Well, the passage before us presents an early transition point in Mark's proclamation of Jesus's identity and purpose.
This section really serves as a means of moving the story along, and what Mark is doing is summarizing this early stage of Jesus's life.
Now, up to this point, Mark has introduced us to the early displays of power in Jesus's ministry, and he's also told us of the early reactions of the religious establishment to Jesus.
Now, he is beginning to transition away from this early season of ministry to the more dominant portion of Christ's ministry in Galilee.
The transition here, the reason we read both sections, is because it's really made up of two different events, two different scenes or episodes, whatever you'd want to call them.
The first summarizes the nature of Jesus's meteoric rise in popularity, and it provides really a fitting close to this first section of the book.
The second episode summarizes the calling of his twelve disciples, and it initiates the development of the next few chapters.
So, in a literary sense, that's what's happening here in these verses.
These sections, they're not difficult. They're not complicated. They're actually useful to our understanding.
They further validate Jesus's claims of divinity.
They show that Jesus had a purpose to achieve, as he calls his disciples and commissions them.
They reveal the pressure that Jesus felt, how he relates to us as being human as well.
And then they remind us of the true nature of discipleship and what it actually means to be a follower of Christ and not just a part of the crowd.
And so, it's significant here. Let's take a moment to work through this first scene this morning.
Look with me again at verse 7.
But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea or to the lake.
Now, this isn't the first time that Jesus has done this in the Gospel of Mark.
You'll remember that in the first chapter, at the end, Jesus cleanses the leper.
And because the leprous man disobeyed the Lord, he had to switch places with him.
The leper was now in the city. He was fine. He was healed. He could be around all the people.
But Jesus was then forced to minister for a season in desert places.
That was the result of the pressure that was put on him because of the crowds and really the leprous man's disobedience.
Then when we get to chapter 2, we see the healing of the paralytic.
And after that, Jesus initiates a move to the lake.
He himself decides that he's going to go out in order to accommodate the crowds.
And then when we come to this part in chapter 3, it's really a mixture of both of those things.
It's the plotting of the Pharisees from verse 6.
That's where we left off last week. Look at it again.
And the Pharisees went forth and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
So Jesus is in the city, maybe Capernaum.
And he's in Capernaum. He's teaching in the synagogue.
And now the Pharisees are ticked off again.
And they go and they consult with their political enemies to see if they can find a way to, quote-unquote, legally murder Jesus.
And so Jesus, sensing that, is moving out of the city a little bit.
He's getting away from the Pharisees to an extent.
That's happening here.
But there's also this fact of these growing crowds that are initiating Jesus' move.
He is initiating that more than he's running from any type of opposition.
And we're immediately reminded again of the unstoppable nature of Jesus' purpose.
No matter what confronted him, no matter what circumstances he found himself in,
Jesus was committed to faithfully fulfilling his task, his ministry.
He was faithfully seeking to preach the gospel.
He wanted to heal the people.
He was on his way to the cross, so to speak, but he had a purpose in the meantime as he is marching his way there.
And there was no circumstance.
There was no outside pressure.
There was no opposition that was going to prevent him from doing that.
And there's a tremendous lesson for us in this.
We cannot allow the fear of opposition to prevent us from doing what is right.
Look, it's pretty clear that being a Christian is not going to get easier.
It's not.
In these next few years, it's actually probably going to get much more difficult.
And what I mean by that is this cultural Christianity is going to die.
It's going to die soon.
You know what I mean by that?
The cultural Christianity that says that Christianity is a part of my life, that's what I am, but they really don't know Christ, and they're really not following Christ.
Pop into church maybe from here or there.
Maybe they associate with a particular group, but it's just a cultural label.
I'm an American, therefore I'm probably a Christian, at least in the southern United States.
That's what it is, right?
There is a cultural Christianity.
That's going to die soon.
It's going to die soon.
It has to, because there is opposition coming from outside forces, outside of the church, that are going to make it more and more difficult to be a Christian, to at least claim to be a Christian.
You know what's going to happen when we hit that opposition?
Do we cower?
Do we decide to stop taking a stand on what the Bible teaches?
Well, the example of Jesus was that there was no fear of opposition that prevented him from doing what was right, and it shouldn't prevent us either.
At the same time, we can't be so rigid in our preferences that we stop moving forward in the work that God has called us to do.
Well, Jesus' ongoing ministry, by the lake, grew exponentially here, and an environment of chaos very quickly ensued.
Jesus was always willing to show compassion to the people that followed him, but crowds are not presented favorably in the Gospels.
Have you noticed that as you read your Bible, and you read through Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, very seldomly are crowds presented in a favorable light?
More often than not, crowds are associated with error.
They're associated with danger, misunderstanding, greed, and so on.
The true followers of Jesus often came out of these crowds, but very few people in the crowds actually became true followers of Jesus.
And so as we study these crowds, we see we might would be enamored by their success and not necessarily even surprised by the numerical growth of what was happening around Jesus,
but the Scripture very seldomly actually presents these crowds favorably.
What we see in these verses is the crowd actually descending into chaos, and the overall tone of this passage is very negative.
It's not positive.
So let's look at it.
I've just come up with just a handful of notes as we work through these verses, just simple phrases that we can hang our thoughts on this morning if you want to do that and write these down.
The first thing I wrote down is huge crowds.
Huge crowds.
Look again at verse 7.
And a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan.
And they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.
Now at this point in Jesus' ministry, his popularity had absolutely exploded.
Thousands upon thousands of people are traveling.
Some of them are traveling over 100 miles on foot to get to where Jesus is.
This is really quite remarkable when you think about it.
This isn't 2021.
This is first century Israel, Palestine.
Information didn't travel in those days like it travels now.
There was nobody at one of Jesus' healings when he was healing the paralytic.
There was nobody there with their iPhone.
Live stream into Facebook so that all their friends in Idumea and Tyre and Sidon could see what was happening.
None of that is happening here.
There's no newspapers.
There's nothing like that.
Word traveled by mouth.
And there was word that was beginning to travel.
But it meant somebody had to leave their home in Galilee to go somewhere else to talk about it.
And of course, by natural processes of trade and business, that begins to happen.
But it didn't take very long and Jesus' ministry began to explode.
All of these people are coming.
Do you see from all the different places?
Of course, they're coming from all around Galilee.
They're coming from Judea.
They're coming from Jerusalem.
We expect those places, right?
But then they also come from Idumea.
That's a section south of Judea.
Probably 120, 140 miles they had to go to get to Galilee where Jesus was.
And that was in the south.
And then there were people coming from the east.
The Transjordan area over the Jordan.
There were people coming from over there.
There were people coming from the north.
Tyre and Sidon.
Nobody's coming from the west.
That's the Mediterranean Sea.
Nobody could come from there.
But they were coming from the north and the east and the south.
Some have estimated that tens of thousands of people were coming to Jesus
at one time.
Just this overflow of people coming to Jesus in Galilee.
And if you pick up on those regions, it's not just Jews.
It's Jews coming from Galilee and Judea and maybe the Transjordan area.
But the Transjordan area was also a mixed group.
Tyre and Sidon was almost exclusively Gentile.
So there are people from all over the place.
All kinds of diversity.
All kinds of numbers coming to Jesus at this point.
Well, why is it that Mark is so intent on emphasizing the size and diversity of these crowds?
In addition to giving just a realistic depiction of Jesus' ministry,
it actually adds credibility and validation to what Jesus was doing.
Think about this.
Why were these people coming to Jesus?
Because they heard what he could do.
And the credibility of those stories was so strong
that people are coming from all over the place to see it themselves.
And you'll never find one time in the New Testament
anyone who denied the reality of these healings.
No one.
Not even his enemies.
The Pharisees knew exactly what he was capable of.
Remember the last scene that we studied last week.
They brought this man with a withered hand
because they knew Jesus would heal him
and they just wanted to trap him for doing it on the Sabbath.
They knew who he was.
They knew his power.
They didn't deny it.
They just attributed it to Satan instead of God
as we'll get to in just a couple of weeks.
No one denied his power.
Remember, these crowds coming together give validity.
These are eyewitnesses that are not just 12 men
who followed him loosely and came up with this plan,
this elaborate plan to deceive the world for 2,000 years.
These are thousands of people that are coming and witnessing this
and then they're going elsewhere to tell everybody else about it as well.
And so the news of Jesus begins to spread.
That's why Mark is writing about this.
It's not just a narrative.
It's credibility because what is Mark's purpose in writing this gospel?
to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah.
And this was proof that that is indeed the case.
Now the point immediately forces us to make a decision about Jesus.
If thousands of people, including Jesus' enemies,
acknowledged his power,
who are we to deny it?
It's interesting, isn't it?
When Jesus was living,
when everybody was around him,
nobody questioned the credibility or the validity of what he was doing.
No, that came hundreds of years later with people that weren't there,
that weren't around.
And they just decided that,
well, there's no way that that could ever possibly happen
because, you know, science.
And since science doesn't agree with it,
then there's no way that this could actually happen.
But there are thousands of eyewitnesses that say otherwise.
You're forced to make a decision about Christ at this point in this passage.
Because if this is real,
if this is really who Jesus is,
then we are held accountable to his message.
And his message was,
the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
And he was a reference to himself.
I am here.
I am the Son of God.
I am the Messiah.
Repent and believe the good news.
And for those of us that deny that,
we do not receive what he then offers,
which is the forgiveness and mercy and grace and eternal life.
So you must make your decision.
Is Jesus really who he said he was?
Was this an elaborate conspiracy
that involved multiple nations
and thousands of people
that conspired to fool us today?
I don't think so.
Huge crowds.
Number two, imminent danger.
Imminent danger.
Look with me at verse nine.
And Jesus spoke to his disciples
and he told them to get a small ship
that it should wait on him
because of the multitude,
lest they should throng him.
Now the actions of the hordes of people
posed a physical threat to Jesus and his disciples.
This is not Jesus adding an aid
to his preaching ministry.
The boat wasn't a tool in this story.
This was an escape plan.
This wasn't Jesus hoping that people will hear him.
This is Jesus having his disciples
ready to hit the road
in case things go south real quick.
How do we know that?
Well, the verse tells us.
He spoke to his disciples
that a small ship should wait on him
because of the multitude,
lest they should throng him.
The word translated as throng here,
it may be something different
in your scripture journals,
indicates violence.
It means to crush or to press.
In that context of first century Israel,
it would be to press like grapes
in a wine press.
Jesus is saying,
get a boat ready
just in case the crowd presses me,
crushes me,
presses me like grapes.
This is violence.
This is a violent crowd.
It gives me the picture of the news stories
that we see every Black Friday
and after Thanksgiving, right?
We see it all the time.
That's what's happening with Jesus.
These people are gathering.
You get the picture that in the process of this,
people are fighting.
They're fighting one another
to get to where Jesus is.
They're trying to get,
they're trying to touch him
and it becomes chaotic.
And in their attempts to get to Jesus,
they actually became a threat to him.
Now, before we move on,
there's something striking to me
about the way that Jesus prepared
for this potential escape.
Jesus could have done anything
to get away from these people.
He could have literally,
in his power as God,
immediately transported himself
and his disciples
to a completely different place
and be gone.
He could have done that.
He did it in other passages.
You remember in John chapter six,
Jesus was walking on water
and the disciples didn't recognize him at first
and they finally recognize him
and he gets in the boat
and it says they had been,
they'd been rowing all night,
contrary to the wind.
They were fighting to get
to the other side of the shore
and they couldn't make any progress.
They're stuck out in the middle of the sea.
Jesus gets in the boat
and it says immediately
they were at the shore.
He gets in the boat
and the disciples look up
and hey, we're not in the sea anymore.
We're where we wanted to go.
Okay, Jesus has that power.
He could have done that.
There was another time in,
I believe it was Nazareth actually,
where Jesus was being mobbed by a crowd
and it says that he passed through the crowd
and they did not perceive that he was there.
This was another miracle moment
where Jesus is moving through.
But Jesus didn't do that here.
He didn't do that here.
And it strikes me as kind of unusual.
Why wouldn't he do that here?
It was the ordinary means of a boat
that he used
instead of displaying his supernatural power.
Here's the point.
Oftentimes in our prayers,
we can be guilty
of requesting a supernatural act from God
when his plan is really to bless us
with the ordinary means of grace instead.
We get behind in our bills maybe
and we're just trying to figure out
how we're gonna pay it off
and it drives us to prayer, right?
And we get down to what is it that we pray?
If you're like me,
it's a selfish prayer.
Lord, if you would please
just let me go to the mailbox today
and there just be,
the stimulus check has arrived, Lord.
Would you, whatever it is.
We pray.
You know what?
Sometimes it's not that God
is seeking to supernaturally
drop money from the sky for us.
It may be the ordinary means of a budget.
It could just be the ordinary means
of giving you a few extra hours at work
or whatever it may be.
It's the ordinary means of grace
that God brings about.
It works in other situations in life as well.
We think about,
we pray for health,
particularly when people we know
are sick and they're struggling,
maybe even knocking at death's door.
We know that God sometimes works in our bodies
to provide healing
that doctors can't explain and comprehend.
We know that's the work of the Lord.
Oftentimes that's what we pray for.
And it's right for us to acknowledge
that God can do that.
Sometimes he does
and it's not wrong for us to pray
for divine intervention.
It's not a wrong thing to do.
However, God usually employs
the ordinary means of technology
and the education of doctors
and medicine
in order to meet those needs.
We have a tendency to think
that God is only at work
in the sensational things.
And it affects our prayer.
It affects the way that we talk about him.
In the way that we praise him.
And my point is that God's work
is not limited to what we perceive
as supernatural.
He often works in ways
that seem completely ordinary.
Now, our faith
believes in God's ability to do anything.
And that's right.
And it's good.
Our gratitude should reflect
that he is sovereign over everything.
Yes, God can provide supernaturally,
abundantly,
in ways that you would have never expected.
But he provides for you every day
in ordinary ways
that we completely disregard
and never actually show gratitude for.
You say,
well, I got this job that I have right now
because I filled out an application
and I interviewed well.
Well, yeah, that's true.
But that was the ordinary means of grace
that God used
to provide you with a job
that he wanted to bless you with
to fulfill his purpose.
He wasn't absent from that.
God is intricately involved in your life.
Intricately involved.
There is nothing in your life
that his hand is not touching.
And sometimes, most of the time,
it's completely ordinary.
So yes,
pray for the supernatural.
Pray for God's moving
in a unique way,
but recognize
that there's not one moment
in your life
that he's not moving.
There's not one thing
that happens to you
that he hasn't involved himself with.
Jesus and his disciples
were in imminent danger,
but Jesus sets an example
of preparedness
through the ordinary means of grace.
Well, let's move on.
Number three,
greedy hearts.
Greedy hearts.
We've seen huge crowds.
We've seen imminent danger.
Now we see greedy hearts
in verse 10.
For he had healed many
insomuch that they pressed upon him
for to touch him
as many as had plagues.
Verse 10 tells us
why the people came to Galilee.
They were hoping for healing
from their diseases.
And certainly,
able people were there
for other reasons,
but the emphasis of the text here
is on those who were diseased.
Now, there's no problem
in them seeking healing.
That's not the problem here.
We pray for healing all the time.
God never condemns us
for coming to him
in order to have him meet
our physical needs.
Jesus actually looked compassionately
at these people.
We've seen this over and over
just in the first two and a half chapters
of this book.
He looks compassionately.
He never denied them
the healing that they sought.
In fact, his love
is so great for us
that he healed many people
that would not follow him.
He healed many people
that would deny him.
Perhaps some people
that were a part of the crowd
that yelled,
crucify him.
Even in his arrest,
Peter pulls out his knife
and he cuts off Malchus' ear.
This man has literally
come to arrest Jesus
to go and have him crucified.
And what does Jesus do?
Knowing the rejection of his heart,
he picks up his ear
and he puts it back
on the side of his head.
There is a compassion
and a love
in Jesus
and in his actions
that we can't even comprehend.
And we've quoted
Dane Orland in this way,
but it's worth doing it again.
Jesus did not simply operate
in deeds of compassion,
but actually felt
the inner turmoils
and roiling emotions
of pity
toward the unfortunate.
When Jesus healed people
in these crowds,
it wasn't because
he felt an obligation
to do so.
It's because he had
genuine compassion for them.
He loved them.
He wanted to make a difference
in their lives.
He hated
to see what life
in a fallen world
had done.
And he wanted
to set that right.
So the problem
is not that they came
to him for healing.
That's not the problem.
The problem is that
their greedy hearts
only cared
about what they could
get from Jesus.
None of them stopped
for just a moment
just to consider
what he was trying to do.
He didn't come to heal.
He came to preach
the gospel.
But nobody wanted
to listen to his message.
There's no indication
anywhere in these verses
that Jesus even had
an opportunity
to actually preach
the truth to these people
because the way
they were pressing
against him.
They're clamoring
over each other.
They're putting other people
in danger in order
that they could get
to Jesus
to have him meet there.
And he didn't care
about anybody else.
There's greed in this.
Violent greed.
Jesus noted
a similar situation
after he fed
the 5,000
in John chapter 6.
Do you remember
that story?
You can write down
the passage.
You can flip there
if you want.
John chapter 6
verses 25 to 30.
Jesus has just
fed the 5,000
and he and his disciples
went across the lake
and they made their way
around
and they followed him
around.
And here's what he said.
When they found him
on the other side
of the sea
they said to him
Rabbi
when did you come here?
And Jesus answered them
truly, truly
I say to you
you are seeking me
not because you saw signs
not because you are
trying to figure out
who I am
and understand my message
but because you ate
your fill of the loaves.
They were prosperity seekers.
And then he tells them
do not work
for the food
that perishes
but for the food
that endures
to eternal life
which the son of man
will give to you.
He's referencing himself.
For on him
God the Father
has set his seal.
And then they said this
What must we do
to be doing
the works of God?
And Jesus answered them
This is the work of God
that you believe in him
who he has sent.
So they said
Then what sign do you do
that we may see
and believe you?
What work do you perform?
He just took
five pieces of bread
and a few fish
and fed 5,000 people
and these same people
are now looking at Jesus
and saying
Okay, okay
prove it.
What?
They didn't actually care
about who Jesus was
they just wanted
more from him.
Give us more food.
They were prosperity seekers.
They came to church
because they wanted
to see if Jesus
would give them something
that he would reward them
for going to church.
If he would reward them
for putting money
in the offering.
If he would reward them
for doing their religious duties.
They were prosperity seekers.
That's what they were looking for.
That's the crowd
in Mark chapter 3.
They're greedy.
They're just looking
to get something from him.
And while Jesus
cared deeply
about their needs
his chief objective
was to preach the gospel.
His compassionate heart
wanted what was best
for these people
but he knew
what was actually best
for them
was the message
of forgiveness
that only he could provide.
And his miracles
though genuinely performed
performed were meant
to point people
to his identity.
If they had just
listened to his message
they would have realized
that he was offering
eternal healing
that far surpassed
the temporary pleasures
that they were seeking
from him then.
The irony is
that they clamored
for the one
that could heal
their souls
but all they wanted
was for him
to heal their bodies.
Do you realize
you are
a soul?
You have
a body.
Your soul
will live forever.
Your body
will not.
You could go
through your whole life
live perfectly healthy
never get any
major diseases
stay in shape
eat right
and your body
is still going to die.
You are going to die.
These people
were clamoring
to Jesus
and he was offering
life eternal
for them
and all they wanted
was for him
to take care
of something
that was going
to die anyways.
And how many people
they flood to churches
or they flood to religion
or they flood to whatever
it is that they're looking for
and they flood to it
they're looking for
life now to be better
but this life
it's not going to last.
And Jesus is sitting here
he said I'll give you
something that's far greater.
Give you something
far greater than life
right now.
Far greater than health
right now.
Far greater than peace
right now.
Far greater than riches
right now.
I will give you
eternal life
in heaven
with me.
But all they wanted
was healing
for their body.
Number four
evil opposition.
We've seen huge crowds
imminent danger
greedy hearts
and then finally
evil opposition.
Look with me
at verse 11.
And unclean spirits
when they saw him
fell down before him
and cried saying
thou art the son of God
and he straightly charged them
that they should not
make him known.
That seems weird
right?
Now once again
Mark is bringing together
demon possession
and diseases
all at one time.
Now he's not doing that
to suggest that disease
is a result of
demonic oppression
or possession.
That's not the point.
What he's doing
is he's bringing together
the fact of
life in a fallen world
having both physical
and spiritual realities
to it.
And that Jesus
has authority
over both the physical
and the spiritual.
That's the point
in bringing these two
things together.
The interactions
between Jesus
and the demons
are recorded often
in the gospels.
And the demons
every time
except for perhaps
Satan
and the temptations
in the wilderness
we don't see
the same thing happening
but every single time
demons are confronted
by Jesus
they react fearfully
to his presence.
They react fearfully
because they know
exactly who he is.
James chapter 2
tells us this.
James chapter 2
in verse 19
you believe that God
is one
you do well
but then James
basically says
so what?
Even the demons
believe that
and they shudder
they tremble
they shake before him
that's their disposition.
It's one thing
to acknowledge
that God
that Jesus is God
it's another thing
to follow him
as Lord
the demons
were not willing
to do that
and so they feared
before him
because they knew
his authority
and they knew
his power.
Now
fallen angels
like this
they do not
usually desire
to be known
as such.
There are instances
in the scripture
clearly most of the time
around Jesus
where they afflict
people physically
but their work
is often in the realm
of false religion
and government.
We see that all
through the scripture.
It's subtle
and no matter
how much they preferred
to remain concealed
they could not help
but outwardly respond
when confronted
by Jesus.
We often hear
about this
crying out
that they would do
they would cry out
thou art the son
of God
identifying who he is
but he always
every time
commands their silence.
It's not because
Jesus didn't want
people to know
who he was
that was the whole
point of all the stuff.
He's healing people
so that they would
see who he was.
He's teaching
so that they will
hear who he is.
He plainly said
on multiple occasions
I and the father
are one.
He wasn't trying
to hide his identity.
What he was doing
is he was proving
his identity
proving his power
by showing his authority
even over the spirit world.
The demons
his silencing
his aminas
of revealing
who he is
and he demonstrates
his power over them
but it's also true
that Jesus
is not interested
in his ministry
being connected
with that which is evil.
And that just makes sense.
We see this often.
You can go to Acts 16
and see another description
of this with Paul.
We won't do that now
but in the same sense
we are in no way
interested
in Christianity
associating
with false religions
like Mormonism
and Jehovah's Witnesses
and Christian science
Roman Catholicism
to unite with such groups
is to deny
the gospel of Jesus
and to perpetuate error.
Paul when he was
confronting the Corinthians
about their involvement
in some of the pagan temples
and when they ate there
and the idols
that were involved
he said
he encouraged
and exhorted
against that
because
what is behind
those idols
what is behind
those religions
he said
are demons
demonic forces.
we see in the Old Testament
we see the fights
between
the right
and the wrong
the representatives
of God
and the representatives
of Satan
in the form of
government.
That's how they work
mostly.
Well we're not
interested in Christianity
associating with
the natural world
we're set apart.
Well
let's close here.
would you consider
as we close
the intense pressure
under which
Jesus lived
we consider
this whole passage
here
thousands of people
pressing against
him
demanding
of him
ignoring
what he has
to say
misrepresenting
who he is
unclean spirits
and all of this
on the heels
of a group
of
religious
and political
men
seeking to
put him to death.
There's quite a bit
of pressure
in a life like that.
Sometimes our focus
is so much
on the deity
of Christ
and rightly so
that we
forget
his humanity.
Jesus
overcame
every human
struggle
that was
because of
his deity
but he also
felt the
pressure of
human life
to the
fullest
extent.
There was
mounting
hostility
from religious
and political
groups that
culminated in
plots for
his murder.
He knew
well
the scrutiny
of critical
eyes
and faced
people constantly
that did
nothing but
express what
they thought
was wrong
with him
he felt
the unending
demands of
people that
clamored for
his attention.
He knew
the heartache
of friends
and family
forsaking
him.
He felt
the pain
of demonic
opposition
and its
hold on the
people that
he loved.
Kent Hughes
said the
pressure upon
Christ was
immense.
Our Lord's
every move
night and
day
was observed
by hostile
interlopers.
The worst
interpretation
was placed
on everything
that they
saw and
heard.
Our Lord
being truly
a man
felt the
pain of
hatred
intensely
with its
emotional
discomfort
and pervasive
alienation.
Have you ever
felt that way?
have you ever
been in a
place in
your life
where it
just seems
like everybody
around you
is trying to
find everything
that's wrong
with you
and they
don't mind
letting you
know?
The point
is that Jesus
knew by
experience
everything that
we go
through.
Not in
theory but
because he
went through
it too.
Have you
been forsaken?
He knows.
have people
lied about
you?
He knows
what that's
like.
Have you
been misunderstood?
He knows
that too.
Have you
been hurt?
He knows.
Have you
been broke?
He knows.
Have you
been tempted?
He knows.
Hebrews 4
tells us
that we
don't have
a high
priest who
is unable
to sympathize
with our
weaknesses
but one
who in
every respect
remember that
phrase
in every
respect
has been
tempted as
we are
yet
without
sin.
And then
he says
let us
then come
boldly with
confidence
drawing near
to the
throne of
grace
that we
may receive
mercy
and find
grace to
help in
time of
need.
Do you
see the
gospel taking
shape in
that?
Jesus
willingly
and purposefully
subjected
himself to
all of
this.
Why?
so that
we can
come with
confidence
to his
throne
to find
mercy
and grace.
That's
the heart
of Christ.
when we
come to
him in
our
troubles
when we
come to
him with
our
sin
when we
come to
him with
all the
things that
we're
struggling
with in
life
he doesn't
look on
us with
just an
unassociated
pity.
No he
looks
compassionately
he feels
that because
he has
been there
he knows
exactly how
you feel
and because
he did it
all without
sinning we
can come
boldly to
him knowing
that when
we go
there we
get mercy
and we
get grace
from him.
Why would
you go to
anything else?
Nothing else
can provide
that.
No
relationship
can provide
that.
No family
can provide
that.
No job
no success
there is
nothing in
this life
that can
provide for
you the
compassion
and the
love and
the mercy
that Jesus
extends to
everyone who
comes to
him.
And he
ultimately
felt our
needs to
the fullest
extent in
his death.
What is
our greatest
struggle?
Impending
death.
It's
coming.
Jesus
knew
death.
But because
of his
resurrection
he offers
us life.
He conquered
sin and
death in
order to
provide for
us what we
cannot provide
for ourselves.
love.
That is the
love of
Christ.
Why did
he subject
himself to
all of
this?
Love.
The question
for us then
is will we
receive it?
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