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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/evenings-in-mark/
I'd like to read with you from the Gospel of Mark this morning and from chapter 1. We'll start in chapter 1. Now even though it's the morning, I want you to notice as we read the references to evening in these scriptures.
So let's come to Mark chapter 1 and we'll try and keep the readings as brief as possible. There's a number of them. From verse 32, verse 32. And at even when the sun did set, they brought on to him all that were diseased and them that were possessed with devils.
And all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases and cast out many devils and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him. And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, I take it not only out of the house but out of the town and departed into a solitary place and there prayed.
Now chapter 4 please. Chapter 4. And we'll read at verse 35. And the same day when the even was come. He saith unto them, let us pass over unto the other side. And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship.
And there were also with him other little ships and there arose a great storm of wind and the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full. And he was in the hinder part of the ship asleep on a pillow.
And they awake him and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased. There was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful?
How is it that ye have no faith? Now chapter 11 please. Chapter 11. And verse 11. And Jesus entered into Jerusalem and into the temple. And when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the even tide was come, he went out unto Bethany with the twelve.
And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if happily he might find anything thereon. And when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for the time of figs was not yet.
And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. And his disciples heard it. Verse 19. And when even was come, he went out of the city. And in the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
And Peter called to remembrance and so on. Verse 22. And Jesus answering said unto them, Have faith in God. Chapter 14. Chapter 14. Verse 17. And in the evening he cometh with the twelve, and as they sat and did eat, Jesus said, Verily I say unto you, One of you which eateth with me shall betray me.
And so on. Now chapter 15 and the chapter of the cross but verse 42. And now when the even was come. Because it was the preparation that is the day before Sabbath, Joseph Barmathea, an honorable counselor which also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus.
And Pilate marveled if he were already dead. And calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And that's our reading.
We trust with the Lord's blessing. I don't know about you, but I love evenings, particularly in the summer, often when the wind dies down and the calm of the evening descends. And with the gathering darkness, you can look out and you can see the stars start to appear, the brightest ones first.
And then the whole sky becomes filled with the glory of the created universe up there in the heavens. The day's work is done. And maybe it's time to kick back and relax a little. Or if you're a preacher, it's time to get at it and preach in the evenings.
It's marvelous to think, at least I find it fascinating, to think of the creator of all, the Lord Jesus as a man, moving here on earth and in the evenings, looking up to that same display of his creatorial power and glory in those evenings so long ago.
Marvelous to think of that. And so we come to the gospel of Mark, and I want you to notice with me some evenings in Mark's gospel. We'll think about an evening of work, an evening of work, instead of relaxing, it's work.
Then we're going to notice an evenings, plural, on the water. We read one of them, and that's from chapter 4. Then we find towards the end of the book, there are evenings with friends. The Lord Jesus spent evenings with friends.
And finally, from chapter 15, I want you to notice an evening of wonder. Pilate marveled that he was dead already. Now, Mark, John Mark, who himself would later fall short in service, he presents to us, as most will know, the perfect servant of Jehovah, our Lord Jesus Christ, who served God diligently from his heart.
He is really the form for us to be conformed to in our service for God. So there is always profit in looking at the character and person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. In chapter 1, the servant is introduced.
We read that first John came, verse 4, and then Jesus came, verse 9, from Nazareth. From that humble backwater in the Roman Empire, the obscure servant of Jehovah steps out into public ministry. First his baptism, and then immediately the Spirit drives him into the wilderness.
We see him right away. He is subject to the Spirit's leading. He will be tested, as every servant must. He's tested for 40 days. Verse 13 tells us that the wild beasts were subject unto him, and the angels ministered to him.
So here is the one, cast your mind back, this is the Lord, the servant, but this is the same person who in David's day gave him the victory over the lion and the bear, the wild beasts, and in Daniel's day stopped the mouths of the lions.
This is the same person, and he's still Lord over all. In verse 32 now, the evening has come. I'm calling it the evening of the setting sun. But it's no time for relaxing for God's servant. Instead, it'll be an evening of work to be done.
His opening ministry shows the industry of the servant, and right through to the end of chapter 3, we find him busy, we find him immediately doing the will of God his Father. Those three chapters, incidentally, in Mark's Gospel will correspond with the first 12 chapters in the Gospel of Matthew.
In chapter 1, it's the Sabbath. It's the synagogue there in Capernaum, the main base of his operations in Galilee, and the people are amazed as they hear him teach. Must have been wonderful to hear the Lord Jesus teach.
With what authority, with what spiritual vigor and assurance he would speak to them the living word of God there in that synagogue. It is interesting that the synagogue, institutionally, was a mark of the nation in failure.
But here is the true Israel of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, and we find that in that synagogue he is going to encounter, verse 24, spiritual pollution, spiritual pollution. There's a man with an unclean spirit and he says, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God, verse 25, and Jesus rebuked him saying, hold thy peace and come out of him.
Spiritual pollution is encountered right away, chapter 1. And then, moving to Simon Peter's mother-in-law's house, she's there and she has a fever. That's just a little picture, I take it, that is showing that domestic life was at a fevered pitch.
And the Lord Jesus, he is the answer to the problem. He, in true servant character, will be the answer to that problem. Now, pick up on the simple lesson. Domestic problems, problems in your home, what's the answer?
The servant character of Christ. Take on his character. That will go a long way to solving those problems. The Lord Jesus as the perfect servant. Verse 32 now, we come to it, and that even when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased and them that were possessed with devils, and all the city was gathered together at the door.
So now it's even, the Sabbath is over, and now they see their chance. And so they come and they brought unto him all. And we read from Matthew of this same incident that he healed them all. All that were brought to him, he healed them all.
He spoke to the devils, and he laid hands on every one of them that was sick, and he healed them all. The laying on of hands symbolizing he took their infirmities. He identified with them in their infirmity in that way.
But did you notice, he only spoke to the devils. There's no identification there. It was a word of command. And so the perfect servant has that discernment, to discern between human weakness and spiritual pollution.
And you and I need to discern that too. It's one thing to draw alongside and help people in their weakness, in their infirmity and so on. It's another thing to be separate from spiritual pollution. So there was deep spiritual poverty in the nation at that time, a nation in unbelief.
When you come to chapter 3, the opening verses of that chapter, we see a picture, another picture, but this time not so much a spiritual pollution, but spiritual paralysis. Spiritual paralysis. There's a man with a withered hand.
There's a man here who has a member of the body which will not obey the instructions from the head. And there's spiritual paralysis. I understand that nerve impulses travel at tremendous speed in your arm, so that, for instance, if you touch something that is hot, there's an impulse that runs from your fingertip to your brain and back again with the instruction to remove your hand in 27 milliseconds.
That's pretty quick. Within 27 milliseconds you have reacted and your hand responds to the instruction from your head. My brothers and sisters, you and I are members of the risen head. We are members of his body.
And the question that I have for your heart and mine this morning is this, how responsive are you and I to his instructions, to the word of God that is before us? We have a born-again impulse within us that does not or should not hesitate to do his will and to do his bidding.
And that's what this conference is all about, that you and I might have our ears open to hear what God the Lord would say to us. But there's a response needed from the heart outwards. And I trust that our hearts are responsive to him this morning rather than to be played with spiritual paralysis.
That dear man, he was given instruction, stand forth, he obeyed. Stretch forth thine hand, he obeyed. And the answer to his problem was obedience to the word of Christ. That's the answer to any problem in our lives, isn't it?
Simple obedience to his word. And so we want to learn that lesson and pick it up from the evening of his work. Now, coming over to chapter 4 then, in our thinking, we want to notice here an evening on the water.
Evenings on the water. They can be so enjoyable, can't they? Particularly if you're, say for instance, down on the Mississippi facing west, you're going to get that sunset in behind the hills of Iowa.
The sun sets on Iowa and it's beautiful from the Wisconsin side. And so it is. The Lord Jesus is out on the water in an evening. Now, comparing this with Matthew's gospel, we find that this is the same day that he taught the parables of the kingdom in Matthew chapter 13.
You remember. And so the evening now has come. It's been a full day, kind of put it this way, of conference. And the Lord Jesus was the only speaker. A full day of service, teaching the people. Mark 4 .35, when the evening was come, he said, let us pass over onto the other side.
And the disciples took him up, even as he was. Exhausted. They took him up. And they laid him down on the, in the back of the ship, not on the hard seat such as you're sitting on, but on the helmsman's cushion.
They found a cushion there and he sat, lay down upon it. An evening on the water. It wasn't relaxing. There comes down upon the sea of Galilee that storm. And the storm arose and the waves come over the side of the ship and the ship now is full of water.
And the disciples are in fear of that boat going down. And they woke him up. And they said to him, curse thou not that we perish. Do you not care, Lord, about the situation that we are found in? He said, why are you so fearful?
How is it you have no faith? They had so little faith, it wasn't even discernible. How is it you have no faith? Well, I can kind of identify with that. I'm sure you can too. When things happen that are beyond our control, how often we can be full of doubt, fear, anxiety, about things that arise even unexpectedly in life.
Maybe there's storms in your family. Maybe there's storms at work. Maybe even storms in the assembly. Or storms that are of a personal nature. The Lord gives the cure for those anxieties and those problems.
What is it? Faith in the one who calms the storms. He has a purpose in it all. And his purpose for us cannot be sunk. He's in control. Master with anguish of spirit, I bow in my grief today. The depths of my sad heart are troubled.
Awaken and save, I pray. Torrents of sin and of anguish sweep o 'er my sinking soul. And I perish, I perish, dear Master. Oh, hasten and take control. The winds and the waves shall obey thy will. Peace be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea, or demons or men, or whatever they be, no waters can swallow the ship where lies the master of ocean and earth and skies. They all shall sweetly obey thy will.
Peace be still. Peace be still. And there was a great calm. In chapter 6, his care for them. They doubted his care. But it's reinforced again in another storm, in the evening again, in chapter 6. The ship was out in the midst of the sea.
And he comes walking to them on the water. He makes a path in the sea, doesn't he? The same one. And he speaks to them and says, Be of good cheer, it is I. Be not afraid. Be of good cheer. So, the lessons I want to pick up, I have to move.
The lessons I want to pick up from these evenings on the water are just these. That though the storms arise in our lives, in our experience, Christ is the answer. He can calm our hearts. Indeed, not only calm our hearts, cheer our hearts.
In the midst of the storm, he's in perfect control. And when we understand that he still careth for us, that'll go a long way to calming our hearts in his presence. Evenings on the water. Let me come to evenings with friends.
We associate, normally, evenings with friends with the thought of acceptance, the thought of enjoyment, as we enjoy one another's company. In Mark chapter 11, it's the beginning of the Passion Week now.
And it's the day of his triumphant entry into Jerusalem, fulfilling Zechariah chapter 9 and verse 9. Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just and having salvation, meek, sitting upon a colt, the foal of an ass, and so on.
But even though that was so explicitly fulfilled, he comes into the city. And the people say, who is this? Who is this? A people so blind and in unbelief. Well, he looked round about. And when the even tide was come, he went out to Bethany.
We know that the Lord loved to go to Bethany. He had friends there. And we know that he loved Martha and Mary and Lazarus. But I don't think he stayed at their house that night. There's going to be more than one night when he'll go out to Bethany.
There are 13 men. And he evidently did not impose upon the kindness of those two sisters and brother. Because in the morning, it seems he didn't have breakfast. He was an hungered. And they see a fig tree.
And he went seeking edible fruit, and he found none. And so he cursed the fig tree, no man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever. Now, let me just pause for a moment. There's a little practical lesson there we can pick up on.
I trust the Lord will preserve us from ever imposing upon the saints, overstaying our welcome to their hospitality. I see that there in the background, can't you? And what the Lord did. The morning he was hungry.
Now, I'll leave that. Notice in chapter 11 again, there follows the second cleansing of the temple. And there's another evening spent in Bethany. And now in the morning again, he passes by that fig tree.
Peter saw that it was dried up from the roots. And the Lord Jesus simply said, have faith in God. That's rather strange. What does all that mean? Well, you remember that the nation is figured as a fig tree.
And that nation will reject him. In a few days, they're going to crucify him. But according to the Old Testament, it has already been revealed that that nation will be recovered in a coming day. And even though still to this very day, Israel is in unbelief and rejecting their Messiah, there's coming a day, God has a future for them.
And they will be restored. A portion of that nation will be restored. And it will send forth its green shoots. Have faith in God. I believe the Lord was anticipating that coming day of restoration, even in the nation.
Chapter 14, it's another evening. It's the upper room. An evening with friends, acceptance, enjoyment of company. One of you will betray me. One of you will betray me. And they all looked around to see who it was.
And he said, not only that, but this cup is the blood of the covenant, the new covenant, which is shed for many. Not only going to be betrayed, I'm going to die. I'm going to be rejected of my own people.
A nation in unbelief. And right away following the institution of the supper, the Lord Jesus went out to the Mount of Olives. And Peter, he comes in, as likely you and I would try to do too. Even if everyone betrays you, I will not betray you.
Good, Peter. That's good. We don't read too further, much further along until we read that they all forsook him and fled. Instead of an evening of acceptance and enjoyment, the Lord Jesus faced an evening of betrayal and abandonment.
It is our privilege to keep the supper as he instituted it, showing faithfulness to him, expressing our love to him. And we love to do it, don't we, brothers and sisters, to gather around himself, the one who was betrayed and abandoned for us.
Let's always be found faithful to him. Let's never be found as those that will betray his trust, but remain faithful to him the journey through. Quickly, an evening of wonderment. Mark 15, now, when the evening was come, we find Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable counselor, who also waited for the kingdom of God, came and went in boldly unto Pilate and craved the body of Jesus.
And Pilate marveled. He was full of wonder, literally full of wonder that he was dead already. And he gave them leave to retrieve the body. So they took him down. They wrapped him in the linen. They laid him in a sepulcher, which was hewn out of a rock.
The poet has captured the moment. Gently they took him down, unfixed his hands and feet, brought from his head the thorny crown, brought forth the winding sheet, led him in hewn rock, rolled to the door the stone, watched the world add its waxen lock, and left him there alone.
An evening of wonder for Pilate, but how much more for us, brethren and sisters, the maker of the stars, the maker of the galaxies, the master of the ocean and the wind and the skies, he who controls all creation.
What a wonder. He's lying dormant and dead in a borrowed tomb. But it is not the end, as one has put it. It's the end of the beginning. Think of the tremendous blessings that accrue from the death, the burial, the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and what fills our souls with wonder is this.
Here is the dawning of the new creation and you and I have a part in it. And we are enjoying to this moment in this dispensation, in the evening of our service, the tremendous blessings that accrue to us through the faithfulness, the devotion, the service of God's perfect servant, even unto death.
Into death he went. They sealed the tomb, but the third day he arose from the dead with a mighty victory over death, over hell, over the grave. And he's coming back again. Jehovah's perfect servant, when that moment arrives in the program of God, he'll step off his father's throne, descending through the heavens to the air to give that shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump of God sounding and the dead will rise.
And we too will be changed in that moment to meet the Lord in the air. It gladdens our hearts, doesn't it? We look around us in a world full of chaos and trouble and war and strife. And it's only going to get worse.
But let us love and sing and wonder of the one who loved us unto death. Let us serve him faithfully until our little evening on earth is done. Until we rise to meet the Savior in that unending day of his glory and the fullness of his grace.
So we have thought of an evening of work, the lesson, hear his word, be attentive to it. Evenings on the water, recognize his care for us even in the storms of life. Evenings with friends, let us remain faithful and true to him, never betraying him.
An evening of wonderment. Think of our blessings in Christ. Our brethren will unfold those further, no doubt, in the ministry this weekend to encourage our hearts in our service for God. Lord bless his word.