“…What do ye, Loosing the Colt?” Mark 11:1-11

Text: “And certain of them that stood there said unto them, ‘What do ye, loosing the colt?’” 

Mark 11:5. 

Good morning, once wild Christian!  Once you were the wildest child in your community; now you are gloriously at peace.  Once you were trammelled by ambition, gambling, violence and lust – now, you are unfettered within and at rest.  What Person and power has made this great and evident difference?  Who has dared to ‘…loose the colt…’ of your old carnal nature and set you Spiritually free?  Praise God, only One Person can - Jesus, the risen Christ.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!

“Neither is there Salvation in any other; for there is none other Name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”     (Acts 4:12)

However, knowing Who it was that ‘…loosed the colt…’ of our old natural passions, lusts and sin still doesn’t fully answer the question initially posed by the owners of this young, frisky, unbroken horse in today’s Bible reading: ‘… ‘What do ye, loosing the colt?’ (V5)

Verse six of our selected Bible passage gives us the answer: “And they said unto them even as Jesus had commanded: and they let them go.”

Praise God.  We Christians and mankind in general have all the questions.  But God’s Word alone holds all the correct answers.

The young, frisky, unbroken colt horse, ‘…whereon yet never man sat…’, was loosed and brought to Jesus because the Lord had need of it. 

We unbroken, wild sinners were also ‘…loosed…’ by the Spirit of God in order that the Lord Jesus might use us in His service.

“And you hath He quickened, who were DEAD in trespasses and sins…Even when we were DEAD (Spiritually dead) in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved;) and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:1;5-6) (Ephesians 2:10)

What a privileged calling to service this is, my friend!  We are chosen of God Himself, saved and sanctified, and made fit to serve His Son, Christ Jesus.  Now, this is something for us to get excited about!  Bless the Lord oh my soul!  Thanks be to God, amen.

“Ye have not chosen Me (the Lord God), but I have chosen you (once wild sinners), and ordained you (loosed you?), that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain; that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in My Name (the Name of Jesus), He may give it you.”  (John 15:16) Glory to God Almighty!

From the very moment we Hell-deserving sinners are Spiritually regenerated by the grace of God, ‘…loosed…’ from the bondage of our natural and inherited sin - we are inspired and empowered by God the Spirit to commence a life of Christian service. 

There are no secret Christians in Christ’s Kingdom.  There are none saved by God that are not immediately called to be soldiers in the Spiritual Battle.  We are saved to serve the risen Christ.

“Then said He (the Lord God) unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain (dead in sin), that they may live.  So, I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great Army.”  (Ezekiel 37:9-10)

“Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.  And the things that thou hast heard of me (Paul) among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men/women, who shall be able to teach others also.  Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.  No man/woman that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he/she may please Him (Christ Jesus) Who hath chosen him/her to be a soldier.”          (2 Timothy 2:1-4)

To the question posed, ‘What do ye loosing the colt?’, we can now clearly see the answer Christ gave His disciples to impart – “…Because the Lord hath need of him.” (Luke 19:31)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“Let us observe…in this passage, the voluntary poverty which our Lord underwent, when He was upon earth. How did He enter Jerusalem when He came to it on this remarkable occasion? Did He come in a royal chariot, with horses, soldiers, and a retinue around Him, like the kings of this world? We are told nothing of the kind. We read that He borrowed the colt of an ass for the occasion, and sat upon the garments of His disciples for lack of a saddle. This was in perfect keeping with all the tenor of His ministry. He never had any of the riches of this world. When He crossed the sea of Galilee, it was in a borrowed boat. When He rode into the holy city, it was on a borrowed beast. When He was buried, it was in a borrowed tomb.” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark.)

The Lord Jesus Christ loosed you and I, Christian, to permit us the utter privilege of serving Him and furthering His Spiritual Kingdom, He borrowed us from the world, the flesh, and the Devil – and re-created us ‘new creatures’ in Himself, in order that we might take a stand for Him. What are you and I actually doing for Christ today?  Are we serving Him at all? Ladies and gentlemen of the true Bible-believing Christian faith, we are at Spiritual war!  Let us acquit ourselves bravely in every Spiritual encounter.  The Ultimate Victory is already won at the place called Calvary.  Glory to the Lamb Who has ‘…loosed…’ our sinful souls!

Thought: “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith…” - Christ has wrought the Victory.  All glory to the King of all kings!

Sin’s Sevenfold ‘H’! Mark 10:46-52

Text: “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is Eternal Life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Romans 6:23.

Good morning, sin-cleansed Christian!  Praise God!  Once you were blind, now, through Christ’s precious shed Blood, you can see! Sin was your blinding darkness, therefore, let’s look at seven aspects of such an adversary, and glorify Christ Jesus the giver of sight. 

“The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: The Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: The Lord loveth the righteous.” (Psalm 146:8)

The Home of Sin: (V.46) Jericho in the Scriptures is always a place one goes ‘down’ into; it is synonymous with the home of sin; a wicked place, infamous for its lawlessness and total depravity against God.  It is just like the heart of mankind - inherently black and ready to defile itself.  (Mark 7:14-23)

The Horror of Sin: (V.47) There is no horror in existence like the horror of sin; for the wages of sin is death - physical and Spiritual - and the cry of Bartimaeus for Christ’s mercy is a cry from the very heart.  Double-darkness, at this vital stage in the blind man’s life, encountered the Light of the World.  Hallelujah!  (John 9:1-7)

The Hold of Sin: (V.48) When sin takes hold of the heart it is like a fishing hook piercing the very soul.  Those hooked by it long for freedom, but sin stifles their inner pleas for help.  Only the Holy Spirit can cause the sin-sick soul to cry out for God’s Salvation and cleansing.  Bartimaeus persevered and cried out again.  The Lord loves one who perseveres.

The Hindrance of Sin: (V.48) When our souls cry out for Christ’s Salvation, many shall charge us to hold our peace.  Why?  Because there is a sense of safety, no matter how false, in numbers - and the world, the flesh, and the Devil desire to retain us in sin’s chains and in sin’s blindness.  Thus, the crowd sought to hinder the blind man from seeking Christ’s help.  (Luke 11:52) (Galatians 5:6-7)

The Healer of Sin: (V.48) Amidst the surging noise of the throng Christ, the only healer from sin’s bondage, heard the sinner’s cry.  Sincere repentance is what God’s ears are listening for constantly. Cry out, then, elect of God!  The Lord shall hear your sincere prayer.  (Psalm 66:16-20)

The Halter of Sin: (V.50) The robes of Bartimaeus’ sins were hung around his heart like a halter.  Once Christ called him to repentance and Salvation, he cast sin’s garments away and was immediately robed in Christ’s spotless Righteousness.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!  (Isaiah 61:10) (2 Corinthians 5:21)

The Hammer of Sin: (V.52) What was it that hammered the sins of Bartimaeus, down in Jericho that wondrous day?  Why, it was the very same great hammer which God used upon your sins and mine!  The Word of God is the hammer which breaks the hard rock of our sins.  The Word brings God’s gift of faith - and it is that faith which brings us deliverance from our sins.

“The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath My Word, let him speak My Word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? Saith the Lord. Is not My Word like as a fire? Saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock (of unbelief) in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:28-29)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“In the first place, we have here an example of strong faith. We are told that as Jesus went out of Jericho, a blind man named Bartimæus “sat by the wayside begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out, and say, Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

“Bartimæus was blind in body, but not in soul. The eyes of his understanding were open. He saw things which Annas and Caiaphas, and hosts of letter-learned Scribes and Pharisees, never saw at all. He saw that Jesus of Nazareth, as our Lord was contemptuously called, —Jesus, who had lived for thirty years in an obscure Galilean village, this very Jesus was the Son of David, — the Messiah of whom prophets had prophesied long ago. He had witnessed none of our Lord’s mighty miracles. He had not had the opportunity of beholding dead people raised with a word, and lepers healed by a touch. Of all these privileges, his blindness totally de­prived him. But he had heard the report of our Lord’s mighty works, and hearing, had believed. He was satis­fied from mere hear-say, that He of whom such wonderful things were reported, must be the promised Saviour, and must be able to heal him. And so, when our Lord drew near, he cried, “Jesus, thou Son of David, have mercy on me.”

“Let us strive and pray that we may have like precious faith. We too are not allowed to see Jesus with our bodily eyes. But we have the report of His power, and grace, and willingness to save, in the Gospel. We have exceeding great promises from His own lips, written down for our encouragement. Let us trust those promises implicitly, and commit our souls to Christ unhesitatingly. Let us not be afraid to repose all our confidence on His own gracious words, and to believe that what He has engaged to do for sinners, He will surely perform. What is the beginning of all saving faith, but a soul’s venture on Christ? What is the life of saving faith, when once begun, but a continual leaning on an unseen Saviour’s word? What is the first step of a Christian, but a crying, like Bartimæus, “Jesus have mercy on me?” What is the daily course of a Christian, but keeping up the same spirit of faith?” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark.)

Thought: The blind man asked for sight, believing he would receive it, and praise God, he did!  His God-given faith thus made him completely whole, and he followed Jesus.  Therefore, let us mere sinners, saved by God’s grace, remember Bartimaeus - and cry out from our hearts when sin threatens to bind us in its dark chains of unbelief and disobedience.  Praise God for His grace! Amen. (Hebrews 11:1-6)

Ambitious Arrogance! Mark 10:35-45

Text: “And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, come unto Him, saying, Master, we would that Thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire.”

Mark 10:35.

          “Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.”                                                                                                                                                           James 4:3.

Good morning, correctly praying, Christian!  You and I have come to the Lord Jesus Christ robed in the vileness of our sins and iniquities; humbled ourselves prostrate at His Holy feet, and cried out in faith, God-given, in true repentance from our sins, and genuine desire to be born again of Him; washed in His sinless Blood – and we have been graciously saved.  Hallelujah!

Now that we have been saved, we need to learn how to be a genuine Christian, and we have learned that being a Christian after we are saved, actually requires us to become more and more like Christ every day thereafter.

“Therefore, if any man/woman be in Christ, he/she is a new creature; old things are passed (or continually passing) away; behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, Who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; to wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”  (2 Corinthians 5:17-19)  

People all around us totally expect to SEE great change in sinners that have been redeemed by the precious shed Blood of the Lamb of God, and are very quick to point out our faults otherwise.  The proof of the ‘Christian’ pudding is in their seeing!

The rest of our lives are dedicated to serving the risen Jesus Christ, and that requires much prayer for His help to do so.  Therefore, we promptly learn that praying to the Living Lord God Jehovah, through Jesus Christ our Saviour Lord, in God the Holy Spirit’s power, necessitates asking God for what we actually need to serve Christ in God’s way of doing so.

“For everyone (believers) that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”  (Matthew 7:8) 

However, how one asks, and one’s motivation for the asking – is what needs to be correct in the eyes of a Holy Lord God. Selfish prayers, with wrong motivations only reach as far as the ceilings of our homes. We must pray correctly if we are to receive God’s correct help.

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“LET us mark in this passage, the ignorance of our Lord’s disciples. We find James and John petitioning for the first places in the kingdom of glory. We find them confidently declaring their ability to drink of their Master’s cup, and be baptized with their Master’s baptism. In spite of all the plain warnings of our Lord, they clung obstinately to the belief that Christ’s kingdom on earth was immediately going to appear. Notwithstand­ing their many shortcomings in Christ’s service, they had no misgivings as to their power to endure anything which might come upon them. With all their faith, and grace, and love to Jesus, they neither knew their own hearts, nor the nature of the path before them. They still dreamed of temporal crowns, and earthly rewards. They still knew not what manner of men they were.

“There are few true Christians who do not resemble James and John, when they first begin the service of Christ. We are apt to expect far more present enjoy­ment from our religion, than the Gospel warrants us to expect. We are apt to forget the cross, and the tribula­tion, and to think only of the crown. We form an incorrect estimate of our own patience and power of endurance. We misjudge our own ability to withstand temp­tation and trial. And the result of all is, that we often buy wisdom dearly, by bitter experience, after many dis­appointments, and not a few falls.

“Let the case before us teach us the importance of a solid and calm judgment in our religion. Like James and John, we are right in coveting the best gifts, and in telling all our desires to Christ. Like them we are right in believing that Jesus is King of kings, and will one day reign upon the earth. But let us not, like them, forget that there is a cross to be borne by every Christian, and that “through much tribulation we must enter into the king­dom of God.” (Acts 14:22.)

“Let us not, like them, be over-confident in our own strength, and forward in pro­fessing that we can do anything that Christ requires. Let us, in short, beware of a boastful spirit, when we first begin to run the Christian course. If we remember this, it may save us many a humbling fall.”  (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of Mark.)

The Lord God knows not to answer in the affirmative when we pray ambitious or arrogant prayers, for He already KNOWS what our deepest needs are, at every point of our lives.

“…For your Heavenly Father knoweth (knows, and continues to know) that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness (Jesus Christ IS the righteousness of God); and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:32-33)

Personal ambition has no place in our prayer life. Arrogance is uncomely for a saint.

“The greatest prelate in the church, is he who is most conform­able to the example of Christ, by humility, charity, and continual attendance on his flock, and who looks on himself as a servant to the children of God.” (Pasquier Quesnel, French theologian, 1634-1719)

Thought: The best Christian person, is at all times, merely a sinner, saved by God’s grace. Let us approach God’s Throne of grace with reverence, humility, and love.