Hardened Hearts Grieve the Lord
Mark 3:1-12
Good Morning,
In 2015, the Washington post reported that roughly 22 million Americans, which is 8.9 percent of the adult population, have impulsive anger issues.
A Christian is said to be in a love relationship with Jesus. When we truly love someone; we do not want to intentionally anger that person
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. NKJV
We are told in Ephesians not to grieve the Holy Spirit; but it is not because the Holy Spirit is oversensitive that He is grieved.
As followers of Christ, we are called favored ones; we are called chosen, we are called special and even above reproach; so how then, can we grieve the Holy Spirit?
Please open your Bible to the Gospel of Mark 3 as we continue in the verse by verse study of that Gospel.
Last week Jesus explained the reason His followers were not fasting and He also claimed to be Almighty God in the flesh.
Jesus told the Pharisees it was more important to celebrate the Bridegroom than it was to follow rituals at that time.
Then Jesus described the new wine skins, as He taught that any religious activity fails in comparison to a true work of the Holy Spirit, because religion is unfit to contain a work of the Lord.
Jesus did not come to put the new work of His Spirit into the old wine skin of Judaism.
We learned the Sabbath was a shadow to show true rest in the Lord was coming. We have Jesus who’s better than a shadow.
Our rest is found in the finished work of Jesus Christ because of what He did on the cross. Now He wants us to sit at His feet and experience supernatural rest and fellowship with Him.
This morning, we will learn three things within these first twelve verses of Mark chapter 3.
• Jesus gets very angry with the hardened hearts of the religious leaders;
• The religious leaders will align themselves with a group of their enemies in order to defeat Jesus;
• Jesus, once again, tells the unclean spirits to keep His true identity from the crowd.
I. When is the right time to do right?
Read Mark 3:1-4
This takes place on the Sabbath and Jesus once again goes to the place where the people went to worship God; the Synagogue.
Immediately upon entering the Synagogue, Jesus sees a man with a withered hand.
We can call the man with the withered hand, “the Broken Man”; but, if we were to be honest with ourselves, we were all broken people prior to salvation in Christ.
Jesus not only gives rest from the brokenness of life in our broken world; but, Jesus can also make whole, the things that have been broken in our world!
Just as we learned from last week; the compassionate, gracious, redeeming plans of God are sometimes met with opposition.
vs. 2 says so they watched Him closely. But who are “they”?
This points back to Mark 2:24 And the Pharisees said to Him, "Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"
The Scribes and the Pharisees were the self-righteous religious leaders within Judaism.
Their false sense of righteousness was from their interpretation of the Law of Moses and the man-made rules they invented.
The Pharisees and Sadducees fully believed that their outward appearance of good works would earn them God’s favor.
Notice how they are watching to see whether Jesus would heal this man on the Sabbath, breaking their man-made law.
These men knew Jesus could heal, which means they understood that Jesus had the power of God and was able to heal.
The Pharisees wanted to find something to accuse Jesus with rather than worshiping Him for Who He is.
Luke tells us about this same account in Luke 6:8, But He knew their thoughts, and said to the man who had the withered hand, "Arise and stand here." NKJV
Again, Jesus knows their thoughts; and this is so much more than discernment, because Jesus also knows their hearts.
David Guzik said, “They also knew Jesus would do something when He saw this man in need. In this sense, these critics had more faith than many of us because we sometimes doubt that Jesus wants to meet the needs of others.”
So Jesus knowing their hearts so He did what He often did to critics and answered them with a question to force them to think.
Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil? His point; it is always right to show compassion, no matter what day it is.
Wiersbe, “Since evil is at work every day, including the Sabbath day, why should good not be at work as well? Death is always at work, but that should not hinder us from seeking to save life.”
There is a practical lesson here for us…as Dr Martin Luther King Jr. said, “The time is always right to do what is right.”
It is true, that the believer in Jesus should seek the Lord’s wisdom regarding His timing with decisions; but, many times we Christians use that truth as an excuse not to do the right thing
Often times when we wait for the right time to act on something; it could be an excuse to delay the things we should do instantly.
Waiting is sometimes the procrastinators’ way to delay doing what they know should be done immediately.
When I see an older lady on the side of the road with a flat tire; I don’t need to ask the Lord if the time is right to help her.
How about spending time with the Lord in prayer or Bible study; do I need to ask about the timing for that?
It is never too late to start doing the right things; don’t let procrastination keep you from doing the things that can enhance your walk with the Lord.
Take the first step to having healthy habits with devotions; in the end, you will enhance a healthy relationship with the Lord.
II. Righteous anger.
Read Mark 3:5
Jesus looked at the religious leaders after they would not answer His question and became angry because of their hardened hearts.
So many times, we hear people quote 1 John 4:8 God is love.
God is love; He so loved the world that He gave His only Son; but the Lord is also angered when people harden their hearts.
Speaking of people who do not live for the Lord, the NIV says
Ephesians 4:18, “They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts.” NIV
When scripture speaks of having a hardened heart it is describing our inner person, which includes our emotions, our intellect, and our moral make up.
A Biblical example of a hardened heart is King David’s attitude after he had an affair with Bathsheba.
David’s heart had grown hard from this sin; he didn’t even show remorse until God sent Nathan the prophet to confront him
We have learned this truth several times before; when a person accepts the free gift of salvation in Christ, the Holy Spirit takes up residence in their hearts.
We are told that the Lord replaces our old heart of stone and replaces it with a new heart, because we are in now in a love relationship with Jesus.
We see Jesus angry over six things in scripture; but, we need to be aware Jesus had righteous anger, not self centered anger.
1. In John 11, Jesus wept over the condition of fallen man.
2. In our passage, Jesus was angry that the religious leaders were more concerned with rules than the needs of people.
3. Later in Mark and in Matthew, Jesus was angry at the mistreatment of children.
4. In Matthew 23, Jesus was angry at the hypocrisy of the religious leaders.
5. Jesus flipped over the tables in the Temple because the rulers were making it difficult for people to worship God.
6. In Mark 12, Jesus was angry at the selfish ambition of the Pharisees.
Again, the type of anger Jesus had was righteous anger.
Ephesians 4:26, "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,
Ephesians 4:27, nor give place to the devil. NKJV
What some people fail to understand is that anger itself is not necessarily a sin.
We see the Lord in the Old Testament was angry with people groups and again, in the New Testament, He was angry with sin.
In human terms, we often think of anger as a selfish emotion that happens when we are displeased or don’t get our own way. So many believe Christians should never be angry…
In Ephesians 4:26, the command is not to “avoid anger”; but, we are instructed to be angry, without sinning.
As Christ-followers we should get mad at sin, like abuse, racism, and crimes against women and children.
But no matter how terrible the sins are; that we're condemning, we still should not sin ourselves, with our response to sin.
Those of us with confrontational personalities have to ask ourselves, “Is the motive of my heart to be right or is it to be righteous?” before I correct the sinning person.
If our motives are right, we need to guard against anger going too far; becoming 100% wrong, after we were 100% right.
James 1:19 So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath;
James 1:20 for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. NKJV
Ephesians 4:26 “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath”
One lie we tell ourselves when we are mad is that time heals everything. Time can help in some circumstances by allowing our emotions to get in check and giving time for perspective.
But, if we only depend on time to heal what’s wrong in our relationships, we will carry wounds with us the rest of our lives.
In order for true reconciliation to happen, we need a real time of confession, correction, repentance, and forgiveness.
One reason not to trust our anger to be healed by time alone; is delaying reconciliation usually makes reconciliation harder.
After conviction comes from the Holy Spirit and our conscience; the flesh has a tendency to begin to justify our actions and to default into self preservation instead of repentance.
For true reconciliation, we must be vulnerable, honest and willing to admit our sins and failures.
Again, delaying reconciliation almost always makes reconciliation harder.
The principle is plain, “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath”: it is not good to sleep on our anger,
Even if a night or two may be necessary in certain circumstances in order to create the space and rest necessary, to reconcile.
Be quick to forgive and reconcile, and patient with the process of trust-building and full restoration.
When we get angry we can lose control, with the wrong focus.
Our wrong focus can cause sin and sin “gives place to the devil”
To refuse to give up our anger, is to welcome the devil to wreak havoc in our hearts and relationships; this will allow him to have a stronger hold in certain situations in our lives.
Righteous anger over evil is good, but in our anger, we should not sin because we might be tempted to fight evil with evil.
When Jesus got angry over the evil in this world, He never stooped to the world’s level; so in His anger, He did not sin.
Here, the man with the withered hand believed Jesus and stretched out his hand and was healed; this is faith in Christ.
The Lord said it; the man believed it; and by faith the man received healing from the Lord. The religious leaders were not pleased that a broken man was made whole.
III. An enemy of my enemy.
Read Mark 3:6
It has been said that the phrase "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is an ancient proverb which suggests that two parties can come together against a common enemy.
When corrected, someone will either repent or rebel, this is no middle ground; but religious hypocrites almost never take correction well.
Notice what these men do immediately after being corrected; they conspire with their own enemies in order to attack Jesus.
The Pharisees, the Herodians, and the Sadducees, all held positions of authority and power over the people.
Pharisees were a relatively closed group of people devoted to religious purity; but, they were not a political group in Israel.
The Pharisees were concerned with observing their oral traditions and the Law outwardly, so that other people would think they were holy and righteous.
The Herodians were a political group of people who were enemies of the Scribes and the Pharisees. They were willing to throw away, everything the religious leaders were devoted to.
The Herodians were actually Jewish men who supported Herod, who was given his position by Rome, to rule some of the land of the Jews from 4 B.C. to A.D. 39.
The Herodians’ support of Herod compromised their own Jewish independence in the minds of the Pharisees, making it difficult for the Herodians and Pharisees to agree on anything.
Wiersbe said, “Most of the Jews despised Herod and obeyed his laws reluctantly, so it was surprising that the Pharisees, who were strict Jews, would join with these disloyal politicians.”
But one thing these two groups agreed on was to oppose Jesus.
In Luke 13, we learn that Herod himself wanted Jesus dead and the Pharisees made several plans to kill Jesus.
Here we learn how the Herodians joined forces with the Pharisees to achieve their common, evil, goal.
Don Steward has said, “From the beginning, Satan has attempted to thwart the plan of God. In all of these attempts, he has miserably failed. Satan has lost, the Lord has prevailed!”
The Pharisees and the Herodians were both afraid of losing their control and power over the people; so they opposed Jesus even though they knew He had the power to heal and forgive sin.
Luke 6:11, “They were filled with rage, and discussed with one another what they might do to Jesus.” NKJV
Key: Religion wanted to kill Jesus! The same is true today; all world religions seek to elevate man and attempt to lower the significance of Jesus.
IV. The crowds seek Jesus.
Read Mark 3:7-12
Crowds came to Jesus from all over the place; but, they were coming to see miracles; not to have a relationship with Him.
vs. 8, when they heard how many things He was doing, came to Him.
Like some modern Christians today; these folks were chasing miracles instead of seeking the Lord.
Even though Spiritual gifts are precious, they were never meant to be the focus of our Christian lives.
David Guzik said, “It is wonderful for people to be attracted to Jesus. But if their focus is on what He can do for them instead of Who He is, they will not follow Him for long.” (Guzik)
There were so many people being touched and healed; there was a danger of Jesus and His Disciples being crushed by the crowd.
Notice what happens as Jesus heals all of these people of different diseases and of demon possession.
The unclean spirits come and fall down before Jesus. Jesus is King of the World and even demonic spirits must obey His command; He is not a king who can be voted out of office.
Although Jesus ultimately allowed the world to crucify Him in order to pay for the sins of the world; He in no way gave up His sovereign authority as Creator and King.
Philippians 2:9 God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
Philippians 2:10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
Philippians 2:11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. NKJV
If a person will not willingly bow to Jesus during this life time; they will find themselves bowing to Him at the Great White throne Judgment as the King and Judge of the world.
Understand this; even the unclean spirits must submit to the King of the world.
Notice what these spirits say, “You are the Son of God.”
gotquestions.org says, “Jesus is not God’s Son in the sense of a human father and a son. Jesus is God’s Son in the sense that He is God made manifest in human form.” (gotquestions.org)
The demons cannot help but bow before Jesus; God in the flesh.
We learned this a few weeks ago; but, at this time, Jesus didn’t want His full identity known.
Jesus did not want these demons to tell Who He really is.
If the news of Jesus spread too quickly, it could get in the way of what Jesus needed to do; and the Lord had a plan as well as a timeline for His earthly ministry.
If the people realized the power and majesty of Jesus they would have tried to turn Him into a political hero or military king.
Today; we want Jesus, but we sometimes want Him to do things our way and in our time frame.
V. Conclusion.
Ephesians 4:30 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. NKJV
In our passage this morning, the Lord was grieved by the religious leaders’ hardened hearts and selfish motives.
They were more concerned with power, position, and rules; rather than having the heart of the Lord.
How many parents have been grieved by our children; by something they said, or did; they way they behaved? Or when our children fight one another, we are grieved.
God doesn’t stop being your Father when you are bitter; but, He is grieved. We never want to grieve those we truly love!
But we should not avoid grieving God because of guilt or duty; but as a love response to the Lord, we don’t want to grieve God!
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
Galatians 5:23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
The Holy Spirit is pleased when we walk in the fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace and the other attributes as well. These things are evident in our lives when we allow Him full control.
The Holy Spirit has sealed us until the day Christ returns to take us home and when we rest in Him, we will produce His fruit.
When we are hard-hearted and bitter towards others; we don’t hurt the person who hurt us; we are actually hurting ourselves.
We have received a new heart and a new identity in Christ, which is to be displayed in personal relationships; first with the Lord and then with others.
Satan desires to get a foothold in our lives so we need to stand guard and build one another up; and avoid grieving the Lord.
Ephesians 2:10 we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. NKJV
Once we’re saved, the Lord continues to work in us, making us into what He wants us to be; molding us into His image.
Jesus calls us to care more about others, than ourselves; but when we act like the old man in the flesh, we grieve the Lord not because He is the parent saying, “Do right because I say so”.
No, the Lord loves you and created you to be a masterpiece, His own precious procession and He wants you to have abundant life
When we act in sin, He is grieved because we are hurting ourselves and missing out on certain blessings!!!
We need to stay pliable and soft hearted towards Jesus and others as well.
All of this is impossible on our own; we need the power of the Holy Spirit in order to live like Jesus and not grieve Him.
