Month: August 2026

               Perhaps perplexity best describes our reaction to today’s exposition of the Gospel of Mark chapter 14. The scene follows immediately upon the conclusion of the first Lord’s Supper. It also immediately precedes Jesus’ arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. The bookends for Christ’s agony in the few hours between the two leave hardly a moment for Jesus to catch His breath to consider the rapidly advancing appointment to the death of the cross. Jesus chose to use this time in deep emotional and sorrowful prayer asking the Father to sustain Him in these last dark hours. He knew the cross would be a lonely, solitary journey as the disciples who only minutes before promised never to desert Him were not strong enough to pray with Him, to stay awake with Him, and to comfort Him when His burden intensified until His flesh nearly failed while He sweat great drops of blood (Luke 22:44).

               The agony of His emotions was lost on the sympathies of the disciples. The mob came to take Him, and while they put up a show of resistance, it quickly faded as they only concerned themselves to preserve their own lives. The theme of the message reflects the groanings of Jesus during these final hours. There is no part of the scriptures we study today that show uncommon courage or any hope the cross would be avoided because of the steadfast resistance of the disciples.

               This was the design for the last few hours. Loneliness and desertion, but not disappointment. The lengthy series of Jesus’ prayers had no intention to persuade a change in the method of redemption. There was no tearful plea for the Father to alter the prophecies of these events. They would continue as determined until the completion of all essential parts. The torturous beatings, the mocking, the pain, the blood, the humiliation—all would complete as planned and end in death—all followed by miraculous resurrection after three days lying in an inglorious dark tomb.

               There are few sermon subjects that I am hesitant to approach. Most of the ones I am apprehensive about are more about timing than subject. The Holy Spirit works thoughts in me that do not seem appropriate at the time but perhaps timing is the most critical aspect in making them effective. The Spirit knows this far better than I since He is not constrained by the linear viewpoint of time. Today’s subject of mental suffering was difficult for me. The scriptures say Jesus was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death (Matthew 26:38). I am not anxious to speak of death, grief, and sorrow. I recently came through an extended period of this and did not necessarily want to be reminded of it. Ultimately, it is helpful because I remember the scriptures that supported me through it. A reminder that Jesus’ own burdens make Him experientially sympathetic strengthens our ability to understand we are not alone in ours.

               Today’s worship service combines the regular study of Mark with the observance of the Lord’s Supper. Neither conflict with the other on this occasion. Interrupting with a specially prepared sermon for the Supper was not needed or desirable. Today’s theme fits perfectly, giving us another piece of the arc of well-rounded understanding. Praise God for the Holy Spirit and Jesus’ promise that He would direct our thoughts and teach us what to say.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

Deuteronomy 32:7a

               After each vacation, I can heartily say that I am pleased to return to the pulpit of the Berean Baptist Church. The time away induced more reflection than usual. While we always trust the Lord as our strength and sustenance, discouragement happens when longing for seemingly better days in the past. Obviously, visits to Kentucky provoke misty-eyed remembrances of marriage and the birth of our children. A self-imposed honorific visiting the gravesites of my wife and of my father and mother are important parts of the Kentucky rituals. This trip also included solemnizing a wedding and seeing dear old friends which broadened my reflections of the past.

               Although I have now lived in California for thirty years, the greater part and most active parts of my life were in Kentucky. Those were the formative years which you may blame for my peculiarities. Experience, though, is a different matter. Being a pastor means intimately experiencing the difficulties of varied lives. You manage yours and your family’s while applause or blaming for the joy/grief of otherwise strangers is either my fault or my talent. Too often, godly counsel and direct preaching receive the blame for messy situations God’s people are unwilling to clean up. Shooting the messenger is their easiest solution.

Unless you choose psychiatry or psychology as a profession, no one cares to own these types of responsibilities. There are observers who tell me they would like to have my job perhaps because they want authority and recognition while others truly desire more advanced opportunities to serve the Lord. In his explanation of the duties of pastors and deacons, Paul encouraged this desirable determination by saying, “For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree…” Likewise, pastors achieve approbation: “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.” The Bible never discourages us from desiring rewards for our labor. Our Lord offers them for incentive not for a greedy heart but for the sincerity of those who will endure heartache for faithful service.

The deceptive allure of authority and recognition are not eternal but temporary rewards. They lead to dishonesty, situational ethics, and ultimately heresies. It would be counterproductive for me to encourage distrust of pastors. Understanding this, I caution you about pastors who want all authority, who intrude unnecessarily into private lives and decisions that normally lie beyond the purview of the pastorate, and who instead of warranted godly respect prefer adulation and hero worship.

The scriptures make us aware of the dangers of pride. No one in the church has more potential for it than the pastor. Peter issued a solemn warning countermanding the too frequent narcissism of haughty leaders: “Neither as being lords over God’s heritage…” Pulling in the young, inexperienced, and impressionable, he encourages the proper response to the godly pastor who first molds himself to his own teaching. “…be subject one to another…be clothed with humility…God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”

The remembrances of former years are part of what I used to guide my learning experiences in the pastorate. Father, mother, wife, family, and godly friends have been my solid companions. The Lord uses them now to ward off disappointment, depression, and discouragement. This sounds too much like an alliterated three-part sermon I do not care to write.

Pastor V. Mark Smith

               Today’s sermon is one of those times when the nemeses of ability and understanding are the bane of a preacher’s diligent desire to exposit scripture. Take just a moment to digest that sentence before I continue. The scriptures tell us to be careful about what we say and to use wisdom when we say it. The warning is that the words we manage are words of life, the souls we affect are eternally destined, and the way we present the word will either commend or condemn us.

               Before beginning our study of the Second London Baptist Confession of Faith, I was aware of its subject matter and that the first few chapters quickly expose the depth of understanding of God and His Holy Word. Our natural minds are unequipped to handle concepts that oppose our predispositions about God. Our natural opposition to truth never shines as brightly as when we begin discussion of God’s eternal decrees and we face the absolute sovereignty of God. The Confession does not obfuscate by mincing words. The third chapter, Of God’s Decrees, begins boldly with “God hath decreed in Himself, from all eternity, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely and unchangeably, all things whatsoever comes to pass…” This phrase sets the tone for acquiescence to God’s decision processes for every action He takes. It in fact states what the Bible so often affirms, namely nothing is done lately. God is eternal and thus every action in the present is an action determined in eternity. It also establishes the rhetorical answer to Paul’s question in Romans 9:20, “Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?”

               If we say the salvation of any person rests only in a decision of man’s will, we reverse the doctrine of sovereignty. The will is then sovereign and leaves God’s means of bringing glory to himself to a decision of man. Imagine a world that turns on human decisions rather than “All things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Will God leave the purpose of the creation in the hands of the created? Paul’s potter and clay example in Romans 9 exposes the absurdity of this conclusion. Paul’s “Nay but, O man,” serves as that doubly emphasized rhetorical question bolstered by an assertive rhetorical answer.

               Our witnessing is weak and helpless and fails miserably if we believe we coldly and flatly present the gospel and there it lays before the open uninfluenced mind to accept or reject by free will. Be sure not to pray for that person, lest God violate him by influencing his corrupt mind, his blinded eyes, his dullness of hearing, his desperately wicked heart, and his death in trespasses and sin. Free will? In what corner does it hide waiting with a shocking, “Yes!” to God? There is not one scripture that remotely suggests the possibility.

               Is this what the natural human heart routinely surrenders to God? No, the sin and corruption of our being do not like God’s sovereignty over all affairs. It resists that the counsel halls of eternity should be determinative. Thus, the person who cries “free will!” amid this breaks the first commandment as soon as he hears the good news. “No other gods before me,” says God. “Yes, except me.”

Pastor V. Mark Smith