You can turn to your Bibles and to the book of Mark, the beginning of Mark chapter 1. No doubt you've gone through other parts of the Bible. I believe Cooper may be preaching in the Old Testament right now. And those books are great. The history, the wisdom literature, the prophets. But there's something about coming back to the life of Jesus that always encourages me. And I need to do that often. And so I want to bring you a message from Mark chapter 1. Really, they think the earliest gospel, and of course it's the shortest one, because we need to see Jesus all the time. So, let's look at this. It's Mark chapter 1, 21 to 34, and then we'll ask the Lord's blessing to us. They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching. because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then, a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Be quiet, Jesus said sternly. Come out of him. The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were so amazed and they asked each other, what is this? A new teaching and with authority. He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him. And the news about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. As soon as they left the synagogue, they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever and they told Jesus about her. So he went to her and took her hand and helped her up. The fever left her and she began to wait on them. That evening, after sunset, The people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon-possessed. The whole town gathered at the door, and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. And He also drove out many demons, but He would not let the demons speak, because they knew who He was. The Word of the Lord. Let's give thanks. Let's pray. Almighty Lord, now as we consider Your Word, would You open our hearts and our minds. We would be moved afresh by Your love. We would be strengthened because of Your power. And we would be changed as we enter into this Gospel. And we pray this, Father, in Christ's name, Amen. You know, I think it was about four years ago, maybe a little over four years ago, when at that time, candidate Biden asked VP Harris to be his pick for his VP. And I remember her response. This won't be a political message, don't worry, OK? But she said, I am so ready to go to work. And now we're in the midst of a new campaign and everyone's saying they're so ready to go to work. What will you do on your first day? What will you do in your first hundred days? So ready to go to work. Have you ever been so ready to go to work? I remember when I finished college and as a young man prepared my resume and back in those days all the company research you had to do a long way. writing, typing out numerous letters, taking interviews, buying a new suit, business attire. Finally, my first good job, I majored in agriculture, so it was a very large agribusiness leader, but I was eager to apply, you know, all my four years of science classes, biology, zoology, botany, microbiology, genetics, disease control, organic chemistry, physiology, all these things, plus my school of hard knocks, right? Working in warehouses, working in retail to round out whatever work ethic I had in those days. Because I was eager to perform well. I wanted to get off to a good start. And maybe you can relate as you think back to your first day at what you would think would be your first good job. But, if anyone was ready to go to work, it must have been Jesus. Because since the foundation of the world, He was the eternal Logos. Right? There was the economy of the Trinity sent by the Father for His role to perform in the covenant of redemption, to bring salvation to the world. The Old Testament preparation as they began to explain His role, the promises and the typification that the Scriptures are full of in the Old Testament, because they point to the One who was to come. And then finally, in Galatians we see, in the fullness of time, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law. And so the incarnation, Jesus is beginning His work. He is so ready, after the creation and the fall, to bring full redemption. And as a young boy, remember, he stayed in Jerusalem, and they found him in the temple? And he said, didn't you know I must be in my father's house? And in the years that followed, in Jesus' young manhood, as he continued to learn the Scriptures, as he continued to grow in strength, as he observed the life, he had that passion, that God-given passion, to do the Father's business. Finally, baptized by John, set apart, identifying with us in our need for our redemption, and then endured the temptation successfully, and now he's embarking on his first, well, an early day anyway, probably one of his first hundred days of doing the Father's business. You know, Calvin once said, The chief business of the American people is business. That would be Calvin Coolidge. That wouldn't be John Calvin. Okay? But what is the Father's business? What was that that Jesus was to perform? What was the business to be of the Lord's anointed, the prophet who was to come? He's now on the job. And as he looks back in John 17, as he's praying, he says to the father, I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do. And just what is that? Well, he says it in different ways. One way would be to seek and save that which was lost. And what we see in this day on the job, Jesus is about the father's business. And we share in His business. We share because it is His business of the Father to you. But it's also the business of the Father through you. So, let's look at this. The business of the Father. Well, the first thing we see is His business of bringing good news to you. He goes to the synagogue. That's the first thing He does. He wants to teach about the Kingdom. Jesus brings you good news. Now, authority, they notice authority. Authority is needed, isn't it? Sometimes we rebel against authority. Who really wants to be under authority? We kind of like autonomy. But we need a final word, don't we? After the evidence and arguments are given, we need an authorized verdict. After the measurements and formula are taken, we need the right answer. After a run around with a lower level service personnel, we finally need a manager, you know, to make a decision. We need an authorized agent. And that's what we see in Jesus. He was the visiting pastor at the time, if you want to call it that, visiting rabbi. They asked him to teach in the synagogue. And Jesus brings the good news. He brings you good news. He brings it with divine authority. There was something about him there that he spoke in the prophetic tradition. Thus saith the Lord. There was an urgency, there was a demand for decision, kind of echoing back to the baptism, this is my son, or looking forward to the transfiguration, this is my son, listen to him. And that's what Jesus does throughout his ministry as he teaches. You've heard it said, but I say to you, Jesus' message had the ring of regal authority. He was the self-evident king of the kingdoms. And there was something of his personality, personal authority, And they said it wasn't like the scribes and the Pharisees who appealed to tradition or other writers or sort of a long appeal of tradition of notable teachers that sometimes they had to hem and haw and unable to say, thus saith the Lord. They seemed to have had, you know, little boldness or and maybe no heartfelt connection. with those whom they were teaching. Because remember Jesus in Matthew 23 says of some of these people they are blind guides, hypocritical teachers, their lives are a mess, and yet they command things they cannot do. They major on the minors, they harp on controversies. But Jesus was unlike all others, wasn't he? They hung on his every word. In fact, every time he spoke, they hung on his word. He brought the news with the vested authority in himself. And he brings you good news with his moral authority. He had a holy, moral, internal force behind his word that reflected the perfections of his character. Unlike mechanics or maybe dentists or doctors or groundskeepers, their work may be acceptable even if their moral character isn't that strong. But unlike pastors or teachers, especially this one who came from heaven, the moral authority they saw in him was a man without sin, perfect love for God and perfect love for people, perfect in thought and action. Although he was sometimes criticized, there was no sin in Jesus. So he came to teach, he came to bring you good news, in his divine authority, in his moral authority, but I think in his gospel authority. We don't know his text, do we? It doesn't really say what he spoke on, unlike the chapter there in Luke 4. So, we don't know his text and his theme for a sermon. I wondered, do you suppose he taught on the tithing of the dill from one's garden? Do you suppose he wanted to finally settle the length of prayer tassels? of the Pharisees? I doubt it. Do you suppose he wanted to finally settle that controversy? Do we swear our oaths on the temple or on the gold of the temple? No, I don't think so. No dry doctrinal minutia from Jesus. People would be spellbound, riveted, because of his perfectly crafted sermons. You know, he said he always used a parable. I don't know what he used this time, but they were stories from ordinary life. They're crafted and told in such a way that people would hang on his every word and remember them. They're all about farmers and brothers and businessmen and religious people and sinners, the poor, the rich. Jesus' teaching was anything but boring. But mostly, they centered on the gospel. The words touched their hearts. Bold, beautiful promises of God's forgiveness and a future with God and a meaningful life given by the kind and righteous one who is the king of the kingdom. So, what's in this gospel? We don't know what he taught exactly, but there must have been something about exposing our need, exposing our fallen nature. There must have been an emphasis on the love and the justice of the Holy God. There must have been something set forth about His role as the Redeemer of fallen mankind. And then finally, there would have been an entreaty for you to come and believe. Jesus brought this good news and it was to them, it's to you. It's to you this morning. He's really bringing you good news. He has the authority from heaven. He has His moral authority. And He has the gospel authority, which is love and good news and redemption. Nothing like the sound of Jesus through His Word. We're never too old to again receive the message, Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. We're never too old to know that Jesus came to preach good news to the poor, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor, of his blessing to you. So we join his business by belief, so this is to you, but then it's also through you, isn't it? This was the work of Jesus through his church. So by believing, we personally recognize and receive him as our Lord and Savior. But we participate by following him in his continuing business of bringing good news. So we have the authority as well. We have derived, I guess, divine authority. It's though God is making his appeal through us. Our moral authority is not quite that of Jesus. We have this treasure in jars of clay. And we just don't have the moral righteous life that Christ brought. But we do have a role of sanctification and wanting to please God and going forward with Him. As we're humble and honest, we humbly cling to the gospel. We have a moral authority, though, from heaven. And we have the gospel authority to go and make disciples of all nations. I remember before I moved to North Carolina, I was saying goodbye to some of my friends back in Georgia. And I was part of an old car club. And there was the president. I went to go see the president one day. And he was working in his garage on this old engine. And we were just talking. I had just retired. He had not too far had retired. And he was just talking about his place in the life right now. How he wanted his grandchildren to know how much he loved Christ. He wanted his life to make a difference in the new generation. And what's the starting point for us to be a part of God's message going forward? I think it's just a desire to, Lord, would you please use me in some way? I was moved by his heartfelt passion for his grandchildren to come to know that he loved Christ and he wanted them to know the love of Christ. And that might be the starting place for some of us. the Lord or would you open my heart to to see the need for others that they also need to embrace you and would you somehow use my life to bring that good news to them so we join Jesus it's good news to us to you and it's good news through you now the second part of this is the business of Jesus as he continues not just to teach the good news, but actually to bring tangible expressions of this good news, because his business of the Father is to break bondage, to break spiritual bondage. You know, there's an interesting chapter in 1 John, and I never really thought about it until just not too long ago, and there's a verse that says, the reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. Isn't that amazing? So here we have this young man, or this person in the synagogue, who's listening to the sermon of Jesus, and he probably has been there before many times, but his episodes of possession seem to come and go, and so he's brought in there to worship, and he has an outburst of opposition to Jesus. And there, of course, as the demon is exorcised, people are amazed at the authority of Jesus. But if you remember just a couple chapters from this, Jesus says, well, don't you think the strong man has to go in Don't you think the robber has to go in and bind up the strong man, and then he can rob his house? This is just what we see Jesus doing. Jesus is going into the dominion that has been Satan's. in many ways, and he's binding him, and he's pulling out the treasures now that belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Jesus, in this way, is showing his authority, delivering people from their bondage of possession. Now, I've not seen much of this, and I doubt if you have. We did have a cocker spaniel puppy that I was wondering about, if he may have been possessed. But what happens here, this person who's possessed calls Jesus by his name and by his title. And this was an ancient way of seeking to gain an advantage over your opponent. But Jesus, of course, has nothing. It's not much of a contest. It proves futile as he casts him out. It reminds me of Luther's hymn. Though this world with devils filled should threaten to undo us, we will not fear, for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. The prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him. His rage we can't endure. One little word shall fell him." And so we see a man of desperation is delivered. But we have other kinds of oppression, or I would say of spiritual bondage. Not possession, but I would say oppression. In fact, the book of Ephesians in chapter 2 really talks about the way people are oppressed by the evil one. It says, as for you, these are believers, You were once dead in your transgressions and sins in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. So what we see in the New Testament as people turn to Christ, Jesus is freeing them from the bondage of oppression, not possession. Oppression is universal. But here Jesus triumphs as well, because in the birth of regeneration, he gives us a new heart and a new mind that we might live and see and receive the ministry of Jesus for us. Like the old hymn, and can it be? I'm sure you've sung that here. Fast bound in sin and nature's night. That's what this is. My eye diffused a quickening ray. I woke the dungeon flamed with the light. My chains fell off. My heart was free and I rose. I went forth and followed thee. There's freedom from the bondage of this oppression because it's a birth from above. The veil is lifted, and there's a new nature. And when our nature is free, we begin to follow Jesus. There's a freedom that I would say is characterized by suppression. Our heart is no longer bound by the evil one, but we still have vestiges, as Paul talked about his own life as he saw the old nature within him still alive and kicking. when he said, the good that I would, that I don't do, and that which I don't want to do, that I do. But we see Jesus breaking the bondage through, I would say, suppression of our sin. There's an old country song, do you know this one? The things I used to do, I don't do no more. It's pretty good. Because that's what Jesus says, or Paul says through Ephesians 5, You were once darkness, but now you're light in the Lord. Live as children of light, for the fruit of light consists of goodness and righteousness and truth. Find out what pleases the Lord, having nothing to do with sinful deeds of darkness. But ultimately, we know this will be a struggle until this bondage is completely broken. Jesus will break your bondage in completion. And that is the new state of glory one day when we are made perfectly fit to enjoy God and all of his blessings and all of his people perfectly freed from sin. Now, this has not yet happened. We kind of live in the already and not yet. But this freedom of oppression is going to happen. As Romans says, the whole creation has been groaning in the pains of childbirth up to the present age. But not only so, we ourselves groan inwardly as we wait for the adoption of sons, the redemption of our bodies. My daughter and her husband are living in DC. My son-in-law is a pastor starting a church on Capitol Hill. So we go there often. And I'm amazed at what God's doing in the lives of 25 to 30-year-olds who are serious about following the Lord. But, of course, we take in all the museums and so forth. You can't help but go to the mall often. And I'm reminded of that famous speech there that someone once said, free at last, free at last. Thank God Almighty, free at last. But Jesus, this is no dream. It's a promise. We will be free at last, one day, from the bondage that we experience of sin. Freedom from the penalty of sin. Freedom from the power of sin. Freedom from all the effects of sin. So, think about your own need. Jesus came to bring you freedom. but also as you look at a broken world, you see an oppressed world. And as we participate in the gospel, we see people move from desperation to deliverance to become a disciple and a dignity and destiny that we have in Christ. So, continue to move promoting the gospel of Jesus. And then finally, the last thing we see in this story, or this event that we see in the first early day of Jesus, is this business of binding your brokenness. Binding your brokenness. Now, so he comes to, after a busy day in teaching in the synagogue, they're invited to Peter's house. I guess Peter and Andrew both live there. And Simon's mother-in-law was sick with a fever. And at that day and age, they thought fever was a separate entity of itself. And they thought it was in some ways a curse. A judgment of God is like a fire raging in them from God. And so they had some superstitious feelings about fever, not understanding some of the biological aspects. But I want you to notice what Jesus does. He doesn't engage with their suspicions. He moves toward her. He reaches out his hand. He touches someone who's in great need. Doesn't it show his love? His interest? His personal attention? So, he touched her. And he took her by the hand. And he lifted her up. And this is what Jesus does when we are broken. He doesn't stay aloof from your broken... Now sometimes we're broken in body and we can see that. But sometimes we're broken in our emotions. We're just broken hearted. We feel guilty. We feel crushed. We feel failure. We feel estranged from other people. We have all kinds of emotions. And we're broken in a lot of ways. Just like that Samaritan saw that man by the roadside, there are a lot of people who just feel beat up with life. But the love of Jesus moves toward this person, and her response is love and thankfulness as she begins to serve. And that's really the response of a believer when they experience the love that Christ has given them. It doesn't serve as a pattern. But the whole town heard about that as after they finished their meal and she served them. What's interesting is the whole town gathered at the courtyard and one by one, at sunset, I guess, when the Sabbath was technically over and people could carry people to Jesus. So, one by one, Jesus began to approach them and attend to their needs, to touch them, to heal them, to deliver them from the fallen world, But we need to understand a few things about this ministry of Jesus to you for your brokenness. First of all, these were temporary sessions of relief, weren't they? Because we know these people perhaps were healed at the time, you know, but they would again experience other maladies as life went on. And that's part of what life is like. And I remember listening to a radio show of someone who had ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease. And this person wasn't a believer. And they interviewed this person for an hour about how it affected him. And it was just so sad because this person had really no hope. No hope to recover, but also no eternal sort of hope. But these aspects of temporary relief that Jesus does give his people It shows the compassion and love of Jesus. It shows that He really does carry our sorrows. He's saddened in heart by the effects of sin in your life. and shattered health, but it does show the Lord is near to the brokenhearted. He cares about the image of God that's in each person. In fact, James says, if anyone is sick, let him call the church. And so the church is involved in praying for one another and helping according to temporary needs. But we must know, at the end of the day, it's a temporary relief. There is a permanent relief that's needed. Isn't that so? Remember Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, and he had a great fall, and all the king's horses and all the king's men could not put Humpty Dumpty together again. However, this is saying that the king can do so. Because the body that's sown is perishable, but it's raised imperishable. It's sown in dishonor, but it's raised in glory. It's sown in weakness, but it's raised in power. It's sown a natural body. It will be raised a spiritual body. Thanks be to God who gives us victory. There is a permanent healing, a permanent solution to our brokenness. And this is to you. This is a promise to you. And it's also a promise through you, because you must know people who have the mindset of that man with ALS with no hope of recovery. And yet Jesus is promising the binding of our broken natures. There's a role of the church, isn't there, here? Sometimes I serve with a small team of men on a Habitat house. It's not because I'm such a good builder, but it's because I want to join with some other believers to try to do something good for a neighbor, someone I don't know. There's a role of the church. There's a role the PCA has. They have something called Sheds of Hope. You know these? where when there's a disaster, hurricane, whatever floods, the PCA provides a 10 by 10 utility building on someone's property. They can keep, but they can begin to store some of the things that could be salvaged. And later on, they give this to believers and non-believers alike to do good, to be with someone in their hurting. And they let them keep that. And they follow up asking, how are things going? And they try to build bridges with people who are hurting. But you might find some kind of a way, and whether it's just being great to a neighbor, giving him a ride to the hospital, taking a meal, whatever it might be, praying for each other certainly, but we have a role to bear one another's burdens in storms, in sickness, in sorrow, because crisis intervention is really what Jesus is doing. What's the business of Jesus to you and through you? Isn't it bringing the gospel? Isn't it finding release from spiritual brokenness and also from physical brokenness? You know, years ago when I was in business, I was sent to New York to meet with officials there. And I was downtown by Broadway Street and Wall Street, right there on Wall Street. I was awestruck by the size of the twin towers, some of the other buildings that were right there. And I remember walking by the Trinity Church. I think it's called St. Paul's Chapel now. And I thought to myself, this is an old historic church. It really is beautiful, but what is it doing in the middle of Manhattan in this super expensive real estate? Why hasn't this been, you know, moved, torn down, and somebody else built something more elaborate. I thought it was kind of remarkable that they had left this, and of course it's a very historic church, but you know, 23 years ago when the 9-11 attack happened, that church became the epicenter for help. Rescue workers, pastors, relief. That's where they found recovery. That's where they found renewal to go on and continue their work. This church that seems so marginalized, so sidelined, actually became a place of bringing the good news because we too live in a crumbling and broken and fallen world. And we bring the authority of the good news of Jesus Christ. This is a story of Jesus early day in his ministry, but it's to you and it also is through you. Let's pray. Almighty Father, we thank you for this passage that reveals your love and your power. Help us to enter into it by receiving what you've done for your people. You've brought the gospel. You've broken our spiritual bondage. And you have a solution for our physical brokenness as well, as we look forward to all that you have prepared. May we enjoy this with you, and may we be your agents into this world as we carry your good news. In Christ's name, amen.