Untitled Sermon

Good Morning Liberty

Pray

Today we are going to look at Jesus serving. He came to serve the people, not to rule over them. He came bring a message of repentance and belief in Him. Last week we looked at the authority of Jesus. Today we are going to see Him use that authority. Not like the world would use it if it had the authority that He has. He uses it to help and heal. He uses His authority out of His perfect love for us. He is caring and kind. Jesus loves us. That is what the whole Bible points to, His love for us. He loves us so much that He endured the worst possible death, the cross. We are going to look at Jesus healing and casting out demons. Just another day for our King!

We are going to be in Mark 1:29-45. This is a lot of verse for today. I hope you ate a big breakfast! Just kidding. Let’s read our verses. God has put it on my heart that in reverence for His Word that we stand during the reading of it. So, please stand as we read our verses.

Mark 1:29–45 (NASB 2020)

29 And immediately after they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 Now Simon’s mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever; and they immediately spoke to Jesus about her. 31 And He came to her and raised her up, taking her by the hand, and the fever left her, and she served them.

32 Now when evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. 33 And the whole city had gathered at the door. 34 And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.

35 And in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, and went away to a secluded place, and prayed there for a time. 36 Simon and his companions eagerly searched for Him; 37 and they found Him and said to Him, “Everyone is looking for You.” 38 He said to them, “Let’s go somewhere else to the towns nearby, so that I may also preach there; for this is why I came.” 39 And He went into their synagogues preaching throughout Galilee, and casting out the demons.

40 And a man with leprosy came to Jesus, imploring Him and kneeling down, and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Moved with compassion, Jesus reached out with His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 And immediately the leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43 And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 44 and He said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.” 45 But he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around, to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas; and they were coming to Him from everywhere.

Again Mark uses the word immediately. Immediately they went from the synagogue to Peter’s house. Church history says that Jesus used Peter’s house as a base for His ministry in Galilee. Immediately Peter spoke to Jesus about his mother-in-law being sick. Her illness must have been serious. she was too sick to get out of bed and in Luke’s description of this story, he says that her fever was a high fever. Now they did not have the same medical system and medicine that we do today. Often times people with high fevers didn’t make it. I think that it was serious enough that they talked to Jesus about it. We can see that Jesus had compassion on her and took her by the hand and raised her up and she was healed instantly, or we could say immediately! Jesus didn’t even have to speak to heal her. That is power. Now I’m not going to point out the obvious, that the women were waiting on the men. That is just a given. Just kidding. We can see that Jesus’ healing is perfect and complete. Normally when we are over a sickness, we need to rest for a day or so to get our strength back. Peter’s mother-in-law we immediately to serving the guests in the house. From a high fever to serving, that is complete healing. She probably felt better than she had in years if not ever!

Next we see at evening, they began to bring the sick and those who were demon possessed. Why did they wait until dark to bring the people? Did they not want to be seen? Well, that wouldn’t have worked because it says the whole city had gathered at the door. They waited until dark because it was the sabbath day. To the Jews, the day ended at sun down. So as soon as the sun set, they all started bringing the sick and possessed to this new healer. News had traveled fast, and they didn’t have Facebook or snap chat. This news was sensational and the people were quick to get in line. We all know someone or probably have someone in our family that is in need of healing. Things were no different back then. It was worse because they didn’t have the medicine that we have. Mark tells us the He healed many who were sick and cast out many demons. I don’t think that he got to everyone that night because we can see that they were looking for Him in the morning. He probably healed as many as He could until it was time to rest. I can’t imagine the excitement that must have been in that city that next day. All those people that were healed and the ones that had been demon possessed and now free. It must have been a sweet time of blessing and praise.

One interesting thing is that Jesus didn’t let the demons speak about who He is. The demons know who Jesus is, they just reject Him. Even though they reject Him, they still have to obey His commands. Jesus didn’t let the speak, because it wasn’t time for the people to fully know who He was. They would have tried to make Him King, also He may not have wanted to have the affirmation from the demons. He didn’t want to be associated with the demons. Even though the demons reject Jesus, if they are speaking the truth about who He is, then the people may take it the wrong way. Maybe they know each other some way. Maybe they are on the same side. Thus, Jesus make the demons be quite. I wish I had that power of my kids some times! Not all publicity is good!

Mark tells us that early in the morning, Jesus gets up and goes to pray before the sun is up. He left the house to be alone and pray to His Father. He want to be away from the distractions of the house and be alone with God. It is good to pray in public and for people, but we must also have time that we set aside, that is not full of distractions. We must have time that we devote to God that is focused on Him and our relationship with Him. Pray is vital to the life of the believer. It is often a last resort, something that we turn to when we have tried everything else. When it is the most powerful tool we have. It is a direct line to our Father in Heaven. We all need a place that we can go to to be alone with our God. If we are not a praying people then we are not doing what we are called to do. God wants a relationship with us. You can’t have a relationship with someone if you don’t talk to them. The more we talk to God, the more we learn about Him and the stronger our relationship gets. We must be a people of prayer.

Everyone is looking for Jesus. When they found Him they were like, what are you doing? Everyone is looking for you. You have caused quite the commotion in town.

Jesus had other plans. He wanted to go to other towns and spread the good news. That is why He came. He came to serve and tell. He then repeated what He had done in Capernaum. He went into their synagogues and preached and healed and casted out demons. Jesus was showing His power and authority throughout the region. He was serving. He was loving. He still serves and loves today. He hasn’t changed.

Then a leper came to Jesus and we something special. It doesn’t seem any different than the other healings, but it is. The Jewish religious leaders had a saying that it was easier to raise someone from the dead than to heal someone of leprosy.

Getting leprosy is the worst thing to happen to someone during that time. It was horrible. Once you were diagnosed with the disease, you had to live outside the town. You were not allowed to get close to anyone. No more hugs from you kids, no more holding hands with you spouse. You couldn’t have contact with anyone. If you did then they were unclean as well. They would have to be isolated to see if they got the disease. If someone got within 50 paces of you, you had to shout out unclean, unclean. It was a lonely life that they had to live. We are not told how long this man had the disease, but I think it had been a long time since he had had any contact with another person. Jesus had compassion for Him. Jesus knew that we were made for relationship and to have contact with each other. He knew the pain and suffering that the disease is causing in this mans life. It moved Him to do something that no one else would have done. He reached out and touched Him. Jesus meets us in out dirtiness and sin. He doesn’t wait for us to be good enough, because we can’t. We can fix ourselves. We can’t change what sin has done to us. We can’t change what the curse has done to this world and us. But He can, and He will. It may not be here on earth that we get to see the change. But if we repent and believe in Jesus, we will one day see. We are not promised healing in this life. The healing that we are promised is to come when we stand before our King in Glory. Then we will be truly healed. What a day that will be.

Jesus told the man not to tell anyone but to go to the priest and offer the commanded sacrifices to be clean. Understandably, the man told probably everyone he ran into on the way to the synagogue! How could he not proclaim his cleansing as he went. He was free! He could see his family again, hug his kids, kiss his wife.

Jesus told him not to say anything because He knew it would make it impossible for Him minister and it would take away attention from His message. People would come and only care about getting healed. They would no longer pay attention to His message. That is exactly what happened. We can see that Jesus wasn’t able to enter into cities anymore, He had to stay out in the outskirts, in the areas that were not heavily populated, and the people had to come to Him. It made His ministry harder. Disobedience always makes things harder. But we will see through the life of Jesus, that he would tell people that He healed not to tell anyone, and the would not listen. That would be a hard command to follow.

False healers

let’s pray