Sermon text: Mark 9:43-50
Outline
Disciples of Jesus do not treat sin casually (43-48)
Disciples of Jesus will be refined continually (49-50)
Summary
Have you ever invited someone to your church’s worship service? If you have, perhaps you have had a reply like this: I won’t attend that church because it’s full of hypocrites. Whether or not this person’s assessment is accurate, he or she recognizes that Christians should not be hypocrites. Christians should live out the faith the claim to possess. In a sentence, Christians should be holy because God is holy. Jesus addresses this with his disciples in our text today.
Jesus very clearly tells his disciples sin leads to hell. Therefore, his disciples must fight their sin – not because they can earn their salvation but because they are to please God with their lives and have a purifying effect on those around them.
Jesus tells his disciples that if their hands, feet, or eyes cause them to sin then they need to tear them out or cut them off. Of course, the problem is not with our body parts but rather our hearts (Mark 7:20-23). Our hands represent what we do. Our feet represent where we go. Our eyes represent what we see. Jesus is using hyperbole to say that we need to take drastic measures to cut ourselves off from sin.[1]We know Jesus is speaking in hyperbole because the Bible forbids self-mutilation (Deut 14:1; 23:1). If we are not willing to follow Jesus in this way then we are in danger of hell (vv. 43, 45, 48).
Jesus is saying that you must separate yourself from sin or you will separate yourself from him. Jesus is not teaching salvation by works. We are not saved by our holiness. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone. However, we must love Jesus more than our sin. We should hate our sin, battle our sin, and make progress against our sin. This is evidence that we truly have been saved from our sins.
Jesus speaks of hell in these verses. Jesus taught more about hell than anyone else in Scripture and he taught about hell more than heaven. Hell is described in v. 43 as a place of “unquenchable fire.” Verse 48 says in hell “their worm does not die and fire is not quenched.”
Elsewhere in Scripture, hell is called:
- A lake of fire and brimstone (Rev 20:10, 14-15)
- An eternal fire (Matt 18:8-9, 25:41)
- A furnace of fire (Matt 13:42)
- An outer darkness (Matt 8:12, 22:13, 25:30)
- An eternal punishment (Matt 25:46)
Hell is a horrible place. If it takes you metaphorically cutting off your hand, foot, or plucking out your eye, then do it! Sin is not worth it the pleasure you receive from it. It may bring you pleasure and glory now, but the pain comes later. Jesus calls us to suffer now and then enjoy the glory later!
Are you willing to do whatever it takes to cut off a sin that you are struggle with? Is your sin worth going to hell over? If you love your sin more than Jesus, that is exactly where you are headed if you will not repent.
Regarding verse 49, I want to point you to Alistair Begg’s explanation. Putting the pictures of salt and fire together, it is through fiery trials (1 Pet 1:7, 4:12) that God would purify his disciples of anything contrary to his will. Through these trials, Jesus’ disciples will be salted with fire.
As the salt of the earth (Matt 5:13), we are to preserve it to some degree. We are to exercise a purifying influence on society. We should add the flavor (or we might say the aroma of Christ). This assumes, of course, that we are manifesting the purity of the gospel in our own lives.
When we live like the world and lose our distinctive qualities as Christians, we become like salt that has lost its saltiness. Salt that isn’t salty is useless. If we as Christians are not pure, how can we help purify our world. How can we help further God’s kingdom when we are giving ourselves to sin?
If we want to change our world through the power of the gospel, we must be marked by holiness.
How is your saltiness? Do you have a purifying effect with those who you come into contact with?
Friends, every day we closer to judgment day. One day we will stand before God and on that day, it will be revealed whether we’ve taken seriously Jesus’ call to discipleship.
Everyone will experience some kind of fire.
Believer, let the trials of this life lead you to God. Let his purifying fires burn away everything that keeps you from living for him.
If you are not willing to submit yourself to this kind of discipleship and holiness then you will experience the fires of hell.
Verses Referenced
Lev 2:13; Matt 5:13; 1 Pet 1:6-7; 4:12
References
| ↑1 | We know Jesus is speaking in hyperbole because the Bible forbids self-mutilation (Deut 14:1; 23:1). |
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