R.C. Sproul - Mark - An Expositional Commentary

R.C. Sproul, someone said to me in the 1970s, is the finest communicator in the Reformed world. Now, four decades later, his skills honed by long practice, his understanding deepened by years of prayer, meditation, and testing (as Martin Luther counseled), R.C. shares the fruit of what became perhaps his greatest love: feeding and nourishing his own congregation at St. Andrews from the Word of God and building them up in faith and fellowship and in Christian living and serving. Dr. Sprouls expositional commentaries have all R.C.s hallmarks: clarity and liveliness, humor and pathos, always expressed in application to the mind, will, and affections. R.C.s ability to focus on the big picture, his genius of never saying too much, leaving his hearers satisfied yet wanting more, never making the Word dull, are all present in these expositions. They are his gift to the wider church. May they nourish Gods people well and serve as models of the kind of ministry for which we continue to hunger.

Dr. Sinclair B. Ferguson

Teaching Fellow

Ligonier Ministries

Dr. R.C. Sproul, well known as a master theologian and extraordinary communicator, showed that he was a powerful, insightful, helpful expository preacher. This collection of sermons is of great value for churches and Christians everywhere.

Dr. W. Robert Godfrey

President emeritus and professor of church history emeritus

Westminster Seminary California, Escondido, California

I tell my students again and again, You need to buy good commentaries and do so with some discernment. Among them there must be preachers commentaries, for not all commentaries are the same. Some may tell you what the text means but provide little help in answering the question, How do I preach this text? Dr. R.C. Sproul was a legend in our time. His preaching held us in awe for half a century, and these pages represent the fruit of his exposition at the very peak of his abilities and insights. Dr. Sprouls expositional commentary series represents Reformed theology on fire, delivered from a pastors heart in a vibrant congregation. Essential reading.

Dr. Derek W.H. Thomas

Senior minister

First Presbyterian Church, Columbia, South Carolina

Dr. R.C. Sproul was the premier theologian of our day, an extraordinary instrument in the hand of the Lord. Possessed with penetrating insight into the text of Scripture, Dr. Sproul was a gifted expositor and world-class teacher, endowed with a strategic grasp and command of the inspired Word. When he stepped into the pulpit of St. Andrews and committed himself to the weekly discipline of biblical exposition, this noted preacher demonstrated a rare ability to explicate and apply Gods Word. I wholeheartedly recommend Dr. Sprouls expositional commentaries to all who long to know the truth better and experience it more deeply in a life-changing fashion. Here is an indispensable tool for digging deeper into Gods Word. This is a must-read for every Christian.

Dr. Steven J. Lawson

Founder and president

OnePassion Ministries, Dallas

How exciting! Thousands of us have long been indebted to Dr. R.C. Sproul the teacher, and now, through Dr. Sprouls expositional commentaries, we are indebted to Sproul the preacher, whose sermons are thoroughly biblical, soundly doctrinal, warmly practical, and wonderfully readable. Sproul masterfully presents us with the big picture of each pericope in a dignified yet conversational style that accentuates the glory of God and meets the real needs of sinful people like us. This series of volumes is an absolute must for every Reformed preacher and church member who yearns to grow in the grace and knowledge of Christ Jesus. I predict that Sprouls pulpit ministry in written form will do for Christians in the twenty-first century what Martyn Lloyd-Jones sermonic commentaries did for us last century. Tolle lege, and buy these volumes for your friends.

Dr. Joel R. Beeke

President and professor of systematic theology and homiletics

Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Mark: An Expositional Commentary
2011 by R.C. Sproul

Published by Reformation Trust Publishing
a division of Ligonier Ministries
421 Ligonier Court, Sanford, FL 32771
Ligonier.orgReformationTrust.com

Printed in China
RR Donnelley
0001019
First edition, seventh printing

ISBN 978-1-64289-179-9 (Hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-64289-180-5 (ePub)

ISBN 978-1-64289-181-2 (Kindle)

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of the publisher, Reformation Trust Publishing. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Cover design: Ligonier Creative
Interior typeset: Katherine Lloyd, The DESK

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture taken from the New King James Version . Copyright
1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from the ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All emphases in Scripture quotations have been added by the author.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sproul, R.C. (Robert Charles), 1939-2017, author.
Title: Mark: an expositional commentary / R.C. Sproul.
Description: Orlando: Reformation Trust, 2019. | Originally published: Orlando, Fla.: Reformation Trust Pub., c2011.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019000111 (print) | LCCN 2019022268 (ebook) | ISBN 9781642891799 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Mark--Commentaries. | Bible. Mark--Sermons.
Classification: LCC BS2585.53.S67 2019 (print) | LCC BS2585.53 (ebook) | DDC 226.3/077--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019000111
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019022268

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For Guy and Penny Rizzo,
who love the Word of God