The exploration of Mark Chapter 3 brings forward a compelling narrative about healing, faith, and the unforgivable sin of blasphemy. Through Alan J. Huth’s personal journals, we witness the juxtaposition of divine works and human skepticism, highlighting the importance of recognizing and attributing God’s work correctly. As you listen, you’ll be inspired to reflect on how these biblical teachings can guide you toward a committed, daily engagement with Scripture, enhancing your spiritual journey.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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Today we are in the Gospel of Mark, Chapter 3. We’ll listen to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of the 35 verses of Mark 3. Mark 3
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Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. And they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with the withered hand, Come here.
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And he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?
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But they were silent, and he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea and a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and in Jumia and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, so that they might be with him, and he might send them out to preach, and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, He is out of his mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying,
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He is possessed by Beelzebul, and by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.
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And he called them to him and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?
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If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.
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For they were saying, He has an unclean spirit. And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you.
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And he answered them, Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.
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In 1986, in my personal Bible reading journal, I wrote concerning Mark 3, Jesus heals even in anger. And I continued, if a house be divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. I pray for unity in our family. Ten years later, in 1996, when reading Mark 3, I wrote, Jesus looked around at them with anger. Anger. I am not to the point of anger, but frustrated in all that is happening with my current employer. Help me, Lord. Then I continued writing. The spirits knew Jesus, but men continued to deny who he was. Why would the scribes attribute healing to Satan? And then I wrote again about that verse, if a house is divided against itself, the house cannot stand. Another 10 years later, in the year 2006, I wrote in my journal concerning chapter 3 of Mark, Jesus looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart. He had emotions like we do, but he channeled them into good behavior. He healed the man. I continue to write, Jesus is accused of being possessed by the devil. Unbelievable! Because he was doing miracles, good deeds, he was accused of being bad. Why do we accuse God of being bad, natural disasters, etc., but not give him credit for all the good? Chapter 3 opens with a very sad story, doesn’t it? Jesus is in a synagogue. First of all, that’s a house of worship. He was there on the Sabbath, the day of worship. And the people in the house of God on the day of worship are watching Jesus, watching to see what he’s going to do, looking to accuse him. Is that the right heart? when we’re in a house of worship, and their attitude grieves him. He is angry at their hardness of heart. He responds in his anger by healing the man with the withered hand. What is the crowd like to Jesus, the crowd you hang around with? Are they accusatory when disaster happens and they say, why does God let this kind of thing happen? Have they hardened their hearts against Jesus? And if so, do you get angry with their attitudes? Turn your anger into good. Do something good with the crowd you’re hanging with. Next, the religious leaders of his day, the scribes, accuse him of being possessed by the devil. For what? For doing good deeds, for healing people. Jesus responds to the foolishness of this argument by saying, if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. Because the religious leaders of his day, the scribes, are attributing his miracle-working power to Satan, he uses this illustration to demonstrate the unforgivable sin. Verse 28 says, Truly I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemy they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. Attributing the works of God, attributing the works of Jesus, attributing the works of the Holy Spirit to Satan is unforgivable. I’m going to refer to my footnote on this verse in my English Standard Version Study Bible. The opponent’s accusation against Jesus is the unforgivable, eternal sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. Mark 3.28 emphasizes that all sins will be forgiven, anticipating the eternal valid substitutionary atonement of Jesus. However, if a person persistently attributes to Satan what is accomplished by the power of God, that is, if one makes a flagrant, willful decision, judgment, that the Spirit’s testimony about Jesus is satanic, then such a person never has forgiveness. God is loving. He is forgiving. He sent his son Jesus to forgive the sins of mankind. Virtually every sin will be forgiven except this one. Don’t find yourself attributing the works of God to Satan. God is God. Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is God. Their house is not divided. All sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter. But whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. Father, may we never be found attributing your work, the work of Jesus, the work of the Holy Spirit, to the enemy. And Lord, if we’ve ever done that, forgive us right now because we didn’t really mean it. If I mistakenly did that one time in my life, forgive me because you’re saying here it’s persistent, it’s flagrant, it’s willful. That is not my heart, Lord. I really do truly believe in you and your power to forgive. I’m sorry if I’ve angered you. I’m sorry if I’ve had a hard heart. This word, this reality is too much for me. I fall on my knees before you, the one true God. Blessed be the name of the Lord, in whose name I pray. Amen. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. You know, sometimes we need a plumb line, a true north, a solid basis of truth to live life. We’re not going to find it in the media or in social media or Google or your friends, but it is available right at your fingertips. Pilate asked Jesus in John 18, 38, what is truth? The chapter before, Jesus had answered the question in his prayer to God for his disciples. In the 17th verse, Jesus pleads with the Father, Sanctify them in the truth. Thy word is truth. So what would it be like if everyone, everywhere, read the Bible every day? Wow, it might be heaven on earth. What would it be like if every Christian read the Bible every day? Would we be better ambassadors for Christ? What would it be like if everyone in your community read the Bible every day? Would we have greater impact in our communities? And what would it be like if you personally read the Bible every day? Could you use a closer walk with Jesus? Could you use a light unto your path and a lamp unto your feet to walk through this life? Could you use a spiritual power surge in your life? Matthew 22, 29, Jesus speaking to the Sadducees said, You are mistaken not understanding the Scriptures or the power of God. Yes, the Scriptures can give us power to live this life. So I’m going to give you three easy action steps to make the Bible worth your time each and every day. Number one, commit to daily Bible reading. Commit to seek God and His Word daily, every day. And if you miss a day, start again the next day. Change your belief about God’s Word to behavior in God’s Word. Use any of our Ezra Project resources to help you. Visit EzraProject.net to get an Ezra Project Bible reading journal or one of our day-by-day through the Bible books. Commit today and visit EzraProject.net for easy-to-use resources for your daily time in God’s Word. Number two, be intentional. Decide what you want out of your Bible reading. I got to visit the headquarters of Back to the Bible once in Lincoln, Nebraska. And in one hallway down one side, they had scribbled all the reasons people say they don’t read the Bible. On the other side were all the reasons people do read the Bible. And I want to give you some of those to encourage you. On that wall, it said, God wants me to. Yes, God wants you to read the Bible. Do you want to meet with him daily? Because he’ll meet with you every day through his word. Number two, it changes me. Where could you be in one year with more Bible reading in your life? Number three, it improves my outlook on life. Yeah, turn out the bad news and saturate yourself with good news from the Word of God. Number four, it keeps me grounded. Yes, when the storms of life come, and they will, can you stand? Yes, you’ll stand better and more solid because you’re in the Word of God. Next, it keeps my heart soft. Yeah, Nehemiah 8, when people heard the Word, they wept and they worshiped. You will do the same as the Word softens your heart. Lastly, on the wall, it said, it keeps my daily focus on God. Yeah, that’s a great reason to read the Bible. You’ll gain the spiritual power to live life in our secular world. And then thirdly and lastly, feed your soul. Let God minister to your soul. Hebrews 4.12 says the Word of God pierces between your soul and your spirit, between joints and marrow, and is the discerner of the thoughts and intents of your heart. Nothing else goes that deep. I don’t know where the place is between my soul and my spirit, but I want to put the Word of God there each and every day of my life. I hope you do too. God bless you as you spend time in God’s Word.
