Mark 1:40-45
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When I first truly met Jesus.
When I first truly met Jesus.
I had heard about Jesus my whole life. My dad was a pastor.
I had heard his story of how the Lord changed his life. (Tell Dad’s Story)
My Mom had grew up in church. She was saved at an early age.
The majority of the people I had contact with were believers who had a testimony of how they met Jesus.
I went to Conway Christian School.
I was familiar with Jesus. I knew the stories.
I had even made a profession of faith at an early age. Everyone was doing it. I knew it would make my parents proud.
So I said the prayer. I got baptized. I joined the church.
But all of that I’m convinced, though I do believe, it was God’s working in my life, all of that was superficial.
I was living off of my familiarity with Jesus, but I had never truly met Him.
At 18, I met Jesus.
I saw Him not as an addition to my life to make it better, but as all I had. My only hope for salvation.
I believe the Lord called me to faith when I was 18.
I believed the Lord touched my life at 18.
Because then, everything started to change.
My love for sports and a desire to go to college to play baseball changed.
My desire toward a career path changed.
Church was no longer a forced issue. I saw it as the way in which I would learn more about the God who saved me.
I was amazed at Jesus.
I told people about Jesus.
I went to school to learn how to tell people about Jesus.
I was frustrated when I got to NGU because I had to take all these general education courses first before I could get into my major courses that dealt with the Bible.
My favorite class in college was Systematic Theology.
We learned about God.
I was amazed at the things I learned.
Amazed.
Thats an interesting word isn’t it?
It means to be astonished, astounded; suddenly filled with wonder
How did that happen at 18?
I met Jesus. and i was astonished, astounded; suddenly filled with wonder.
Now Bible stories weren’t just filling my mind. They were filling my heart.
I wanted to know more and more about the Bible, because I wanted to know more about Jesus.
Do you remember those days?
We aren’t the only people who have been amazed by Jesus.
The Gospel of Mark highlights this theme very well.
The Jews were amazed
They were amazed at His teaching; for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
The Scribes and Pharisees were amazed.
They were all amazed, so that they debated among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to Him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city had gathered at the door. And He healed many who were ill with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and He was not permitting the demons to speak, because they knew who He was.
The crowds were amazed.
And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
The disciples were amazed.
They became very much afraid and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”
The Demon possessed man was amazed.
And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was amazed.
There is a common theme among those texts of Scripture.
Amazement. Wonder. Astonishment.
Listen to the story of the paralytic.
And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone, so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God, saying, “We have never seen anything like this.”
There is good reason for that.
They had never seen anything like this , because there is no one like him.
I want us to look closely at one man’s story. Look at Mark 1:40-45
And a leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” Moved with compassion, Jesus stretched out His hand and touched him, and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. And He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away, 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.” 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.
This leper. This unclean man. An outcast. A self proclaimed unclean man is healed by Jesus.
Jesus warns him not to tell.
We aren’t sure why.
We are told that the leper goes out and does what?
Yeah HE tells us everyone.
He is disobedient to Christ, and his disobedience hinders Jesus ability to minister in the city because now so many people were coming to him not for his message for to see his works.
Now I am not condoning his disobedience, but I do understand his excitement in the moment.
This is a man who previously had to shout unclean unclean, and now he gets to shout “Clean, Clean! I’ve been healed and Jesus did it.”
How do you not tell others about that?
How do you suppress the excitement?
The same thing happens with Jairus’s daughter in Matthew 9.
He rose his daughter from the dead.
And the news spread despite his warning not to say anything.
How do you not tell of his healing? How do you not tell of his resurrection?
And here is where the irony of ironies hits.
Jesus commanded them not to tell of what he had done for them, and they did it anyhow.
They couldnt not hold in the excitement.
Jesus has told us to tell, and yet we often don’t.
Maybe, just maybe we have lost our sense of awe and amazement.
The good news is that he forgives us and lets us start fresh with a renewed sense of awe and wonder.
Lawless- story about being in Jerusalem at the places believed to be Golgotha. Everybody was so busy, only the few were caught up in the fact that Jesus died there for the sins of His people.
The people there have gotten used to it.
We grow too familiar with beauty. People who live at the beach go to the mountains. People who live in the mountains go to the beach. We become unsatisfied and un-amazed at the beauty right in front of us.
my hope tonight is that this never happens to us when it comes to the cross and the Gospel.
My prayer tonight is that we would once again gain back our sense of amazement of Christ and what he has done.
Spend some time thinking about the cross. Your conversion and praise God for what he has done.