God or Hell

Mosaic Boston - Sermons

One quick announcement, an update on the life of the church. The Lord has led us, as a church, to take a step of faith to purchase, to acquire, a worship space, a 24/7 location that we can use to build the glory of God. In the history of Mosaic, 12 and a half years, we have never had our own location. We only rent this space just on Sundays. So the Lord has... Miracle of miracles that we're even in this position. Praise be to God. If you know anything about real estate in Austin, the property is right down the street on Kent Street. If you take a right here and a left on Longwood, you'll see three towers on a hill, and within the hill there's the entrance to the lobby and then there's a left wing and a right wing. We signed the purchase and sale agreement on the left wing, and as a step of faith, we are praying for the Lord to send resources for the right wing as well.

We are closing in September. We have seven months to raise $5 million and it's a lot of money, but we learned from the Gospel of Mark that even crumbs from the King's table are more than enough. So Lord, we need some crumbs. So we're asking you to pray, pray with faith, pray boldly, audaciously on a daily basis for the Lord to send the funds. From now on until the funds come in, if anyone asks, "Pastor Jan, what's your prayer request?" This is it. This is the only one to the glory of God. So pray for the Lord to send the funds. Second, pray how the Lord might use you in raising the funds or giving and then pray as well. If you know any connections for the Lord to bring to mind, maybe a great uncle who wants to invest in the kingdom of God. Our church, a home, church, foundations, etc, please connect us with them.

And we do believe the Lord will provide. I'll share one story. My wife and her family immigrated here over 20 years ago from Ukraine. The parents had six children. They come here and they worked hard and they said, "The Lord is leading us to buy a house." It was a town home and they were missing $5,000 to close on the deal. And they prayed, "Lord, send us $5,000. Lord send us $5,000." And then Tanya's mom went for a walk on the street, comes up to garbage containers, and next to it is something wrapped in newspaper. And she kicks it and it's hard and she opens it up little by little, layer by layer and it's a nugget of gold. Yeah, true story. And then they go to the place where you can sell nuggets of gold, and the guy said "$5,000." And then they end up purchasing the house and Tanya's sister still lives there. Praise be to God.

So I am praying that the Lord sends you nuggets. I am praying that in your fishing endeavors, so to speak, you catch one fish, you open it up and there's a gold coin inside. That's how I'm praying. So it's a very exciting season of the church, a lot of faith. We need a lot of prayer, a lot of hard work. So we are going to pray and believe for the Lord to raise the funding and for the next season of the church's life. With that said, would you at least pray with me over this need and for the preaching of God's holy word.

Heavenly Father, we're so thankful that you have saved us. What a great gift. This is the greatest gift, that you give yourself to us on account of your son Jesus Christ. And Lord Jesus, we thank you that because of your great love for us, you lay down your life. And we thank you that you didn't stay on the cross, you didn't stay dead, that you rose on the third day vanquishing Satan, sin, and death. And we thank you that you give us the power of the Holy Spirit. And when you call us to yourself, you call us to life of service to the kingdom. And Lord, we as a church, we long to continue serving you.

And we thank you for providing every step of the way these 12 and a half years. And we thank you for leading us to this juncture. And we do pray, Lord, that you provide the necessary resources to acquire both the spaces, the left and the right wing from which we pray the truth of your Holy word will be proclaimed to the nations. And I pray, Lord, that you do send us people that understand the importance of a church like Mosaic being rooted and grounded and planted in a place like Boston. Lord, we do believe that Boston is of incredible importance to your kingdom work.

This is a city of ideas and many of the ideas are evil. So we are countering those demonic ideas with the truth of your word. Boston is pound for pound, the most influential city in the world. We are at the intersection of the nations and we pray, Lord, continue to establish your kingdom here, continue build up this church. And we pray, Lord, that you provide the resources. We thank you in advance for how you're going to do that. And we pray that you anoint those spaces even now with your Holy Spirit. We pray that thousands and tens of thousands hear your word there, are converted follow Jesus. We pray lives are transformed, pray families are formed. We pray children are born and raised in the faith, and we pray all this for the glory of your holy name and use us in the process. And we thank you in advance. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

We're continue our sermon series through the Gospel of Mark. Today, the sermon is entitled God or Hell. And over the years I've found that truth is always simple. And the most honest people speak with the greatest clarity. There's no obfuscation, there's no word salads, there's nothing to hide. And when God speaks, it's true, and you know it's true because of how clear it is. God speaks and Satan obfuscates. Satan questions. Satan undermines the truth. God speaks and Satan complicates, and he does it with lies. And the worst lies are half-truths. Thanks be to God, Jesus Christ did not speak in half-truths. He spoke the truth, the full truth. He told people that there are only two options. There's only two ways. There's only two paths. There's only two destinies, God or Hell. You either choose God and spend eternity in His glory or you choose hell and spend eternity in His wrath.

And we're so fortunate to be alive today here and now and still have a chance to choose. We're so blessed to even be offered the choice. Many don't make the choice or don't think about the choice because we don't understand the gravity, the importance of the choice that eternity is at stake. Many people today plan their vacation destinations with more detail than they think about their eternal destination. We all deserve God's wrath. He created us, He designed us. He gave us laws by which to glorify Him and enjoy His glory here on earth. And that's what Eden was. It was heaven on earth. He designed life to be lived like heaven on earth. And that's what the kingdom of God is. You begin to experience the glory of God here by living for His glory, by glorifying Him with your obedience of faith. But we all rebelled, every single one of us. We all rejected His law, we transgressed it. We became outlaws. We became sinners.

And in rejecting God's law, we rejected God Himself. Well, what is the absence of God's glory? It's hell. By rejecting God, we choose hell here on earth and we start living that out. And what does that create? More hell on earth. Therefore, Jesus came to rescue us from hell and to destine us for heaven here on earth. Eternal life begins here and now. He came to rescue you from the hell inside your soul, to plant the seeds of the kingdom in your soul, to give you a taste of heaven. And this radically changes the course of your life. Now you're not your own. You exist to glorify God, to live for His name, to serve Him, love Him, fear and praise Him. And this kind of life of obeying God, submitting to Him, it's a life that demands sacrifice. Why? Because when you really start fighting hell on earth, when you really start fighting the sin within mortifying it, well what happens?

You're bound to feel the flames of hell. You're bound to get burned. So what do we do? We keep fighting. We fight the lies of the enemy with the truth by knowing the truth, loving it, living it and speaking it. And that's what Jesus is talking about today. We're in Mark 9:30-50. Would you look at the text with me? "They went on from there and passed through Galilee and He did not want anyone to know, for He was teaching His disciples saying to them, 'The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him. And when he is killed after three days he will rise.' But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, 'What were you discussing on the way?'

But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And He sat down and called the 12 and He said to them, 'If anyone would be put first, he must be last of all and servant of all.' And he took a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in his arms, he said to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me receives not me but Him who sent me.' John said to him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name and we tried to stop him because he was not following us.' But Jesus said, 'Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us. For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water or drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.' For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another."

This is the reading of God's holy and errant, fallible, authoritative word. May He write these eternal truths upon our hearts. Four points to frame up our time. First life through death. Second, greatness through service. Third, power through loyalty. And fourth, God or hell.

First, life through death. In the first half of chapter nine, King Jesus takes his big three disciples, Peter, James and John to the top of a mountain. And there He transfigured himself. He revealed His divine glory and they bask in it. They were satisfied with it, mesmerized by the glorious king. So much so that Peter said, "No, no, no." Excuse me, I get excited about the glory of God. He said, "We're not going down. We're not going down the mountain. We're not descending. This is too good. We're staying here forever."

And no, they had to leave. Descend, they must, down from the glorious mountaintop experience after they have tasted heaven on earth. Why do they have to go down? Well, why did Jesus come down? Jesus Christ came down from heaven to earth and he does it to save people from hell, from eternal damnation. The kingdom of God must be established. And to do this, the King must first take on Satan's sin and death. After vanquishing the stubborn demon that his disciples were unable to conquer, Jesus continues to instruct his disciples. Chapter 8, chapter 9, and chapter 10 are about discipleship. This is what it means to follow Jesus Christ. And Jesus spends significant time with them before embarking on His mission. In verse 30, it says, "They went on from there and passed through Galilee and He did not want anyone to know."

The phrases like this, we see often where Jesus is sovereign over the truth. He's sovereign in regulating the truth. He reveals the truth to whomever He chooses. Who gets how much revelation? Well, who decides this? Does the seeker himself decide? No, because scripture clearly teaches that no one searches after God not on their own. So if you are searching for God, if you're asking questions about God, if you're interested in God, in the divine and eternity in Holy Scripture, well friend, let me tell you, that's already a sign of the Holy Spirit working on you and working in your heart.

Look at Romans 3:9, "What then, are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks are under sin. As it is written, no one is righteous. No not one. No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood. In their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There's no fear of God before their eyes."

Well, the disciples were just like this. The disciples were chosen by Jesus. Jesus chooses to reveal to His disciples the truth and the truths of God's kingdom. How does one become a disciple of Jesus Christ? Well, Jesus is the one that approached them and Jesus is the one that told them, "Follow me.: And then he communicates to them in John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, He may give it to you."

Are you a disciple of Jesus Christ? Are you a follower of Christ? Well, if you are, praise be to God. It's because He chose you. Salvation is bestowed on you. It's never earned. He appointed you and for what? For work, for service, for sacrifice. Bearing fruit comes through, bearing a cross and bearing it daily. And He promises to resource you. He says, "Ask whatever you will in my name to become more fruitful." But this usually includes a heavier cross and a steeper more narrow path to climb. My third daughter turned nine recently and I told her, I said, "Nine is, I think that's the perfect age. It's just what are your worries in life? You're in third grade," and I didn't want to say it's all downhill from here because that's kind of a terrible thing to say to a nine-year-old. So I said the opposite. I said, "It's all uphill from here," and I don't think that's much better.

But that's kind of what Christianity is. If you want to level up, if you want to grow in faithfulness, if you want to grow in obedience, if you want to grow in fruitfulness, it's all uphill from here. But that's what we were chosen for. We were chosen for service, for sacrifice because we were chosen by the one who came to sacrifice Himself. He says, "The son of man is going to be delivered." That's the conversation turned over, handed over, betrayed. And part of the background to this prophecy lies in Isaiah 53. The same terminology is used in Isaiah 53 as in our text, the language of being turned over, handed over, betrayed. And Isaiah 53 was written centuries before Jesus Christ was even born. The Lord promised in Isaiah 53 that the Messiah would come as a suffering servant. Jews to this day reject the clear true reading of Isaiah 53.

But the ones who read Isaiah 53 with open hearts are converted to Christ immediately. And that's who the early church was. Jews who read Isaiah 53 and said, "We witnessed it happen. We watched it happen. He predicted that He was going to die. He predicted that He was going to be betrayed. He predicted that He's going to be crucified and He predicted that He would come back from the dead. We saw Christ crucified and He did that for us." That was the testimony of the earliest church and He did it to save us from hell on earth and from hell for all of eternity. And even more than that, He did it to save us from our sins. So now the chasm between us and God will be removed. So He offers himself to us for eternity. I'm going to read Isaiah 53, and as I read, just think about the fact centuries before Christ was born, this was written.

It's as if Isaiah is sitting at the foot of the cross watching it being done. "Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? For He grew up before him like a young plant and like a root out of dry ground. He had no form or majesty that we should look at Him, and no beauty that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed him not. Surely, he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him, stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace. And with His wounds we are healed.

All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not his mouth like a lamb that is led to the slaughter. And like a sheep that before its sheers is silent. So He opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment, He was taken away. And as for His generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people. And they made His grave with the wicked and with a rich man and his death, although He had done no violence and there was no deceit in His mouth. Yet, it was the will of the Lord to crush him. He has put Him to grief. When His soul makes an offering for guilt, He will see his offspring. He will prolong his days. The will of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.

Out of the anguish of His soul, He shall see and be satisfied. By His knowledge, shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and He shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide Him a portion with the many and He shall divide the spoil with the strong because he poured out His soul to death. And was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and makes intercession for the transgressions."

Mark 9:31, "For he was teaching His disciples saying to them, ''The son of man is going to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill Him. And when He is killed, after three days He will rise.' But they did not understand the saying and were afraid to ask Him." Well, of course they didn't understand. Jesus had already proven that He's God. They have believed him that He's God. Well, you're God. You've come to take over everything. You've come to take the place back from Satan. You've come to destroy the kingdom of Satan. So Jesus, do it, die. What happens to our cause if you die? Why would you need to rise again? How's this for an idea? Let's not die. Let's use the powers that you have. We know you God, you changed the weather, we watched you. You've walked through hostile crowds before we know you've done it. What do you mean you're going to be delivered? As in you're going to give yourself over, you're going to let them take you.

And Jesus' answer of course is, "Yes. I didn't come just to save you from hell on earth. I didn't come just to save you from the hell of the Romans, or the hell of the Pharisees, or even the hell of your own sin-infected bodies. I've come to save your soul from eternal hell. And I've come to offer eternal life," which only comes through the death of the eternal son of God who chose to become son of man. So yes, life comes only through death and eternal life comes only through the death of the eternal one, Jesus Christ.

And since life comes through death, of course, point two, greatness comes through service. The disciples didn't get this yet. How could they? It's so counterintuitive. Greatness is through rank, and greatness is through degrees and greatness is through accomplishments, and greatness is through a position. What do you mean greatness is through service? It's counterintuitive. Well, it's counterintuitive because our intuition is clouded with sin and we need washing with the word. In verse 33, they came to Capernaum and when He was in the house He asked them, "What were you discussing?" Capernaum is the Galilean village from which Peter James and John came.

And whenever Jesus was in Capernaum, he would stay at Peter's house. Peter had a home there. He was married, he had a mother-in-law and perhaps he even had children. And perhaps that's the child that Jesus puts front and center. And Jesus in His outward ministry, He had encounters with over enemies, the scribes and the Pharisees. But now he's engaged with the enemy inside the hearts of his own disciples, the enemy that will rear its ugly head throughout church history. It's this desire to jostle for greatness. That's what they're doing. He asked them, "What were you arguing about?" And verse 34, "They kept silent for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest." As soon as Jesus asks the question, they realize just with the question, "Oh, we were way off. They don't even want to share. They don't want talk about what are... They're embarrassed.

They realize just a question from Jesus reveals how embarrassing this is to talk about who's the greatest. They argued with one... who's the greatest. This was after Jesus just talked about self-denial, the hard-hitting instruction of taking up your cross and following Him daily. And here they're having a senseless argument about their relative greatness, and they've confused greatness because they don't really understand what Jesus is coming to do. They don't understand that how humble you have to be. They saw a glimpse of His glory and then He veils that glory and then He descends, but they don't really understand the distance between the glory of heaven and the humiliation of the cross. And these two are interconnected. If you don't understand the vast difference between Jesus glory and His humiliation, you'll never understand how much He had to humble Himself in order to save us. And this was part of the process of transforming and saving humanity.

Why? Because Jesus did not just come to deal with the consequences of sin. He came to deal with the very root itself. And what is the root of all sin? It's pride. Pride is the fuel that fires all of hell. Pride is what made Satan Satan, where Satan goes out of his rank and says, "No God, I am greater than you are, therefore you serve me. You worship me. Therefore, the way..." And that inclination's in every single heart, that pride. The pride of, "No, I don't want to submit to God." The pride of, "Who is God to tell me what to do." The pride that starts the rebellion of us against God.

Look at Philippians 2:1-10 and see this distance, this humility as the way that Jesus saves us from our pride. Philippians 2:1, "So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility, count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.

And being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of the Father."

In verse 35, "He sat down and He called the 12." This is how Jesus often taught. He would sit down, but here perhaps He's exasperated and He wants to draw their attention, sits down. And He said to them, "If anyone would be first, He must be last of all and servant of all." Matthew 23:11, the parallel passage, "The greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself will be humbled and whoever humbles himself will be exalted." First, I want to point out what Jesus does not say. He does not say there is no greatness in the kingdom of God. Jesus' view of the kingdom of God is not just some egalitarian view where everyone is of the same greatness, of the same rank, of the same hierarchy. No, that's not what He's saying. He's assuming that there is a hierarchy, there is a path to greatness.

There is a path to greater usefulness and fruitfulness, but that path to greatness is counter to the path of greatness in the world. The path of greatness in the world is make your name great. The path of greatness in the kingdom of God is seek first the name of Jesus Christ to exalt him. And the way that you grow in greatness is service, humble service to the King, and to his servants, and to people. So we can rack up stats, so to speak in the kingdom of God, and we do it through service. And the greatest disciple is the greatest servant and the one who sacrifices the most is the greatest in the kingdom of God. That's the one that serves the most. The more you sacrifice, the more you serve, the more you are like your master who is great. Humility is the best policy. Jesus is teaching.

Self aggrandizement always leads to humiliation. But what is humility? The opposite of humility is pride. And the first encounter of pride we see is with Satan, where Satan is not content with his place. Humility is knowing your place. It's knowing your role. It's knowing what God has called you to do and what God has called you to be. As we serve the Lord, as we grow in the faith, there are promotions, so to speak, but it's all for Him. He's the one that does it. All the talents that He gives us, all the opportunities that He gives us, the health and strength, it's all from Him and it's all for Him and service to Him. We're called to be servants. And here it's the Greek word diakonos from which the English word deacon comes from. And in Greek literature, it just means someone who's not afraid of the menial work, such as a waiter at a table, humble service. We're here.

At Chick-fil-A, they say, "It's my pleasure." It's my pleasure to serve you. That should be the sentiment of every Christian. It's my pleasure to serve because that's my role. And that's really the heartbeat of humility. I know my role, I know my place, I know what God has called me to do. And sometimes things get hard and you start wondering if the sacrifice worth it. No one really notices or you don't get accolades in the world. But Luke 17 puts everything in its place. I love this passage. It's one of these passages very jarring as you read it for the first time. But as you walk in the faith, you realize this is exactly the posture of heart that the Lord calls us to.

Luke 17:7, "Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table?' Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me and dress properly and serve me while I eat and drink. And afterward you'll eat and drink.' Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you are commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants. We have only done what was our duty.'"

And that's really the posture of heart, that He's the master, He's the Lord. We're the servants. He saves us, he saves us for service. So of course we're going to do it. It is our duty. Mark 9:36, "Jesus took a child and put him in the midst of them and taking him in His arms, He said to them, 'Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me. And whoever receives me receives not me but Him who sent me.'" This word for child can refer anywhere from a newborn infant to an older child. Perhaps this is Peter's child. We know that Peter was married, he had a mother-in-law, and perhaps it was his son or daughter. And Jesus takes the child, embraces the child, hugs the child, and reveals that He loves the child. I love this image that Jesus loves children.

In chapter 10, Jesus loves children. Jesus, the God, man loves kids. He's hugging kids, blessing kids, praying for kids. Why does Jesus love children? Because God, Jesus loves humanity and He cares about the next generation. So we as believers, we are to be people marked by a love for children. John the Baptist who came in the spirit of Elijah, it says that He will come and one of His jobs is going to be turn the hearts of the fathers to their children. And yes, it assumes fathers who are already fathers, they love their children. We are to love our children. It also assumes those who are not yet fathers. And the Lord puts this fatherly desire in your heart and the world does not know of this.

It's kind of popular not to like kids. It's kind of popular to complain about kids, especially on planes. I remember when my kids were little, I'd carry my kid into the plane with one of my kids and just look around at the unhappy faces. Come on, we were all this at some point, can everyone relax? And so why does Jesus take a child? He takes a child and He says, "This right here, you want the epitome of how you grow in greatness in the kingdom of God is through service. Service to whom those who need it the most." Why a child? Because it's the most helpless stage of being a human. Children need to be served. Kids are wonderful, praise be to God. And they are also a lot of work, a lot of time, energy, money, resources, lost sleep, REM cycles that you will never get back.

And it's ministry. That's how you have to view children. It's ministry, it's service, it's service to the King in the name of Jesus Christ. And by serving kids in Jesus' name, you're not just serving the child, you're serving Jesus. So he says, "Receive children, receive them into your life. Serve them, and by serving them, you're serving the King." And he continues, "Whoever receives me receives not me, but Him who sent me." By receiving children in Jesus' name, you're receiving Jesus, you're receiving God the Father. And this is important because God, the Father loves children, especially... He loves His children, especially when they are children."

Point three is power through loyalty. A service of course takes energy and it takes power. And where do we draw that power? From the source of power, and that's Jesus Christ. And the more loyal you are to Him, the more loyal you are to His cause, the more useful you are to Him, the more power He gives you.

The disciples thought they were the only ones with access to the power of God because of their proximity to Jesus. So they're blown away by the fact that there's someone else casting out demons in Jesus' name, someone other than the 12. Verse 38, "John said to Him, 'Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name. And we tried to stop him because he was following, and he was not following us.'" He said, "Someone's casting out demons in your name, by the power of Jesus." They're invoking the power of Jesus by using His name. The would-be exorcist, pronounces Jesus name in order to bring His spiritual force to bear on demons, and the disciples don't like this. "The people aren't following us, Jesus," and that's really the emphasis. They don't say, "They're not following you." They say, "They're not following us." And Jesus' response in verse 39, "Do not stop him. For no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me."

Says, "Don't stop him. Don't forbid this person. He's casting out demons in the name of Jesus, so don't worry about him. He's doing my work. Is he a disciple in the same exact way that you are the 12? No. So help the person grow as a disciple, but don't stop the fight against evil. Don't stop those who cast out demons differently than you do. It's all in the name of Christ."

In Numbers 11, there's a similar passage where Moses chooses 70 elders and the Spirit descends upon them. And there's two gentlemen that weren't there during that ceremony. And then afterwards they get the Spirit too. And then the people come to Moses and says, "Stop them. They're not part of the 70." This Numbers 11:24. So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord and he gathered 70 men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put down the 70 elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not continue doing it. Now, two men who remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent. And so they prophesied in the camp and a young man ran and told Moses, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp. And Joshua, the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth said, My Lord, Moses, stop them." But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit on them?"

And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp. Here, Moses said, "I wish everyone had the Holy Spirit. I wish everyone prophesied. I wish everyone proclaimed the word of the Lord." And Jesus here is saying something similar effect like, why would you be against someone casting out demons? We're against demons. He says, "No one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me." These outsiders are not like the scribes or the Pharisees who blasphemed against the Holy Spirit by attributing Jesus exorcisms to Satan. No, these people are people that are on the side of Jesus because they're against demons. And it seems like exorcism is a make-or-break issue. It's almost as this exorcism and one's attitude toward the demonic is a defining characteristic if you're inside or outside the dominion of God. Are you for demons or are you against them?

Are you for demons or are you against them? Are you for Satan or are you against him? Are you for Christ or against Christ? Are you for hell on earth or are you against hell on earth? Well, if you're against hell on earth, you're against those who make hell on earth. And that's the demons. No, we're against hell, so we're for heaven. We're against demons, so we're for Christ.

Verse 40, "For the one who is not against us is for us." Are they against Jesus? No, of course not. They're doing the same work. They're battling the same demons, fighting the same Satan and doing it all in the name of Christ.

And fourth, God or Hell. And here Jesus turns to a conversation about reward and punishment in the afterlife. And what He reveals is God is keeping very close tabs on our service to Him. Every single little thing you do for Christ, for His glory will be rewarded with greater revelation of His glory starting this life and for eternity in heaven. Look at verse 41, "For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward."Even a cup of water. If you give someone a cup of water in the name of Jesus Christ saying Jesus is going to keep track of that. And what is that reward? The reward is more of God, more of His presence, more of His glory.

Revelation 22:12-13, "Behold, I'm coming soon bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, and the beginning and the end." And if the Lord keeps track of our work for Him so He knows how much to reward us as believers in Christ, well, the Lord also keeps track of the sin and iniquity of those who are not in Christ, as a way to mark how much condemnation they get in hell.

Revelation 11:15-18, "Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet and there were loud voices in heaven saying, 'The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.' And the 24 elders who sit on their thrones before God fell on their faces and worshiped God saying, we give thanks to you Lord God, Almighty. Who is and who was for you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations raged, but your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged and for rewarding your servants, the prophets and saints, and those who fear your name both small and great and for destroying the destroyers of the earth.'" God is going to reward his prophets, the servants, and saints in the same way he's going to reward so to speak, or bring the deserved condemnation on the destroyers, it says.

And here Jesus continues that thought of the destroyers of the faith. Verse 42, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." If anyone causes one of these little ones to sin, if anyone causes or scandalizes their faith, causes them to stumble, Jesus says, it's better that they would die here and die of very graphic death with a massive stone tied to their neck and thrown into the sea. Why? Because death is going to keep them from continuing to heap up condemnation for themselves, for eternity. And specifically he says, "Whoever causes one of these little ones, who believe in me, to sin,: who's the little ones? Commentators here say most likely He's talking about believers in general because the same word for little ones is used later where Jesus talks about, "Little flock, fear not."

But Jesus had just been talking in context about a child. That the way to greatness is service, in particular service to the least of these, a little one. So if Jesus is talking about if anyone causes a Christian to sin, he is including Christians who are children. Anyone that destroys the faith of a child, destroys the innocent faith of a child, Jesus says that person is heaping up condemnation for themselves for all eternity in hell. And this is a very, very sobering verse. And if you look at what's happening in our culture where we're trying to remove any idea of innocence of children. Children are being tempted with sin in ways that centuries ago people wouldn't even comprehend. And this is happening left and right. And Jesus is saying, Be careful. Be careful that you're not heaping up condemnation for all of eternity causing believers in Christ to sin is a grave sin. And the penalty for this sin is unquenchable, hellfire, the conversation Jesus is about to embark upon.

So what are we to do? We're to take these sobering words about the reality of heaven and hell, but the reality of reward or condemnation that continues for eternity. And we are to sit down and say, "Where am I? Am I on the side of demons or I'm on the side of Jesus, I'm on the side of hell or on the side of heaven, where am I?" And there is no neutrality. If you're not with Christ, you're against Him. If you're not against Him, you're with Him. Mark 9:43, "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire." This is hyperbolic language.

He's not saying cut off your hand because if he meant physically, he would say both hands or both eyes or both feet. He's saying one. What he's saying is if there is a desire in your heart to sin, if there is a desire in your heart to do evil and to lead others into sin, at that, you need to stop and say, "Where is this desire leading me? Is this desire leading me to heaven or to hell? Is this desire from the kingdom of God or from the kingdom of Satan?" And you got to take radical action. You got to cut yourself off from anything that would even tempt you to sin. Make no provision for the flesh Scripture speaks. You're new creation in Christ, therefore put sin to death. You have died to sin, how can you continue living in it? So drastic action cut off your hand and he says, "Better for you to enter life crippled or maimed."

And the presupposition here is that those who enter heaven get a glorified body. And the glorified resurrected body is a body without any bodily defects. So even if the hand is cut off in this life, it's going to be restored in the next. And He talks about hell here. And it's the word Gehenna. It's the most common name for the place of eternal punishment. And the name comes from the Valley of Hinnom in the Old Testament. And the Valley of Hinnom was a depression running south-southwest of the old city of Jerusalem. And it was at this place, the Valley of Hinnom, where according to the Scriptures, the covenant people of God, Israel and engaged in idolatrous worship of the Canaanite God, Molech. And Molech demanded that the people sacrifice their children. So this is where Israel at the altar of Molech at this place called Valley of Hinnom, we get the word of Gehenna or hell from it.

They would sacrifice their children by fire. Therefore, when God sends kings like Josiah to bring reform, one of the things he did was destroy this place. 2 Kings 23:10, "And he defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech." Or Jeremiah 7:30, "For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the Lord. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name to defile it. And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind." Or Jeremiah 32:35, "They built the high places of Baal in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to offer up their sons and daughters to Molech. Though I did not command them, nor to enter my mind, that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin."

Because of these sacrifices of the children, the valley came to be viewed as the gate to the underworld. And hell is named after this place. Hell is named after the place where children were sacrificed. So what is Jesus saying? He's saying, "Do you want a glimpse of hell on earth? Well, think about child sacrifice. Think about abortion. He's just said that the way to create heaven on earth is to sacrifice self for the most helpless." Therefore, the way to create hell on earth is to sacrifice the most helpless for self. And the prophet Jeremiah denounces the sacrifice, but continues to associate the valley with death and judgment. And Jesus here says that it's an unquenchable fire in this place called hell.

Verse 45, "If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life than with two feet to be thrown into hell."

Verse 47, "If your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell."

Verse 48, "Where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. The torment continues for eternity. The fire burns for eternity."

Verse 49, "For everyone will be salted with fire."And this is a language that's used for judgment. Sodom and Gomorrah, fire and brimstone came from heaven engulfing the cities in fire. And it says in Deuteronomy 29:23, "All its soil burned out by sulfur and salt." It's a sign of complete destruction because judgment had come and judgment is going to come for each of us.

Judgment day is going to come, and the question is, will we receive that judgment which we deserve, or has Christ already received it on our behalf on the cross?" Verse 50, "Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another." And here the Lord changes the metaphors. There, He said the salt would be a sign of judgment, but here he's saying the salt is a sign of your redemption. Salt as an influence against the decay in our culture, the decay of the evil in the world. And he said, That's our job. We are to be salt and light. Salt is good, but make sure we haven't lost our saltiness. Make sure that we are separate from the world, that we are influencing the world more than the world is influencing us. He says, "Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.

And he closes this section with a comment about having salt in yourselves and being at peace. What's the connection? Well, in Acts 1:4, Jesus shares a meal with his disciples. And it was the same word that's used here. To share a meal with someone was to take salt together. If you go to a Russian village, they come out and they bring you bread, a loaf of bread, and they bring you salt. And what they're saying, "Come on in, welcome. There's peace." And what Jesus here is saying, "Make sure you continue to have fellowship with one another, love with one another, peace with one another." Why? Because when you battle the fires of hell and you do get burned, oftentimes you get so focused on the enemy that you start looking at everyone around you as an enemy. And He's saying, "Disciples, hold on. Make sure that doesn't happen. Have salt in yourselves, break bread together, have peace with one another."

We as a church want to do this more often. Therefore, the bagels are back. Praise be to God. Break bagels together. A church that breaks bagels together stays together. And so praise be to God for that. And last week we had our first community lunch that we're doing to coincide with Communion Sunday. And it was a great success, a lot of people with a lot of joy. So we pray that the Lord continues to bless us to have salt in ourselves and to be at peace with one another.

I'll close it with Matthew 11:16. And Matthew 11:16, the Lord said, "Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

You are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its taste, how shall saltiness be restored? And it was no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. You know how Boston started, the city? John Winthrop and his group of believers in Jesus Christ gets off a ship in Boston, before it was Boston. And before he got off a ship, he preached a sermon on Matthew 5, and he said, "We are going to be a city set on a hill. We're going to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to the nations. And that lasted for a little bit." And then they lost their saltiness.

And that's what we're here for. But that's what Mosaic is. We are to be a city set on a hill proclaiming the excellencies of our Lord and Savior. With that said, would you please pray with me to the Lord?

Lord Jesus, we thank you for this word and we thank you for the reminder that sacrifices, no matter what you call us to, they're worth it. In the same way that you sacrificed all in order to save us for the joy that was set before you, I pray for the joy that is before us, the joy of obedience, the joy of your delight, the joy of glorifying you. I pray that you give us strength to overcome any sacrifice. And Lord, we pray that you continue to establish your church, continue to build it up and continue to use us as you build your kingdom. We pray save many souls, disciple many, draw many to yourself in and through the work of this church in and then through every single faithful church in the area. We pray that you do send revival, an outpouring of the Holy Spirit save many. Save many from eternal hell and save them for eternal life. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.