Latest / Admonition Podcast / Mark 6 (Lesson 4) - Aaron Cozort - 07-16-2025
Transcript
- 0:00Bibles, if you will, and open them to the book of Mark.
- 0:03As we continue our study of the book of Mark, we are in chapter 6.
- 0:22And we got down to ah around verse 45 as we concluded our study a couple of weeks ago, the last time we were here in the Book of Mark on Wednesday night.
- 0:36So we'll be picking up in Mark chapter six, verse 45, after a word of prayer.
- 0:41But let's bow our head.
- 0:44Our gracious Lord, Father, giver of all good and perfect gifts.
- 0:50We're grateful for your blessings, for your love and your kindness, for the sunshine that you provide, the rain that nourishes the ground, for the patterns and the cycles in this
- 1:00planet that give life to all who are in it and are upheld by the word of your power.
- 1:07Lord, we pray that you will be with nations and leaders throughout those nations.
- 1:13We pray for those who lead cities and counties and states.
- 1:18pray that they will make choices that do not hold back the furtherance and the spread of the gospel, but rather will make decisions that provide doors of opportunity.
- 1:30We pray for boldness in the body of Christ that we might be bold to step up and to use those open doors of opportunity to preach the gospel, to reach the lost with the truth.
- 1:41They might know both who you are and what you have done to provide salvation on this earth.
- 1:48and provide a home and an eternity in heaven.
- 1:52Lord, we are grateful above all your other gifts for your Son who came and died on the cross for our sins that we might have the hope of eternal life.
- 2:01And we pray that we might diligently seek Him, that we might be bold to stand before your throne to seek grace and help in time of need.
- 2:12And Lord, we pray that we might all be an encouragement and a
- 2:16a comfort to those who struggle on a daily basis.
- 2:20All this we pray and ask in Jesus' name, amen.
- 2:25In Mark chapter 6, after Jesus feeds the 5,000 men who are present on that occasion, Jesus will cross the Sea of Galilee, and you have the events recorded.
- 2:44And one of the things, you know, we started this study in Mark quite some time ago, and it was on Sunday nights, and we've picked it up uh here in this Wednesday night class.
- 2:55One of the characteristics you see of Mark is his emphasis on what Jesus did and how he did it in terms of the rapidness in which he accomplished the work that he did.
- 3:12He emphasizes that with the term immediately.
- 3:16uh All throughout the book of Mark you see immediately, immediately, immediately.
- 3:24Mark emphasizes that Jesus did the work that He accomplished in a very short span of time.
- 3:35He did it in three and a half years.
- 3:38If you think about, uh just by way of comparison, uh Eddie and I have now been here, and we're in our eighth year.
- 3:49Jesus' entire ministry was in three and a half years.
- 3:56And Mark is emphasizing that Jesus didn't waste any time.
- 4:03Jesus didn't delay anything that He did.
- 4:07He was focused on a very specific goal, and He pushed towards that goal on a continual basis.
- 4:18But it also meant that Jesus quickly would go from one place
- 4:25to another place.
- 4:26Jesus didn't spend three and a half years in one city.
- 4:29Jesus would go and, as we noticed in the earlier text, earlier on in chapter 6, that Jesus would send His disciples ahead of Him.
- 4:38He didn't want to start from zero when He arrived in a village or in a town in Judea or in Galilee.
- 4:46He wanted His disciples to have already been there, to have already started the ministry, to have already started the evangelism, and when
- 4:54he arrived, there was already a nucleus of people waiting to hear him.
- 5:01And so he used not only his efforts, but the efforts of others to accelerate the work that he did.
- 5:10But we notice this text in verse 45, immediately he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida.
- 5:21Jesus says,
- 5:23to the disciples, you get in the ship and you go across.
- 5:26Now that would have left Jesus with who?
- 5:31The crowd, the multitudes.
- 5:34They would have been present, they were there, they had eaten from this food, and as the crowd was known to do, they would just stay wherever Jesus was.
- 5:47Quite often at night, what would they bring to Jesus, or who would they bring to Jesus?
- 5:53the sick, those who are lame, those who were ah in need of healing, they would bring those individuals to Jesus at nighttime.
- 6:02uh Quite often, think about it reasonably, these people would, some of whom would have had jobs, would have had occupations, and so there would almost likely have been a new group
- 6:13of people arriving come nighttime.
- 6:17So Jesus is going to send his disciples across the Sea of Galilee to Bethsaida.
- 6:23And while he sent the multitude away, he went uh and, sorry, and, I'm gonna get my words out in just a moment here.
- 6:31All right, so he made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, to Bethsaida, while he sent the multitude away.
- 6:40And when he had sent them away, he departed to the mountain to pray.
- 6:47Jesus sought time away from people
- 6:52to pray.
- 6:53We see this occur numerous times in the record of Jesus' life, where Jesus will get up early before its daybreak and leave his disciples and leave the others to go find a place
- 7:06apart from others to pray.
- 7:09Why would Jesus do that?
- 7:10I'm not asking for necessarily a biblical text, I'm asking for your thoughts on why Jesus would do that.
- 7:18All right?
- 7:20Interruptions.
- 7:23Ask any mother how easy it is to get anything done if you're constantly being interrupted.
- 7:29There's one over here who's getting very acquainted with that.
- 7:35You don't get much of anything accomplished if you're constantly being interrupted.
- 7:39Ask any boss who's got enough employees under them what it's like to try and get anything accomplished.
- 7:45Every single time you sit down to do something, somebody walks in and says, hey, I need help with X.
- 7:53Jesus had that times infinity because he had people who were clamoring to come to him to be healed, be taught, to be fed, all of these things going on and every city he went to,
- 8:11what was waiting for him?
- 8:15multitudes of people.
- 8:19So Jesus sends the disciples away, Jesus sends the multitudes away, Jesus goes into the mountain to pray.
- 8:31Why send the disciples away?
- 8:40Okay?
- 8:41Partly, you've got, they're going to cross by boat, okay?
- 8:48Likely, this was a boat that belonged to one of the disciples, or may have been one of the fishing boats that belonged to uh James and John's.
- 8:58uh
- 8:59parents uh or to Simon and Andrew.
- 9:02So this may have been part of their possession, therefore they needed to make sure it got to the next place.
- 9:08This is their mode of transportation.
- 9:09So the boat needed to go.
- 9:12But is it also the case that sometimes even those who are closest to you, those who are learning from you, those who are your direct students, you need a separation from them to
- 9:25pray?
- 9:26to have time to focus on what you need to do.
- 9:31It's not just the multitudes that Jesus separates himself from.
- 9:35He also separates himself from the disciples.
- 9:40One of the things that you realize, there was a lectureship at Memphis, oh I don't know what year it was, probably 2009 or 10.
- 9:54Whatever year they had the theme, what is man?
- 9:57And uh in that particular lectureship, Brother Keith Mosier did a night lesson, I think it was an afternoon lesson, on the faith stages of man.
- 10:09And that lesson is always stuck with me.
- 10:14And it emphasizes the fact that as we...
- 10:17understand how we understand things, as we understand how we believe things, that there are different stages that people are at in belief, and they tend to go through those
- 10:30cycles or through those stages of belief in a rather normal set of processes.
- 10:37They develop from one stage to another stage, not in the strength of their belief, but in how they understand and actuate their belief into their lives.
- 10:50And there's different stages people are at, and quite often, people get stuck at a stage.
- 10:58They get stuck at a stage they never really quite get past.
- 11:02In a lot of cultures, in a lot of places, in a lot of congregations.
- 11:06A lot of people are stuck in the same stage of belief that they were in as teenagers.
- 11:14If you ever see a congregation where people tend to just go with a crowd, whatever's popular among the congregation, that's just what they go with.
- 11:26They're at a stage in their belief where they can't stand on their own.
- 11:30They can't actually determine what is right and wrong and do what
- 11:35is right no matter what anyone else does.
- 11:38They're looking to those around them to determine what is right so they can go with that.
- 11:46Which is how whole congregations go off into apostasy, is they're not building their faith on what they know to be true and what the scripture says, they're building their faith on
- 11:56what the group is doing.
- 12:01It's why cliques exist in high school.
- 12:04and continue to exist in work and continue to exist throughout most people's adult lives.
- 12:11Interestingly, the psychology and the background study that has studied this emphasizes that most people never move out of that until they go through a crisis.
- 12:24It is a crisis in life that moves them out of
- 12:30be allowing themselves to be driven by whatever everyone else does.
- 12:36And then there are a few people who they proceed through that actually quite quickly because of their characteristics, because of their personalities.
- 12:45And then there's some people who just, never leave that stage.
- 12:48That's where they are their entire life.
- 12:51But as you consider that, the difficulty is when someone who's teaching
- 12:58is at a higher stage of belief.
- 13:00They understand and actuate on their belief at a much different level than the people who are constantly surrounding them.
- 13:10And it's a burden not only to deal with what they know needs to happen, but with the failure of these people to move beyond the stage they're at.
- 13:20When you notice the transition, because by the way, it's very obvious in Scripture when the disciples transitioned,
- 13:27from the stage of belief where they did everything that everyone else was doing and when they moved beyond that.
- 13:37Can anybody identify what event occurred, what crisis occurred that moved them out of that stage and into the next stage?
- 13:51the crucifixion and the resurrection.
- 13:55Look at the disciples before that.
- 13:58Just days before, they're sitting in the upper room arguing about who will be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.
- 14:08Just days after, actually before I moved to the just days after, just days before.
- 14:19They're leaving and departing when Jesus is arrested.
- 14:24There's only one of the disciples that stays with Jesus through the entirety of that period of time where he is on trial.
- 14:34Who is it?
- 14:36it's not Peter, it's John.
- 14:41Peter stays with Jesus until he is at the chief priests abode, but then Peter denies him and Peter leaves and grieves, and yet John, you see in the text, if you pay attention,
- 14:59John is not only present throughout, John is standing at the foot of the cross with Mary.
- 15:07John noticeably is described as the disciple whom Jesus loved, and it doesn't seem to be that he was that because Jesus just kind of liked his personality better.
- 15:24John was at a different level than the other disciples were.
- 15:29John had conversations with Jesus that the other disciples did not.
- 15:34Peter was the leader in that he was the one to take action first, but John was at a position above, not in authority, but in how he understood what was going on and the
- 15:51strength of his faith.
- 15:53was different than all the other disciples.
- 15:57And you see that in the text if you pay attention to those glimpses of statements about what John is doing versus what others are doing.
- 16:05And he's also, by the way, the disciple who writes a record of Jesus' life and won't even mention his own name.
- 16:13So, all of that to point out, Jesus not only separates Himself from the crowd, He separates Himself from the disciples to pray.
- 16:24Because there's times when leaders, when elders, when ministers, when those who are trying to guide mission works need to get away from even their helpers.
- 16:38to spend time focusing on their faith, their life, their spirituality, and their mission.
- 16:48So Jesus goes into the mountain to pray.
- 16:53Now when evening came, the boat was in the middle of the sea, and he was alone on the land.
- 17:01Then he saw them straining at rowing, for the wind was against them.
- 17:07One of the things that's characteristic of the Sea of Galilee is it's not very big, but storms, because of the nature of the topography around it, it's kind of in a well.
- 17:22There's mountains around it, and the wind will come in off the Mediterranean Sea, and it will spin up a storm in the Sea of Galilee very quickly.
- 17:33So they have gotten...
- 17:36into the midst of the sea, going across the sea, and now they're stuck because they're trying to get to the other side, but they're rowing and they're rowing and they're making
- 17:44no progress because the winds are blowing against them now that they're in the midst of the sea.
- 17:52And so Jesus observes this and we read, about the fourth watch of the night, he came to them walking on the sea and would have passed by them.
- 18:06That's a statement that maybe we don't often stop and consider.
- 18:15Here they are in a boat.
- 18:1912 men rowing.
- 18:23And there's Jesus by himself.
- 18:27Are they making any progress?
- 18:32Is he?
- 18:38Take a moment and consider why is that?
- 18:43Just start with the physics of it.
- 18:45Why is he making progress and they're not?
- 18:52He's walking on the water.
- 18:56Aren't they floating on the water?
- 19:01Okay, he's in charge of the- I'll grant you that one.
- 19:07All right.
- 19:09Are they trying to move just themselves?
- 19:14or are they trying to move a boat too?
- 19:17They're trying to move a boat.
- 19:20It's not their own bodies that are keeping them from making progress.
- 19:27It is the weight and it is the uh impact of the wind on the boat.
- 19:37know, sometimes we take some, yeah, go ahead.
- 19:43hit it from the same which is on the north east corner and that would mean that the winds are coming from the northeast which is very unusual in that part of the world correct
- 19:57everything typically just like here most of their storms over on the Mediterranean came over the mountain range and up don't see a gap correct
- 20:11So yes, this would be very uncommon for the wind to be blowing the other direction.
- 20:19just straight across, I understand the geography of it, well south of the.
- 20:25They got tired of rowing and went straight to shore.
- 20:30So they're headed the direction, they're making no progress, Jesus begins at shore facing the same wind, and he's passing them, and would have passed by them entirely.
- 20:48Jesus is moving Himself.
- 20:54They are trying to move the boat.
- 20:58They're failing, he's succeeding.
- 21:01Now, would they have failed entirely without the boat they were in?
- 21:07If they were in the middle of the sea, on their own power alone, would they have failed entirely without the boat?
- 21:15Yes.
- 21:17But what was keeping them from making any progress?
- 21:22The boat.
- 21:24Well, take this just a moment and get a metaphor out of it.
- 21:30Sometimes the thing that holds back an evangelistic work is the weight of a congregation.
- 21:41Sometimes the fact that you need everybody to work is the thing that keeps any progress from going because of the weight of the entire body needing to work together.
- 21:56Why is it that Paul emphasizes so often in his writings that the body is supposed to work as a unit?
- 22:06that everybody can't be the mouth, everybody can't be the eyes, everybody can't be the ears because we all have a part to play if the body's going to function properly.
- 22:18But what happens if the eyes aren't working?
- 22:23You're have some problems.
- 22:25What happens if the hearing's not working?
- 22:27Going to have some problems.
- 22:30What happens if there is no mouth?
- 22:34Going have some problems.
- 22:35What happens if there are no feet?
- 22:37No hands.
- 22:38Okay, if you lose the integral parts of the body, you will not make progress.
- 22:48God did not give us a plan whereby a single person came onto the planet and converted everyone.
- 23:01Or that the church continues to exist by the force of personality of one Christian.
- 23:11God didn't give us a plan whereby we could go it alone.
- 23:18there are going to be times in your Christian life, and maybe have been already, where you're like, you know what, if it weren't for the congregation, Christianity would be
- 23:28great!
- 23:32I know that's been true about every job I've ever been in.
- 23:35We said when I was 18 years old working in grocery store, somebody would say, hey, how's the grocery business?
- 23:41If it weren't for the customers, it'd be great.
- 23:45Talk to some bankers.
- 23:46They said, yeah, we've concluded that if it weren't for the clientele, we'd really enjoy banking.
- 23:54You want to talk to some people who really appreciate that, go to IT support.
- 23:59If it weren't for the users.
- 24:02We love this job.
- 24:04Except none of it would work if you didn't have it.
- 24:10You wouldn't have a job.
- 24:13Now when it comes to Christianity, if someone says, you know what, I don't need the church, I'm just going to go it alone.
- 24:22you're going to because you are now not following God's plan.
- 24:30And you know, the only thing harder than making the boat go across the ocean or across the Sea of Galilee would have been for them to go against God's instructions.
- 24:53What if Jesus had told them to go to Bethsaida?
- 24:55And they said, you know what?
- 25:00Kind of just prefer the other direction, because that's where the wind's blowing.
- 25:06just assume go where the wind's blowing and go with the flow, then do what Jesus said.
- 25:15So here we find another lesson.
- 25:18You know, Paul in Ephesians 4 will tell those Christians that the
- 25:24revelation and the work of the elders, teachers, preachers, apostles, and prophets was so that the Christians wouldn't be tossed to and fro by every wind of doctrine.
- 25:42Guess what?
- 25:42It's really easy to put up the sail and go wherever the wind's going.
- 25:50It's a whole lot harder when you've been given instructions to go the other direction.
- 25:57And so here they are.
- 25:58They're working, working, working, striving to fulfill the command.
- 26:07final lesson from this.
- 26:10They're striving to fulfill the command on whose own power.
- 26:18their own.
- 26:20They're striving to do what Jesus told them to do with their own abilities.
- 26:29Are they succeeding?
- 26:33No.
- 26:35They're out in the middle.
- 26:39Absolutely.
- 26:41They were doing what they were told to do, commendable, but they were trying to do it themselves.
- 26:51Now, this is a practical, physical example.
- 26:56Yes, of course they were trying to do it themselves.
- 26:57That's the way they always did it.
- 27:00They got in the boat, they went into the ocean or went into the sea, they crossed to the other side, and if they needed to row, they rowed.
- 27:11But on this occasion, the way they'd always done it wasn't working.
- 27:19They were making no progress.
- 27:22You ever see a congregation make no progress doing what they've always done?
- 27:30And they're wondering, why can't we make any progress?
- 27:36Maybe the question is, why are we doing it the way we've always done it?
- 27:44If it's not broke, don't fix it, but if you're not making any progress, maybe it is broke.
- 27:49And maybe we haven't admitted it.
- 27:54Now, Jesus saw them as he was walking on the sea, or saw them as he would go, and he would have passed by them.
- 28:03Verse 49, and when they saw him walking on the sea, they supposed it was a ghost and cried out, for they all saw him and were troubled.
- 28:13But immediately he talked with them and said to them, be of good cheer, it is I, do not be afraid." One of the things that you see in the change between the way the apostles acted
- 28:31before the resurrection and the way they acted after
- 28:35is emphasized over and over and over by Jesus during His time on the earth where He kept telling them, do not be afraid.
- 28:50or O ye of little faith.
- 28:57The last time Jesus criticizes them for their lack of faith is immediately after the resurrection.
- 29:14and something changes.
- 29:16oh
- 29:20they begin to grow as they've never grown before.
- 29:27because they stop trying to do it their way.
- 29:36The last question that is asked of Jesus...
- 29:42after he has been resurrected and before the Holy Spirit comes upon them.
- 29:49The last question asked, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?
- 29:57It's the last glimpse of the old apostles where they're still trying to do it the way they thought it was always going to happen.
- 30:14And what does Jesus reply there in Acts chapter 1?
- 30:21when they say, will you now restore the kingdom to Israel?
- 30:28It is not for you to know the times or the seasons.
- 30:34And he's emphasizing God's in control.
- 30:38You do your job.
- 30:43as Jesus approaches them, as they observe Him going by, as they're afraid because they're seeing someone walking on the sea.
- 30:58He says, of good cheer.
- 31:00It is I.
- 31:00Do not be afraid.
- 31:01Then He went up into the boat to them, and the wind ceased.
- 31:09And they were gently or greatly amazed in themselves beyond measure and marveled, for they had not," notice what Mark tells us, "'for they had not understood about the loaves.'"
- 31:27because their heart was heartened.
- 31:33They're being taught a lesson.
- 31:42Were they amazed when Jesus fed 5,000 people with seven loaves and two fish?
- 31:51If they were amazed, why does the text tell us that their heart was hardened?
- 32:05Okay?
- 32:06Didn't have the faith.
- 32:07uh Is it possible for someone to be amazed having observed something and not apply it?
- 32:17Not learn anything from it?
- 32:19yeah, the entire nation of the Jews.
- 32:22What do they keep asking for?
- 32:24One more sign please.
- 32:27Just one more sign, show us one more sign.
- 32:33Jesus said, with the signs.
- 32:35You've seen them.
- 32:36I'll give you one more.
- 32:40It's the sign of Jonah.
- 32:43Three days and three nights and then I'll be resurrected.
- 32:48There's your final sign.
- 32:49That's your last chance.
- 32:52But the point is they were observing these things and they had allowed them to become commonplace in their understanding so that they were no longer applying the lessons from
- 33:06the signs.
- 33:11They were no longer taking to heart the message of the miracles.
- 33:19So if this text is about the disciples learning the lesson from the last text, because that's what Mark tells us it is, then what was the lesson they failed to learn in the
- 33:38feeding of the 5,000?
- 33:44Okay, God provides.
- 33:49In contrast to what?
- 33:54All right, do you remember the discussion when Jesus tells the disciples to feed the people?
- 34:01Go back in Mark chapter 6.
- 34:06Verse 36, the disciples say to Jesus, send them away that they may go into the surrounding country and villages and buy themselves bread for they have nothing to eat.
- 34:19But He answered and said to them, you give them something to eat.
- 34:25And they said to Him, shall we go and buy 200 denarii worth of bread and give them something to eat?
- 34:36The lesson for the people was different than the lesson for the disciples.
- 34:45What was the lesson for the people?
- 34:51What should they have taken away from the fact that here is this man who's been teaching them that has now taken seven loaves and two fish and fed 5,000 plus people?
- 35:01What was the lesson?
- 35:10If they're faithful, God will provide, but more importantly, who is Jesus?
- 35:16That Christ is the Son of God.
- 35:21That He is who He has claimed to be.
- 35:27Right?
- 35:32But that wasn't the lesson for the disciples.
- 35:37The lesson for the disciples came in Jesus telling them to feed the people.
- 35:47and them saying, looking at our own resources, we can't do it.
- 35:56When Jesus told them to feed the people, we discussed this when we were back in this text, did Jesus tell them, the people on your own?
- 36:12Correct.
- 36:14Jesus didn't tell them how to do it.
- 36:16Jesus didn't tell them with what resources to do it.
- 36:19Jesus didn't tell them to do it by themselves.
- 36:22He told them to do it.
- 36:25Did Jesus tell them to cross the Sea of Galilee and go to Bethsaida?
- 36:31Yes.
- 36:33Did they immediately start out and do what they thought they could do?
- 36:41In the feeding of the people, they immediately said, we can't do it.
- 36:46In the crossing of the Sea of Galilee, they immediately assumed they could do it.
- 36:54One occasion they saw the task and they said, that's insurmountable.
- 37:00We can never achieve that.
- 37:03We don't have the resources.
- 37:06The next task, they assumed they could do it because they'd always done it.
- 37:14On which occasion were they wrong?
- 37:17Both!
- 37:17oh
- 37:20because they aren't yet learning the lesson.
- 37:27Without God, they can't feed 5,000.
- 37:37But without God, they can't even cross the Sea of Galilee.
- 37:44we often imagine that because we have done something in the past with God's allowance, uh
- 37:55that it is under our power to do it.
- 37:57m
- 38:01Did you have something to eat yesterday?
- 38:06Do you have food in the pantry the day before?
- 38:10Do you have food in the house last month?
- 38:14Are you under the impression that that's because you caused it or God allowed it?
- 38:25When the rain comes, when the crops grow, when the earth continues spinning, are you under the impression that you caused it or God allowed it?
- 38:36Because the moment he doesn't allow it, you don't do it.
- 38:42You don't have it.
- 38:46And the disciples found out that what some of them, a third of them, had spent their entire career doing crossing the Sea of Galilee, they couldn't do unless God allowed it.
- 39:06But the moment they did it with God, when did the wind cease?
- 39:19when God got in the boat.
- 39:24the moment they were not trying to do it alone.
- 39:31They weren't trying to do it their way.
- 39:35They weren't assuming they had the ability.
- 39:43The moment that was true, they finally started making progress.
- 39:51So.
- 39:55The lesson of the lows.
- 39:57oh
- 40:01is the disciples could have fed the 5,000 by themselves.
- 40:07if they had had the same faith Moses had in the wilderness.
- 40:15Remember, this entire section began, chapter 6, with Jesus sending out the disciples and them casting out demons, healing people, having all of these great victories of faith as
- 40:38they go out into the area and they come back and they're just thrilled.
- 40:44with what they have been able to do.
- 40:50And now here we are, and Jesus is trying to teach them the lesson of Moses.
- 40:59You see, the feeding of the 5,000 is a type of Moses.
- 41:04It's a representation of what Moses did for Israel in the wilderness.
- 41:10But when Moses had no food for the people, did Moses say, I don't have enough money to go to Egypt to buy food?
- 41:23Is that what he did?
- 41:26What did do?
- 41:27He went to God.
- 41:30When the people were saying we're gonna die of thirst here in the wilderness, did Moses say...
- 41:38Got no water for ya.
- 41:42No, he went to God.
- 41:46The lesson that is in the text.
- 41:51for the disciples.
- 41:55is you will never succeed leading God's people by yourself.
- 42:07You can't do it.
- 42:12You'll only succeed if you lead them God's direction with God's instruction, with God's resources, with God's help.
- 42:31Otherwise, you'll fail.
- 42:33Okay?
- 42:36Thank you for your time.