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ABOUT JESUS
SCRIPTURE and SERMON:
Mark 1:40-45
March 7, 2010
INTRODUCTION
40 ¶ A man with leprosy came to him and
begged him on his knees, "If you are willing, you can make me clean."
41 Filled with
compassion, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am
willing," he said. "Be clean!"
42 Immediately the leprosy left him and he was cured.
43 Jesus sent him
away at once with a strong warning:
44 "See that
you don’t tell this to anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer
the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to
them."
45 Instead he went
out and began to talk freely, spreading the news. As a result, Jesus could no
longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet the people
still came to him from everywhere.
What does this passage say to us about Jesus?
I. Jesus is filled with
compassion.
II. Jesus
has power to heal the sick.
III.
Jesus is more concerned about preaching the truth than about
healing the sick.
IV. Jesus
honored the Word of God.
V. Jesus' mission cannot be
undone by our incompetence.
I. Jesus is filled with
compassion.
We are like the man with leprosy.
(Incidentally, leprosy is still a tremendous health problem in some
parts of the world, especially in
Sometimes we doubt the compassion of God, when we see people
suffering, whether it be from illness, or starvation,
or the horrors of war. We say, "If
there really is a God who is love, and who has power to relieve all this
suffering, then why doesn't He do it?
Why doesn't He heal all the sick, and feed all the starving, and stop
all the wars, and eliminate all the violent criminals?" And we come to a wrong conclusion. We think there is no God, or He would immediately
bring peace to the world.
The Bible tells us that God is compassionate:
Ps 51:1 For
the director of music. A psalm of David. When the prophet Nathan came to him after David had committed
adultery with Bathsheba. Have mercy on me, O God, according to your
unfailing love; according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Ps 77:9
Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?" Selah
Ps 90:13
Relent, O LORD! How long will it be? Have compassion on your servants.
Ps 102:13
You will arise and have compassion on
Ps 103:4
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
Ps 103:13
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
Ps 116:5
The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
Ps 119:77
Let your compassion come to me that I may live, for your law is my
delight.
Ps 119:156
Your compassion is great, O LORD; preserve my life according to your laws.
Ps 135:14
For the LORD will vindicate his people and have compassion on his servants.
Ps 145:9
The LORD is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.
The Bible also reminds us that the suffering of mankind is the
result of sin. Adam and Eve rebelled
against God. They were living in peace,
plenty and happiness in the Garden of Eden, until they chose to abandon the
will of God, and follow the advice of the serpent. The Bible tells us that Eve was
deceived. But Adam sinned with full
knowledge that he was sinning, yet he chose to do it anyway.
The sufferings of humanity today are not God's fault. We have chosen to sin, and if we sin we must
bear the consequences. "Whatsoever
a man soweth, that shall he also reap…..If you sow
the wind, you will reap the whirlwind."
Mankind chooses to live in sexual immorality of all kinds, and so
we find ourselves swamped with AIDS, HIV and a dozen sexually transmitted
diseases.
Mankind chooses to eat junk food, and too much salt, and too much
sugar, and to over eat, and so we find ourselves over-burdened with obesity,
and diabetes and heart disease and knees that wear out many years before they
should.
Mankind chooses to live with selfishness and arrogance, and so we
find broken marriages, and broken hearts, and children growing up in broken
families.
Mankind chooses to live for money, wealth, land and power; and so
we experience fighting and battles and war, and looting and killing, and a
dog-eat-dog business world in which the rich lord it over the poor, and where
justice is killed in the streets.
Mankind chooses to worship the Gods of Communism, Socialism,
Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Voodoo and evil spirits, and so we see the poverty
and degradation of
Mankind chooses to exalt ceremonialism, and churchianity,
and to change the house of God from a house of prayer to a market place, and so
we see corruption even in the visible church of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We make all these choices, and we do all these sinful things, and
then we either blame God, or we claim that suffering proves there is no
God. We are un-logical and blind.
But God is compassionate.
Jesus is compassionate. He cares,
and He acts. But He is wiser than we
are, and He is just. He is not simply a
sweet old fellow up in Heaven who is all unconditional love. He is a God of wisdom, and justice; as well
as a God of compassion and mercy. But He
is compassionate, and He urges us to pray to Him for healing when we are
suffering….
13 Is any one of you in
trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise.
14 Is any one of you sick? He
should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil
in the name of the Lord.
15 And the prayer offered in
faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has
sinned, he will be forgiven.
16 Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray
for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is
powerful and effective.
(James
5:13-16)
II. Jesus has power to
heal the sick.
Down
through history, there have been men and women who claim that they have the
Spiritual gift of healing. There is such
a gift. Jesus gave this power to heal to
the twelve Apostles…
1 ¶ When
Jesus had called the Twelve together, he gave them power and authority to drive
out all demons and to cure diseases,
2 and he sent them out to
preach the
3 He told them: "Take
nothing for the journey—no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no extra tunic.
4 Whatever house you enter, stay there until you
leave that town.
5 If people do not welcome
you, shake the dust off your feet when you leave their town, as a testimony
against them."
6 So they set out and went
from village to village, preaching the gospel and healing people everywhere.
(Luke
9:1-6)
The
Apostle Paul mentioned healing as one of the Spiritual gifts…
1Co 12:28 And in the church
God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then
workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help
others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different
kinds of tongues.
The Apostles certainly exercised this gift. We read stories in the Book of Acts, for
example:
1 ¶ One
day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three
in the afternoon.
2 Now a man crippled from
birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put
every day to beg from those going into the temple courts.
3 When he saw Peter and John
about to enter, he asked them for money.
4 Peter looked straight at him,
as did John. Then Peter said, "Look at us!"
5 So the man gave them his
attention, expecting to get something from them.
6 Then Peter said,
"Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of
Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk."
7 Taking him by the right hand,
he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong.
8 He jumped to his feet and
began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and
jumping, and praising God.
9 When all the people saw him
walking and praising God,
10 they recognised
him as the same man who used to sit begging at the temple gate called
Beautiful, and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened
to him.
11 While the beggar held on to
Peter and John, all the people were astonished and came running to them in the
place called Solomon’s Colonnade.
12 ¶ When
Peter saw this, he said to them: "Men of Israel, why does this surprise
you? Why do you stare at us as if by our own power or godliness we had made
this man walk? (Acts 3:1-12)
There are many false prophets and false healers in our land today,
and they are fleecing God's sheep. They
are ravenous wolves in sheeps' clothing. They are taking money from the pockets of
God's people by promising healing where there is none. They are tricksters, and liars with cold,
unfeeling hearts. The Bible tells us
about them….
3 If anyone teaches false
doctrines and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ
and to godly teaching,
4 he is conceited and
understands nothing. He has an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels
about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions
5 and constant friction
between men of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think
that godliness is a means to financial gain. (I Timothy 6:3-5)
28 Keep watch over yourselves
and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds
of the
29 I know that after I
leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.
30 Even from your own number
men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after
them. (Acts 20:28-30)
Jesus, and the Apostles, had power to do healings that were truly
supernatural. They did healings that we
never see today, in our time and place, and certainly not by those who claim to
be channels of God's healing power.
What did Jesus and the Apostles do?
They healed people who had been crippled from birth.
They give sight to the blind.
They raised the dead to life again.
Those today who claim to be faith healers, let me issue this
challenge:
1. Show me that you can
raise the dead.
2. Show me a person with
eyes who once had only empty sockets in his head.
3. Show me a man with two
good legs who last week had only one.
III.
Jesus is more concerned about preaching the truth than about
healing the sick.
Jesus told the healed leper to keep quiet. "Don't tell this to anyone!" He
said to the man. "Keep it between
you and Me."
Jesus did not come to earth to heal people, as good a thing as
that was. He certainly did not come to
earth to gain popularity, to raise an army, and to overthrow the
Jesus came to do two things:
1. To teach the truth about
the Kingdom.
2. To die for our sins on
the cross.
There are plenty of people who will follow Jesus around
22 ¶ The next day the crowd
that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realised
that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his
disciples, but that they had gone away alone.
23 Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten
the bread after the Lord had given thanks.
24 Once the crowd realised that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there,
they got into the boats and went to
25 When they found him on the
other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get
here?"
26 Jesus answered, "I tell
you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but
because you ate the loaves and had your fill.
27 Do not work for food that
spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will
give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."
28 ¶ Then
they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"
29 Jesus answered, "The
work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."
30 So they asked him,
"What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe
you? What will you do?
31 Our forefathers ate the
manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to
eat.’"
32 Jesus said to them, "I
tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven,
but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.
33 For the bread of God is he
who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
34 "Sir," they said,
"from now on give us this bread."
35 Then Jesus declared, "I
am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who
believes in me will never be thirsty.
36 But as I told you, you have
seen me and still you do not believe.
37 All that the Father gives
me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
38 For I have come down from
heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him
who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them
up at the last day.
40 For my Father’s will is
that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day."
41 At this the Jews began to
grumble about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from
heaven." (John 6:22-41)
Jesus healed many people, and cast out demons. But He did it to gain an audience for His
words. Unfortunately, there were so many
who just wanted to see miracles, and would not repent and receive Him as Lord
and Savior.
IV. Jesus
honored the Word of God.
"But go, show
yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your
cleansing, as a testimony to them."
In Leviticus God gave the Israelites a quarantine procedure for
dealing with leprosy. Leprosy in those
days was an untreatable disease. It
comes from a bacteria that loves to live in the
surface of human skin, and also has an affinity for nerve cells. The ancients had no anti-biotics
for treatment. Today doctors use a
combination of three drugs. Leprosy destroys nerves, so people can't feel
their hands and feet. It causes
malformation of the face and limbs. It
takes years and years to reach its full effect in people, and it doomed the
ancient leprous people to a lifetime of separation from their families and
communities. Becoming cured was so rare
as to be truly miraculous to the ancients.
But if a person ever did become free of the disease, he was to go
to the priest, and offer sacrifices of thanksgiving. We read about this in Leviticus 14:1-8
(actually the entire chapter):
1 ¶ The
LORD said to Moses,
2 "These are the
regulations for the diseased person at the time of his ceremonial cleansing,
when he is brought to the priest:
3 The priest is to go outside
the camp and examine him. If the person has been healed of his infectious skin
disease,
4 the priest shall order
that two live clean birds and some cedar wood, scarlet yarn and hyssop be
brought for the one to be cleansed.
5 Then the priest shall order
that one of the birds be killed over fresh water in a clay pot.
6 He is then to take the
live bird and dip it, together with the cedar wood, the scarlet yarn and the
hyssop, into the blood of the bird that was killed over the fresh water.
7 Seven times he shall sprinkle
the one to be cleansed of the infectious disease and pronounce him clean. Then
he is to release the live bird in the open fields.
8 "The person to be
cleansed must wash his clothes, shave off all his hair and bathe with water;
then he will be ceremonially clean. After this he may come into the camp…
Jesus always honored the Old Testament, which was His Bible, and
the Bible of the people 2000 years ago before the New Testament was written.
Luke 24:25-27
He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things
and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he
explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
Jesus quoted or
referred to the Old Testament roughly 180 times – about 10% of everything
recorded in the Gospels. He thought bible was error free. After
all, the Old Testament was Jesus' Word.
Matthew 5:18 I
tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter,
not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until
everything is accomplished.
You and I today
are blessed by God to have the entire Bible, both Old and New Testaments. It is ALL God's Word, not just the New
Testament. It is true that the Old
Covenant is over. It is also true that
the Old Testament speaks to us of Jesus, and the will of God. "The Old is in the New revealed…the New
is in the Old concealed." The Book
of Psalms used to be the hymnbook of the Church, and still should be to a large
extent. The OT gave us the 10
commandments, and all the old Bible stories and heroes. The New Testament tells us to read and learn
from the Old Testament. (See Hebrews
chapter eleven and I Cor 10:1-11)….
1 ¶ For
I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers, that our forefathers
were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2 They were all baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They all ate the same
spiritual food
4 and drank the same
spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them,
and that rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased
with most of them; their bodies were scattered over the desert.
6 ¶ Now
these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil
things as they did.
7 Do not be idolaters, as
some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink
and got up to indulge in pagan revelry."
8 We should not commit sexual
immorality, as some of them did— and in one day twenty-three thousand of them
died.
9 We should not test the
Lord, as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
10 And do not grumble, as some
of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them
as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfilment of the ages has come.
V. Jesus' mission cannot be
undone by our incompetence.
The man who was healed of his leprosy dis-obeyed
Jesus. He told everyone he met! This created inconveniences and difficulties
for Jesus…. "As a result, Jesus
could no longer enter a town openly but stayed outside in lonely places. Yet
the people still came to him from everywhere."
The man did what was wrong.
Jesus could no longer enter a town openly. YET, people came to Him, and He went on to
accomplish His mission. He taught the
people. He taught and trained the
Apostles. And He went to the cross to
make an atonement for our sins.
Herod tried to stop Jesus as an infant, and Herod failed. Satan tried to stop Jesus in the temptations
in the wilderness, and he failed. The
people of
You and I will goof it up.
Jesus told us to go to all the world and preach
the Gospel. We have been doing it badly
and wrong for 2000 years. But our
incompetence cannot undo the mission of Jesus, thank God. He said, "I WILL build my church, and
the gates of Hell shall not withstand it."
ALL of the elect will be saved.
ALL of Jesus's sheep will be brought into the
fold. EVERYONE given to the Son by the
Father will be saved, and will go to Heaven.
37 All that the Father gives
me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
38 For I have come down from
heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.
39 And this is the will of him
who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them
up at the last day.
40 For my Father’s will is
that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life,
and I will raise him up at the last day." (John 6:37-40)
No one but the elect CAN be saved.
And NONE of God's elect will be lost.
The number of the saved cannot be increased, and it cannot be
diminished. Every single person for whom
Christ made an atonement MUST be saved. He did not come to earth to make salvation
merely POSSIBLE for everyone. He came to
make salvation CERTAIN for those who God had chosen from before the creation of
the earth.
3 ¶ Praise be to the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every
spiritual blessing in Christ.
4 For he chose us in him
before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
5 he predestined us to be
adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and
will—
6 to the praise of his
glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
11 In him we were also
chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out
everything in conformity with the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:3-6, 11).
Conclusion and Summary:
What does this passage say to us about Jesus?
I. Jesus is filled with
compassion.
II. Jesus
has power to heal the sick.
III.
Jesus is more concerned about preaching the truth than about
healing the sick.
IV. Jesus
honored the Word of God.
V. Jesus' mission cannot be
undone by our incompetence.