for you to pray with us. Mark chapter one, beginning in verse 35, Mark one, verse 35, let's read God's word, hear the word of the Lord. Rising very early in the morning while it was still dark, Jesus departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed. And Simon and those who were with him searched for Jesus and they found him and said to him, everyone is looking for you. Verse 38, and Jesus said to them, let us go on to the next towns and I may preach there also for that is why I came out. Jesus went throughout all Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. And a leper came to him imploring him and kneeling said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. Moved with pity, he stretched out his hand and touched him and said to the man, I will. Be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean and Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priests and offer your cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. But he went out and began to talk freely. about it, and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places and people were coming to him from every quarter. Our message this morning is titled, Praying and Preaching. Let's pray. Father, we ask your blessing upon this time. May Christ be lifted up. As Christ is lifted up, draw all men to yourself. In his name, amen. This past week, we saw incredible news, did we not? As we saw the Israeli government and the Hamas terrorist network agree to a ceasefire. We praise God for that. But for the past two years, we have watched families carry the heavy weight of loved ones who have been taken hostage. I don't know about you, as I would watch the news, just feeling the sorrow and numbness of lives forever changed. Not just those families who had family members taken hostage, but death and mayhem from both groups of people. I have stared at my laptop and looked at the skeletal ruins of Gaza. And it seems like even two years later, there's kind of this smoky haze that covers that immediate area. Like you, like me, you and I have probably wondered, will the shattered lives of Israelis and Palestinians ever rise from that gray ash heap? There is a sense in which we are, man, we are hopeful with joy and gratitude that children and mothers and grandmothers are no longer living in an active war zone right now. But let's be honest, folks. Neither sympathy nor empathy are gonna provide a solution. All the sympathy in the world will not pick up one brick and place it back where it's supposed to be. It will not, one bit of sympathy or empathy is not gonna heal the traumatized heart and mind of a child who saw their parent killed, whether at the hands of Hamas or a bomb by Israel. Empathy and sympathy are only so good. Empathy can comfort, but it doesn't rebuild. Empathy can ache, but it doesn't heal. Sympathy is good because it shows tenderness and compassion, but it's not going to right the wrongs that individuals have experienced in that region of the world. The reason why that's so important is because our passage today stands in stark contrast, because our Savior expresses sympathy, but in his sympathy, that sympathy translates into divine action. That empathy that He expresses to this leprous man turns into a divine solution. And so in this passage, there are three activities of our Savior, and those three activities of our Savior then show us ways that we too ought to live as being citizens of Christ's kingdom. The very first activity that we see in our passage is this, is that Jesus prays to spend time with his father. Therefore, here's the application for us, pray saints relationally. So we have a night of prayer tonight. On three occasions in the Gospel of Mark, it records Jesus praying. In this passage here, it doesn't say what he prayed, it just simply says that he prayed. And so the point here in Mark 1 is not the content of Jesus' prayer, it's not the what to pray, it's the why he prayed. And what is the why that he prayed? Well, The previous day Jesus was preaching, and he's teaching, and he's casting out demons, and he's doing more healing, and he's more preaching, and he's more teaching, and there is a sense when you are so, you know this, not from preaching, teaching, and healing, but you know this after a long work day of 12 hours or 14 hours, you are absolutely exhausted, physically and emotionally. And so the Bible records that Jesus rose early in the morning while it was still dark. And he did so, he departed and he went out to a desolate place and there he prayed. And you can imagine why he would do this. There he is sitting in Capernaum and he's there at Peter's house. And you'd imagine a woman whose little boy who had not walked his entire life All of a sudden brings her little boy to Jesus and Jesus with the word heals. She goes back. Her sister-in-law lives four or five miles up in another small town. They take those four or five miles and they run up and they tell her what goes on. Well, she herself doesn't have anyone who's sick, but she's got a friend in the next town over and her friend there has a husband who's been sick and hasn't been able to provide for the family in years and perhaps even decades. And so they take this man on a stretcher and perhaps, drag him in that stretcher all the way to Capernaum just so. And this was happening family after family, time after time. And Jesus is exhausted. And he's not just exhausted physically and emotionally. There's a sense in which he's had no time to spend with his father. Jesus comes announcing the kingdom of God. And while Jesus's ministry is filled with a flurry of activity, wherever he goes, like preaching and teaching, his ministry is built upon prayer. And prayer, folks, prayer is intended for relationship. Prayer is not a formula, A plus B equals C. It's not a secret code that if I just pray a certain way, then that kind of like, voila, unlocks the heaven's gates and God answers my prayers. And that's why God answers the gray-haired saints, but he doesn't answer my prayer, because they figured out the secret code. When I was in junior high, it was a big deal. I finally got my locker, right? So I remember going out to Walmart or probably Kmart back in the day, right, with my mom. She got me a locker, a lock for my locker. I remember the night before that first day of school, what did I do the whole time? Once to the left, once to the right, all the way around to the left again. Oh, it didn't open, right? I'm frantically the night before that first day of school because I don't want to be the seventh grader who can't figure out how to get his locker open, right? We tend to think prayer is like that, right? Dear God, no, no, sorry, God. Dear Heavenly Father, because that's what I've heard other people say. Did I finish it in Jesus' name? And we tense up and we freeze up. We're like, ah, forget it. Folks, if you're a parent, what do you love most about hearing from your kids? You love most about what's on their heart. Not when they say, get me this. I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about when they say, man, I had a really rough day at school today. Or, hey mom, you'll never guess what. I studied really hard on that test that we were working on and I got it. I got the grade we were shooting for. You're like, dude, that's awesome. What you love about your children is when they come and express what's in their innermost part of their heart. Isn't that right? That's when the prayer that the prayer that Jesus is praying is not. It's not like somehow Jesus needs to kind of get a spiritual recharge like we would think of our phone and he's like down into the yellow part of the battery that needs to be recharged. It's like, oh, I better go spend some time in prayer. That's not it. He's spending time with his father. He's talking to him like, well, God already knows everything. You're right. God does know everything. Just like perhaps, mom, you know what's going on inside that child's head without them telling you. You can tell there's something going on. God knows that plus more. But he delights in knowing what's going on in her heart. And so the idea here is not the content of the prayer, but as saints, when you pray, it's a relational prayer. He's your father who is in heaven. And you can bring him all the burdens and the weights and the things that keep you up at night and the things that bring tears to your eyes and the things that bring joy to your heart. And you're like, God, would you, God, would you do this for this child? Would you do this for my spouse? And God, would you do, would you do this in my life? Those aren't selfish prayers. Those are prayers of a, of a, of a child of God. Who's just talking to his, his or her father. Right? And sometimes when your kids come back, do you give them everything? No, you don't give them everything. Are you giving the things that are best for them, the things that they need? And, and sometimes, right? You just, you just give it to them because you just love them. You just want them to be, you just want to surprise them with something. That's how God's God, that's how prayer is posited throughout the scripture. It's not a formula of a little bit to the left and a little bit to the right and all the way around the left and then voila, unlock it. that you can pray for God's glory in the small things. For the kid's test, for the doctor's appointment, for the car appointment that's in there for the fourth time. This is part of the relationship. And so Jesus is teaching us that it's time to spend, prayer is time spent with the Father. Saints, our greatest time of ministry preparation is not in the busyness of organization, but in the desolate place of prayer. That is, Jesus is teaching that God's kingdom, right? Behold, the kingdom of God is near. God's kingdom advances through prayer. That is, While ministry that Jesus is going to embark on, it needs organization. Well, while ministry at Grace Life needs organization, Saints, the greatest need that you and I have is spending time with our Father. We have a lot of Christians with a lot of theological information, but not experiential relation. and learning to walk with God and to talk with God. So prayer forces me to step out of smiling unbelief, and it assaults my self-sufficient life. A prayerless person is like a foundationless house. A prayerless Christian is like a foundationless house, right? You can have the structure, but it's difficult to sustain it. And you know this, that parenting requires prayer. Singleness requires prayer. Being a spouse requires prayer. Teaching a Sunday school class requires prayer. Your job requires prayer. Whether you're serving on a security team, or greeting guests, or caring for kids, or checking in children, counseling, whatever it may be. Saints, we are never educated or trained past our need of prayer. because we are always in desperate need for a greater relationship with God. And one of the things that God is intentionally doing in all of our lives is he takes us through those dark, lonesome valleys. He takes us into a place of darkness. Why? So that we'll spend time with him. And I know your prayer is like mine. My prayer is God just get me out of this and I'll spend time, I promise. but it's in the darkness. It's in that when you feel the pressure of life and what comes out of the heart from our prayers to God, even bitter prayers or hurt prayers or angry prayers, even those are good when they come from the heart to our father. That is saints. Jesus prays to spend time with his father. So I just want to invite you to pray relationally with your father who is in heaven. It's the second activity of our Savior. It's found in verse 38. And Jesus said to them, Peter says in verse 37, everyone's looking for you. And he said, and I love this response. Okay, let us go on to the next towns. That I may preach there also, for that is why I came out. And he went throughout all Galilee preaching in their synagogues and casting out demons. Here's the second activity. Jesus shows us that as Jesus preaches with purpose to restore the sinner. So here's the application. Preach intentionally. Preach restorationally. Preach relationally. There are two purpose statements in the gospel of Mark. In Mark chapter 10, it says, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. So maybe there's two statements, two purpose statements in Mark 10, 45. And the only other place where there's a purpose statement of our Lord is found is right here in Mark chapter one, verse 38, where he says in verse 38, let's go into the next towns that I may preach there also for that is why I came out. I came out to pray and I came out to pursue preaching. Now it's important to note this, that when you and I think of preaching, how do you think of preaching? Kind of what I'm doing right now, right? It's the guy who stands up and talks for a period of time and sits down. How did Jesus model preaching? And I think on the Lord's day that we have precedent for a declarative, thus saith the Lord, so that there is purpose in that. But think about Jesus's model of ministry. How did Jesus model his preaching and teaching ministry? He's walking with his disciples and he says this, you know, hey, look at the rocks, guys. The disciples are like, rocks? Okay, I'm looking. Jesus says, you know what? If you don't praise me, my father who's in heaven will cause those rocks to shout. Peter catches a fish, opens a fish, it's his lucky day. It's like he found five bucks. There's a coin in there. And he says to Jesus, right, like, what should I do with this? And Jesus says, well, whose inscription is on that coin? Caesar's. Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's. Whatever has the imprint of Caesar, that's Caesar's. Render to God the things that are God's. Who has the imprint of God on their soul? You do. Render to me, Peter, your life, your soul, your heart, your all. Wherever Jesus is going, he's using object lessons. He says, guys, I want you to look at the birds of the air. You know, the birds of the air and the flowers, they don't toil and they don't sweat. Like, you know what? They know they're gonna have a place to sleep and they're gonna have food in their belly. And you know why they know that? Because my Father who's in heaven takes care of them. And if my Father who's in heaven will take care of them, don't you know that he will take even more care of you? Jesus is preaching and teaching ministry is not about a style of communication. Thus saith the Lord, right? It's not about a style of communication. It's content. The preaching Jesus's ministry is about it. The preaching is about content. We could say it this way. It is truth through relationship. It's Jesus patiently explaining, constantly praying, regularly teaching, continually listening, redirecting the conversation. Another illustration over here. And so folks, as we think about what does it mean to preach with intentionality, what we need to think is more like this. We need to shift our thinking from a one-time gospel presentation to an ongoing conversation about the gospel. with friends and family and coworkers. So how do we tend to think about the gospel? Most of us, if you've been saved for a period of time, like we have our gospel bullets in our pocket, right? We think something like, you know, Romans Road, Romans 3.23, 6.23, 5.8, 10.13, and we quote those verses to our friends in less than 15 minutes, and they don't respond to the gospel, and we're like, oh, great, well, I shared the gospel, what else do I do with them? What Jesus's ministry is teaching us is people don't need less time with fewer opportunities for truth. They need more time with more truth. I was reminded of that even this past week in my neighborhood as I had neighbors celebrating Diwali. And I was thinking to myself and seeing the lights on their house, I was like, and I don't know any of those neighbors, but there's other neighbors that I do know who would celebrate Diwali like that. But I'm thinking to myself, it's gonna take more time with more truth in order for someone to come to faith in Christ. And this idea that you kind of put the gospel on the end of a pole and kind of push it out 10 to 15 feet like that so that you and I don't get dirty, that's not the way that Jesus thinks about his gospel ministry. We need more time with more truth. And so God's kingdom is advancing through praying. God's kingdom is advancing through preaching. And do you know who the best preachers in this room are? It's not the guys who stand up here. You know who the best preachers in this room are? It's you. It's the saint yesterday who told me that they told their sibling, I'm sure gonna miss you when I get to heaven. because I love you so much and I won't see you there. What a beautiful way to express the gospel to a sibling. And it was said through love, through compassion. It's the mom who shares the gospel with her kids before she tucks them in at night, and you know, you're leaning over your crib, and you're kind of rubbing his or her back, and you're like, oh, my back is hurting, and you pray Jesus one more time. All they know is the name Jesus. That's beautifully sharing, preaching the gospel in your life. So those of you who do CrossFit on a weekly basis and you've developed a friendship and a relationship with a handful of individuals and perhaps you go out for coffee or you could do something prior and you've been able to share a little bit of Jesus with them. It's you men who talk about fantasy football way too much, right? But you share Jesus along the way. It's you ladies who a coworker confides in you that it looks like her marriage is headed for divorce, and she's already kind of checked out on the marriage, but she's just wondering how they're gonna make things fit financially with the three kids they have. And so at lunch, you stop and say, hey, let's pray. I know you wouldn't necessarily say you're a Christian, or maybe you would, but I'm just gonna pray for you. It's these various ways. It's the senior saint in your apartment complex. You are the champion of every single mom in that apartment complex. and you love those kids, and you find out when those tests are, and you pray for them, and you high-five them, or you fist-bump them, and you're just kind of the, you're just kind of the, you're the grandma of the apartment complex. You are the prayer warrior, you are the encourager, and even though those kids get a little bit on your nerves, like, you're okay because I'm gonna preach those people to Jesus through love. You see, saints, when Jesus says, I came to preach, this isn't just a simple statement about Christ. This is not an application about those who have the title Rev or Elder or Pastor before their name. It is for all of God's saints, wherever you are, in whatever sphere that God has placed you in, that you gently over and over like your Lord who pointed to some rocks and some trees and some birds and some, the sun and the moon and the stars and he points them all to Jesus. You're doing the same thing wherever God placed you. So if you're visiting and you're like, what is the gospel? Let me share what the gospel is. That God is the God of the Bible who created you. created this earth. He gave you that beating heart, and he gave you that color of eyes, and he gave you that shade of skin, and he placed you in that family as awkward as that family is, or maybe as difficult as that family is, but he created you, and he describes himself this way. He says that I am holy, meaning he's completely separate from sin. that God is holy and all throughout the scriptures were taught that he cannot tolerate sin. It's not that he's allergic to sin, but he literally cannot allow sin in his presence. And that in addition to that, what we learn is that God is not just holy and cannot tolerate sin. Here's the hard part about the gospel message or this good news. Say, how is this good, Pastor Joel? That God is just and must punish our sin. God is just and must punish our sins. Your sins and my sins may be good enough to keep you out of Huntsville prison. But let the record state that your sins are bad enough to keep you out of heaven. God is holy and he can't tolerate sin. He's just and he must punish us for our sin. That's the negative side of the the message of the gospel. Let me go to the positive side. God is holy, God is just, and God is loving and has paid the price for our sin. Now, immediately when you hear that, what you ought to be thinking is this is, wait a second, if God is just and has to punish our sin, how in the world can he be loving at the same time? Well, if you would like to know how those two can actually intersect and God still be God, And we would love to share with you from the Bible and take more time so that you can understand exactly what that means. But he's loving and he's paid the price for your sin. And God not only is holy and can't tolerate, he's just and must punish our sin, he's loving and has paid the price for our sin, that God is gracious and has reached out to us in our sin. He's reached out to us a number of different ways This morning, if you're under the sound of my voice, and he's placed you in that family as a teenager, that's one way God is reaching out to you. You got invited here this morning. You sense that God is at work in your life, and you're wondering how and in what way could it be that part of it is God is gracious and is reaching out to you to draw you to himself. This is the message that Jesus is preaching wherever he goes. But he continues on, look at verse 40. The Bible says, Mark says, and a leper came to him imploring, right? Not a leperd, right? Middle school guys, leper. And kneeling, said to him, if you will, you can make me clean. I hope there was a little bit of curiosity this morning when Keith got up to read the Bible and said, take your Bibles and turn to Leviticus 13. All of a sudden you're like, Leviticus? I thought we were in Mark. What in the world are we doing in Leviticus? And then he read this, you're like, this is gross. Why are you reading this on a Sunday morning? Right? It's what you should have been thinking. That's kind of what I was thinking. That passage was read by Keith, Leviticus 13 and 14, where Moses is telling the nation of Israel what to do with a disease called leprosy. And there's many diseases all throughout the Mosaic law and how they're told to remedy it. But leprosy is a disease unlike any others because of how they're told to remedy and to reconcile it. Leprosy was far more than a medical affliction. It was part social exile and part spiritual torment. It was that way because initially when a person was contaminated, they saw a little splotch on their skin. They actually were commanded or taught to stand at least 50 paces or 50 steps away. That's found in Luke 17, if I recall. And they were supposed to, as that disease continued to increase, they were supposed to You know, put their hand over their mouth and cry out, unclean, unclean. I like what you and I are supposed to do when we sneeze, right? You don't want that to go anywhere. Over time, if that bacteria did not go away, that bacteria would end up devouring the body, gnawing away at fingers and toes and even noses. And worst of all, if that wasn't the worst punishment, worst of all, it would banish the afflicted from the heart of their communities, and it turned neighbors and family members into strangers. And if a leper's entrance into a house contaminated it, or his standing under a tree polluted anyone who passed underneath that tree, this leper's approach compromised Jesus's ritual cleanliness. He didn't come approaching Jesus saying, unclean, unclean, unclean. Rather, he comes up and this leper risked everything, breaking law and custom on the chance just possibly of being healed and restored by Jesus. In fact, only two times in your Bible is a leper healed in your Old Testament. In Numbers chapter 12, a leper is healed. And in 2 Kings, a leper is healed. You remember the story of Naaman who had to dip himself in the Jordan River? That's one of those kinds. But in both cases, the Bible records that God is the one who had to intervene to heal. And rabbis taught this, that it was as difficult to heal a leper as to raise the dead. What a beautiful gospel connection there, yes? Look at verse 41. Moved with pity, with sympathy, Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him, it's gotta be the most beautiful four words in all of the Bible, right? I will be clean. And immediately the leprosy left him and he was made clean. This man's faith is revealed by the fact he doesn't say, Jesus, can you clean me, heal me? He says, if you will, you can heal me, you can clean me. You can make me clean. And Jesus' simple response is, I will be clean. And this command, be clean, like we've heard this before, right? He says to the demon, be gone. He says in the Gospel of Matthew to Peter's mother-in-law, who has the fever, he speaks to the fever and says, be gone. Oh, with the power of the word. One of the word Jesus commands demons and fevers and leprosy that made people social outcasts and spiritual exiles to now be brought back into the community and look at verse 43. Jesus sternly charged him and sent him away at once and said to him, see that you say nothing to anyone, but go show yourself to the priest, which is what Leviticus 13 and 14 told them to do and offer for yourself cleansing what Moses commanded for a proof to them. But he went out and began to freely talk about it and to spread the news so that Jesus could no longer openly enter a town, but was out in desolate places. And people were coming to Jesus from every quarter. Leprosy's significance is more than biological and medicinal. Leprosy's significance is theological. Lepers needed a priest to pronounce them clean, not a doctor to prescribe medicine. So according to Leviticus 14, the priest had to offer up a sin offering to make atonement for the leper as part of the cleansing process. And without the sin offering, the leper would remain unfit and thus, and here's the deal, thus unable to worship. He was cut off from God's presence. He was a dead man walking, a lot like Adam was when he was exiled from the Garden of Eden. Now, when Keith read that passage to us in Leviticus 13, I literally wanted to stand up on that last line, because when he read verses 45 and 46, the very last three words said something like this, is that if that leprosy continued on in that diseased body, that man or that woman was supposed to, here are the words, was supposed to go outside the camp. That leper was supposed to go outside the camp and there live their life, rummaging around for food, hoping that family would continue to care for them. Remember those three words, outside the camp. Keep your place in Mark 1 and turn to Hebrews 13. Hebrews 13. It's not just lepers who are outside the camp, there's something else outside the camp. Look at Hebrews 13 verse 11. Hebrews 13 verse 11, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest, whatever happened to those animals' bodies? Well, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin, what do they do with them? Are burned where? Outside the camp. So what do you do if you're a leper? You go outside the camp. What do you do with the refuse? from the sacrifices that were taking place. You take those carcasses, take them outside the camp and burn them. But look who else is outside the camp. Look at verse 12. So Jesus also suffered where? Outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. That is, when Christ was crucified, where was he? He was crucified. And in doing that, theologically, what was happening was this. Christ bore our sins. In bearing our sins, he bore our sins outside the camp. that Christ took upon himself the very social exile, the very spiritual condemnation that was intended for lepers and was intended for the refuse of the sacrificial system. Christ took it upon himself for whom? For you. For me. Praise be to our God and Father. And so the final activity of our Savior is this, is that Jesus purifies with compassion to cleanse the soul. So therefore, saints, approach Jesus humbly. God's kingdom advances through praying. God's kingdom advances through preaching. God's kingdom advances through cleansing. that is by the touch, Jesus symbolizes that he identifies with sinners to secure their salvation. So if you're thinking, the Christian Church, it's a bunch of hypocrites who live self-righteously. Let me be very clear. I can't speak for everyone, but what I can speak for is for the saints at Grace Life. We identify with this man in leprosy, and we are saying, Christ, touch us and heal us of our sins. He, Jesus, takes our stain, we get his holiness. He takes our sin, we get his righteousness. And rather than contaminated by the touch of leprosy, Jesus's touch cleanses the leper. That is to say it this way, the cleansing that this priest offers, Jesus of Nazareth, the cleansing that this priest offers, what he provides, it runs deeper than the skin's surface, it cleanses the heart. Friend, the touch of the master on your life didn't just remove the visible stain of sin, Christ's touch removes the shame of the past. And Mark begins, this is from a literary perspective, from an authorial, like a writing perspective, this ought to blow our minds and make us in love with the gospel of Mark in an even greater way. Because at the end of the story, do you see where Jesus is? Jesus is out in desolate places. Who was in the desolate place prior to this? The leper is in the desolate place, but now the leper is brought back in to the community of God's people, and who finds themselves out in the desolate place again? Jesus. So when the prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 53 that Christ is numbered with the transgressors, He's outside the camp with us and for us. Like this leper, you know that Jesus can save, but like this leper, you wonder, would Jesus save me? And the answer to that is this. If you approach Christ like this leper did, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. If your heart's posture is that of humility, I can assure you, based on the authority of God's word, Jesus' response to you is, I will be clean. That is, if you approach Jesus like a beggar needing food, not like a religious person who's got their act together, If you approach Him like the blind needing spiritual sight, if you approach Him knowing that your sins need forgiven, the words that Christ has for you is, I will be clean. Before I finish this, I do wanna speak to Christians because you're thinking of this, right? This is a salvific, salvation-themed passage. So some of you are thinking, I know I'm saved, but I continue to struggle with my sin. And yet Jesus says to the leper, I will be clean. So what does that mean for me? The primary point of this passage is not your sanctification, it's your salvation. Salvation takes place in a moment, in an instant. Unfortunately for all of us, sanctification takes place over time and it's an up and down, up and down journey along life's way. So when you hear these, this text and hear Jesus say, I will be clean. And you're like, but Jesus, I'm still struggling with and fill in the blank. It's not that he hasn't saved you. It's that God now, now that he has saved you, is calling you to a path of sanctification where you are, over time, gonna continue to grow and grow and be more like Christ. But I want us to find the sweet assurance. that when Jesus says, I will be clean, if you have been born from above, those words aren't just for that leper man, those words are for every sinner who has now become saint because of Christ. Let's pray.