The New King of the New Israel

THE NEW KING OF NEW ISRAEL

11-1: Jews and Gentiles as citizens in the new kingdom.
1. The unmarried have more children that the married, the Gentiles have more children
of God than the Jews: Isaiah 54:1 and Galatians 4:27.
2. None comes to the Father except as drawn by the Father, and all those who are
taught by the Father: Isaiah 54:13 and John 6:45.
3. God gave in the Temple to the Jews a House of Prayer, but they had turned it into a
den of thieves by the time of Jesus: Isaiah 56:7 and Matthew 21:13 and Luke 19:46.
4. All the nation of Israel that is really the Israel of the children of God will
be saved: Isaiah 59:20,21 and Romans 11:26.

11-2: Characteristics of the New King of Israel.
1. The message to Zion is that your new King comes meekly, riding on a donkey: Isaiah
61:11 and Matthew 21:5.
2. Jesus told them in Nazareth of how the Spirit of God was upon him: Isaiah
61:1,2 and Luke 4:17,18.
(1). God anointed Him to preach the gospel to the poor.
(A King especially for the poor people.)
(2). God sent Him to start the release of captives, and to make provisions that
the blind might be able to see.
(3). To provide freedom for the downtrodden.
(4). To make a Proclamation as to when is the Acceptable Year of the
Lord (the last days) that leads to the One Day of the LORD and Lord.
3. Happiness in this new kingdom will come only to those who first mourn
because of their inability to do it for themselves: Isaiah 61:1,2 and Matthew 5:4.

11-3: The Method of Citizenship Only That From God, on Gods terms as dic-
tated in the Old Testament and made evident in the New Testament.
1. The New Citizenship found of those who sought it not or who searched not for it
(grace): Isaiah 65:1 and Romans 10:20,21.
2. Jerusalem is the city of the Great King: Isaiah 66:1 and Matthew 5:33.
3. The Christ, the Prophet Messiah, born in Bethlehem, Micah 5:2, Matthew
2:5,6, and John 7:42, to be:
(1). A ruler of the people; and
(2). A shepherd of the people.
4. The sowers of the Old Testament and the reapers of the New Testament
will rejoice together in this New Kingdom: Micah 6:15 and John 4:37.

11-4: The Good News of the Gospel of the Kingdom preached by messengers.
1. How welcome across the way on the mountain is the first sight of those
who come with the Gospel: Nahum 1:15 and Romans 10:15.
2. Yet most do not believe the report, foolish people without the ability to
see or hear: Jeremiah 5:21 and Mark 8:18.
3. God established a House of Prayer but the nation of Israelturned it into a
den of thieves: Jeremiah 7:11 and Matthew 21:13, and Mark 11:17.
4. Trust in God.
(1). Whoever boasts, let him boast only in God: Jeremiah 9:24 and I
Corinthians 1:31.
(2). Trust only in God: Jeremiah 17:5,7 and II Corinthians 11:9.

11-5: Mark, Pivotal in the Bible
Paul’s Plan for Peace and Unity in the SBC based on Ephesians and Colossians. We
have a plan and a program in the Southern Baptist Convention for almost
everything, let me ask you why it is that we do not have a plan and program for
peace and unity in the Southern Baptist Convention? We have a plan for Bible
study in the Sunday School; we have a plan for worship and giving in the Sunday
morning and Sunday evening service; we have a plan for prayer in the Wednesday
night prayer meeting and Bible study; we have plans for men’s work and women’s
work; and for missionary activity and evangelism in revival meetings. Now, I ask
you again, does it not seem strange that at associational meetings, and convention-
wide meetings, and even church business meetings, why is it that we do not have a
plan for peace and unity in the Southern Baptist Convention? Perhaps the more
ignorant of what is happening in Baptist life, would respond that it is not needed!
That would be gullible and would overlook the Baptist news in the New Mexican

Baptist and what is secular news in terms of what has been happening to Texas Bap-
tist and to the splits in the Southern Baptist Convention. I recall about 20 years ago
when people said that the Southern Baptist Convention would never split; and then
approximately 15 years ago when after two more Conventions had split off, people
said, “Just be patient it will all work out.” Well, it has not worked out. It is getting
worse, not better. Every week we hear of additional split and divisions and contro-
versies among Texas Baptists and in the Southern Baptist Convention. Brother, this
should not be true among Christians. We need a plan and a program to promote
peace and unity int he Southern Baptist Convention; and what better place to start, a
place with which all of us should be able to agree, than with the Bible--specifically the
place in the Bible where the very subject of Peace and Unity is discussed, in
Ephesians 4:3.

11-6: The Text From Ephesians and Colossians.

“...Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:3
KJV)
I want this to be our text this morning, the focus upon which I ask you to
cast your mental tents for a few minutes, except I want you to think of it in terms
of the New English Version.
“Spare no efforts to make fast with bonds of peace the unity which the
Spirit gives.” (Ephesians 4:3 NEV)
Now notice that there are two aspects to the textual verse, the matter of
securing with “bonds of peace”, an effort to be exerted on our part; and the matter
of the “unity which the Spirit gives” which should be the work of the Holy Spirit
among us. And I submit to you if there is not peace and unity right now in the South-
ern Baptist Convention, and if there has not been peace and unity in the Southern
Baptist Convention for at least the last 20 years--and surely I would beg that you
see this is so--then there has been a failure on our part as Southern Baptists at
either one or both of the aspects of this verse.

Where have we failed? (1). Have we not made positive efforts to make fast or secure
with bonds of peace; or (2). Do we not have the unity of the Spirit which Paul identifies
in terms of the seven One’s that we will look at together breifly; or (3). Have we failed
and or we continuing to fail on both counts--is it possible that not only do we lack the
unity of the Spirit given by the Seven One’s, and also that we are not making conscious
and concerted efforts at peace in the Convention and in our churches?
(4). And I would offer one other possibility: that if we are extremely defi-
cient on the unity of the Spirit given by the Seven Ones that are listed in the follow-
ing verses of Ephesians--4:4-6--then it would be impossible to promote with bonds
of peace a unity among our churchmembers that does not exist in the first place.
1. We stress keeping positive and keeping the text in the context of the whole book of
Ephesians, and Colossians.
We must keep positive about this, therefore our subject is: PAUL’S PLAN FOR PEACE
AND UNITY IN THE SBC. And we must keep our study of Ephesians
4:3 in the context that it was written, that is of the whole book of Ephesians. Also
we will expand to study to include the book of Colossians since they both were written
almost simultaneously and essentially have the same subject matter. Paul mentions
both in the conclusion of the letter to the Colossians.
“And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of
the Laodiceans: and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.”
(Colossians 4:16)
(1). So what we will do first is to start a sort of Harmony between Ephesians and
Colossians.
You know how A.T. Robertson has written “A Harmony of the Gospels”. It
compares the parallel subject matter of Matthew, Mark, and Luke. So we will try
to do that for Ephesians and Colossians by first looking through the book of Colos-
sians for a single verse that compares to Ephesians 4:3. Ideally, if possible, we
would want this verse to speak of both “peace” and “unity”.    After reading again
through Colossians, we find that the closest that we can come to a parallel or har-
mony is to be found in Colossians 3:14,15. Yes, it takes two verses to come close to
the expression of Ephesians 4:3; and then again the wording goes beyond that of
Ephesians 4:3. But that is the real benefit of comparing Scripture with Scripture.
What we are going to read in Colossians 3:14,15 should help with our understanding
of Ephesians 4:3.
“And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfect- ness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in
one body; and be ye thankful.” (Colossians 3:14,15)
(2). A look at Colossians 3:14,15 and the context.
While we do have the word “peace” in Colossians 3:14,15, we do not have the
word “unity”; however you will notice something very interesting as a possibility,
that is, “the bond of perfectness”. I could easily see a harmony between the “bond
of perfectness” and the unity of the Spirit.
(3). If we expand the context beyond the one verse of Ephesians 4:3 and
beyond the two verses of Colossians 3:14,15, I think we will really start to appreci-
ate a Harmony of Ephesians and Colossians and on the subject of PAUL’S PLAN
FOR PEACE AND UNITY IN THE SBC.
a. Ephesians 4:1-3.
“I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness, and meekness, with
long-
suffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the
Spirit in the bond of peace.” (Ephesians 4:1-3)
b. Colossians 3:12-15.
“Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies,
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one
another,
and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as
Christ
forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which the
bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which
also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.” (Colossians 3:12-15)
Notice the similarity of subject matter: in Ephesians it is “walk worthy of
the vocation wherewith you are called” and in Colossians it is that you are “the
elect of God”; in Ephesians it is “lowliness and meekness” while in Colossians it is
“humbleness of mind and meekness”; in Ephesians and Colossians both, it is “long-
suffering”; in Ephesians it is “forbearing one another in love” while it Colossians it
is “forbearing one antoher” and later it is “charity” which is the equivalent of “love”.
Charity is love with wheels on it, or love put into action!

11-7: The Unity Which the Spirit Gives as Summarized in the Seven One’s.
Remember we had agreed to take the text of Ephesians 4:3, as amplified and explained
by Colossians; and from that Ephesians 4:3 text to look at it in the two
parts--The Peace Which we are to Promote; and the Unity which the Spirit gives
which are summarized in the Seven ONE’s.   Let us take the second part first
because this is the basis for the peace we can promote. If we do not have that unity
of the Spirit as given in the Seven ONE’s, then we have not basis for peace among
church members.   Paul does not leave us dangling about what that “unity of the
Spirit” is. Having mentioned it in Ephesians 4:3, he then applifies on specifically
what it is in the next three verses; and in such we have the great Seven doctrinal
statements of the Bible on what is most basic and fundamental in all of the Bible. If
you could have only one short statement of Baptist beliefs and doctrines, only one
short church charter, then these three verses should be it. And may I say paren-
theticaly that if we as Southern Baptists disagree on many things, and it is obvious
that we do, we must agree on these fundamentals of the Seven ONE’s. Without
agreement here there is no salvation, and without agreement here there is no basis
for unity and peace!
“There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your
calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in you all.” (Ephesians 4:4-6)
1. Before we proceed to briefly look at these Seven ONE’s and what they entail
doctrinally, let us see once again if we have a parallel or harmony in the book of
Colossians.
Where you might naturally expect for it to be is immediatly after Colossians
3:14,15 even as the Seven ONE’s of Ephesians are immediately after Ephesians 4:3.
What we do have in Colossians 3:16, immediately after our parallel text of Colossians
3:14,15, is very illuminating.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admon-
ishing one another in psalms and hymns and spirtual songs, singing with grace in your
hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3:16)
How grateful I am for this parallel; and how obvious it is as to why Paul
wanted the church at Ephesus to read Colossians and the church at Colosse to read
the letter to Ephesus. It was impossible for Paul to say all that needed saying on
peace, unity, and the basic doctrines of the Bible in one letter, so he said it in two.
In reality, Paul wrote it in 14 letters; and encouraged us to read with them all the
rest of the Bible of 66 books.
I don’t know about you but when I consider the real foundation of the unity
that we have as Christians and that we have as members of the SBC, I tend to think
of that unity as coming primarily from the Bible; so that I was almost disappointed
when I noticed that among the Seven ONES was not the ONE BOOK which is the
Word of God. Well, Paul not only takes care of that seeming deficiency in the paral-
lel of Colossians 3:16, but as we will show by closely looking at the Seven ONES each

one is related to the One Book which is the Bible. How will we show that? By first
introducing each of the Seven ONE’s as to its essential meaning, and then showing
exactly what the context of the book of Ephesians means by those ONE’s as well as
the book of Colossians

11-8: One “Word”.
The favorite word of the Bible in talking about itself as the One Book if THE WORD.
Therefore a very fundamental Bible statement and a fundamental Baptist belief would
be: The Bible is the Word of God. By that we mean that the Bible is divine in origin--it
originated in the mind and heart of God; that it is absolute in authority--when God
speaks why listen to men on the same subject; and it is suffi- cient in message--the
Bible tells us all we need to know for salvation and the living of the Christian life. Thus
Paul writes in Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom;
teaching and admonishing one another...” We are to teach and admonish, or
encourage one another, according to the Word of God and of Christ. The basis for our
songs and melodies is the One Book which is the Word of God.

(1). Matthew 24:35.
Jesus knew that His words and teachings would become part of a New Tes-
tament and that New Testament in turn become a part of the One Book which is
the Bible when He said that His words would never pass away.
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”
(Matthew 24:35)
It has been almost two thousand years since Jesus spoke these words on
earth, and this earth is still moving on. It still orbits about the sun with the peri-
ods of day and night and the seasons of fall, winter, spring, and summer. But you
will see this earth pass away before you will see the words of Jesus and the words
of this book the Bible pass away.
(2). Mark 4:14.
One reason that the Bible cannot be stopped and that it will never pass
away is because it becomes a living entity in the heart and life of Christians.
“The sower soweth the word” (Mark 4:14)
As we teach and preach and talk to people about Jesus, hopefully we do so
by quoting or paraphrasing or reading to them the Bible, and in doing so we are
sowing the seed of the Word.   I want you to keep this in mind as we look at the
SEVEN ONES of Ephesians 4:4-6: that at the foundation of each of those Seven
is the word that is in the heart and life of Christians.

(3). II Corinthians 3:3.
The Christian is a living epistle, an outgrowth of the Word of God and
Christ that is planted in their heart through faith.
“Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ minis-
tered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; in in tables
of stone, but in flesy tables of the heart.” (II Corinthians 3:3)
You churchmember and you southern baptist are an epistle of Christ. The
word of Christ and of God has been written in your heart by the living God through

the living Spirit. There is a significant source of unity of the Spirit and one that
underlies all the seven ones of Ephesians 4:4-6.
(4). It is alive in your heart, the Bible as the Word of God is alive period, Hebrews 4:12.
“For the word of God is quck, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged
sword, piercing even to the diving asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart...” (Hebrews
4:12)
On the seven actual ONE’s of Ephesians, we need a more thorough and sys- tematic
manner of development, so that a chapter is borried from volume 2, “Remember
My Bonds”, the Life and 14 New Testament letters of Paul. When Paul, and the Holy
Spirit through Paul, writes in Ephesians 4:3, “Spare no effort to make fast with bonds of
peace the unity which the Spirit gives”, the unity of course is the inherent unity from a
common spirit in each churchmembers heart, a common spirit from the Holy Spirit, also
called the spirit of Christ in the Bible; but the bonds of peace that churchmembers are
to work with....ah, the bonds of peace, that is another matter. You as a churchmember,
or hopefully a believer in Christ, can do lit- tle about this inherent unity. You ever have
the Spirit or you don’t; you either have this unity of the Spirit or not; your fellow
churchmembers either have it or not, and quite naturally some do and some don’t since
the wheat will not be divided from the chaff until the end of time, the goats divided from
the sheep.
11-9: Relationship of the Bonds of Peace to the Falling Away.
But ah...the bonds of peace...that is another matter. This is one of the prime sub- jects
of this commentary, if not the prime subject. Remember the title, “Remember My
Bonds”, the Life and 14 letters of the Apostle Paul. Paul chose his own epitaph by
which to be remembered; and this epitaph which he uses in Colossians 4:18 {the par-
allel epistle with Ephesians, essentially duplicating the subject matter}, “Remember my
bonds” (KJV). You have something similar in Ephesians 4:1, “I, therefore, the prisoner
of the Lord....” This chosen epitaph from Paul has double or triple meaning: (1)
Remember the bonds of the Apostle Paul as a prisoner of the Roman government, for
Christ and for his ministry to the first century churches; (2) Remember the 14 epistles
which Paul himself has written and the three he sponsored through John Mark and Dr.
Luke; and (3) Remember the bonds of peace which are the core of those epistles, the
seven bonds of peace which are listed in Ephesians 4:4-6, immedi- ately after Paul
writes in Ephesians 4:3 to “spare no effort to make fast with bonds of peace the unity
which the Spirit gives.” What has really happened in southern baptist churches in the
last 40 years, and I am sure all other churches are the same, is that LITTLE EFFORT
has been put into making fast with bonds of peace the Seven ONE’s. Southern baptist
churches have not been idle: if not into the bonds of peace, where has this vast multi-
local churches unitied effort of the largest Prot- estant denomination gone. The answer
is simple, but overwhelming: THE EFFORTS HAVE GONE INTO BUILDING THE
ORGANIZATION OF THE LOCAL CHURCH AND THE LARGEST DENOMINATION
RATHER THAN IN THE BUILDING OF THE LIVING BODY. The seven - to - ten ONE’s
that have been daily promoted from

the pulpits, in Sunday School, in training union, in WMU and brotherhood, in
denomination emphasis, from the Boards and Pastor’s Conferences and numerous
associations and meetings has been like this: attend worship, go to Sunday School,
tithe, read your Bible, invite somebody to come, etc. {Seriously, I can document these
as consider by typical SBC churchmembers to be “major doctrines of the Bible” as indi-
cated by tests of the congregation on Sunday night.} While all of these are worthy, and
do indeed support the man-make organization of the church, they do not support
and promote the bonds of peace according to the Bible, and they in no way, by any-
one’s defintion, can be considered major doctrines of the Bible. Many churchmem-
bers are now sick over what is happening in their local churches as the fighting
that started 20 years ago at the denominational level between real southern bap-
tists and the fundamentalists like Criswell, and Adrian Rogers and Charles Stanley
{men who came into the Convention from other denominations, primarily the Bible
Baptists fundamentalists}, has now come down to fighting at the State and the
local church level. You can hardly find a single southern baptist church now where
there is not significant divisions or splits, and if you do find one, it is generally
because they are good a cover up. Of course, as noted in earlier chapters, we are
in the Falling Away, but the gradual falling away started over 40 years ago when
promoting the organization became a complete substitute for promoting the bonds
of peace.
11-10: The Priesthood of Believers.
The can take the doctrine of “the priesthood of believers” as an example of what has
happened to sound teaching, or I should say the lack of sound teaching and preaching,
in the SBC during the last 40 years ago. In 1960 when I did a research paper at
Ouachita Baptist College on “Baptist Distinctives”, researching many Bap- tist
statements of faith and practice and many books written up to that point on Baptist
Distinctives, “the priesthood of believers” was very prominent in any state- ment of
faith. Today as I research the books being used in this despearate effort to save SB
churches for the denominations, and especially the giving to support the Boards, and
which have been used the last 40 years, YOU CAN NOT FIND THE DOCTRINE OF
THE PRIESTHOOD OF BELIEVERS. Yes, I recently looked in BAPTIST
DISTINCTIVES by W. R. White, in THESE THINGS WE BELIEVE by J. Clyde Turner,
in THE BAPTIST FAITH AND MESSAGE by Herschel H. Hobbs, and in A GUIDE TO
BAPTIST BELIEF AND PRACTICE by Stanley J. Grenz. It just is not there anymore;
and along with the disapperance from Baptist thought and practice of these significant
and major Bible doctrine, definitely one of the his- torical Baptist distinctives, have gone
also by the wayside such related doctrines as serious study of the Bible, the authority
of Christ through the pastor to the local church, and the Bible as the real word of God
far beyond the “pick-and- chose” method of the fundamentalists {granted they make a
lot of noise on inspira- tion of the Scripture while failing to practice respect for every
“word that pro-

ceeds out of the mouth of God. {Their real respect is for the Scoffield Reference Bible
notes, the teachings of the fundamentalists seminaries, and what they think gives them
unique status among believers.} They carry their Bibles; the full truth lies there; and it
dies there; and with this dying is now the death warrant of the SBC which like an early
New Testament church had a reputation but was dead.

11-11: The Seven Bonds of Peace in the 10 books of Paul Before Ephesians.
As discussed earlier it is an approximation that Paul wrote ten books before he sum-
marized all that was written in the twin epistles of Ephesians and Colossians. You can
tell this several ways (remember there is always a different in the time of writ- ing of
books and the publication or distribution}: (1) Paul wrote Ephesians from Cae- sarea
Philippi where he had the liberty to write and to think back over what he had written in
the heat of the battles; and (2) Paul’s habit of quoting from the Old Tes- tament as he
does so much in Hebrews and Romans as well as the others of the first ten books
essentially stops as a dominant style in Ephesians and Colossians, also in the books
that follow them as Phillipians and Philemon. You will recall the Table 1 of the last
chapter, “Paul wraps up the Bible”, as we sequenced the 14 letters from the Apostle
Paul. We will slightly requence them as below. {Hebrews is put a the begin- ning since
it is the almost timid form of address from Paul, that of “no name”; and I think that many
of us recognized the book of Hebrews as a version of Paul’s synogo- gue addresses.
Don’t look in your research books: this is all from internal evidence in the Bible itself.}
Also since there is little difference between “apostle” and “apostle with children” we will
put I Timothy, II Timothy, and II Corinthians on the same row. since there is little
difference between “apostle” and “apostle with chil- dren” we will put I Timothy, II
Timothy, and II Corinthians on the same row.

TABLE 22.

epistles from Paul in a general, possible sequence         Paul’s reference to himself

Hebrews                                                                             no name

Galatians                                                                            Apostle not of men but of Jesus I, II
Thessalonians                                                               names only (Paul, Silas, Timothy) Romans,
Titus                                                                     servant and called to be an Apostle I
Corinthians                                                                       called to be an Apostle
I Timothy, II Corinthians, II Timothy                                 an Apostle with children and
“an Apostle” Ephesians and Colossians, the twin epistles                       an Apostle
Philippians                                                                          servant with Timothy
Philemon                                                                             prisoner

Now, what we propose to do, starting in this chapter, is to look at the development by
Paul, and the spirit of Christ through Paul, of the Seven One’s of Ephesians 4:4-6

in the first ten books by Paul, and in the approximate order of writing if not of
publication: (1) Hebrews; (2) Galatians; (3) I Thessalonians; (4) II Thessalonians; (5)
Romans; (6) Titus; (7) I Corinthians; (8) I Timothy; (9) II Corinthians; and (10) II
Timothy. It is only important that we get the Seven Major doctrines as devel- oped in
these books preliminary to their summary of Ephesians and Colossians, rather than get
engaged in any squibbling about the exact sequence of the writing of the first 12 of the
14 letters from the Apostle Paul.   Of course the old standby’s of YOUNG’S
ANALYTICAL CONCORDANCE and STRONG’S ANALYTI- CAL CONCORDANCE will
be used to find every instance of the seven key words {in the King James Version
(KJV)}: body, Spirit, hope {“calling” must be included here as the wording of Ephesians
4:4-6 is “one hope of your calling”}, Lord {and we will try to distinguish between LORD
for God the Father and Lord for the Lord Jesus Christ}, faith, baptism, God {and Father
must be included as thewoing is “God and Father of all”}. wording is “God and Father
of all”}.

You can see that I Corinthians is the book of the “one body” with I Corinthians chapter
9 leading; also that Galatians while a small book is prime on the “one Spirit” with
Romans even more so as you would expect since Galatians is a minature version of
Romans, and with Romans 8, the famous chapter on what baptism really means
leading, however the emphasis must be on I Corinthians about the “one Spirit”, and
what is impressive is the way the subject is spread all the way from the second chapter
to the sixteenth, and with the twelth chapter leading in I Corinthians {also with I
Corinthians leading on both “one body” and “one spirit” we must see the close
connection between the two--what a marvelous study of the seven one’s Ephesians is
leading us into}; and we are impressed with the respectable coverage of the “one
hope” in 9 out of 10 {in that tenth one, II Timothy, as shown in the Table, the “calling” in
included, and remember that it is the “one hope of Jesus calling”} of the first books by
Paul, not an emphasis so much as just constant reminders; and sur- prised at the vast
number of “one Lords” for the Lord Jesus Christ in all the ten-- don’t be, we have often
said that the whole Bible is a book about the Lord Jesus Christ {most impressive is I
Thessalonians, a small book which references the Lord Jesus Christ often; however
among the larger epistles, I Corinthians leads again with Romans--chapters 14 and 16
lead in Romans with usage of the Lord is what might be considered an unexpected way
in the light of doctrine-- right behind it}.
{Note: it is obvious that this volume of the LEARN CHRIST commentaries is the place
in which to do a complete outline on I Corinthians; in fact, in the chapter on the “one
Lord Jesus Christ”.} II Timothy on the “one Lord” for the Lord Jesus Christ should also
be a surprise in that it is a small book with 17 mentions. And “Lord” for the Lord
Jesus Christ is found significantly in all ten of the first epistles of Paul that lead
up to the summary of the seven ONE’s in Ephesians. And lastly on the “one Lord”
the significant number in II Thessalonisans, 20, should be noted with II Thessalo-
nian leading the books. Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and I Timothy lead on the

“one faith” references in the first 10 epistles from Paul. {For the actual tabulated
results of the ten epistles, refer to “Remember My Bonds”, volume 2.}

11-12: Mark as Pivotal.

1. The goal of SOME MORE SOUNDS is to extend the influence of Christ and to
prevent the Falling Away.
2. The second goal of SOME MORE SOUNDS...FROM John Mark is to pro-
mote the grand theme that “God is the great Maker of History”, the title of volume
1a of the LEARN CHRIST FROM THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS commentaries.
(1). God makes history with the Bible. The Bible tells that God makes hsi-
tory. According to the Apostle James, “Known unto God are all His works from the
beginning {of time}....”
(2). God makes history with the Bible by making the history of the Bible.
The approximately 40 Prophets and Apostles God chose to write books of the Bible
over a period of approximately one thousand years were carefully chosen in their
historical context, running from the Prophets Job and Moses in the writing of the
Old Testament to the Apostles Paul and John in the writing of the New Testament.
Old Testament quotes in the New Testament provide internal proof in the Bible
itself of God?s plan and control in the writing of the Bible. John Mark records 18 of
those quotes, and SOME MORE SOUNDS...is organized around those 18 Old Testa-
ment quotes.
(3). God makes sure that you will get the proper interpretation of the Bible
by providing in the Bible not only the quotes from the Old and New Testament, but
also by providing in the Bible itself the proper interpretation of the quotes. We
have only begun to appreciate what the Apostle Peter meant when he wrote, “no
Scripture is of any private interpretation, but Holy men of God spoke as they were
moved by the Holy Spirit.” God wrote it and God interpreted it properly, all in one
book of two testaments.

a. These Holy men of God, prophets in the Old Testament and Apostles in the New
Testament, were carefully chosen by God at specific intervals of history and moved by
God the Holy Spirit to write consistently with the mind and heart of God.
b. God assured that what the Prophets wrote would be consistent with what
the Apostles wrote, and both consistent with what Jesus brought to earth of the
teachings of God. John Mark with his record of the teachings, character, and works
of Jesus is a short 16 chapter example of that working of God in history. We might
call this the “authorized interpretation”, the opposite of “private interpretation”
which is forbidden by the Bible.
In this day and time when the number one excuse for ngelect of the Bible is
“there are so many interpretations”, it should be comforting to comprehend that
God not only gave the “Scripture” but also in the same Bible, the proper interpreta-
tion. This was more of God?s planning as the Great Maker of History to counter
what He knew would be the Satan-given-excuse to the world for not living by “every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”, as Jesus said, as well as living by
bread, at which we are far more adept.
3. There is a third goal, closely related to the first two goals, and that is to
see people truely chose God over comforts, God over “mammon”, God over pride of
life, every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God over making a living, the

kingdom of God over things, the of-the-Father over the of-the-world “lust of the flesh,
lust of the eyes, and the pride of life”--all carefully chosen ways that the Bible says the
same thing. John Mark is a good personal example because he like Demas might have
had Jesus say of their young lives like Paul wrote “Demas hath forsaken me, having
loved this present world...” We must know that Jesus said, “The friend of this world is
the enemy of God.”

11-13: Mark is Pivotal in the New Testament as Isaiah is in the Old Testa- ment

Look at the Old Testament quotes in Mark, and you will see the influence of the book
of Isaiah.
1. Isaiah 40:3, Malachi 3:1 and Mark 1   45
2. Acts 1:16 and Mark 1 11
3. Isaiah 6:9,10 and Mark 4:12 21
4. Isaiah 29:13 and Mark:7:6,731
5. Exodus 20:12;21:17 and Mark 7 41
6. Isaiah 66:24 and Mark 9:44,46,4851
7. Genesis 1:26;2:24 and Mark 10:6-961
8. Deuteronomy 5:16-20 and Mark 1071
9. Psalms 118:26 and Mark 11:981
10. Jeremiah 7:1 and Mark 11 91
11. Psalms 118:22,23 and Mark 12:10   101
12. Exodus 3:6,15 and Mark 12   111
13. Leviticus 19:18 and Mark 12   121
14. Psalms 110:1 and Mark 12   131
15. Daniel 11:31;12:11 and Mark 13:5   141
16. Zechariah 13:7 and Mark 14:27   151
17. Isaiah 53:12 and Mark 15:28   161
18. Psalms 22:1 and Mark 15:34   171

11-14: The PEACEMAKING of Jesus in Mark.
In this age of the Falling Away, just before the Second Coming of Christ and as a
precursor to the Second Coming of Christ, the meaning of “Blessed are the peace-
makers...” has been stolen like the real meaning even of Christian and of so many
other words in the Bible. The world, Satan, and teachers of “itching ears” {II Tim- othy
4:4}, with skillful exercise of the techniques of “isogesis” {the reading of meaning into
the Bible as contrasted to “exegeis” which is the faithful reading out of the original
meaning}, use the word in an “of this world” sense to apply to any politician who seeks
to promote peace in the nations of the world, independent of any faith in Christ. Peace
and real peacemaking is only with Christ as the mediator according to the Word of God
in Ephesians chapters 1 and 2. This applies to peace between man and man and to
peace between God and men. Christ must be at the center of peacemaking efforts
between man and man and between God and man.

“For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the
middle wall of separation, having abolished in His flesh the
enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in
Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, and that He might reconcile
them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.
And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were
near.   For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians
2:14-18)
If we are to truely extend the influence of Christ, the true Biblical employment of a
peacemaker, then Christ must be personally involved, and the extensive “how” of this
issue is the story of this book. John Mark, the author on the human side of the Gos- pel
of Mark, extended the influence of Christ when under the inspiration of the Spirit of God
when he wrote about the life and teachings of Christ. Of course, above all Mark
extended the influence of Christ in faithful recordings about the death, resurrection, and
ascension of Christ. It is the death of Christ, with faith in that death as a substitute
atonment for our sins, that provides salvation for the world, and for us in particular; it is
the resurrection of Christ which provides an example of life after death and provides
the foundation for the hope {reasonable expectation} of eternal salvation; and it is the
Ascension to the right hand of God the Father which provides both assurance of the
forgiveness of sins {“He ever lieves to make intercession for our sins”} and more
assurance of eternal life as He prom- ised that in the future we would be where He is.
“Young John Mark did all that!” one might say. Well, yes, and so did Matthew, and Dr.
Luke, and the Apostle John. So also did the Apostle Paul in the book of Romans,
sometimes called “The Gospel according to Paul”. {I would remind you that “Gospel”
always assumes the Gospel of Jesus Christ, although not always expressed in the
Bible as such; and in such cases where the reference is to “the gospel of the kingdom”,
it is decidedly the Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ. {Some things belong more to
Jesus than to God like the kingdom, the only real Church, the Assembly of the Firstborn
written in heaven, and the Judgeship to separate the living from the dead, and general
Lordship; but they have been ordained to Jesus Christ by God, and will be turned over
to God at the end. First, all things are placed at the feet of Jesus, subject to Him; and
then all things will be delivered to God the Father, in order that all glory will belong to
God.}
However, there are in the nature of inspiration and the whole history of the writing of
the 66 books of the Bible, unique characteristics of the personality of John Mark and in
the research and development of the Gospel of Mark. {See F.F. Bruce on THE BOOKS
AND THE PARCHMENTS.} For one thing John Mark, unlike most of the New
Testament writers, was not an Apostle. He was an eyewitness of much of the life and
teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God. Most conservative Bible com-
mentators agree that it was John Mark, with an unnamed reference to himself in the
tradition of the Apostle John doing the same in the Gospel of John as the writer, who
as a young man about twelve years of age fled naked from the Garden of Geth-
semane when the arrestors of Jesus grabbed the scant clothing that he hastily
threw on the way to following Jesus and the Apostles to the Garden.   It is very possible
that the Last Supper just before the evening excursion in the Garden was held at the
home of John Mark?s mother. John Mark?s mother was the sister of Barnabas, the
famous missiomary with the Apostle Paul, and one sometimes called an apostle in the
book of Acts; although not the twelth apostle selected by the other Apostles after Judas
fell by transgression. There is a lot of evidence of human personality in Acts:
Barnabas had pre-eminence in the first church as he sought out and promoted the new
convert Saul, then Barnabas and Saul brought John Mark back from Jerusalem to
Antioch with them {Acts 12:25} and then took him on the first missionary journey, but
Mark deserted the mission at Pamphylia, “not going to the work” as we read in Acts 15:
28; and then on the second mission- ary journey when Paul objected to taking Mark,
there is a personality conflict between Paul and Barnabas, Barnabas taking John Mark
with him, Paul taking Silas. The record does not tell us more than “the contention was
sharp between Paul and Silas.”
We can only speculate as to why John Mark turned back at Pamphylia. It was
important to Paul, but Barnabas either wanted to give John Mark another chance or
Barnabas consider insignificant the desertion at Pamphylia. Do you look for the
problem at Perga in Pamphylia {Acts 13:13}? Did John Mark simply return to Jeru-
salem because he was homesick, or did he wish to confer with Simon Peter, who in his
epistle calls him “my son”? Whatever, Paul took it seriously as an indication of John
Mark?s lack of dedication; but we also know that when later in prison in Rome, Paul
asked for John Mark saying that he was “profitable to me for the ministry”. Paul did
give John Mark another chance; and I think, from speculations based on the internal
evidence of various scriptures, that it was a chance equal to almost the one given by
Paul to Dr. Luke. There is much evidence that Paul was chosen to be the Chief Editor
of the New Testament--that was his prime ministry and the one he had in mind when he
noted John Mark as profitable to that end--so when Paul requested Timothy to come
before winter, bringing the books and parchments with him, two of those manuscripts
were for Dr. Luke to write Luke and Acts, and one of the manuscripts was for John
Mark to use in the writing of the Gospel of Mark. You can tell that John Mark made a
marvelous recovery in the eyes of the Apostle Paul, likewise in the esteem of the
Church of First Century Christianity. Above all, and what is most important, John Mark
proved a person interest in extending the influence of the life and teachings of Jesus;
He showed extremely strong convictions on Jesus; He illustrated his willingness to be
used by the Spirit of God in the writing of the shortest of the four Gospels. This
personal recovery by John Mark, the opposite of the challenge of our generation of the
Falling Away, is a co-emphasis with the influence of Christ in this presentation. Is it as
dramatic as what happened in the life of Demas, personified when Paul wrote, “Demas
hath forsaken me having loved this present world? I don?t know, but it seems very
similar. We hope that Demas also had a marvelous recovery in being rescued from his
love of this present world, no doubt a similar experience to what happened to John
Mark; but even more importantly in all these cases and others in the Bible, we can see
hope for rescue of victims of the Falling Away. You know, loving “this present world”
does not sound so serious, but it really is. Many might say, “well, they are young...wait
until they grow up”; and indeed it no doubt worked in the case of John Mark, but
perhaps not in the case of Demas, certainly not in the case of all of the children of
Israel in the wilderness except for Caleb and Joshua. Love of this pres- ent world will
not mix with the love of God. Mammon is the things of this world which man himself
has created, and the Bible represents the bread God has given man, every word of
which proceeds out of the mouth of God. Christ is the teachings that He received from
God and delivered in the Sermon on the Mount, by the way recorded in Mark as well as
the other Gospels, in there Christ demands, and God demands, that a definite choice
for priority be made for God and God?s righteous- ness over the mammon of man. It is
not an either/or as to whether mammon and bread of life will both exist in human life: it
is a matter of which will have the priority--mammon of God--to the extent of servitude.
Christ is talking about motivation. What is your primary motivation? To seek the
mammon of men like a house, and land, and degrees, and career, and position, and
even wealth or pleasure? Or to diligently seek after the Bible and the words of the Bible
as every word that proceeds out of mouth of God, and to seek first after the kingdom of
God and after God?s righteousness?

11-15: Threads or Sounds of Doctrine and Authority in Mark
There are certain threads or sounds that repeat often in the Gospel of Mark. One such
sound is that of DOCTRINE and AUTHORITY. {There are others that you will expect to
see in a study of the 16 chapters of Mark: the teachings of Jesus on cer- tain subject
matters as the Falling Away, the teachings of Jesus on love of this world versus love of
mammon, the teaching and preaching of Jesus on the Gospel, the miracles of Jesus,
the death and resurrection of Jesus; and so on. It is hoped to limit to the study to eight
of these and stay focused on them throughout Mark. This is not a attempted
commentary on Mark. Many good commentaries on Mark already exist.} God plays
with the wisdom of the world and of the university scholars as He chooses to save
those through the foolishness of preaching to save those who believe (“When in the
wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God it pleased God by the foolishness
of preaching to save those that believe...”); (4) The wisdom of this world of the
universities and books (except a select few) are foolishness with God, and not many
mighty or noble or wise are called to a proper spiritual understanding; and (5) It is
necessary to face up to the fact that true Bible faith in Christ is a minority endeavor as
“many are called but few are chosen”, and “broad is the way that leads to destruction
and many go that way” while “narrow is the way that leads to eternal life” and few there
are that take that way of life. It is the simple difference between the majority and the
minority that we are talking about. This applies to the United States also. You can
hardly make a legitimate case that this majority and minority thing of the Bible applies
to the whole world apart from the United States. Even as it applied also to Israel, the
originally cho- sen nation of God, in the days of Christ, it also applies to the currently
chosen nation of God, the United States, during this age of the fullness of the Gentiles.
What we have in the United States, to use the words of some of the American Studies
scholars, is an AMERICAN DEMOCRATIC FAITH. It can be summarized as spoken by
former Prime Minister of Israel Begin, “You Americans are born Christians just as Jews
are born Jews.” Neither is true, but it takes a close study of that part of the Word of
God called the book of Romans, by the Apostle Paul and the Spirit of God, to
understand it. That will be explained in the third chapter, “God?s Watershed of
History: Choice of a Beloved and Foolish Nation”. Suffice it to say for now as Paul,
“not every Jew is born of Israel”, nor is every child of God born of Israel, and there is a
spiritual Israel. In other words, until the fullness of the Gentiles age is complete, there
will be more children of God from among the Gentiles, the United States leading the
way, than from among the physical nation of Israel. {Enjoy it while you can.}
Second to the proper attitude, it is necessary to work hard to understand the Bible.
Jesus uses the words “asking”, “seeking”, and “knocking”. Another way to say it is
that those who search after the truth from the Bible are the ones most likely to find the
truth. One of the so-called “beatitudes” describes the way God will bless those who
seek the truth of the Bible, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after
righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Many like to talk about this as happiness or the
beatitudes. No, it is the blessings of God; and if God Himself blesses you beyond that
of the sun and rain, beyond that of the majority on the earth, it is indeed a blessing.
God can and will bless you by under- standing of every word that proceeds out of His
mouth if you will develop the right attitude and put out effort in knowing the truth. We
live among many who desire the instant spiritual blessings of salvation and special
insight; however there is never and has never been a quick and easy way. Many point
to the salvation of Paul on the road to Damascus as an example of instantaneous
salvation; but there would not have been a salvation experience of the road except for
the extended time of that preceded it in which “he kicked against the pricks”. And still
his salvation was not complete as indicated by the physical blindness {a sign of
incomplete spiritual insight}, until Ananias assisted him with more truth from the
Ascended Christ. Even so Paul was not yet ready to preach. He must spend time in the
Arabian Des- ert with the Ascended Christ, and then go back to Tarsus to reread the
Old Testa- ment in the light of what Christ had taught him. Paul teaches about the
yearn in Hebrews for the sound doctrine of the Word of God as the equivalent
motivation of a new born baby desiring to have milk. All know of that yelling and
screaming and crying of the baby for milk, and the person who yearns with that
intensity after every word from the mouth of God as recorded in the Word of God will be
rewarded in like manner as a mother cares for her child. Someone besides Jacob must
wrestle with the angel for a spiritual blessing, and that someone is the person, having
established a proper attitude, who seeks to know the truth of God and Christ, the truth
of the Word of God which is divine in origin, absolute in authority, suffi- cient in
message, and high fidelity in communication.

11-16: A Few Biblical Statements About What Sound Doctrine Is!
1. What is Sound Doctrine? Since doctrine is another word for teachings, and of
course for Bible believers the teachings of Jesus and of God, which are the same, then
sound doctrine is also sound teachings from God Himself and from the Lord Jesus
Christ. Jesus made it clear often during His three years ministry on earth that His
teachings or doctrines were not His own but belonged to God His Father, and
furthermore that whatever God taught Him to say is exactly what He taught on this
earth. Parenthetically, it should be stated at this point that sound faith is a subset of
sound doctrine. Even as sound doctrine includes all that comes from God and Jesus
and all that can be known as truth about God and Jesus and their teach- ings, even so
sound faith is a subset in that it is both beliefs and a process of confi- dence in that
sound doctrine. {This will be discussed more thoroughly from the Bible in the chapter
on FAITH.}
2. What is Sound Doctrine? Sound doctrine is synonymous with “the faith once for all
delivered to the saints” (verse 3) of the book of Jude. It was delivered once for all by
Jesus and the Apostles who recorded what He said in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John;
it was recorded once for all in the books written by the Apostles and Prophets; it has
been sealed once for all in the history of the Christ faith in the book of 66 books, 39 in
the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, by the assembly of the Firstborn and
their leaders as they have crystallized as the Holy Bible this book. You see right here
at this point at least half of the confusion is eliminated as on how to distinguish
between sound doctrine and all the beliefs that clamor for recognition. At least half of
all of the religions and denominations did not subscribe to the Bible as the Word of
God, and therefore do not subscribe to this as the only sufficient source of sound
doctrine. Then you can eliminate another one- fourth of so-called Christian
denominations and religions who do not believe as stated in Jude 3, that the sound
faith and doctrine was once for all delivered to the saints. They believe in the evolution
of sound doctrine; they believe that they like the Prophets and Apostles of old are the
recipients of special revelations from God. At the extreme of this spectrum are the
Mormons who have replaced the single Bible of the faith once delivered with four
Bibles, and also subscribe to constant new revelation from the Heads of the LDS
churches. To express it in the words of the Doctrine and the Covenants any time the
Head Prophet of the Mormon church speaks, it is Word of God. {Later, I will discuss
how this places two curses from the Holy Bible itself on the head of the Latter Day
Saints.} And at the other end of the spectrum of the group who do not see sound
doctrine and sound faith as
“once for all delivered” are those people and groups who see knowledge of truth from
God as sort of an evolution that comes as we learn more and as we acquire more
scientific knowledge. As an example, and this is very subtle, is the religious person
who will take God?s name in vain as excusable as if the words no longer apply, “the
LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain” as taught by Jesus in the
Sermon on the Mount. Or the person that somehow sees God and His Word as
outdated because this new generation is so much smarter than the last generation that
lived. J.B. Phillips expressed it years ago when he wrote the book, YOUR GOD IS
TOO SMALL. People did not believe that God understood radar or the modified Bohr
Theory of the atom. Today people do not believe that God understands computers
and genetics and information technology. You see we confuse some older Christ
believers and what they understand with the God of this universe who understands and
knows all things; and further who cre- ated the minds who can probe and invent these
things and the fundamentals laws of the universe that make the understanding of these
technical matters possible.
3. What is Sound Doctrine? It is doctrine that comes from God through the work and
will of the Holy Spirit of God.    Here, I must quote from the Word of God itself as found
in II Timothy 3:16,17: “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness...” You see it came
from God is a gift from God for the profit of humanity in order that humanity may come
to know the way that God wants us to live {that is the instruction, another word for
teachings, and “instruction in righteousness” another way to correct our behavior and
beliefs.} As far as Scripture coming more specifically from the work on earth of God the
Holy Spirit, we turn to the teachings of Jesus as recorded in John 14-16 where Jesus
taught saying, “...when He, the Spirit of truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth,
for He will not speak on His own authority, but whatever He hears He will speak; and
He will tell you things to come.” (John 16:13)
4. What is Sound Doctrine? It also helps to shift out the wheat from the chaff of sound
doctrine to know not only the origin of sound doctrine as from God through the Spirit
but that it must have come through an approved apostle or prophet. How do we know
who has been approved? Once again it is from the Bible itself which tells of how Jesus
chose both apostles and prophets. If you believe about the Apostle Peter, then you
believe that the Apostle Paul wrote Scriptures as much the Word of God as those of
the Old Testament Prophets because Peter states that in his books, and so on epistle
after epistle in the Bible the approximately 20 writing prophets of the Old Testament are
confirmed and the approximately 7 writing Apostles of the New Testament confirm each
other.
5. What is Sound Doctrine? It is the doctrine or teachings or faith taught by the Holy
Spirit of God Himself.   Refer again to John 16:13 above, “the Spirit of truth...will guide
you into all truth.” Isn't just a little bit of conviction and cer-
tainty like this from the Bible, from the teachings of Jesus Himself, from the book written
by the Apostle John, and that has come to be believed by the great cloud of witnesses
of the Christ faith that have gone before {Hebrews 11 and 12} worth a lot more than the
tendency to wallow in he mud puddle of uncertainly and doubt of looking at all the
teachings and beliefs in the world. (Underlying all sound doctrine and the efforts to
know and do sound doctrine is the fundamental belief based on the teachings of Jesus
that the majority are wrong and the minority is right, and this applies in the United
States as in all countries of the world.)
6. What is Sound Doctrine?   It is life related–can not be learned apart from the way
life is lived–in that it must proceed from a deep-seated yearning to know the truth, with
the confidence that the truth is more likely to be learned when it is pas- sionately
sought; can not be learned apart from a desire to know the will of God; and can not be
learned unless equal life priority is given to “every word that proceeds from the mouth
of God” to the life priority of making a living.

11-17: What are Some Obstacles to Learning Sound Doctrine?
1.   Pastor James, the pastor of the first church ever, in Jerusalem immediately after the
life of Christ, and the half-brother of Jesus, had a lot to say in the little book of James
about truth, doctrine, and what causes obstacles to sound doctrines in churches. It is
very practical because Pastor James is dealing with the problems in a very real church,
the First. First of all the Apostle James says that the wars and battles over sound
doctrine in local churches (and denominations) come from individual desires for
pleasure and status. Once again I must quote from the Word of God: “Where do wars
and fights come from among you? Do they not come from your desires for pleasure
that war in your members? You lust (for control, for rec- ognition, for power, etc) and do
not have. You murder (that includes anger and fight- ing) and covet (desire to have and
be what someone else in the church has and is) and cannot obtain. You fight (in your
home church) and war (in the denomination). Yet you do not have because you do not
ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on
your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3) Wow! It never can be said any better than that and
never will be said any better than that. Don?t look for some deep meaning that causes
the splits in churches and the warfare in the Southern Baptist Convention, it comes out
of wars and battles for pleasure. Crude, but true!
2. Another obstacle to sound doctrine in individual lives, in beliefs, and in the prac-
tices of churches is the lack of wisdom. Contrary to the old wives tale “that if the
majority of the church votes to do something, it is right” is the teaching of Pastor James
in the Word of God that where there is no real prayer there is no real wisdom from God
and from above, and further where in any church there is “self-seeking” and
“confusion” that is the sure sign that the wisdom from above has never come.
3. Another obstacle to sound doctrine is the “doctrines of devils”. Do the devils, alias
the fallen angels and Satan, really have doctrine? Oh yes, and that doctrine is subtle
and often so close to the truth of Jesus that it is difficult to shift out from the truth.
Recall the way Satan tempted Jesus Himself in order to divert Jesus from the real will
of God.   First of all, he quoted Scripture. Do not be deceived, every quoter of
Scripture is not on the side of Jesus. In fact, it is very possible that Satan–especially in
this time of intolerance toward sound doctrine– has as many people who quote
Scripture as Jesus: the big difference being in the way they implement and interpret
and apply the Scripture. For example, Satan tempted Jesus (Luke 4:1-13) on three
fronts with unsound doctrine from Scrip- ture: first, the temptation or obstacle from
Satan was to live by bread instead of by the will of God; second, the obstacle from
Satan was to worship Satan and to get the whole world rather than worship God; and
third, the obstacle was to tempt God by leading Himself into futile tests of God Himself,
a very common practice today in very popular churches.
4. The obstacle of seducing spirits. Along with the warnings of the Bible about
doctrines of devils is also the warning of seducing spirits. Once again to quote from
the Bible, the Word of God: “Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will
depart from the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines of demons,
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their own conscience seared with a hot iron,
forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from foods, which God crated to be
received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.” (I Timothy 4:1-3)
This was expressly told to Paul by the Holy Spirit of God. It is an inevitable prediction,
called a prophesy, of what will take place in history: in fact is a accepted burden of
proof of this book on THE SOUND OF A SOUND FAITH that has already happened,
the time of intolerance toward sound doctrine. It is generally referred to by Bible
scholars as the Great Apostasy. The only reason I do not like that phrase as it seems
like something to happen way out in the future instead of now! The short and simple of
the meaning is: that is the doctrines of devils that come to you, and which must
inevitable come as long as there is a Satan and other devils, if those doctrines of devils
do not present obstacles to your sound faith and sound doctrine, then the seducing or
deceiving spirts can get you. The bad thing about a bad spirit is that it can be clothed
in clothing that is very deceptive, say for example black clothing or sheep?s clothing.
5. The last obstacle to be mentioned to sound doctrine is the most serious obsta- cle
to most Protestant, non-Mormon believers: it is the wall of intolerant doctrine built up in
churches and denominations by itching ears teachers, preachers, and people that
protects them from the sound of sound doctrine. When the Bible says in II Timothy 4:
3,4, about the time of intolerance toward sound doctrine and men- tions how those of
itching ears will “HEAP” to themselves teachers of itching ears,
the “heaping” has the implication of extensive effort to protect against sound doc- trine.
For example the effort that the divorced in churches go to, who have not con- fessed
divorce as adultery when there is remarriage, the effort they go to protect themselves
from hearing the true words of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus on the matter. The
“heaping” is like building up a vast wall of protection against sound doctrine. It reminds
of what some of the New Jersey ladies who lost husbands in 9/
11 were quoted as saying about the Bush administration, “they have built up around
the White House a wall of secrecy.” Well, the wall of intolerance toward sound doc-
trine is a wall for comfort, a wall built by itching ears. The nature of the Falling Away, as
most people will not endure sound doctrine, dictates that the popular preachers and
teachers of large churches and television are “False Prophets” and “False Teachers”.
I wish there were a lesser category of “itching ears” teachers, not false ones, but the
Bible clearly identifies the “turning away” from truth” and “turning into fables” as
synonymous with unsound doctrine. Unfortunately it is the false prophets and teachers
that are bearers of unsound doctrine.

11-18: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” (Mark
1:1)
Mark is an abbreviated gospel of only 16 chapters. It is the gospel of action. I like to
think of it as the Appendix to the other gospels. While Matthew and Luke start with
genealogies of Jesus of Nazareth and John starts with Christ the Logos at Cre- ation,
John Mark jumps right into the three and a half years ministry of Jesus which was full of
activity from before sun up to after sun down. The implications of Mark
1:1 are: (1) This is the beginning in chapter one with the baptism of John the Bap-
tist, and in this chapter and the chapters to follow we are going to learn exactly
what “the gospel of Jesus Christ is”; and (2) Jesus Christ is the Son of God is basic
to the gospel. This comes from Mark 1:1. It will be the outline of this message. In
this message, we will only look at the first three chapters of Mark, but the first
three chapters are typical of the routine run by Jesus in all the chapters. We will be
looking for the influence of Jesus, believing that the two major parts of the outline
of Mark 1:1 summarize that influence: A description in action of the gospel of Jesus
Christ, and Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
I. What the Gospel Is? (1). The Gospel Influence of Jesus Christ, in Mark and today,
is what Jesus did while on this earth; (2) The Gospel of Jesus Christ is what Jesus
preached--Jesus healed the sick and performed many miracles, and Jesus taught--but
primarily Mark will tell us that Jesus “preached” {of course as someone has said there
is some teaching in all good preaching and some preaching in all good teaching}; (3)
The Gospel of Jesus Christ is how he healed; and (4) The Gospel of Jesus Christ is
how He cast out demons. You see how all four of this activities extend the influence of
Jesus:. All that Jesus did in His busy life after at age 30 He came out the silence of
Nazareth, from the carpenter?s shop, extended and extends the influence of Jesus.
Largely the influence of Jesus was extended by His preach-
ing, especially as He preached on His death and resurrection; and the Apostles took up
those messages to continue with this gospel to the end of the earth. Also the healing
miracles that Jesus performed extended and extend His influence. Many people today
try to emulate this ministry of Jesus, but we will see from a close look at Mark that
Jesus has to give disciples this authority. Some He does and some He does not.
Fourthly, the Gospel of Jesus Christ is how He cast out demons.

II. Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. Basic to the Gospel of Jesus Christ is that He
is the Son of God. John the Baptist identified Jesus as the Son of God in the words,
“Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” God Himself identified
Jesus as the Son of God, after His baptism by John in the Jor- dan River. This marked
the beginning of the ministry of Jesus to the world, and God wanted people of this
earth to know that this is His Son. “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well
pleased”, came the voice from heaven after Jesus? baptism. There are five ways that
the Gospel of Mark in this record of action records that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of
God: (1) the testimony of John in Mark; (2) the testimony of God Himself as recorded
in Mark; (3) the testimony of the obvious authority of Jesus over demons and the
elements as recorded in John remind us that Jesus is the Son of God; (4) the mighty
works that Jesus performed, unequaled in the history of the world, testify to His
Sonship; and (5) the recorded testimony in Mark as witnessed by His disciples and
others of the death and resur- rection of Jesus testify that this Son of Man was far more
than mortal man, and as He claimed and God and others testified, the Son of God
Himself.

11-19: SOME MORE SOUNDS…..Help from Mark During the Falling Away
1.Some Sounds of a Sound Faith.
SOME MORE SOUNDS is a reference back to the original book SOME
SOUNDS OF A SOUND FAITH which simply sets forth 10 of the most important
subjects of the Bible. Facts from the Bible on…
(1). God.
(2). Christ.
(3). The Holy Spirit.
(4). The Bible Itself.
(5). Salvation.
(6). Faith.
(7). Gospel.
(8). Christ's Assembly.
(9). The Great and Notable Day of the LORD.
2.Some More Sounds…(a). Sounds of the Influence of Christ.
Spreading the influence of Christ is synonymous in Mark and the total Bible
with peacemaking. Peace between God and man and between men and men is only
possible through Christ as the mediator between man and God and between men
and men: this is the consistent message of the Bible. When you look into the
short book of Mark, you find certain key words that describe this peacemaking
influence of Christ.
(1). Gospel.
The preaching of the Gospel or "good news" of Jesus is perhaps the number
one way to spread the peacemaking influence of Christ. Instead what we find in
many and the largest pulpits of the nation is a substitute Gospel of Prosperity. It is
called the Gospel of Wealth and the "corollary of success" in the history of Ameri-
can Thought.
[1]. Mark 1:1-3: "The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of
God. As it is written in the Prophets: 'Behold, I send My messenger before Your
face, who will prepare Your way before You. The voice of one crying in the wilder-
ness: Prepare the way of the LORD, make His paths straight.'"
[2]. Mark 1:14,15: "Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, 'The time is fulfilled, and
the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel."
[3]. Mark 8:34-37: "When He had called the people to Himself, with His dis-
ciples also, He said to them, 'Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny him-
self, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will
lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel's will save it. For what
will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a
man give in exchange for his soul?'"
[4]. Mark 10:28-31: "Then Peter began to say to Him, 'See, we have left all
and followed You.' So Jesus answered and said, 'Assuredly, I say to you, there is no
one who has left house or bothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children
or lands, for My sake and the gospel's, who shall not receive a hundedfold now in this
time-houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with per-
secutions-and in the age to come, eternal life. But many who are first will be last
last, and the last first.'"
[5]. Mark 13:10: "And the gospel must first be preached to all the nations."
[6]. Mark 14:9: "Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in
the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her."
[7]. Mark 16:15: "And He said to them, 'Go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who
does not believe will be condemned. And these signs will follow those who believe:
In my name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will
take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them;
they will lay hands on the sick, and they will recover.'"
(2). Kingdom.
As the gap between church, denominations, and Christ has widened, and as it
increased diverges into a more widened gap, the influence of Christ's kingdom and
believers more working for the kingdom than defunct churches, must become para-
mount. After all, part of Christ's model prayer is, "Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done on earth as it is in heaven." It is no a prayer that the church or denomination
with all the answers step forth as dominant.
(3). Judge.
We think of Jesus as Saviour and Lord, and so He is. How often do we think
of the peacemaking influence of Jesus as Judge. He will Judge the living and the
dead. It is He alone that will determine whether real peace has been made between
God and man, and between man and man. It will be hard on all to lose this control,
harder on some than on other, especially on those who think they run and control
everything.
(4). Cross.
The cross, of course, is another word for the Gospel. The Gospel of Jesus
is the gospel of the kingdom and the gospel of the cross. While most pulpits would
admit that "Christ died on the cross for the sins of the world, and that it is faith
in what Christ did that saves", it is more difficult for today's Gospel of Prosperity
and Comfort and Self-Improvement to admit like Paul did that "I am crucified with
Christ, nevertheless I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of God, who died for me." Self-improvement
hardly ever allows for a crucifixion or repentance before fulfillment of life.
(5). Resurrection.
Surely that Christ is the only one to rise from the dead extends the influ-
ence of Christ, and the Gospel of Mark sets that forth clearly.
(6). Ascension.
However the Risen Christ became the Ascended Christ as Jesus went back
to the right hand of God the Father where He makes intercession for sins and pre-
pares to return to this earth in great glory and power.
(7). Holy Spirit.
When Christ Ascended back to heaven, God sent the Holy Spirit to do the
work of Christ on earth: to teach and remind, to convict of sin, to show people
true righteousness, and to remind of the inevitable Judgment to come.   While
churches and denominations gong down the drain for a righteous influence on
America is fearful in promotion of the Falling Away, it will be far more horrible as
the Holy Spirit is withdrawn according to II Thessalonians.
(8). Miracles.
That Jesus could walk on water and still the waves extends the influence of
Christ by reminding us that this is the same Jesus with God at the beginning of
time who was alos the mediator of Creation. "All things were made through Him…"
(9). Teachings.
While the influence of certain teachings of Jesus like "love your neightbor"
are more obvious, the influence can be spread with attention to saying like "man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of
God."
(10). Healings.
That Jesus healed the sick and still can heal the sick extends the influence
of Jesus.
3.Some More Sounds….b. Sounds to help during the Falling Away.
4.The Falling Away.
5. Mark helps is in the spreading of the influence of Christ.