, he was talking about this, the Kentucky Derby winner, Rich Strike. Remember that horse, Rich Strike, that came from behind? And well, that's a sign of what's going to happen now in 2022. You know, in the end, the interviewer is going Oh, wow, wow, really, like I never made that connection. And there are 1000s of people who I'm sure are saying the same type of thing. He talks about Leviticus 25:10, and the 50th year of Jubilee and now this is the year of Jubilee, because 50 years ago, was when Roe v. Wade was put into place, and now it's going away. Moreover, 50 years ago, Nixon took office and took us off the gold standard. And that was also the year that Charles Schwab started the World Economic Forum. Oh, wow. And, you know, it's just this type. By the way, false teachers do this all the time. They take dates and events and try to link them together. He's basically saying that Babylon must fall by an act of God before wealth can be unleashed upon the world. And again, all of this is pure fantasy. It's sensationalism. There's not a shred of biblical evidence to support those claims. He’s so mixed up, I mean, I lost brain cells listening to it, I had to quit. And I'm sure he's just an unwitting charlatan. But he's ginning up all kinds of excitement, gaining a big following, claiming promises God never made. And where am I going with this? Why don't you just stop and preach Christ and Him crucified? Repent and believe in the gospel. I never once, believe me, Iwanted to help some of these people that asked me to listen to this. So I listened to almost the whole hour. Not once did he mention the word gospel. Not once did he mention the plan of salvation, not one single time. It was all about, here's what's going to happen to make you have your best life now. So it's all about you and your needs, not God and his glory. And that's so typical. But why not preach "Repent and believe in the gospel," like Jesus did to the men on the road to Emmaus, beginning with Moses and the prophets. He preached the whole counselof God. Let's just stick with preaching the Word.

And that's what we see here in the text. Jesus exerting his regal power in preaching the gospel, preaching about the Kingdom. But thirdly, we see his power exerted, as well, in his calling. And this is a fascinating reality. Notice verse 16, "As He was going along by the Sea of Galilee." Now let me stop there for a moment. The Sea of Galilee is one of the most stunningly beautiful freshwater lakes in all the world. It's about 690 feet below sea level, it's about 13 miles long, seven miles wide at its widest expanse, and its Old Testament name was to Sea of Chinnereth or Gennesaret, in Greek, which was a form of the Hebrew word "kinnor", which means harp or lyre. And it's because the Sea of Galilee is shaped like a harp or a lyre. It was also known as the Sea of Tiberius. You read about this in John six and, and John 21, because the city of Tiberius that was founded by Herod Antipas, in AD 18, was located at its western shore. It's a beautiful city. I've been there, by the way, the shepherd's fire audio library that you're familiar with, that contains all of the things that we put on there, including the Bible, that audio library is in a solar powered unit, an audio player made by mega voice, and it is manufactured in Tiberius. All right, so this is still a beautiful place.

So this is where he was, "As he was going along by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon, and Andrew, the brother of Simon, casting a net in the sea; for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me and I will make you fishers of men.' And immediately they left their nets and followed Him." That is an astounding statement. Now, first of all, let's talk about the nets for a minute, you young people in particular might be interested in this, what they would do is they would have a net that was about 20 feet in diameter, had little lead weights around the perimeter and had a rope through the perimeter. And they would take that and they would throw it over their shoulder in such a way as that net would spread out. And it would fall on the water. And those weights would cause it to go down. And once it was down, the fishermen would dive in, go and get the rope and then pull on it and kind of tighten it up and then bring that rope up to the boat, tie it off and then they would take the boat and drag it in and hopefully there'd be a bunch of fish in it. So that's what they were repairing. Verse 19, it says that,"Going a little farther, He saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were also in the boat mending the nets." These you will recall were the "Sons of Thunder", you'll read about them in chapter three, verse 17. These were the guys that wanted to call down fire from heaven to destroy a village that refused to welcome them in Luke nine. Boy, I wish I had that power. I'd sure smoke a lot of cities, you know. But so these guys weren't wilting lilies, believe me, but he calls them as well. And we read that in verse 20, "Immediately He called them and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went away to follow Him." So this was quite a large fishing enterprise that was going on here.

Now, folks, what I want you to see here is, this is the power of God; to move upon people's hearts, and to cause them to do this, to not only transform the heart, to believe in Christ, and to begin to love what God loves and hate what he hates, but then to voluntarily choose to follow him. This is a miraculous thing. And here we see God's sovereignty on display. You will recall what we read earlier in our scripture reading in John 15, verse 16, Jesus said, "You did not choose me but I chose you and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name he may give to you." You see folks, election is not about privilege, it's about purpose. God calls us unto himself for a purpose and that is to bear fruit. Bear the fruit of of godly attitudes, godly actions, righteous behavior of praise, leading others to faith in Christ. The doctrine of sovereign election is such a humbling truth. And I have to say had God not chosen me I would have never chosen him nor would you. In Ephesians, one, beginning of verse three, we read, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. Just as H chose us, in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the beloved." And the amazing thing is, dear friends, those that he has elected by his grace, those that he calls unto himself, he empowers to become his disciples, that they might bear much fruit and therefore, be able to face the opposition of the enemy. And for these men, that opposition would come primarily from the religious leaders in Jerusalem.

Now, we also know from John one, verses 35 through 42, that Jesus was already acquainted with Simon Peter, and Andrew as well, as we know from other passages there with Philip and Nathaniel, they had previously made contact, they had investigated Jesus. So it wasn't like he was just coming out of the blue and says, Hey, guys, you know, follow me and I'll make you fishers of men. They knew who he was, and he had a reputation all over the place for the miracles he was doing. And so what we have here now, several months later, from those encounters, Jesus pursues them. And I want you to understand that, that this is an imperative, he is commanding them to make a career change to become fishers of men rather than fishers of fish. You know, when your king gives a command, you gladly obey, right? You are honored to be able to do so and you do it with great joy.

I might add that later on in Mark eight. Mark will expand upon what it means to follow Jesus in spiritual terms. And there he quotes the Lord Himself in Mark 8:34. Let me just read this to you. He says, Jesus "summoned the crowd with His disciples, and said to them, 'If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for My sake, in the gospel's sake, will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what will a man give in exchange for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of Him, when He comes in the glory of His Father, with the holy angels.'" Dear friend, he has commanded all of us to follow him, spiritually. Do you? When Jesus said follow me, again, it's a present imperative. He's basically saying, Keep on following me from now on in your life, for the rest of your life. You see, following Christ is a decisive commitment for the long haul. It's for the rest of your life. It's not some momentary, well, I'm going to make a decision for Christ and repeat some sinners prayer, and then I'm good to go. Now I'll go live for myself. No, no, no, no, no, no. You know, if that's you, you have no basis to say you have genuinely been born again. You need to be very careful with that, that's a grave deception. But to follow implies continuity. It is a purposeful, lifelong commitment to move towards a future goal with the Lord Jesus Christ. To follow Christ is something far beyond some momentary decision. It requires lifelong self-denial, self-sacrifice, self-submission. Too many people come to Christ for what he can give them. They come to Christ for self-fulfillment. They come to Christ for self-actualization. I'll put Jesus on my team so he can help me out, that's the idea. Yeah, I'll believe in Jesus so he can be my life coach, so he can help me become successful; he can give me the financial insights that I need to make my life really happy. He can be my spiritual bail bondsman when I get into jam because after all, Jesus exists for me, I don't exist for him. That's the mentality. Over the years counseling so many people whose lives are in an absolute mess, and you just see one, stupid, sinful choice after another, and they're in misery, you see that they're committed to personal pleasure. They're committed to the riches of this world. They're committed to success and happiness. They live for themselves, they don't live for Christ. And without fail, somehow, somewhere in the initial parts of my conversations with them, I will say, you know, let's set this all of this stuff aside for a minute, what I'd like to ask you is, "Tell me about your walk with Christ. Tell me about your walk with Christ." And many times, it's kind of like, Hmm, what does that have to do with all of this? And that's exactly the point. And many times I will say, "you know, Jesus said, He wants us to follow him. He wants us to be fishers of men and so forth. I'm curious, do you follow Jesus? And if so, how do you follow Jesus? Can you tell me about that?" And typically, the answers are all very external. Well, I, you know, I believe in him, and I go to church, that's always the bill. But that's the mark right there. If you go to church, you're good to go. I even give some money. I do a lot of these basic things. But in reality, what you find is they, they have no real love for Christ. Self is the center of gravity around which everything orbits including Jesus, and he's somewhere out here, orbiting, and then when they really need him, they call in for help. I'll ask them, I'm curious. You say you're a Christian? You say you're following Christ? Well, if so, one of the main things that that includes is you will be a fisher of men. In other words, you'll have a burden for oil for the loss. I'm curious. Do you have a burden for the loss? Can you tell me about that for a minute? And once again, you'll get this blank stare. I've seen it 1000 times, it's like people don't know what to say. I'll expand on a little bit more. Do you have anyone that you're burdened for right now that you would love to see come to saving faith? Well, yeah, I do. Are you praying for them? too? Do you have some kind of a strategy that you're putting forth, to somehow move into their life in such a way as to be able to present the gospel? Is that a burden of your heart? Is that a longing of your heart? Does that keep you up at night? What about your children? You say you follow Christ. This is evidence of that. Dear friends, following Christ means that you are going to be committed to the Great Commission. And what did Jesus commission us to do? Go and make disciples. Not just evangelize but teach them to obey all that I have commanded. There's discipleship. If you're following Christ, that's going to be the center of gravity around which everything else orbits. It's a willingness to sacrifice personal comfort and temporal riches and even family relationships, if necessary, to serve Christ and become more like Him. That's what Jesus asked him to do. That's what he asked us to do. Paul summarized the very heart of this in Philippians three, remember in verse seven, he says, "But whatever things were gained to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that, I count all things to be lost in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ." Now, may I speak to some of you young men have got a lot of you here. Some of you young men may be called to follow Christ vocationally. That's a wonderful thing. I've written on this extensively in my book, "Seven Key Principles for Effective Ministry". I've got a whole chapter on calling. Let me just remind you there at least five tests of divine calling to vocational ministry. First of all, you must have a longing to know and serve Christ. Secondly, there must be a sense of urgency to preach the gospel. Thirdly, there must be a pervasive feeling of inadequacy. Fourthly, there must be a burden to shepherd the flock. And then finally, there must be a public confirmation of spiritual gifts, character and abilities. And young men if these characteristics, do not describe your heart, do not enter the ministry. Do not enter the ministry. You will never survive the onslaughts of the enemy, believe me. Nor will your children, nor will your wife, you must understand that as a pastor, you are a high value target of the enemy, and your temptations, your sorrows, your sufferings will be far greater than anybody else.

Excuse me (emotional)

Let me put it this way. If your pride if your pride doesn't destroy you, something else will. And even if you're able to control your lusts, and you never compromise doctrinally, if God has not called you, you will never survive. I'm sorry. Let me capture myself here. Spurgeon put it this way, "Do not enter the ministry, if you can help it." Pretty well says it all, doesn't it? He went on to say, "If any student in this room could be content, to be a newspaper editor, or a grocer, or a farmer or a doctor or lawyer or a senator or a king, in the name of heaven and earth, let him go his way. He is not the man in whom dwells the Spirit of God, in its fullness. For a man so filled with God would utterly weary of any pursuit but that for which is in most soul pants. Now, if this is you, then you need to follow Jesus in vocational ministry. But if it is not, I'm warning you, don't do it. And if you do, if God has truly called you there, then you will be able to sing with Isaac Watts, "Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were present far too small, love so amazing, so divine, demands my life, my soul, my life, my all."

Now, I want you to look in closing, here's what he says, "'Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." Not you will be fishers of men, but "I will make you." You see there has to be divine training here. It's interesting that the apostle Paul, after his conversion was taken into the wilderness for three years and trained by the Lord Himself. This is where we see the final aspect of his regal authority being exercised and that is in his promise. "Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men." Dear friends, do you ever stop to think, do you ever consider what he can make of you? Do you ever consider that? Imagine a world filled with godly mothers and godly fathers and godly businessman. Godly plumbers, godly electricians, godly lawyers, godly policemen, godly teachers and scientists. Oh, what an amazing thing it is to enjoy the tutelage of the Most High as you submit to the Lordship of Christ in your life. You say, well, I'm not sure what, what I can do. Okay, that's fine, you know, for a long time I couldn't. I didn't have any idea what God wanted me to do. I had over 200 hours in undergraduate studies trying to figure out what I was going to do. And then gradually the Lord began to move me. But folks let me put it to you this way. You give yourself completely to the Lordship of Christ, and you just watch what he will do. You begin serving Him in your heart, and your own personal private pursuit of holiness. And then as he brings other things into your life, that's obvious, then you begin moving towards them. And then those little things you be honest and you function with integrity, and you commit yourself to honoring Christ in those little things and it will become obvious to you where he wants you. For some it might be vocational ministry, and as I say, if those tests aren't there, then whatever you do, don't do that. But for all of us, it's something because we've all been gifted, we're all part of the body of Christ. And when we make that kind of commitment, then we can sing, "Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord, to thee, take my moments and my days, let them flow in ceaseless praise. Let them flow in ceaseless praise." Let's pray together. Father, thank you for the amazing truths that are part of your word. And thank you for the way they speak to our hearts. I pray that what we have examined here today will move each of us to a whole new level of commitment, that we might enjoy the fullness of our salvation of what it really means to be in Christ, but Lord also, that we might follow you in such a way as to truly become fishers of men, that we might have a burden for the last and bring the gospel to them that they might see it in our lives and hear it in our voice. And then as they come to faith in you that we might disciple them, so that you can receive all the more glory and we can enjoy all the more goodness and grace as a result of it all. And Lord, if there be one here today that does not know you as Savior, I pray that you will break their heart with the horror of their sin and bring them to the foot of the cross and cause them to repent and believe in the gospel. For it's in Christ's name that I pray. Amen.