Mark 1: The Irresistible Grace That Makes You Follow Jesus

Introduction

Église Baptiste Toulouse Métropole continues its series "On t'appelle" ("He Is Calling You"). This Sunday, the text is Mark 1:16-20, the calling of the first disciples. The preacher admits that the way Mark tells this scene, which all four Gospel writers record, is "striking."

Simon, Andrew, James, and John have a trade, nets, a family, and plans. In a few words, Jesus calls them, and they leave everything to follow him. Hence the question: "What makes a man one day give up what had been his security until then in order to follow Jesus?"

The answer comes down to two words: irresistible grace, "the grace that makes us want Christ." The preacher defines it this way: God calls outwardly through the gospel and works inwardly in the heart by the Holy Spirit, so that the sinner comes freely to Christ by faith and follows him. The message unfolds in three movements: a divine initiative, a transformation of the will, and a fitting response.

Message Outline

1. A Divine Initiative: Jesus Calls Men Who Were Not Looking for Him

• In verses 16 and 17, Jesus walks along the Sea of Galilee, sees Simon and Andrew, and says to them: "Come after me, and I will make you into fishers of men." This is the first time Mark mentions them.
• In Jesus' day, it was the students who chose their rabbi, just as a protégé chooses a mentor for his experience and maturity. Here it is the reverse: Jesus himself chooses his disciples.
• He says so in John 15:16: "You didn't choose me, but I chose you." And Romans 8:30 recalls God's plan: those he predestined, he also called, justified, and glorified.
• "If Jesus had not come to call them, they would never have followed him. It is the same for all of us." Jesus says it himself: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him" (John 6:44).

2. Why No One Can Come to Christ on Their Own

• Because we are by nature totally corrupted: "There is no one righteous; no, not one. There is no one who understands. There is no one who seeks after God" (Romans 3:10-12).
• Paul does not say that people are far away, like someone who could find the way back. He says they are lost, unable to return by themselves.
• Sin has touched every dimension of the person: the mind, the will, the affections, the desires. "We desire, but we desire the wrong things." We were dead in our sins (Ephesians 2:1).
• At the tomb of Lazarus, dead for four days, Jesus calls, and Lazarus comes out. "The call produced the result."
• According to 2 Corinthians 4:4, the god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers. So God must, by a sovereign act, open the eyes of the blind.

3. A Call That Brings Light into the Heart

• "For it is God who said, 'Light will shine out of darkness,' who has shone in our hearts" (2 Corinthians 4:6). This is the God of Genesis 1, the one who said: "Let there be light" (Genesis 1:3).
• "It is a miracle." When God calls, he produces light in a heart, so that the person grasps the beauty and splendor of Jesus Christ.
• Those who are called no longer see the cross as foolishness, but as the power and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:18, 24).
• This is what happened to Lydia: "The Lord opened her heart to listen to the things which were spoken by Paul" (Acts 16:14). "Unless God opens our hearts, we will not pay attention to the message of the gospel."
• First implication: humility. No one can say "I am a Christian because I was better, smarter, or more receptive than others." Everything is grace.
• Second implication: worship. We often tell our conversion story like this: "I looked for God, I thought it over, I decided to believe." Mark shows that it is Jesus who comes, Jesus who calls, Jesus who transforms. Why does one person believe while their spouse does not? Why does Paul, a persecutor of the church, become an apostle? "Because God showed them grace."

4. A Transformation of the Will: Compulsion Makes You Act, the Call Makes You Want

• In verses 17 and 18, "Immediately they left their nets and followed him." The same immediate response is repeated in verse 20 with James and John, then in Mark 2:14 with Levi.
• Does Jesus have a hypnotic power? No. The preacher remembers military service: at 18, he was called up, like all young men in France at the time. A summons, a legal obligation of twelve months, penalties for refusing. An authority obtained outward obedience without the heart's consent.
• This is not the kind of call Jesus makes. "Compulsion works against the will," and that is how religion operates. "But Christ's call works on the will itself."
• By his Spirit, God changes the dispositions of the heart, makes us desire what we used to refuse, and brings us to him freely. "Compulsion makes you act, Christ's call makes you want. God's grace does not destroy the will, on the contrary, it sets it free."

5. The General Call and the Effective Call: Why We Evangelize and Pray

• In verses 14 and 15, Jesus had preached the gospel and called the crowds to repentance. This is the general call, which the church continues to address to everyone: "We are therefore ambassadors on behalf of Christ, as though God were entreating by us: we beg you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God" (2 Corinthians 5:20).
• The effective call, for its part, is entirely God's work: particular, inward, reaching the depths of the heart, and always followed by results. It does not force anyone to believe against their will, and it is not opposed to preaching or to human response: God uses the proclamation of the gospel to call his own.
• We do not lose heart. "I am not bitter because people did not want to accept Christ." They are blind, but God has the power to open eyes, to raise the dead, and to work in them both to will and to work (Philippians 2:13).
• Salvation does not depend on the quality of the preaching or on the force of persuasion. So we can neither boast of having saved a soul, nor be crushed by guilt after getting tangled up in our explanations.
• We pray: "Lord, open his heart, make the scales fall from his eyes, let him see the glory of Christ." God's sovereignty does not make us passive, it makes us bold. "I planted. Apollos watered. But God gave the increase" (1 Corinthians 3:6).

6. A Fitting Response: Putting Your Steps in His

• Mark stresses twice what the disciples give up: Simon and Andrew their nets, "their job"; James and John their father Zebedee, in the boat with the hired men, the whole business.
• Mark does not write "they decided to believe in Jesus," but "they followed him." "Christianity is not only believing that Jesus is the way. Christianity is putting your steps in his." An obedience of the heart, not a mere intellectual agreement.
• Mark reports no words from the disciples. When the heart is enlightened, neither career, nor family business, nor status, nor the pressure of culture, "whether Catholic, Muslim, or secular," weighs much against the attraction of Jesus.
• Is this fanaticism? On one side, believers who do not really practice; on the other, fanatics who add rules to rules and look down on those who do not do as they do. Jesus is not someone you follow from a distance: he does not invite you to join him "Sunday from 10 to 12," he tells you to take up your cross daily (Luke 9:23) and to love him more than your own family (Luke 14:26).
• The preacher quotes Tim Keller: Jesus wants to be followed so completely, so intensely, and so lastingly that every other attachment will look like hatred by comparison.
• "I will obey you, Jesus, if my career moves forward," "if you give me a united family, a house, a husband, a baby"... "Whatever is attached to the word 'if' is in fact your real master." Jesus is not a means to our ends: "He is not your servant, he is the master."

7. The One Who Calls You Is Worthy of Being Followed

• From the very first verse, Mark introduces "Jesus Christ, the Son of God." He is the one announced by Isaiah (verse 2) and by John the Baptist, who did not feel worthy to untie the strap of his sandals (verse 7).
• The Father bears witness to him: "You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (verse 11). The Spirit rests on him (verse 10), the angels serve him (verse 13), and he comes to defeat the devil and destroy his works (verses 13 and 23 and following).
• "Following Jesus every day is not fanaticism, but a fitting response to his call." Your love for your spouse, your parents, and your children cannot be greater than by loving him with all your heart.
• Religion is advice on how to earn a place before God: you have to be a champion, do better than others, and feel superior. The gospel is good news: Jesus gave his perfect life on the cross as a ransom for lost sinners. It is a gift, a grace, which produces gratitude and the desire to be like him, because "your master is humble and gentle."
• "I am the good shepherd. [...] My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me" (John 10:14, 27). The preacher concludes: "If the weight of your sin crushes you, if you tremble before death and judgment, then hear the shepherd's call. Follow me." Come as you are, and trust in his sacrifice. If discouragement overwhelms you, he offers you his peace, his rest, and all his treasures.

Key Takeaways

• Irresistible grace is the grace that makes us want Christ: God calls through the gospel and transforms the heart by his Spirit.
• No one comes to Jesus on their own. As with Lazarus, God's call produces the life it commands.
• Compulsion makes you act, Christ's call makes you want. Grace does not destroy the will, it sets it free.
• Because God alone opens hearts, we proclaim the gospel without bitterness or pride, and we pray boldly.
• Following Jesus by leaving everything is not fanaticism: it is the only fitting response before the Son of God.

Personal Application

• When you tell the story of your conversion, do you tell it as your decision, or as the work of Jesus who came, called you, and transformed you?
• Is there someone around you for whom you have stopped praying because they seem closed? What would change for you if you prayed "make the scales fall from his eyes"?
• What "if" comes attached to your obedience to Jesus: your career, your health, your family, a project? What does it reveal about your real master?
• What do you still hold on to as your security, like the nets of Simon and Andrew?
• In what area of your life are you following Jesus "from a distance," Sunday from 10 to 12, rather than every day?

Verses Cited

• Mark 1:16-20
• Mark 1:1-15
• Mark 2:14
• John 15:16
• Romans 8:30
• John 6:44
• Romans 3:10-12
• Ephesians 2:1
• John 11:38-44
• 2 Corinthians 4:3-6
• Genesis 1:3
• 1 Corinthians 1:18-24
• Acts 16:14
• 2 Corinthians 5:20-21
• Philippians 2:13
• 1 Corinthians 3:6
• Luke 9:23
• Luke 14:26
• John 10:14-27

Frequently Asked Questions

What is irresistible grace?

It is the grace that makes us want Christ. It is also called the effective call: God calls outwardly through the gospel and works inwardly in the heart by the Holy Spirit, so that the sinner comes freely to Christ by faith and follows him. It is not that God drags us to Christ against our will, but that God opens our eyes and inclines our hearts toward him.

If God alone opens hearts, why evangelize and pray?

Because God uses the proclamation of the gospel precisely to call his own. Salvation does not depend on the quality of our preaching or on our power of persuasion, it depends on God. This keeps us from bitterness and pride, and gives us an extraordinary reason to pray: Lord, open his heart, make the scales fall from his eyes.

Is following Jesus by leaving everything fanaticism?

No, it is a fitting response. Jesus is not a man who claims authority over your life: Mark presents him as the Christ, the Son of God, the one in whom the Father is well pleased. Religion gives advice on how to earn a place before God, while the gospel announces good news. We do not follow him to feel superior, but because our master is gentle and humble and we want to be like him.