The Move of the Slave-Savior's Gospel Service (1)

0:00We praise the Lord for thy great plan, that we might well in place may be." Welcome to Life Study of the Bible, a presentation of Living Stream Ministry. Witnessly, a servant of the Lord for over seven decades, culminated his ministry with a 21-year book-by-book exposition of the entire Bible, which he called Life Study. This life study is the basis for our program today and includes short portions of the spoken messages given by witnessly. Now, let's join today's program. Mark chapter 4 verses 35 through 41 say, and he said to them, on that day, when evening had fallen, let us go over to the other side, and leaving the crowd, they took him along just as he was in the boat,

1:01and other boats were with him. And there arose a great wind storm, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already beginning to fill up, and he was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion, and they woke him and said to him, teacher, does it not matter to you that we are perishing? And having awoken, he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, be silent, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm, and he said to them, why are you cowardly in this way? How is it that you do not have faith? And they became greatly frightened and said to one another, who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him? This is Matt Miller with Ron Kangus, to see the move of the slave saviors gospel service in the book of Mark. Ron, I think we're in for an enlightening

2:04program today, mainly about the Lord's subduing of rebellion. The title of this particular life study of Mark, message number 17, is the move of the slave saviors gospel service. Could you give our listeners a foretaste of what to expect today? I believe the most helpful thing for us to concentrate on is the connection between the Lord's teaching regarding the kingdom of God as recorded in the first part of chapter four. Most of the chapter is devoted to this. The connection between that and his actions in his gospel service in particular of rebuking the wind and the waves, rebuking. You know, that's not for non-living things. You don't rebuk a rock. It doesn't make any sense

3:08to rebuk the wind and the waves indicates that there is some kind of spiritual power behind the scene, stirring up the wind and the waves. And that's the evil power of the enemy, and the nature of that is rebellion. So the connection is that in chapter four, we have the teaching concerning the kingdom as the growth and development of the seed of the word containing the divine life. But then there is this rebellious power to say the least, defying God's rule. And in the Lord's gospel service in his ministry, he was bringing the kingdom into a situation of rebellion and subduing rebellion. Whenever and wherever rebellion is subdued

4:13by the Lord through his word, there the kingdom of God is. Then based upon that case of the subduing of rebellion, the Lord went on to cast out the demons from the demon-possessed man, and then the demons went into the hogs, signifying an unclean occupation or industry, and the hogs were drowned. Then the Lord healed a woman who had a flow of blood, a continual hemorrhage for twelve years, and raised up a twelve-year-old girl. All of these actions in his service are connected with the revelation of the kingdom of God in chapter four. So first we have the life of the kingdom, then we have the gospel service in which the kingdom

5:15is brought into a situation of rebellion, of demon possession, of unclean occupation, of disease and death, and the bringing in of the kingdom through the Lord's service through his ministry is the preaching of the gospel in a marvelous way to deliver sinners from rebellion, from demons, from unclean occupations, from the spiritual disease and from spiritual death. So that light, in particular, in this portion of Mark, as opened up through this ministry, is to see the connection between the kingdom of God and the Lord's subduing rebellion, casting out demons, clearing away the unclean occupation,

6:16healing the illness and resurrecting a twelve-year-old girl from the dead. When those things happen, that is the kingdom of God and the gospel that declares the Lord as the one who does these things is the gospel of the kingdom of God and that is our gospel and this is our ministry. Ron, I appreciate that and I underscore your word that this is a marvelous gospel, the gospel of the kingdom. Let's go now to witness Lee for his original speaking in Irving, Texas on December 26th, 1983. Chapter four talks about the kingdom, right? The kingdom, wonderful kingdom, excellent kingdom. But right after the record of the kingdom, there is a record of rebellion. You know, what is the storm in the air

7:17and what is the storm in the sea? This indicates the rebellion, right after the Savior gave a strong word and the kingdom of God. He and his disciples wanted to go from one side of the sea to another side. Windstorm was instigated in air and the sea became no more calm, no more still. But he rebuilt the wind. Does the wind need any rebuke? Who are there behind the wind? I tell you, the evil angel in the air, Ephesians two tells us this. The instigated went to brew upon the sea to frustrate the Lord's way, to go to the other side,

8:21to cast out a legend of demons. You know, when the Lord cast out the demons, that was the coming of the kingdom, right? So you can see in chapter four the Lord talked about the kingdom. In chapter five, he carried out the kingdom by casting the demons. But in between there was a big frustration on the way. The storm and sea, then what? Then the Lord said to the sea, still. That was an order given to the demons under the water. The evil angels were behind the wind and the demons were under the water. Now you can see the sequence, right? Right after the unveiling of the kingdom, here is a practice to subdue the rebellion. And this is to carry out the kingdom, isn't this good?

9:25Ron, I say yes, this is good. Very good. Right after the parables in Mark chapter four about the kingdom, all the teaching, the first practical application is to subdue rebellion for the practical application of the kingdom. It seems like a very good picture here. I wonder if you could add something before we go on to another aspect of the Lord's service. Well, I would like to develop further the matter of the kingdom of God versus rebellion. Rebellion is the fundamental problem in the universe. Rebellion involves a will, the will of a creature, first of a high angel who became the devil. And then eventually of human beings, you have a refusal rooted in the will to obey God, to depend on God,

10:28to be under the rule of God. So this creates a need for the kingdom to be brought right into the center of rebellion so that the Lord has an environment conducive to the carrying out of His eternal purpose. If everything is in a state of upheaval and defiance, then what can be accomplished? You think of a teacher whose class is all together unruly. You spend your whole time dealing with the defiance, the lawlessness. Nothing positive can be accomplished. So this is a big problem that God is facing in His universe. And the solution is to carry out the kingdom, to bring the kingdom into the situation of rebellion

11:30and subdue it. And this is something only the Lord can do. It's not a matter of power. This is a matter of authority. The kingdom is a realm where the Lord can exercise His authority so that He has a peaceful environment to fulfill His economy. So I cannot emphasize strongly enough the connection between the kingdom and the stormy sea. This is not an accident that Mark put the side by side. We shouldn't separate them. We should inquire of the Lord. Why is this record of the wind and the waves placed where it is, immediately following? This glorious teaching concerning the kingdom. Then if we are enlightened by the Spirit, we will realize

12:31yes to God and to His children, the kingdom is a matter of life growing and developing. This is on the positive side. But in relation to the enemy, the kingdom is the power to subdue rebellion. So we would emphasize this rebellion in all of its forms must and will be subdued. It is not subdued by our will. It is subdued by the Lord Himself in Mark's revelation as the slave savior, the slave of God, absolutely obedient to God, faithful unto death. He is under the authority of God as a slave. Therefore, when He comes into a situation of rebellion, He brings the divine rule into that situation.

13:32And when He speaks, He speaks with authority. You know, the marvel that is teaching because He taught us one having authority. Now His authority is exhibited in His subduing rebellion. We all need to know the Lord in this aspect and to have the rebellious element in our being conquered and subdued, that we may enjoy God's full salvation for the sake of God's eternal purpose. And after the wind and waves were subdued, He got to the other side, cast out the Legion of Demons. The demons went into the hogs, who went into the sea, so that the society was cleaned up from the dirty hog raising business, and then He went from there to the woman who had an issue of blood, and that's where we're going to go now with witness Lee. The Lord Jesus taught His disciples, let's go to another place.

14:36Then, in that place, a very wonderful thing happened. That is, a daughter of the synagogue ruler. His daughter, 12 years of age, was dying. He begged the Lord Jesus to go to his home, and the Lord Jesus agreed. Well, the Lord Jesus was going with him on the way. A woman came, who was sick of the flow of blood. The sin scene is, the Lord's daughter, the 12 years of age, and this sick woman was sick for 12 years. You see, these two correspond, one with another in the 12 years. But anyhow, these sick women touched Him, Siga healed. Now, let me say this, what these can disease signify? These can disease signify the leaking of life.

15:40The flow of blood simply means a leaking of the life essence. Well, I have to know, since man's fall, every descendant of Adam is sick of this trouble. We fall in sinners, everyone is leaking. Every human being, after being born, begins to die. Okay, Ron, let's explain this picture that witnessly just drew us of all fallen sinners as leaking and about to die. This is based upon, you could say, seeing the spiritual significance of this woman's condition. We're not minimizing her physical suffering, her desperation, to contact the Lord to touch Him. And we appreciate her faith that she knew if she touched the Lord, even his garment, she would be healed.

16:44But looking at it from the standpoint of the spiritual significance of this, the blood constantly issuing from her signifies our human life essence from the time that we're born, because we're born in sin in a condition of death. From the time we're born, this gradual diminishing, this leaking out of the life element, the life essence begins. And eventually, after a certain amount of time, the result is death. Spiritually speaking, you have these two cases of the girl who had died and the woman who was ill. The girl was 12. The woman suffered from this affliction for 12 years.

17:44This should be considered one case spiritually speaking. And the significance of this is that the result of the leaking out, the diminishing, the weakening of our human life essence is death. For the former, for the leaking out of life, we need the Lord's healing. For the latter, spiritual death, we need the Lord as the resurrection life. And this also is within the scope of the kingdom, where the kingdom of God is, there is this supply of life, not the leaking out of life, where the kingdom of God is, there is the abundance of life, not death. So here we have a further carrying out of the kingdom

18:45through the Lord's gospel service, dealing with disease and death and manifesting God in His humanity. He came into that situation in a way to make Himself touchable, approachable, contactable, that He could be our Savior. I think of that line from a well-known hymn. It's very simple. It just declares, Hallelujah, what a Savior. Amen. I appreciate that it's an approachable, contactable Savior we have. Let's go to witness Lee for the conclusion of today's life study, where I appreciate this very much. He brings this manner of the gospel all together in such a rich way. Here's witness Lee. These three things depict today's human suicide. In today's human suicide, firstly, you have to rebound it,

19:49stormy sea. You don't have a peaceful environment, do you? All the time is storm, storm after storm, all kind of troubles, right? Number one, number two, what is today's social situation, heart-reasing, that industry, demon-puzzizing, that real situation? You understand in my word, I believe. You do understand, right? What is today's human society, in every continent? The human society is just heart-reasing, dirty industries for people to make a living. Then what? Then all the people are leading their lives, are dying. This is the real situation. This is why Christians are burdened to go out, to pray the gospel, to bring all Jesus to subdue to rebound it, to curb the demon position,

20:50to curb the heart-reasing industry, and to heal the life-leasing. Well, this is the end of time to revive. Rebed in was subdued. Demons would cast out, and the heart-reasing dirty industry would scrub, and deadly sickness was healed, and the dead person was revived. Hallelujah. I tell you, from the end of the time to four, to the end of time, this is a demonstration of the kingdom. What is the kingdom to subdue the rebellion, to cast out the victim demons, to clear up the dirty business, to heal the dead three sickness, to make the dead ones a life again? Hallelujah. This is the kingdom. This is the gospel. Well, I like this. Hallelujah. This is the kingdom.

21:50Hallelujah. This is the gospel. Ron, wouldn't you say today's human society needs this gospel that's so full of rebellion, and demons, and dirty business, and death, and life being leaked out? What you just summarized, that's the news. That's the content of the news. This rebellion, this account of demonic activity, this description of unclean business, filthy politics, defiling enterprises, corrupting entertainments, and all of this accompanied by the leaking out of life, and people desperately trying to do something to make themselves appear as if life is not leaking. The result is death. This is not normal. This is grotesque. This is the fall.

22:53This is the authority of darkness operating in human beings. This situation needs the kingdom, the gospel, and I appreciate Brother Lee's last words in the segment that we played. This is the kingdom. This is the gospel. According to the New Testament, and according to this ministry, based on the New Testament, the kingdom is the gospel, and the gospel of God is the gospel of the kingdom of God. And our heroes need to see the gospel in an inclusive way. It's not merely the story of Christ died for our sins that we may have eternal life as wonderfully precious as that is. The gospel is the gospel of the kingdom of God. On the one hand, when we receive this gospel,

23:56we receive the life of God to be in the realm of God, which is the kingdom of God. On the other hand, this kingdom, subdues rebellion, drives out the demons, clears away the unclean occupations, heals the disease, the leaking out of life, and conquers death with resurrection life. This is the gospel. This is the kingdom. This is the ministry of the Lord Jesus portrayed in the gospel of Mark. Well, Ron, I sure enjoyed our time together today. I appreciate you coming in and doing this program with me. We've run out of time, though. Thanks for joining me. You're welcome. And thank you also for joining us. If you'd like to get the printed materials, which we strongly encourage you to do, you can call us at 1-888-Life Study. That's 1-888-543-3788. We also

24:58would like to let you know that the entire life study is available online. If you go to our website at www.lsm.org. On behalf of Ron Kangus, this is Matt Miller. Thanks for listening today. We see the spin to the my tent. You've been listening to Life Study of the Bible with Witnessly brought to you by Living Stream Ministry. Whether you're hearing this program via radio, online or as a podcast, you'll find hundreds of audio studies just like this one by visiting our website, lsmradio.com. We also hope you'll email us with your questions or comments, radioatlsm.org, or call us toll-free, 1-888-Life Study. That's 8888-543-3788. Thanks for listening.