"Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him. And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!" And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was."
Good Morning my beloved,
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to come together to study rich awesome Truths in God's Word. We are so thankful that the Lord lead you join us today.
We welcome you to worship in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege it is to come together to study rich awesome Truths in God's Word. We are so thankful that the Lord lead you join us today.
Big crowds can be deceiving, a big crowd at restaurant doesn't mean it has
good food, a big crowd in new church it doesn't mean the pastor is teaching the Word of God. In fact, typically the opposite is true. When
someone comes along preaching the message of sin, under the illusion of their own
self-righteousness, many Christians falsely believed they were right with God, are
not interested in listening. Following
a false teacher, fueled by the spirit of the
anti-Christ, manipulating and perverting the Scripture to affirm their
sinful lives, may draw large crowds by tickling the ears of the hearer, but rather than possessing true salvation, they will be in shock to learn rather than entering the kingdom of heaven, they are eternally damned to eternity in hell. If you want to truly understand what God's Word says about your sin, I encourage you to read it for yourselves.
Romans 8:6-8 clearly teaches "For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God."
Many churches are becoming as doctrinally clueless as the unchurched people they are so eager to please. Many Christians caught up in the spirit of the age, think a pastor should never take an uncompromising stand, that he should ignore controversial passages that might be viewed as offensive. That those who dare to declare Truth of God in an uncompromising manner, who speak against homosexuality, transgenderism, same-sex marriage, adultery, fornication and any other form of sexual immorality that Scripture plainly forbids, are inevitably considered to be narrow-minded and divisive. Compromise and tolerance always have a devastating effect on preaching. I believe there is no room for compromise in preaching and teaching the Word of God. If you are truly born again, having been given a new nature in Christ, then you are transformed, and old things have passed away. A total, complete transformation, that is God's will for you as a believer. Shall
we who have been given the charge to oversee Christ's Church be unfaithful
to it by teaching political correctness, our own opinions, affirming and
celebrating what God in His Word calls sin, that the blood which Christ shed would be shed in vain, unable to wash clean our sinful lives? God forbid! May God
have mercy on those who have settled for such a corrupt teaching! May He forgive those who teach such damning heresies to those entrusted in
their care. May God's grace towards us never be in vain.
Let us pray
Heavenly Father, Father, thank You for Your Word, for the power of the Truth and for the clear instruction of what You expect from us. We are grateful that we aren't left to wonder in darkness. Give us an insatiable hunger to for Your word, help us to faithfully work out our own salvation and pursue sanctification transforming us unto Christ-likeness. Lord, we pray for those who are being deceived by false teaching and damning false religion, we ask that You would work in their hearts even today, open deaf ears that they would hear and believe the Truth, turning away from sin. For there is no salvation in any other than Jesus Christ. O Father, I pray that You would continue to be glorified and Christ be exalted in and through this ministry.
In Jesus' name
Amen
Today's Message: Many Will Follow
People were drawn to Jesus, everywhere He went there were large crowds. In fact, in the Gospel of Mark alone, the word "crowd" appears more than 30 different times Twice we see the crowd described as "great number or great multitude." Tens of thousands of people gathered together, some traveling great distances to get near Jesus, many for what they can get out of Him, to use Him to meet their physical needs. Few gathered in hope of having their sins forgiven and washed away. The disciples were following Him to learn from Him, to become like Him, to make a difference in the world.
Even unto this day, every Sunday, millions of people around the world collectively gather together to praise and worship the One in whom we believe, the Lord Jesus Christ. For those of us who believe, the Word of God dominates every aspect of our lives; every thought, every attitude, every conversation, every action, is guided by the instruction laid out for us throughout the pages of Scripture. Matthew 4:4 says, "Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." We understand that both our spiritual and physical lives must be fed solely by the Word of God. I believe we could say, that Scripture is the only true food for our soul. In Psalm 19 David says "They are more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold; Sweeter also than honey and the drippings of the honeycomb." All of life depends on the Word of God.
John sums up the reason the four gospels in New Testament were recorded when writes "These have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name." In other words, you won't believe unless you have evidence. I believe that the undeniable evidence is overwhelming, and the Spirit of God confirms it to our hearts! That's why when I was first called to preach, I have endeavored to preach the Word of God, unfiltered, uncompromised and unadapted by the spirit of the age. I have committed myself to following the divine standard as recorded in 2 Timothy 4, "preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction." Therefore, I believe that the Word of God is to be preached accurately, without consideration of the current cultural preferences, political correctness or influence of my own opinions or ideas. And, that has been how I have approached the ministry the Lord has given me from the beginning.
Many pastors today have given up sound biblical preaching in favor of teaching messages designed to make people feel good about their sin, steering clear of passages that people find controversial, offensive or unpleasant to hear. Philosophy, politics, entertainment and humor, psychology, human wisdom, and personal opinion can never accomplish what the Word of God promises to do, transform the lives of the hearer. How dare any preacher standing in the pulpit of Christ's Church substitute the Word of God with any other message. Who do they think they are? God help him. Luke 6:46, "Why do you call Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?"
Jesus poses a vital question in Matthew 16:26, "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?"
If you have your Bibles, open them and turn with me to Mark chapter 3, verses 7-12. I'd like to encourage you to now follow along with me as I read to set the text in our minds. I pray that the Lord
would help us to hear and apply what He has to say to each of us today and strengthen our faith. Mark 3:7-12.
"Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and
from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the
vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that
He was doing and came to Him. And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him; for He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!" And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was."
Let's begin by looking at verses 7 and 8, "Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples; and a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that He was doing and came to Him." Jesus withdrew to the sea with His disciples after He had been teaching in the synagogue and healed the man with the withered hand, which made the Pharisees furious, because they had concluded that healing was in violation of the Sabbath law. Mark told us in verse 6, that they "went out and immediately began conspiring with the Herodians against Him, as to how they might destroy Him." This was more than just a difference of opinions, it was clear, they knew He was assaulting their whole religious system at its core. This is already the fourth confrontation He's had with the religious leaders, but it's not the last. This isn't going to go away, it's just going to get worse, He knew that He needed to withdraw from the situation and put some distance between Himself and these angry men who were plotting to kill Him for self-preservation, it's not His time yet. We don't know exactly how many disciples there are at this point, but we He has already called Simon and Andrew, James and John, and Levi, along with other followers. The word disciple or "mathētḗs," is a broad term that means learner, there are always various stages of interest, so they're interested in following His teaching for the moment, it doesn't mean they're ready to make a commitment.
Mark then says "And a great multitude from Galilee followed; and also from Judea, and
from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the
vicinity of Tyre and Sidon, a great number of people heard of all that
He was doing and came to Him." A "great multitude," indicates this is a very large crowd, thousands of people. We know His popularity has been growing and growing, the news of His teaching and miracles was quickly spreading everywhere, like a wild fire. Mark says they were coming from Galilee; and also from Judea, and
from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and beyond the Jordan, and the
vicinity of Tyre and Sidon. That’s the way it was everywhere He went. Remember in chapter 1, verse 33 Mark said the whole city had gathered at the door. It’s much easier to estimate the size of a crowd, than it is to estimate
the number of converts. If we were to honestly to define the relationship they have with Him I am not sure it would be accurate to describe them as disciples. I believe they were more like fans of Jesus. I'm afraid that many of our churches in America have gone from being sanctuaries to becoming stadiums. They want to be close enough to Jesus to receive all the benefits He offers, but not so close that it requires anything from them. Because many today are focused on seating capacity
rather than sending capacity. I believe we must follow Jesus's example
and concentrate more on making disciples who want to follow Him rather than just believers.
Not only were people amazed by His teaching, He was casting out demons and healing many. This is unlike anything the world has ever experienced before, especially during that time, there wasn't any modern medicine like we have today. And there's been nothing or no one like Him since. It's interesting that the religious leaders never once denied His power, in fact, they affirmed it, they rejected His Deity. We'll see in the next chapter they concluded He did it by the power of Beelzebul, the ruler of demons. But even the demons fell down before Him and shouted, "You are the Son of God!" Not the ones who claimed to represent God. They rejected Him. That's what false religion does, it always denies Who He is Who He says He is.
In verse 9, "And He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him because of the crowd, so that they would not crowd Him." The crowd was so massive, so desperate to get near Him to be healed, He told His disciples that a boat should stand ready for Him, to protect Him from harm. The use of the verb "thlíbō," tells us He was afraid He would suffer affliction. In other words, they would literally crush Him. Sadly, His popularity was driven by His power to heal rather than His power to save them and deliver them from Hell.
Verse 10, "For He had healed many, with the result that all those who had afflictions pressed around Him in order to touch Him." They wanted miracles, not the True Gospel. It's interesting that Mark uses the word afflictions, which in the Greek is "mastigos," emphasizes the oppressive pain from a whip, or scourge the debilitating after-effects one who was under judgment. That's what they were taught in their theology. Remember in John 9, when He passed by and saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked Him about the blind man, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?" And Jesus answered, "It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him." These people were desperate to find relief and be healed, willing to do anything just to touch Him. Like the desperate woman in Luke 8, who came up behind Him and touched the fringe of His cloak, and was immediately healed. They too wanted just to touch Him.
Verse 11, "Whenever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall down before Him and shout, "You are the Son of God!" Unclean spirits are demons from Hell, able to hide their true identity by indwelling people so they could do their damning work. But when they saw Jesus, they knew Who He was and they were so terrified they were unable to remain silent. Only God has power over both the natural and the supernatural world. Allow me to point out, demons believe, and they're terrified but they don't follow Him, I believe this clearly emphasizes the difference between a believer and a true follower of Christ. Believing isn't enough. In James 2:19-20, he puts it this way, "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder. But are you willing to recognize, you foolish fellow, that faith without works is useless?" Jesus wants to move you from being merely a believer to a faithful follower, to to spend more time alone with Him in prayer and reading His Word. He will take you as deep as you're willing to go, but you must take responsibility for growing in your relationship with Christ.
When you spend time in the presence of Jesus, people will notice. Acts 4:13, "Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus." But you can't grow in discipleship unless you're practicing discipline. If you aim at nothing, you’re sure to hit it every time. Spiritual growth is intentional, not automatic. And, if we don’t spend time with Jesus we can easily end up blending in with those who don’t know Him at all. I dare say, that describes the majority of Christians today, it is becoming more and more difficult to tell them apart from the world. Their behavior betrays their belief. A Christian with a behavior problem is fueled by a belief problem, there’s a short-circuit somewhere in their theology.
That brings us to verse 12, "And He earnestly warned them not to tell who He was." Jesus warned demons not to say anything, He didn't need the help of Hell to proclaim Who is, His message, the miracles and the authority He exercised over the physical and spiritual realms should have been enough evidence for people to draw their own conclusions about Who He is. The overwhelming evidence of the deity of Jesus Christ is contained in the four Gospels, is compelling. The only thing left is for you to respond, to embrace the Truth and believe He is the Son of the One True Living God. Are you ready to receive Salvation and the forgiveness of sin by faith alone in Him alone? Tomorrow is not guaranteed, I pray that you will embrace Him as Lord and Savior today.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen