The following sermon is made available by Lakeside Bible Church in Cornelius, North Carolina.
For more information about our church or to find more recorded sermons,
please visit us online at lakesidebible.church.
We'd also love to connect with you on social media.
You can find us by searching Lakeside Bible NC on Facebook and Instagram.
For specific questions about the Bible or our church, please email us at info at lakesidebible.church.
You may recall from our last study in Mark 1, it would have been two Sundays ago,
that we started just a few verses prior to this.
And what Mark is covering here in the narrative is a single 24-hour period in the life of Jesus Christ.
And it's somewhat of a summary of what we might expect Jesus' regular routine in life to have been like in his ministry,
especially as at this point, this is probably year two of his ministry,
and he's really starting to grow in popularity.
More people are beginning to hear about him.
And we start to see this is probably what Jesus' life was like day by day.
And Mark kind of gives us a summary of that by pointing out three events in this particular day.
His emphasis is on Jesus' supernatural power and authority.
And his point in writing it, again, is to serve that same purpose from verse one,
that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.
And at this point in his writing, Mark is primarily concerned with the identity of Christ.
And when we get to the second half of the Gospel of Mark,
we're going to see his focus shift to where he's going to emphasize the work of Christ in salvation.
But for now, at least in these first eight chapters,
he's really zeroing in on who Jesus is, his identity.
And he's doing that by writing these various scenes and telling these various proofs
that really happened in his life that give proof to who he was.
We have to understand his identity before we can really understand his purpose and his work in salvation.
And it's important for us to remember that Mark's goal here is not to entertain us about Jesus' life.
His goal is to provide objective proof that would draw us to believe and follow Jesus.
So it would be easy for us to read these verses and think,
wow, that's pretty amazing.
Look at the way that he healed.
Look at how he had compassion.
Look at all of these things that he did and the power.
It would be one thing for us to be entertained by the life of Christ,
but that's not what Mark's trying to do.
He's not writing that for us to be fascinated.
He's writing it that we may fall in love with this Jesus,
that we may fall before this Jesus,
that we may believe him and follow him as Lord,
not simply be entertained or amazed at his life.
So the question for the reader inevitably becomes,
who else could do these things but God?
When we read these individual scenes of Christ's life,
who is this person?
Who could possibly do this?
Well, there's only one who could,
and that is God himself.
And so they end up giving proof to what ultimately becomes Jesus' own claim
as being one with the Father.
Well, in these few verses,
Mark presents three different locations for the events of this particular day.
We studied the first one last time.
We looked at this episode in the synagogue of Capernaum, the synagogue.
And what was Mark writing about in the synagogue?
His authoritative word.
That was the emphasis.
You remember, he went into the synagogue at Capernaum.
He was invited to speak as a visiting rabbi that day.
And the people were amazed by his teaching.
And then the man who was possessed with a demon
causes a bit of a stir in the middle of the service.
And Jesus, through his word, cast out the demon.
He simply tells it to leave, commands it to be quiet,
and the demon has no other choice but to obey.
And so the people are astonished in this moment.
Not only are they amazed in and of themselves
that the authority with which he taught,
it was very different from the scribes
and the religion that they were used to in Judaism.
But they were amazed that only by his word,
even the devils had to listen.
What kind of person is this?
What kind of individual is this?
They were amazed.
Today, we'll examine the other two scenes,
the other two locations in this 24-hour period.
One is Simon's house, and the other is a solitary place.
Let's look first at Simon's house and the events there.
Look with me at verse number 29.
When we come to Simon's house,
what we really see Mark emphasizing now
is Christ's compassionate heart, his compassionate heart.
It tells us in verse 29,
when they were come out of the synagogue,
they entered into the house of Simon.
The scene is set in Peter's house.
Jesus went there along with him.
Andrew was there.
James and John, these four disciples
that he had just called in Capernaum on the seashore.
Now, Jesus had already given Simon the name Peter.
That's how we often refer to him.
But Mark hasn't revealed that yet in his gospel book.
We're not gonna see that until chapter three.
So until we get to chapter three,
we're gonna keep seeing this name Simon pop up.
And who is that?
Well, it's Peter, it's Simon Peter,
who eventually became the leader of the disciple group,
the 12 men that followed Jesus closely.
Now, interestingly, archaeologists believe
that they have actually found Simon Peter's house
in Capernaum, the very house that we read about here.
And I'll leave it to you to study their findings,
but you will discover that there is quite compelling evidence
to suggest that what they have found in ancient Capernaum
is indeed the house of Simon Peter,
the place that this miracle, these miracles,
actually took place that we just read about.
It's interesting.
James Edwards says that his house
would have been an insula complex,
insula being a Latin word for island,
and it would have been different than our homes.
You would have walked in from the street,
not into the house, but into a courtyard.
And surrounding this courtyard is a single house.
It would have been referred to as one house,
but various residences within it.
And they all kind of surrounded this courtyard area.
The courtyard was the center of life for the family.
That's where they had their hearths.
That's where they would have done their cooking.
That's where they would have done various things.
That's where they would have gathered as a family.
And then their residences were kind of on the outskirts
of this little courtyard.
Now, when you walk in, all of the windows and the doors
would have faced the inside courtyard,
and all of the walls that faced the street
would have been the back of the house.
They didn't have windows on those walls.
They didn't have doors on those walls.
So the only way to get to the residence
is to go through a single gate from the road
that would have led to a courtyard,
and then there were these houses or these residences.
This is one house with multiple residences,
which is important for us to understand,
because how else could Peter have housed,
not only he and his wife,
and Christian tradition tells us he had children as well,
and so he's got his own family.
His mother-in-law is there as well.
Andrew, this says that it's Andrew's house as well.
So it's Peter's house,
but there's multiple people living there, this residence.
And it's another reminder
that although Peter and Andrew were not educated people
in the sense that the scribes would have been,
they weren't these kind of strange, ignorant men either.
He was a successful businessman.
That is the only explanation
for him having a residence such as this
in a place like Capernaum.
It's just a few steps away from the Sea of Galilee.
I would encourage you to look it up
and see the pictures of it yourself online.
They've also discovered the synagogue,
the ancient synagogue that Jesus taught in that morning
and cast out the demon in Capernaum.
It's a stone's throw away from Peter's house.
So it would have been incredibly convenient
for Jesus and these three men
to walk out of the synagogue after the service is over
around lunchtime is when it would have typically ended.
And they would have walked out,
they would have taken a right out of the synagogue
and just a few steps down, there's Peter's house.
It was convenient for them to retreat to.
It would have been easy for them to get there
and it would have been easy for everyone else in the town
to know where they went and where they were
when it came time for them to pursue Jesus.
And so we see this as the place
where this next scene is taking place.
And what we see revealed here
is the compassionate heart of our Lord,
the compassionate heart of Jesus.
Two observations about this.
The first one, if you're keeping notes,
is his healing touch.
His healing touch.
Look with me at verse 30.
It says,
but Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever.
Apparently when the men came home,
they discovered that Peter's mother-in-law
had developed some type of debilitating infection.
The gospel records of this moment
always refer to the illness as a fever
or a high fever as Luke places it.
But they all suggest that whatever the illness was,
it was physically debilitating.
She could not function as normal.
It was potentially life-threatening.
Now you can imagine in this particular timeframe,
there was no technological advancement
and medical advancement like we have today.
As I understand,
and some of you that are in the medical field
can correct me on this,
but as I understand,
there was really no true cure
medicinally for diseases
until something like 1885.
So we're thinking most of history
really didn't have anywhere near the advancement
of medical knowledge and understanding
to treat various illnesses.
In this primitive time,
a fever was a serious thing.
You just couldn't go to the doctor
and just get whatever medicines.
You couldn't just go get a vaccine
once it was developed.
You couldn't get these other things.
Once you were sick,
you just prayed that the Lord
would provide some kind of healing
and that it would pass.
Whatever this infection was that she got
had affected her physically to the point
that she couldn't serve in the way
that she normally would.
Perhaps Peter and Andrew and James and John
and the others were used to coming home
on the Sabbath after their time in the synagogue
to his mother-in-law having prepared the Sabbath meal
or the Shabbat meal on that day.
But on this morning when they were afternoon,
when they come home,
she's nowhere to be found.
There's no meal ready.
And they find out quickly
that she has fallen perhaps deathly ill
and could not physically function
as she normally would.
So Peter does what all of us would have done
in that case.
He went to Jesus and he told him immediately,
Jesus, my mother-in-law, she's sick.
Knowing that Jesus would do something about it.
Now we've talked about this curse this morning.
Peter's mother-in-law was subjected to this curse
in the same way that we are.
But Jesus had both the desire
and the power to overcome this curse on her life.
That's the theme of these verses.
The power of Jesus,
but also his desire to help.
Look at verse 31.
And he came and he took her by the hand
and lifted her up.
Now in the scene at the synagogue
when Jesus cast out the demon
out of the possessed man,
Mark was presenting the power of Jesus's word.
Jesus literally said a word
and the demon had to flee.
But here he puts the focus
on the power of Jesus's touch.
He didn't only rebuke the fever.
Luke tells us that he did do that verbally.
But as he was doing that,
he took the woman by the hand
and helped her up.
And what is that all about?
There's compassion in this action.
Compassion that was so often demonstrated
in Jesus's willingness to touch and approach
and even embrace those who were sick and diseased.
There was no social distancing in Jesus's mind.
There was no need for him to be concerned
about flattening the curve.
He could with one word
destroy every illness and every ailment
and he immediately with compassion
approaches her and takes her by the hand
and lifts her up.
It's showing his compassionate heart.
Hard.
Jesus wasn't just performing a favor
for his friend Peter.
It wasn't as if he was kind of indifferent
to what was going on with his mother-in-law.
It wasn't that at all.
He cared passionately about her condition.
Why?
We see this all over the scriptures with Jesus.
In fact, the Pharisees tried to use it
to their advantage sometimes.
Jesus couldn't be around someone
who was affected physically by the curse of sin
and not do something about it.
Why?
Because of his compassionate heart.
He came to set things right.
So when he saw someone who was sick,
when he saw the diseased,
when he saw the demon possessed,
he acted compassionately in every circumstance.
The Pharisees would one day try to expose this.
They invited a man with a withered hand
on the Sabbath day to Jesus.
Knowing that Jesus couldn't help himself
but to heal the man.
And they were hoping to entrap him
in some type of Sabbath violation.
Everywhere Jesus went,
he had this compassionate heart for those
who were bound beneath the curse of sin.
And he always acted compassionately for them.
This was not just a demonstration of his power.
It was an overflow of his compassionate heart.
Dane Ortlund in that little book
that I gave you on Anniversary Sunday wrote this.
Jesus did not simply operate in deeds of compassion,
but actually felt the inner turmoils
and roiling emotions of pity toward the unfortunate.
What a savior that is.
He's not just demonstrating power.
He's showing his love for this woman.
Look at the next part of the verse.
And immediately the fever left her
and she ministered unto them.
Now here's where his power is demonstrated once again.
After Jesus takes her by the hand,
we're told she was immediately
and completely healed from the infection.
And we're reminded there are no half measures with Jesus.
Jesus didn't set her on the road to recovery.
It wasn't as if she went to him
for some kind of prescription
and he gave her a particular plan to follow
and that set her on the road to recovery.
No, her recovery was instantaneous.
Immediately she was completely healed.
She was completely free from this fever.
We see this all the time with Jesus.
Remember when Jesus was on the boat with his disciples?
It was the middle of the night
and Jesus was asleep in the back of the boat, remember?
And the storm was so heavy and harsh
that the boat began to break apart
and the disciples who many of them
had lived their lives on the water
were fearful of their life.
And remember they ran and they woke Jesus up
and said, master, do you not care that we perish?
And remember what Jesus did?
He gets up from where he was sleeping
and he said three words, remember?
Peace, be still.
And what does it say happened with the storm?
With his word, he completely harnessed creation.
The waves became as glass.
The wind immediately ceased.
An eerie silence overcome so much
that the men immediately are fearful now,
not of the storm, but of Jesus.
With his words, he had just harnessed creation.
But when Jesus said, peace, be still,
it's not like the wind just kind of slowly came to a stop
and the storm just kind of settled itself.
There was no way for that to be pointed back to
by those disciples as some type of coincidence.
No, it was immediate.
It was instantaneous and it was complete.
The same thing with Jesus' healing of Peter's mother-in-law.
It wasn't that it took her half an hour or so
to kind of get her thoughts about her
and get her legs underneath her.
No, it was immediate as if she'd never had the fever
to begin with and how do we know that?
The last phrase, look with me again.
She ministered unto them.
Why would Mark make this note?
Why would he care to mention what the lady did
after the fact?
Because there was no way that the people present
could deny her healing was the direct result
of the power of Jesus
because the change was so instantaneous in her life.
When Jesus showed up at the house,
she was physically debilitated.
She couldn't move.
But now that Jesus has taken her by the hand
and rebuked the fever,
now she is doing everything
as she normally would have done.
And she's doing it immediately.
What power is this?
What compassion is this?
We see his healing touch.
Secondly, we see his willing spirit.
His willing spirit.
Look with me now at verse 32.
The men went about their afternoon,
their typical Sabbath.
They enjoyed their Shabbat meal, no doubt.
And then it says in verse 32,
when the sun did set,
they brought unto him all that were diseased
and them that were possessed with devils.
Interesting, isn't it?
We wouldn't have expected anything different than this, right?
This guy shows up in Capernaum on this day.
He speaks with such authority in the synagogue.
He cast out a demon in dramatic fashion.
And by this time, word had begun to spread
through Capernaum of what happened that morning
at the synagogue.
And people were interested to see
what he could do for them as well.
Now it notes here that it was after the sunset
at the end of the Sabbath.
That's important for us to acknowledge.
Why did they wait so long?
Did it take that long for word to spread?
No, not really.
It was a fairly well populated.
It was a fairly small town.
Word would have spread quickly.
Remember, this is the Sabbath day.
It was actually against the law for them to do
what they were gonna do this evening.
It was against the law for them to do that
before the sun went down.
When the sun went down,
and at least the Jewish tradition
was when two stars were clearly visible in the sky,
that was the signal that Sabbath was finally over.
And they could leave their homes,
and they could go,
and they could carry the sick and the ill to Jesus.
And that's exactly what they did.
Once the sun went down,
it was considered the first day of the week.
It would have been Sunday at that point
in Jewish recounting of time.
And they begin to bring all of these sick people
to Peter's house.
All of these demon-possessed people that they knew.
Whether they understood them to be demon-possessed or not,
we don't know.
But they brought them to Jesus
because something wasn't right.
And one by one,
they started to come
so that a great crowd had gathered.
Once they were able,
they couldn't wait to get people to Jesus.
But can you imagine what this was actually like
for Jesus and Peter and his family?
This would have been somewhat apocalyptic
as far as their minds are concerned,
like what we would see on some kind of movie, right?
Can you imagine this?
Jesus had every reason in the world
to turn these people away.
Think about it.
Who are they bringing to Jesus this night?
They're not bringing healthy people to Jesus.
They're bringing diseased people to Jesus.
But this is in a primitive time
where there's no medicine
to just kind of patch things up.
And they probably hadn't bathed.
People were probably typically afraid
to even be around them
because they're afraid that they might catch
whatever it is that they've got.
So they probably are alone most of the time.
They're debilitated.
Whatever infections they have probably stink.
Can you imagine the sights
as these crowds of people begin to gather
at night outside of your house,
clamoring out the door to get in?
Except when you look out the window,
the people that's there are people
that are just absolutely rotten
as far as their physical ability is concerned.
Jesus could have easily thought,
you know what?
It's probably not a great thing
for me to subject Peter's kids to this.
You know, their immune systems are vulnerable.
You know, this might be a little scary
for them to see all of these people
that are literally out of their minds
because they've been possessed by demons.
It might be unusual for us
to bring them around.
Maybe we should turn these people away.
But Jesus didn't do that at all.
It's late in the day.
They're tired.
The implication here is that
they just kept coming
that once the sun was down,
it was just,
it wasn't like an immediate mob.
It was a progressive mob
that continued to grow and grow and grow.
And over time,
it got larger and larger.
It went later and later into life.
There was every human reason imaginable
for Jesus to turn these people away.
But despite the chaos and inconvenience,
he turned no one away.
No one.
He healed them all.
It's amazing.
No one was left out
that came to Jesus that night.
You know where I'm going with this, don't you?
No one was left out.
Everyone that was brought to Jesus
received the healing that they needed.
His compassionate heart
endured every possible inconvenience
in order to do for the people
what they could not do for themselves.
And this is truly the heart of Christ
for all of us.
And it's much greater
than just our physical condition.
No possible inconvenience
or hardship would prevent him
from taking our place on the cross
and doing for us
what we could not do for ourselves.
He was not only able
to provide healing through his power,
but he was willing to do it.
For the lowest of the lows,
the sickest of the sick,
those that no one else wanted,
he wanted.
They brought them to him
and he couldn't help
but exercise his compassionate action
and his willing spirit
to provide healing for them.
We're immediately reminded.
Anyone who comes to Jesus,
truly,
he doesn't turn any of them away.
He doesn't turn any of them away.
Any of your friends and family members
that will truly come to Christ,
he will not turn them away.
So tell them that.
Why were these people bringing him to Jesus?
Because at this point,
they knew
no one would be turned away.
And then we see in verse 33
or verse 34, excuse me,
he healed many
and cast out many devils.
That's not to say
that there were some
that he didn't heal
and some devils
that he didn't cast out.
It's just a note
that there was a lot of people that came.
There were a lot of sick people healed
and there were a lot of
demon-possessed people
that were free.
Mark mentions this
authority over demonic powers
three different times
in these verses.
Between verses 21 to 39,
three times,
Mark mentions this,
Jesus casting out demons.
And he seems to link
the sickness and disease
of these healings
with this same satanic darkness.
He doesn't say
that every illness
is a direct result
of demonic influence,
nor does he say
that satanic possession
is itself a sickness.
But both disease
and satanic power
are linked
as representative
of the fallen world
that Jesus came to save
and to restore.
remember that curse
we talked about.
What's Jesus doing here?
He's setting it right.
He's showing
that he does actually
have power over evil,
spiritual evil,
and what we would consider
to be physical evil.
His miracles confirmed
his ability
to rescue souls
and to give believers
new bodies
that are free
from sickness
and death.
How can we come
to Jesus with hope
because of the foreshadowing
that he showed
in this power,
this healing power?
Juergen Moltmann said this,
when Jesus expels demons
and heals the sick,
he's driving out of creation
the powers of destruction
and is healing
and restoring created beings
who are hurt and sick.
The lordship of God
to which the healings witness
restores creation
to health,
restores it to health
to its original purpose.
Jesus' healings
are not supernatural miracles
in a natural world.
They are the only true
natural thing
in a world
that is unnatural,
demonized,
and wounded.
It's amazing.
Everywhere Jesus goes,
most people ran from the sick
and the demon possessed.
Jesus embraced them.
Why?
Because he came
to set things right
and he shows his power
in these miracles
to do just that.
And so we see
Simon's house,
his compassionate heart.
The third place,
and we'll wrap it up.
The third place,
third location
in this passage
is a solitary place.
A solitary place.
So in the synagogue,
we see Jesus'
authoritative word.
In Simon's house,
we see his compassionate heart.
In a solitary place,
it all builds
to where we see
his priority of purpose.
His priority of purpose.
Look with me at verse 35.
In the morning,
rising up a great while
before day,
he went out
and departed
into a solitary place
and there prayed.
We're again learning
about the unique communion here
that exists
between the three persons
of the Trinity.
You know,
it would be easy
for us to kind of
read through this verse
and miss what's happening.
Mark is shifting
his attention now.
Apparently,
sometime in the middle
of the night,
enough people were healed
and enough demons
were cast out
that the crowd
had subsided
and gone away.
Perhaps Jesus had got
maybe a couple of hours
of sleep.
But then he gets up
a great while before day
before everybody else
gets out of bed.
And what does he do?
He goes to a secluded place
somewhere,
probably outside of the town
where people couldn't
easily find him
and he prays.
Why?
Why does he pray?
He understood
the necessity of prayer
to the Father.
Communion with the Father
in this moment.
And there's a little bit
of a mystery in this
for us,
isn't there?
It's a mystery for us
in that we do our best
to hold in tension
the truths
that Jesus is both
God and man
at the same time.
We've referenced
Philippians 2
in our service already
and I would encourage you
to read it again
if you're confused on this.
But Jesus is not just
a man that has
divine qualities
and he wasn't God
who just had
a few things
that resembled
humanity.
No,
he was entirely God
and entirely
man and human
at the same time.
when he was
in his deity
or in his deity
he could never
have gone against
the will of the Father
but in his humanity
he was driven
to prayer
and we see
the role of prayer
in Jesus
knowing the will
of the Father
to follow.
It's interesting
as we see it here.
There's a tremendous
example in it
for us to follow,
isn't there?
If the Son of God
felt it so necessary
to make time
for prayer
how much more
should it be a priority
to our daily routine?
He'd been up all night.
He was tired.
He was busy.
He could have slept in
to get some rest
that morning
but he didn't do that.
What did he do?
A great while before day
he made prayer
a priority.
He got out of bed
before everybody else
got out of bed.
He went and found a place
where the people
wouldn't easily find him
and he spent time
doing what he knew
he needed to do that day
and if Jesus
the very Son of God
felt that this was
a necessary action
in his life
to know the will
of the Father
and to please
and glorify the Father
with what he was
going to do next
how much more important
is it for us
sinful beings
who are constantly
inundated
with our own flesh
and our own selfishness
and our own will
how much more important
is it for us
even when we are busy?
Even when we are
tired
to do whatever it is
that is possible
to get alone
with God
day by day
and to spend time
in communion
with him
in prayer.
This time of prayer
is what gives way
to the shocking scene
that comes next.
Look with me
at verse 35
or 36
excuse me.
Simon and they
that were with him
followed after him
and when they
had found him
they said unto him
all men seek for thee
and then he said
let us go
into the next town
that I may preach
there also
for that is why
I came.
That's not exactly
what you would expect
if you hadn't read
this passage before
it's not exactly
what you would have
expected to have been
Jesus' response
right?
It wasn't long
before he was found
Mark reveals
here
that there were
competing agendas
taking place.
Peter probably
gets up that morning
notices that
Jesus is gone
and he's immediately
on a frantic search
to find Jesus
and he gets Andrew
and he gets James
and John
and maybe someone else
that might have been
with him
it doesn't say
exactly who
and he goes out
on this desperate
search to find Jesus
why?
Because the town's
looking for Jesus
too.
Everybody's trying
to find him.
They don't know
where he is
and finally Simon
finds him
and what is it
that he wants
Jesus to do?
In this pursuit
he's begging
for Jesus
to come back
to Capernaum
excited about
the events
of the previous day
no doubt
Peter and the other
disciples
demonstrate here
somewhat of a
skewed perspective
of Jesus' purpose.
They weren't blind
to the amazing
popularity
that Jesus
was gaining
and they felt
it necessary
to compel him
to capitalize
on this growing
fame
and in this sense
they weren't acting
as submissive followers
to Jesus
but they were rather
determining
to control
the Lord's movements
and ministry
in this moment
but it wasn't
just the disciples
remember what they
would have been
thinking in this moment
Jesus has been
talking a lot
about the kingdom
remember that's
the message
he's been preaching
repent for the
kingdom of heaven
is at hand
and they keep
thinking about
the kingdom
as if Jesus
has come
to finally
run Rome
out of town
and finally
set up this
physical kingdom
that the prophets
of old
had foretold
for hundreds
of years
that's what
they're expecting
right now
in their mind
they haven't
understood exactly
what Jesus
meant by his
kingdom
and so they're
trying to get
Jesus to come
back to Capernaum
because he's
going to need
a following
right
and now he's
getting famous
now he's
getting popular
they want him
to come back
so that this
following can
continue to grow
and it can
accomplish the
purpose that they
were hoping
that Jesus
would accomplish
so there's the
disciples on that
end pulling him
back to Capernaum
and then there's
the people
words continuing
to spread
no doubt early
in the morning
they're all trying
to get to Jesus
again they want
to see what
Jesus can do
for them
come back to
Capernaum
come and help
me with my fever
no doubt they
were thinking
at this point
there's probably
some other
beneficial ways
that Jesus
and we could
use this power
that Jesus
possesses for our
own good
and in Mark's
gospel we start
to see the
formation of the
first prosperity
seekers in his
gospel and in his
letter
Kent Hughes wrote
this they cared
little about the
spiritual implications
of Jesus's miracles
and teachings
but much about the
material and temporal
that's the way it was
in Capernaum he wrote
how nice it would be
to have a Jesus to
heal us when we
have a fever
to make us wealthy
and to give us
prestige
it's natural to want
a magic Jesus
can't use rights
but we must always
remember that God
is not someone
to be used
he is to be loved
and worshipped
and served
regardless of what
comes in this
world
we have this same
tendency today
don't we
we all do
how many people
do we witness to
that at least
on the surface
and in the beginning
are attracted to
Jesus in hopes
that Jesus might
do something for
them in this life
this temporal life
he'll make their
life more convenient
or he'll make
their life better
he'll give them
a better job
or he'll provide
them with some
type of prosperity
or wealth
or fame
or whatever it is
that they're
searching for
and so they come
to Jesus
not hoping that
Jesus will actually
change their heart
but hoping that
he'll make their
life just more
convenient and more
comfortable at the
time
this is why the
prosperity gospel
preachers of the
day are so
successful
they're getting
rich off of our
insatiable desire
for health and
wealth
they're con men
that manipulate
people into thinking
that if they will
just send them
some money
then their greatest
desires will be
met
people flock to
these so-called
churches only
wanting Jesus
if he will make
them rich and
heal their sickness
but very few of
them are actually
concerned about his
message
Jesus understood
that
the disciples
were somewhat
falling into that
trap here
the people certainly
were
but then Jesus
does something that
they weren't expecting
look at verse 37
or verse 38
Jesus said unto them
let's go to the
next town
that I may preach
there also
for that
is why
I came
you gotta think
that Peter
and these other
men were
taken aback
by this
here they are
thinking
Jesus
all these people
are following you
what you did
yesterday was
amazing
let's go do it
some more
the people are
thinking
stay around
a little longer
we need
somebody like you
in Capernaum
Jesus says
you know what
fellas
why don't we go
to the next town
over
the people that
don't really
know about me
yet
word hasn't
gotten to them
about these
miracles
and he said
I don't want
to go to those
towns in order
that I might
heal there also
he says I want
to go to those
towns in order
that I might
preach there
also
for that
is why
I came
do you see
his priority
of purpose
taking shape
here
no
he was clear
his primary
purpose
was to preach
the gospel
and while
he continually
healed the
sick
and there
was never
a demon
possessed
person
that came
across his
path
that he
didn't cast
out the
demon
that was a
part of his
compassionate
art
he poured
out of
compassion
for these
people
everywhere
he went
but those
were not
the reasons
he came
those miracles
were only
temporary
reprieves
for those
people
they're only
temporary
Peter's
mother-in-law
was healed
of this
fever
but another
fever is
going to
come
she's still
going to
die
one day
those
people
that were
healed
throughout
the night
they might
get sick
again
those
people
who were
possessed
with demons
at the
moment
they might
be possessed
again
these were
just temporary
reprieves
Jesus came
to do
something
far greater
for them
and that
purpose
made it
necessary
for him
to leave
Capernaum
and preach
the gospel
in other
places
doesn't mean
that he
wasn't
concerned
about them
he healed
everywhere
he went
so what
was his
purpose
if it
wasn't
to do
this
his
purpose
was
the
gospel
Matthew
chapter
one
as we
understand
the
incarnation
of
Jesus
as we'll
study
the next
few
weeks
she will
bear a
son
you shall
call his
name
Jesus
for he
will
save
his
people
from
their
sickness
no
he will
save
his
people
from
their
sin
Luke
19
10
the
son
of
man
came
to
seek
and to
save
that
which
was
sick
no
he came
to seek
and to
save
that
which
was
lost
1st
Timothy
1 15
Christ
Jesus
came
into
the
world
to
save
those
who
were
possessed
with
devils
no
he came
to
save
sinners
his
emphasis
was
the
gospel
that
was
his
primary
purpose
it
looked
beyond
their
ailments
to
the
condition
of
their
souls
Jesus
came
to do
a much
greater
work
than
heal
our
fevers
and
multiply
our
successes
he's
compassionately
concerned
for the
effects
of sin
on our
physical
lives
but he
is
infinitely
more
concerned
about
the
effects
of sin
on our
hearts
and our
souls
and our
eternity
so it
wasn't
for Jesus
to stay
around in
Capernaum
and just
heal every
person that
fell sick
no
that's not
why he
came
it was
time to
leave
how did
he know
it was
time to
leave
because he
got up
early in
the morning
and he
went to
a solitary
place
and he
communed
with the
father
this
truth
and
example
of
Jesus
should
radically
change
the way
that we
think
about
ministry
as
believers
because
that's
the purpose
of being
a Christian
right
it means
little
Christ
is what
it means
to be
like
Christ
we are
being
fashioned
into
his
image
that means
when we
study
the
gospels
we
gaze
at
Christ
we
look
at
how
he
responds
how
he
acts
and we
pattern
our
lives
after
his
he
is
our
Lord
what
was
he
doing
here
yeah
he
had
compassion
hey
we
should
have
compassion
for
people
we
should
have
compassion
for
our
fellow
man
we
should
care
about
those
who
are
hungry
we
should
care
about
those
who
are
sick
we
should
care
about
those
who
are
struggling
against
various
injustices
in their
lives
we
should
come
to
their
defense
that
is
a
very
Christian
thing
to
do
the
Bible
tells
us
to
do
that
to
defend
the
fatherless
and the
widow
those
who
society
has
rejected
who
no
one
is
caring
for
it
is
in
us
as
believers
to
follow
the
pattern
of
Christ
to
show
compassion
on
those
people
but
that
is
not
our
purpose
while
we
care
and
while
we
help
and
while
we
show
concern
what
good
is
it
if
we
come
to
their
defense
what
good
is
it
if
we
feed
their
bodies
what
good
is
it
if
we
comfort
their
illness
but
we
never
give
them
the
gospel
that's
the
purpose
that's
our
purpose
and
these
actions
they're
not
at war
with
one
another
they're
not
competing
elements
but
everybody
in our
society
right
now
is
trying
to
tell
the
church
what
it
needs
!
to
be
!
it's
the
crowd
in
Capernaum
that's
seeking
for
Jesus
it's
the
disciples
who
are
the
ones
that
have
spent
a lot
of
time
with
them
they're
trying
to
dictate
what
the
purpose
of
the
church
is
and
they're
missing
the
mark
our
banner
and battle
cry
is not
social
justice
our
banner
and our
battle
cry
is not
the
comfort
of
those
who
feel
bad
our
banner
and our
battle
cry
is the
gospel
of
Jesus
Christ
that
must
be
our
priority
mark
8
what
does it
profit
a man
if he
gained
the
whole
world
and
lose
his
soul
there's
a
balance
here
for us
I
know
but
Jesus
made
it
clear
that
not
only
for
his
ministry
but
also
for
ours
there
is
a
priority
of
purpose
and
that
purpose
is
first
the
gospel
and
it
is
the
overflow
of
that
gospel
care
that
we
should
bear
compassionate
hearts
that
we
should
seek
to
help
and
to
love
and
to
defend
and
concern
but
not
at
the
sacrifice
of
the
message
of
the
gospel
itself
when
we
look
back
on
these
verses
we
have
been
amazed
by
Jesus
authoritative
word
I
hope
you
have
I
hope
you
have
been
encouraged
by
his
compassionate
heart
he
turns
no
person
away
you
realize
most of
those
people
that
came
for
healing
that
he
healed
did
not
follow
him
faith
was
not a
prerequisite
!
for
Jesus'
miracles
sometimes
it was
most of
the time
it wasn't
he
healed
a lot
of
people
that
never
followed
him
most
of
these
people
would
abandon
him
in
fact
later
on
he's
going
to
pronounce
a
curse
on
Capernaum
he's
going
to
say
woe
unto
you
Capernaum
because
if I
had
come
in the
days
of
Sodom
and
Gomorrah
they
would
have
repented
but
you
haven't
repented
all
you
want
is
more
from
me
we're
going
to
see
in
the
feeding
of the
5,000
they didn't
really care
about what
he was
teaching
they just
wanted
a new
meal
they were
using
him
but
even
despite
that
and
despite
knowing
that
what
was
his
compassion
he
fed
them
anyways
amazing
some
of
these
people
would
be
responsible
for
crying
out
crucify
him
yet
he
did
not
turn
them
away
amazing
it
tells us
something
about
our own
hearts
doesn't
it
because
when
somebody
offends
me
or
if
I
am
suspect
of
somebody's
motives
the
last
thing
I
want
to
do
usually
is
help
them
not
Jesus
and
then
we
get
to
the
end
and
we
see
his
purpose
and
how
fantastic
is
that
and
what's
Mark's
point
who
could
possibly
possess
such
amazing
power
and
compassionate
love
and
singularity
of
purpose
in
the
father's
will
only
one
person
only
the
Messiah
only
the
son
of
God
the
question
then
becomes
what
will
you
do
with
the
Savior
there's
really
only
two
choices
on
the
table
you
can
either
believe
him
follow
him
and
receive
eternal
life
and
forgiveness
of
sin
or
you
can
be
indifferent
or
rejected
and
receive
instead
eternal
judgment
thank you
for listening
to this
sermon
made
available
by
Lakeside
Bible
Church
feel
free
to
share
it
wherever
you
like
please
do
not
charge
for
it
or
alter
it
in
any
way
without
express
written
consent
from
Lakeside
Bible
Church
don't
forget
to
visit
us
online
at
lakesidebible.church
or find
us on
Facebook
and Instagram
by searching
for
Lakeside
Bible
NC
if you
live in
the
Charlotte
or Lake
Norman
area
we'd
love
for
you
to
attend
one
of
our
worship
services
we
meet
every
Sunday
morning
at
10
a.m
we'd
love
to
meet
you