Commentaries on Mark's Gospel

This Sunday I conclude a sermon series through the Gospel of Mark (about 60 sermons total). I really enjoyed the pace and laser focus of Mark's Gospel. There is nothing like spending 14 months focused completely on the glory and beauty of Jesus as the Son of God. Along the journey, I developed some thoughts on the resources available on Mark. For those who care, here are a few:

1. The best Mark commentary is James Edwards' Pillar New Testament Commentary. It is the perfect combination of light and heat, spirit and truth, head and heart. It is scholarly yet pastoral. I highly recommend it.

2. There are a handful of very good homiletical commentaries on Mark (sermons compiled in book form). For example, RC Sproul's St. Andrew's Expositional Commentary and Timothy Keller's King's Cross and R. Kent Hughes' 2 volume Preach the Word Commentary.

3. JC Ryle's Expository Thoughts on Mark is worth its weight in gold.

4. William Lane's NICNT and David Garland's NIV Application Commentary and Donald English's Bible Speaks Today are very good.

Christ Cruelly Condemned

I preached yesterday on the betrayal, arrest, abandonment, trail, sentencing, beating, and mockery that Jesus experienced in His final hours. It was a weighty, sober, and joyful meditation. All of the suffering Christ experienced was in our place as our substitute. You can listen to the audio here.

Hebrews 12:3 commands us to think upon the hostility Christ endured so that we will not grow weary or lose heart.

The Sorrowful Soul of the Savior

I preached a solemn but joy-filled sermon this morning on the agony of Jesus in Gethsemane (you can listen here). I felt something of the weight, saw something of the horror, tasted something of the sting, heard something of the pain, and sensed something of the meaning of it all. It was for me and my sin that the Savior was greatly distressed so much that He wanted to push the cup away from Him. It was for me and my sin that He embraced the cup, submitted to His Father, and accomplished His work. What a Savior!

The Lord's Supper

I preached yesterday on some of the things we should remember as we partake of the Lord's Supper from Mark's account of Jesus' institution of the Lord's Supper. On the night He was betrayed, Jesus revealed His glory in how He orchestrated the details of His final hours, how He taught on why He was about to die, how He pointed toward His second coming, and how He was patient with a group of traitors and deserters.

You can listen to the audio here. Also, be sure to sign up for our podcast.

Mark 14:1-11 Sermon Video

Last Sunday's Sermon on Video

God and Government

I preached this morning on Mark 12:13-17 and Jesus' famous statement, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's." If you care to listen, you can do so here.

What is the Unforgivable Sin?

As I studied to preach on Mark 3:20-30, I gathered a few of the best definitions of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

• ESV Study Bible: It is attributing to Satan what is accomplished by the power of God – flagrant, willful, decisive judgment that the Spirit’s testimony about Jesus is satanic.
• Wayne Grudem: It is unusually malicious, willful rejection and slander against the Holy Spirit’s work attesting to Christ, and attributing that work to Satan.
• Dan Doriani: Blasphemy against the Spirit is the sober, clear-minded, deliberate rejection of Jesus—as a very agent of evil—despite full knowledge of his work and in the face of the Spirit’s full testimony of him.
• Kent Hughes: “It is the ongoing, continual rejection of the witness of the Holy Spirit to the Divinity and Saviorhood of Christ.”

Here is the way I tried to simplify it in my sermon:

Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is a clear, deliberate, malicious repudiation of Jesus Christ by someone who should know better.

You can listen to my sermon here.