We continue in the gospel according to Mark. I invite you to turn to chapter 1, verse 28. We're going to be reading and studying the passage that runs from verse 28 through verse 45, and we will read the passage as we work through the sermon this morning. In the first chapter of his Gospel, Mark has recorded Jesus coming to John to be baptized by him. He's told us of the Father's voice from heaven declaring Jesus to be His beloved Son. He's told us about Jesus being led into the wilderness by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan and His refusing to succumb to temptation. Mark then turned to Jesus' public ministry in Galilee. And he began with Jesus' proclamation that the kingdom of God was at hand and His call to the people to repent and believe in Him. Mark then related the account of Jesus' call of the first four of twelve who would be His disciples. Andrew and his brother Simon, and James and his brother John. And then Mark almost abruptly turned his attention to Jesus and those four disciples coming into a synagogue in Capernaum and Jesus teaching there. Now we know from Luke that by that point it had become Jesus' custom to enter into a synagogue on the Sabbath and to read from the Law and the Prophets and to teach the people. Mark doesn't tell us anything about what Jesus taught on that occasion. What he does tell us in verse 22 is that they were amazed at his teaching. For he was teaching them as one having authority, not as the scribes taught. Luke tells us his message was received as with authority. So when Jesus taught them, the people were astonished, dumbfounded. They were left speechless. So we know that the power of the Spirit was shining through in the preaching of Christ with such brightness that people just stood there amazed. But they didn't know who He was. His message, His message of the coming of the kingdom of God and His call to repentance came from God Himself because He is God Himself. The message came from His own divine being. He spoke with authority because He is the authority. He's God in human flesh. Well, Mark then related an encounter that Jesus had with a demon who was possessing this poor man. And there we saw Jesus exercise His authority in another way, casting the demon out of the man He was possessing. And we saw there that the demon recognized Jesus. They all do. They know Jesus. They know that He's the Son of God. They call Him the Son of God, the Holy One of God. They know that He will one day hurl them into the lake of fire. But while the demons do know who Jesus is and recognize Him as the Son of God, the people did not recognize Him. They wondered who He was. Verse 27, they were all amazed. So they debated among themselves, What is this? Who is this? What is this teaching? What is this new authority? He even commands the unclean spirits and they obey Him. Who could this be? Now, though the people in Galilee didn't understand who He was, Jesus did make a great impression on them. Verse 28, Immediately the news about Him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee. So what's the news that's spreading? That this man speaks with authority. That he has power over demons. And in our passage this morning, Mark's going to show us Jesus' exercise of His authority in a third way over all sickness and disease. He does so in each case in a very personal way. And it begins at the house of Simon Peter, who though he was born in Bethsaida, now lived in Capernaum. So chapter 1, verse 29, immediately after they came out of the synagogue, they came into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with a fever. And immediately they spoke to Jesus about her. And He came to her and He raised her up. He took her by the hand and the fever left her. And she waited on them. Now both Luke and Matthew also recount this healing of Peter's mother-in-law. Luke speaks of her having a high fever and of Jesus standing over her and rebuking the fever. Matthew tells us Jesus touched her hand and the fever left her. So, we combine all three accounts and we find that Jesus stood over her, rebuked the fever, touched her hand, raised her up, and the fever was gone. You know, we can tend to take these miracles of Jesus for granted, can't we? This is such an astonishing thing to happen that He could do, the power He had. Well, his mother-in-law got up, served him, and she returned immediately to her normal state of health without any need of any recovery time. That's what we see in the fact that she got up and resumed her normal daily routine. We notice something about Jesus' miracles. Whenever He worked miracles, it was always to fill some human need. He didn't do it just to entertain or to demonstrate or to be spectacular. When He healed, we not only see divine power, we see His compassion for people. We meet Jesus when we see how He deals with these afflicted people. Now, verses 32 and following, the compassion that Jesus demonstrated to Peter's mother-in-law, we now see it extended to the crowds. Sabbath, remember, extended from sundown Friday until sundown Saturday. And during that time, the Jews were not permitted to work or to travel. But when evening came, after the sun had set, we're told the whole city gathered to Jesus at the door of Simon's house. Verse 32. When evening came, after the sun had set, they began bringing to him all who were ill and those who were demon-possessed. And the whole city had gathered at the door, and he healed many who were ill with various diseases. He cast out many demons, and he was not permitting the demons to speak because they knew who he was. Now this is something we're going to see throughout Mark's Gospel. Jesus telling people, keep quiet about this for now. Luke tells us that as the sick and diseased people were coming to Jesus, He showed His personal compassion for each one of them, laying His hands on each one of them. In each case, He reaches out and touches them and heals them. So there's a real message here. Not only do we see Christ's power to heal, but His love and compassion were never lacking. Mark tells us in verse 34 that He was casting out the demons, but He was not permitting the demons to speak. And the reason was they knew who He was. He didn't want them to be His witnesses. Luke tells it this way. The demons were coming out of many, shouting, You are the Son of God. They were right. But He rebuked them. And He wouldn't allow them to speak. They were not going to be His heralds. He doesn't want them to be His witnesses. This question about Jesus constantly telling people, Don't say anything. It's never expressly answered in the New Testament. But we know that the reason that Jesus came down to earth was not merely to demonstrate His divine power. Yes, He healed many of their illnesses. He healed many of diseases. He cast out many demons. But that was not the reason the Son of God was born of a woman. No. He came to save His people from their sins and from the penalty of their sins on the cross. He came to die for our sins. He came to cleanse His people so that we may one day be presented before Him holy and blameless. Only He could make us holy and blameless. And we see as we read the Gospels that God had appointed a time for everything. And that day of salvation was still a couple years away. It wasn't yet time for all things to be revealed. And these weren't the beings to reveal it. Well, if that's true, then why do He heal so many? Why did he repeatedly demonstrate his power and authority over demons and sickness and disease? All the supernatural works of Jesus had a purpose. They were performed to authenticate him as the one who had come down from heaven. to authenticate His message that the kingdom had come. He even said, John 5.36, But the testimony that I have is greater than the testimony of John. Now hear this. For the works which the Father has given Me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about Me that the Father has sent. It was the message that Jesus had come to deliver that was foremost at this point in His earthly ministry. Of course, His greatest work was going to come at the cross. But until then, the message, the good news of eternal life through faith in Him was His focus. The works, the miracles were validation of His message. which was men may enter into the kingdom of God not by the observance of any works or any rituals of Judaism, but only on the basis of the blood that he was going to shed. The miracles weren't the reason for his coming. They were validation that he had come from God. So this had been a long, strenuous, yet productive day in the life of Jesus. Who was and is not only divine, but He's also fully human. And early the next morning, He sought solitude, time alone with His Father in prayer. Verse 35, in the early morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house, went away to a secluded place, and was praying there. Now Capernaum was a city along the Sea of Galilee. It wasn't in the desert. It wasn't in the wilderness. But Jesus found a secluded place. A place apart from the crowds. Apart even from His disciples. And again, we're not told the content of Jesus' prayers that morning, as we sometimes are, especially in John's Gospel. But we know that in prayer, He always gave thanks to His Father. That He always sought His Father's guidance and comfort and strength and wisdom. Jesus attached great importance to prayer. Prayed often in the Gospels. And we do get a sense of Jesus' prayers in several places in the Gospels. John chapter 11, verse 41. At Lazarus' tomb, remember. Jesus comes up to the tomb and Lazarus is dead. And he sees in Lazarus' death the wages of sin. And he weeps. He told them to remove Lazarus' stone. John 11, 41. Jesus raised his eyes and said, Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but because of the people standing around, I said it, so that they may believe that you sent me. When he said those things, he cried out with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. I have another example, a beautiful example of prayer in John chapter 17. I'd love to read the whole thing, but we'll just read one verse. John 17, verse 11. Here he's praying for the apostles. The men you've given me, he called them, out of the world. He prayed, I'm no longer in the world, and yet they themselves are in the world. And I come to you, Holy Father, keep them in your name, the name which you have given me, so that they may be one, even as we are. Prayers of Jesus, as far as we're able to tell from those that are recorded in the New Testament, are always concerned with something relating to his ministry. And they're almost always, maybe always, concerned with the concerns of others. Perhaps his prayers here related to his mission that he was about to embark on, to go into all of Galilee and preach the gospel of the kingdom. But we're not told. Well verse 36, we find Simon and his companions searching for Jesus. Where'd he go? And they found him, and they said to him, Everyone is looking for you. Why were they all looking for Jesus? They saw the miracles. The Greek word here for looking for you, zetain, it occurs ten times in Mark. And every time it carries a negative kind of connotation. It often refers to they're looking for you because they want to kill him. We see that throughout the gospel. Nowhere does it refer to them looking for him so they can follow him. To the question here is, what was the disciple's motivation in searching for Jesus here? Well, clearly, by the works he'd been doing, Jesus had drawn a great deal of attention. Everyone is looking for you. Everyone. The whole city is coming to Peter's house. He generated a great deal of enthusiasm. A great deal of excitement. I mean, just imagine if someone were really going around Franklin healing people by the dozens. That was the kind of enthusiasm and excitement that was happening. But enthusiasm and excitement are never to be confused with faith. Two different things. The Pentecostal movement of the 20th century with its emphasis on feelings and experience has taught us that. The interest of the people of Capernaum in Jesus was solely in His power to heal. That was their interest. But we know that belief merely in His power doesn't save anybody. John 2.23, Jesus was not entrusting to those people who were believing in Him because of the works and His power, because He knew what was in their hearts. He came to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God and to accomplish forgiveness of sins through faith in His death on the cross and in His resurrection, not through belief in His ability to work miracles. And at that point, the disciples, Simon and his brother and James and John, they wanted Jesus to take advantage of His growing popularity as a miracle They were drawn to the excitement, to the enthusiasm around him. They did not at all understand Jesus' mission. And really, how could they? It hadn't been explained to them. His mission, folks, was not to be a miracle worker, but a redeemer. So when they found him, though, look what he said to them. Verse 38, "'Let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby Now look at these words. "...so that I may preach there also, for that is what I came for." That's why he came. Luke, in the parallel passage, Luke 4, 43. "...He said to them, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose." Three years of preaching, proclaiming the kingdom of God. calling men to repentance, and then leading ultimately to the cross where he would accomplish the forgiveness of their sins. So Jesus went into their synagogues throughout all of Galilee, verse 39, preaching and casting out the demons. He came to Galilee to preach the good news of the coming of the kingdom of God. He says it here in verse 38. The miracles were performed as signs and seals of His gospel proclamation. And notice, He invites the disciples to go with Him. The words, let us go somewhere else that I may proclaim the gospel, show that Jesus wanted His disciples to stay with Him. as he traveled through the towns and villages of Galilee. Even in this early stage, what's he doing? He's training them for their apostolic mission. Well now in verse 40, without any reference to time or place, Mark relates another incident. A leper came to Jesus, beseeching Him and falling on his knees before Him, and saying, If you are willing, you can make me clean." Now lepers were outcasts in Israel. They had to remain outside the camp, outside the city, in a little colony where there were only other lepers. Leviticus 13.45, As for the leper who has the infection, his clothes shall be torn, hair of his head shall be uncovered, he shall cover his mustache and cry, Unclean! Unclean! He had to announce himself both in his clothing and in his words. And he shall remain unclean all the days during which he has the infection. He's unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp. I don't know how to think of a more distressing condition than this. He's not allowed to come near anyone, but despite that prohibition in the law of Moses, he comes right up to Jesus. And Jesus lets him come right up to him, close enough that Jesus could touch him. You know, the Bible doesn't talk about healing leprosy. It talks about cleansing it. Always cleansing it. Other illnesses had to be healed. Leprosy had to be cleansed. Matthew 11, 4, Jesus answered and said to them, Go and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. In Mark's account here of Jesus and the leper, there's no reference to healing. There are four references to cleansing. Now this may be because of the nature of the disease. It's a very unpleasant-looking skin disease. And it gets more. It actually affects the joints. It can cause them to be self-amputating. But many suggest This is spoken of as cleansing because leprosy was seen by many as a symbol of sin that also had to be cleansed. Well here, the leper disregards the law and the customs and in the hope of being cleansed by Jesus of this awful disease, he comes right up to him, hoping to be restored to the community. Not even the decrees of the law of Moses itself kept him from coming to Jesus. Drawn right to Him. And notice, he doesn't question Jesus' ability or power to cleanse him. No. He says, if you are willing, I can be cleansed. Verse 41, moved with compassion. Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him. And he said to him, I am willing. Be cleansed. He stretched out his hand to this leper and touched him, despite an explicit prohibition against touching an unclean person in the Mosaic law. Why? Because some things are more important than others. Leviticus 5.3, if a person touches human uncleanness, of whatever sort his uncleanness may be with which he becomes unclean, and it's hidden from him, and then he comes to know it, he'll be guilty. So that's an unintentional touching. This was intentional by Jesus. But he wasn't guilty of any moral offense against God here. He may have been guilty of some violation of ritual cleanness, but not of any sin. He's him who knew no sin. And ritual uncleanness, folks, it's important we get this, was of no consequence to Jesus in comparison with human need. Jewish religious leaders, on the other hand, had come to regard their rituals, including many they had themselves invented, to be of the highest importance. And we see this in religions today. Rituals are one religion that prays X number of times a day, facing in a particular direction. Ritual. Jesus was moved by compassion. In many points we see Him as indifferent to these ritualistic prescriptions. Now the Jewish religious leaders were going to come to regard His attitude toward their rituals as a threat to their position and to their influence. So when this poor leper comes up to Jesus, Jesus wasn't moved to act in accordance. He didn't think, what are the customs, and what are the rituals, and what are the prescriptions here? He acted as He always did, as He did on the cross for us according to His compassion. That's what moved Him. He set everything else aside, swept everything else aside. He was moved by His compassion. And this implies, this means not just a pained feeling at the sight of this man's poor condition, but a strong desire to do something about it. He seemed to see the sorrows of people as his own sorrows. Took our sorrows upon himself. He loved these afflicted people. Why else would he act for them? He was eager to help them. I trust you can see where we're headed here is this is what it is to be like Christ. To care, to do all we can to help people. In the miracle, the man asked Him, if You are willing. All these miracles were wrought by His will. He willed these things to occur. He willed this cleansing. Others would work miracles in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus Christ, the Nazarene walk. Peter, Acts 3.6. But when Jesus healed, the power was within Himself. In all His miracles, His deity shines through, despite the fact that it's veiled in this human flesh. Here are the words of John chapter 1, verse 14. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. His glory shines through here as He touches this man and wills him to be cleansed. And here He was willing. Verse 42, immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed. immediately. As in every case when Jesus healed, the cure was instant and it was complete. And there was no question about it. Lenski said this, the flesh that was eaten away, the fingers and the toe joints that had dropped off, the raw sores that were spreading over the body, were instantly restored sound and whole. Well, what Jesus did next must have caught the miraculously cleansed man off guard. He sternly warned him and immediately sent him away. And he said to him, See that you say nothing to anyone. Do you realize how difficult that must be? To be healed of something like this, such a dreaded disease. To walk right back through the crowd. Say nothing? Who could not be filled with excitement and a desire to tell the world? But that's what Jesus said to him. Go, He said, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them. Now there was a set of rules, a procedure when one had been cleansed of leprosy. One would go to the priest. The priest would examine him. And Leviticus 14 sets forth the whole procedure. We'll look at it in just a moment. But notice we see this change in tone here in Jesus. From tender compassion to this stern warning. Why? Why the change? Why is He saying, don't tell anyone. See that you don't say anything. You know, last Lord's Day, in verse 25, in the synagogue, we saw that Jesus said to the demon who had addressed Him as Holy One of God, be quiet. Come out of him. And the people were left wondering, who was this? Verse 34, this morning, we saw that when Jesus cast out the demon, He was not permitting them to speak. Why? Because they knew who He was. Now he says, see that you say nothing to anybody. What we see is that there was this great enthusiasm and great excitement surrounding Jesus. Why? Well, it wasn't because of who He is. It was because of the works He was doing. People saw in Jesus, not a Savior, but a miracle worker. But faith that one is a miracle worker can't save anybody. Any fool can look outside and see that God is a miracle worker. Jesus didn't want the miracles to be the basis for people's belief in Him. But at the same time, it wasn't time for them to know how He was going to go about His saving work. In God's providence, it wasn't yet the appointed time to reveal His true identity, His true mission. Jesus came to die for His people. But the hour that had been decreed for this hadn't yet arrived. And Jesus, not the crowds, was going to be the one who would determine the order and the timing of events. He won't accept allegiance to Him through amazement, astonishment. That cannot be the basis of faith, at least not saving faith. The faith of His disciples must be evoked through recognition of our sin, our need for an atonement that we cannot provide for ourselves. Only at the cross can Jesus be rightly known for who He is. He told this man, go to Jerusalem, show yourself to the priest. And that meant he had to get two birds, offer them. Leviticus 14.1, I'll just briefly cover this. Lord spoke to Moses, here's the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing. He shall be brought to the priest. The priest goes outside the camp. He's got to examine him, see if the leprosy has left him. Then he shall tell him to get two live clean birds and some cedar wood and scarlet string and hyssop. He's to slay the one bird in an earthenware vessel over running water, take the live bird together with the cedar wood and the scarlet string and the hyssop, dip them in the blood of the bird that was slain, and sprinkle seven times the one who's to be cleansed. Then he has to bathe and shave off all his hair on the seventh day. He washes in water and is declared clean. Eight days of this. That's what Jesus told this man to do. Jesus' words. Notice what he's saying to him. Go to the priest. Show yourself to him. Offer for your cleansing the offering that Moses commanded as a testimony to them. A testimony of what? He's telling them, don't say anything to anybody about this. Well, it's a testimony of His cleanness, that He has been cleansed. He sent this man to Jerusalem, though, for eight days to be a living witness of Jesus' gracious will and power, of His reverence for the law of Moses while it was still in force. So this is what He's supposed to do. It's not what He did. Verse 45, "...he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news all around to such an extent Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city. But he stayed out in the unpopulated areas, and they were still coming to him from everywhere." Many speak of this cleansed man as one who was disobedient to Jesus. Some even question his gratitude given his disobedience. And while he did disobey Jesus' instruction here, I can't help but think that this man was so moved by what Jesus had done for him, by Jesus' compassion toward him, that he simply was too weak to do anything other than proclaim this news everywhere. But he's not the point of the story anyway. He's not the focus. This story isn't about him. Not mainly. Mark's teaching us about Jesus. All these accounts here this morning teach us about Jesus. People like to make up their own Jesus. Here He is. He's showing us the eternal Son of God in human flesh and the love and compassion that He has for people. That He demonstrates. daily during His time on earth, and certainly that He demonstrated on the cross. He was a man of such great and awesome power, the highest of power and authority to ever walk this earth, and yet He was always concerned with the least among us. You know, He could have simply waved His hand and healed all of Galilee in an instant. He could have cast out all the demons, got rid of all their ailments. What did he do? He didn't do that. He dealt with every single one of them individually, person to person. He's setting a pattern for us, folks. In the case of Simon's mother-in-law, he touched her hand and rebuked her fever. When the whole city of Capernaum gathered to him at Simon Peter's door, Luke tells us he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. When the leper approached him, he could have just willed him to be healed. He could have spoken him to be cleansed. But no, he stretched out his hand and touched this deformed man and cleansed him of his pain and of his sorrow. One by one, taking a personal interest in each one. Jesus restored them all to good health. How's this an example for us? We don't have the power to heal as He did. But in all these cases, He's showing us what it is to be like Him. To be one who cares for people. For all people. To be one who cares to help others. who desires the best for others, no matter who they are. So since we can't heal others' physical ailments, what can we do? What do we have that we can give people? We have Christ. We have Christ. We have the knowledge of the God-man. This man's revealed himself to us. He's shown us who he is. We have the one who, at the cross, healed all who would believe in Him of the thing that is afflicting us the most, our sin. We can present Him to everyone we meet, knowing that that's exactly what they need most, and that's exactly what He's instructed us to do. You see, we can touch every person we meet. can't heal them physically. But we can put in front of them the very thing that'll bring them the greatest blessing they could ever have. So in this way, the healing ministry of Christ should be an encouragement to us to be actively involved in providing help and care to those who need and telling them about Christ as we're doing it. People suffering because of their illnesses or loss or loneliness or whatever it might be. People lost in unbelief, most of all. When we talk about being conformed to the image of Christ, let this be. very much a part of it. Becoming and living as people who care deeply about the miserable state of others and trying to do something about it. Becoming like Christ. I see in this passage nothing but conviction. If He can so desire to help others, why can't I? And the passage shows us that responsibility for providing help to others doesn't just rest on certain groups or professions, but on everyone, and certainly on every believer. Here's what the Word of God says to us who are being conformed to the image of Christ. Jesus Himself on the Day of Judgment, Matthew 25, 40. ...The King will answer and say to them, Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me. Galatians 6.10. So then, while we have opportunity, Let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith. In these marvelous words of Ephesians 5.1, Therefore, be imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma." If you are in Christ, He has saved you from your sin. He saved you from the fires of hell. just as surely as He healed that leper, cleansed that leper, and healed the mother-in-law of Peter. He saved you. And this, living with a love and compassion for others as He demonstrated, is the life He calls us to. So, my prayer is that we will look to Him as our example and that we will follow Him in all that we think, say, and do. Well, Lord, we thank You that by Your Spirit You show us the magnificence of Christ. We think of Him so often in power. We think of Him on the cross. And Lord, thank You for this portrait of His love and compassion. Lord, may we be daily conformed to His image. May we have Your Spirit convicting us and guiding us that we might grow in conformity to Him day by day. And in His name we pray.