Naked Truth! Mark 9:30-32

Text: “For the Word of God is quick (alive), and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of the soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

Hebrews 4:12. 

Good morning, truth-bearing Christian!  When you address a church meeting, you come there bearing the naked truths of God’s all-powerful Word.  When you quote your King James Version Bible verses, you are wielding the almighty sword of God’s Holy Spirit.  When you open your mouth wide, in obedience to Scriptural instruction, you are pouring out the greatest power mankind has ever known – the inspired and written Word of God.

God’s truth is evidenced in the transformation of dead spirits into living spirits; valleys of dried bones, into exceeding great armies for Christ; Hell-bound souls transported to be Blood-bought citizens of a Holy Heaven – and all through the full Atonement Sacrifice of King Jesus Christ!   Glory to the Lamb Who was slain, but Who now lives forever!

“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)

This morning’s three-verse Bible selection from our March in Mark’s Gospel, sees with the eyes of faith, THE TRUTH, Christ Jesus, speaking nothing short of naked truth to His close disciples; THE WORD incarnate, speaking the pure and powerful Word of God to those He had chosen out of the world to serve Him as ministers of His all-powerful truth.  Wow!

“Jesus saith unto him (Thomas), I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”  (John 14:6)

“In the beginning was THE WORD, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And THE WORD was made flesh (the incarnation of Christ Jesus), and dwelt among us (John and the disciples), (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:1;14)

See how the inspired Scriptures of God all dovetail together, to give you and I, God’s elect, Divine encouragement and faith to trust all that is written therein?  What a blessing!

Note in verse 30, how the Lord Jesus led His trusted disciples out of Galilee; and “…would not that any man should know it.”  He had something naked, vital, and powerful to impart to them, and His Words were for their elect ears only.

Note also the reason for taking His disciples apart from all other hearers: “For He taught His disciples, and said unto them…” (V.31) What He wanted, in this instance, to teach His disciples, turned out to be NAKED TRUTH that was only for their ears to hear at that point.

Naked Truth:  There would be no parables uttered on this solemn and shocking occasion.  There would be no ‘Earthly stories with Heavenly meanings’; no illustrations or Old Testament TYPES of things to come: only the imparting of absolutely NAKED TRUTH.

Try to imagine for a moment, Reader, how the disciples received the naked truth which the Lord Jesus imparted unto them that day.  The disciples were, by this time, totally convinced that their Master, Jesus Christ, was in fact the Son of God; the Chosen One; the long-awaited Jewish Messiah prophesied for the past hundreds of years.  They had actually seen with their own eyes the Supernatural miracles that Jesus had performed for three years, as they ministered in close-association and fellowship with Him, throughout the land!  Now, He is teaching them this NAKED TRUTH – and it cuts, just like that two-edged sword, right down into the very depths of their loving hearts! “The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill Him; and after that He is killed, He shall rise the third day.” (V.31)

J.C. Ryle Comments:

“Let us mark, in these verses, our Lord’s renewed an­nouncement of His own coming, death, and resurrection. “He taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.”

“The dullness of the disciples in spiritual things ap­pears once more, as soon as this announcement was made. There was good in the tidings as well as seeming evil, —sweet as well as bitter, —life as well as death, —the resurrection as well as the cross. But it was all darkness to the bewildered twelve. “They understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask.” Their minds were still full of their mistaken ideas of their Master’s reign upon earth. They thought that His earthly kingdom was immediately to appear. Never are we so slow to under­stand, as when prejudice and preconceived opinions darken our eyes.

“The immense importance of our Lord’s death and resurrection comes out strongly in this fresh announcement which He makes. It is not for nothing that He reminds us again that He must die. He would have us know that His death was the great end for which He came into the world. He would remind us that by that death the great problem was to be solved, how God could be just, and yet justify sinners. He did not come upon earth merely to teach, and preach, and work miracles. He came to make satisfaction for sin, by His own blood and suffering on the cross. Let us never forget this. The incarnation, and example, and words of Christ are all of deep importance. But the grand object which demands our notice in the history of His earthly minis­try, is His death on Calvary.” (J.C. Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels 1816-1900)

Thought: The only Divine reason for Christ coming to our sin-sick and fallen world, was to suffer in our place and to die to pay the just penalty for our sins.  This is naked truth indeed.  This is the truth that sets souls free from our Hell-deserving sin.