Chaos At The Lake

Well, the passage before us presents an early transition point in Mark's proclamation of Jesus's identity and purpose.

This section really serves as a means of moving the story along, and what Mark is doing is summarizing this early stage of Jesus's life.

Now, up to this point, Mark has introduced us to the early displays of power in Jesus's ministry, and he's also told us of the early reactions of the religious establishment to Jesus.

Now, he is beginning to transition away from this early season of ministry to the more dominant portion of Christ's ministry in Galilee.

The transition here, the reason we read both sections, is because it's really made up of two different events, two different scenes or episodes, whatever you'd want to call them.

The first summarizes the nature of Jesus's meteoric rise in popularity, and it provides really a fitting close to this first section of the book.

The second episode summarizes the calling of his twelve disciples, and it initiates the development of the next few chapters.

So, in a literary sense, that's what's happening here in these verses.

These sections, they're not difficult. They're not complicated. They're actually useful to our understanding.

They further validate Jesus's claims of divinity.

They show that Jesus had a purpose to achieve, as he calls his disciples and commissions them.

They reveal the pressure that Jesus felt, how he relates to us as being human as well.

And then they remind us of the true nature of discipleship and what it actually means to be a follower of Christ and not just a part of the crowd.

And so, it's significant here. Let's take a moment to work through this first scene this morning.

Look with me again at verse 7.

But Jesus withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea or to the lake.

Now, this isn't the first time that Jesus has done this in the Gospel of Mark.

You'll remember that in the first chapter, at the end, Jesus cleanses the leper.

And because the leprous man disobeyed the Lord, he had to switch places with him.

The leper was now in the city. He was fine. He was healed. He could be around all the people.

But Jesus was then forced to minister for a season in desert places.

That was the result of the pressure that was put on him because of the crowds and really the leprous man's disobedience.

Then when we get to chapter 2, we see the healing of the paralytic.

And after that, Jesus initiates a move to the lake.

He himself decides that he's going to go out in order to accommodate the crowds.

And then when we come to this part in chapter 3, it's really a mixture of both of those things.

It's the plotting of the Pharisees from verse 6.

That's where we left off last week. Look at it again.

And the Pharisees went forth and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.

So Jesus is in the city, maybe Capernaum.

And he's in Capernaum. He's teaching in the synagogue.

And now the Pharisees are ticked off again.

And they go and they consult with their political enemies to see if they can find a way to, quote-unquote, legally murder Jesus.

And so Jesus, sensing that, is moving out of the city a little bit.

He's getting away from the Pharisees to an extent.

That's happening here.

But there's also this fact of these growing crowds that are initiating Jesus' move.

He is initiating that more than he's running from any type of opposition.

And we're immediately reminded again of the unstoppable nature of Jesus' purpose.

No matter what confronted him, no matter what circumstances he found himself in,

Jesus was committed to faithfully fulfilling his task, his ministry.

He was faithfully seeking to preach the gospel.

He wanted to heal the people.

He was on his way to the cross, so to speak, but he had a purpose in the meantime as he is marching his way there.

And there was no circumstance.

There was no outside pressure.

There was no opposition that was going to prevent him from doing that.

And there's a tremendous lesson for us in this.

We cannot allow the fear of opposition to prevent us from doing what is right.

Look, it's pretty clear that being a Christian is not going to get easier.

It's not.

In these next few years, it's actually probably going to get much more difficult.

And what I mean by that is this cultural Christianity is going to die.

It's going to die soon.

You know what I mean by that?

The cultural Christianity that says that Christianity is a part of my life, that's what I am, but they really don't know Christ, and they're really not following Christ.

Pop into church maybe from here or there.

Maybe they associate with a particular group, but it's just a cultural label.

I'm an American, therefore I'm probably a Christian, at least in the southern United States.

That's what it is, right?

There is a cultural Christianity.

That's going to die soon.

It's going to die soon.

It has to, because there is opposition coming from outside forces, outside of the church, that are going to make it more and more difficult to be a Christian, to at least claim to be a Christian.

You know what's going to happen when we hit that opposition?

Do we cower?

Do we decide to stop taking a stand on what the Bible teaches?

Well, the example of Jesus was that there was no fear of opposition that prevented him from doing what was right, and it shouldn't prevent us either.

At the same time, we can't be so rigid in our preferences that we stop moving forward in the work that God has called us to do.

Well, Jesus' ongoing ministry, by the lake, grew exponentially here, and an environment of chaos very quickly ensued.

Jesus was always willing to show compassion to the people that followed him, but crowds are not presented favorably in the Gospels.

Have you noticed that as you read your Bible, and you read through Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, very seldomly are crowds presented in a favorable light?

More often than not, crowds are associated with error.

They're associated with danger, misunderstanding, greed, and so on.

The true followers of Jesus often came out of these crowds, but very few people in the crowds actually became true followers of Jesus.

And so as we study these crowds, we see we might would be enamored by their success and not necessarily even surprised by the numerical growth of what was happening around Jesus,

but the Scripture very seldomly actually presents these crowds favorably.

What we see in these verses is the crowd actually descending into chaos, and the overall tone of this passage is very negative.

It's not positive.

So let's look at it.

I've just come up with just a handful of notes as we work through these verses, just simple phrases that we can hang our thoughts on this morning if you want to do that and write these down.

The first thing I wrote down is huge crowds.

Huge crowds.

Look again at verse 7.

And a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea, and from Jerusalem, and from Idumea, and from beyond Jordan.

And they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, came unto him.

Now at this point in Jesus' ministry, his popularity had absolutely exploded.

Thousands upon thousands of people are traveling.

Some of them are traveling over 100 miles on foot to get to where Jesus is.

This is really quite remarkable when you think about it.

This isn't 2021.

This is first century Israel, Palestine.

Information didn't travel in those days like it travels now.

There was nobody at one of Jesus' healings when he was healing the paralytic.

There was nobody there with their iPhone.

Live stream into Facebook so that all their friends in Idumea and Tyre and Sidon could see what was happening.

None of that is happening here.

There's no newspapers.

There's nothing like that.

Word traveled by mouth.

And there was word that was beginning to travel.

But it meant somebody had to leave their home in Galilee to go somewhere else to talk about it.

And of course, by natural processes of trade and business, that begins to happen.

But it didn't take very long and Jesus' ministry began to explode.

All of these people are coming.

Do you see from all the different places?

Of course, they're coming from all around Galilee.

They're coming from Judea.

They're coming from Jerusalem.

We expect those places, right?

But then they also come from Idumea.

That's a section south of Judea.

Probably 120, 140 miles they had to go to get to Galilee where Jesus was.

And that was in the south.

And then there were people coming from the east.

The Transjordan area over the Jordan.

There were people coming from over there.

There were people coming from the north.

Tyre and Sidon.

Nobody's coming from the west.

That's the Mediterranean Sea.

Nobody could come from there.

But they were coming from the north and the east and the south.

Some have estimated that tens of thousands of people were coming to Jesus

at one time.

Just this overflow of people coming to Jesus in Galilee.

And if you pick up on those regions, it's not just Jews.

It's Jews coming from Galilee and Judea and maybe the Transjordan area.

But the Transjordan area was also a mixed group.

Tyre and Sidon was almost exclusively Gentile.

So there are people from all over the place.

All kinds of diversity.

All kinds of numbers coming to Jesus at this point.

Well, why is it that Mark is so intent on emphasizing the size and diversity of these crowds?

In addition to giving just a realistic depiction of Jesus' ministry,

it actually adds credibility and validation to what Jesus was doing.

Think about this.

Why were these people coming to Jesus?

Because they heard what he could do.

And the credibility of those stories was so strong

that people are coming from all over the place to see it themselves.

And you'll never find one time in the New Testament

anyone who denied the reality of these healings.

No one.

Not even his enemies.

The Pharisees knew exactly what he was capable of.

Remember the last scene that we studied last week.

They brought this man with a withered hand

because they knew Jesus would heal him

and they just wanted to trap him for doing it on the Sabbath.

They knew who he was.

They knew his power.

They didn't deny it.

They just attributed it to Satan instead of God

as we'll get to in just a couple of weeks.

No one denied his power.

Remember, these crowds coming together give validity.

These are eyewitnesses that are not just 12 men

who followed him loosely and came up with this plan,

this elaborate plan to deceive the world for 2,000 years.

These are thousands of people that are coming and witnessing this

and then they're going elsewhere to tell everybody else about it as well.

And so the news of Jesus begins to spread.

That's why Mark is writing about this.

It's not just a narrative.

It's credibility because what is Mark's purpose in writing this gospel?

to proclaim that Jesus is the Son of God and the Messiah.

And this was proof that that is indeed the case.

Now the point immediately forces us to make a decision about Jesus.

If thousands of people, including Jesus' enemies,

acknowledged his power,

who are we to deny it?

It's interesting, isn't it?

When Jesus was living,

when everybody was around him,

nobody questioned the credibility or the validity of what he was doing.

No, that came hundreds of years later with people that weren't there,

that weren't around.

And they just decided that,

well, there's no way that that could ever possibly happen

because, you know, science.

And since science doesn't agree with it,

then there's no way that this could actually happen.

But there are thousands of eyewitnesses that say otherwise.

You're forced to make a decision about Christ at this point in this passage.

Because if this is real,

if this is really who Jesus is,

then we are held accountable to his message.

And his message was,

the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

And he was a reference to himself.

I am here.

I am the Son of God.

I am the Messiah.

Repent and believe the good news.

And for those of us that deny that,

we do not receive what he then offers,

which is the forgiveness and mercy and grace and eternal life.

So you must make your decision.

Is Jesus really who he said he was?

Was this an elaborate conspiracy

that involved multiple nations

and thousands of people

that conspired to fool us today?

I don't think so.

Huge crowds.

Number two, imminent danger.

Imminent danger.

Look with me at verse nine.

And Jesus spoke to his disciples

and he told them to get a small ship

that it should wait on him

because of the multitude,

lest they should throng him.

Now the actions of the hordes of people

posed a physical threat to Jesus and his disciples.

This is not Jesus adding an aid

to his preaching ministry.

The boat wasn't a tool in this story.

This was an escape plan.

This wasn't Jesus hoping that people will hear him.

This is Jesus having his disciples

ready to hit the road

in case things go south real quick.

How do we know that?

Well, the verse tells us.

He spoke to his disciples

that a small ship should wait on him

because of the multitude,

lest they should throng him.

The word translated as throng here,

it may be something different

in your scripture journals,

indicates violence.

It means to crush or to press.

In that context of first century Israel,

it would be to press like grapes

in a wine press.

Jesus is saying,

get a boat ready

just in case the crowd presses me,

crushes me,

presses me like grapes.

This is violence.

This is a violent crowd.

It gives me the picture of the news stories

that we see every Black Friday

and after Thanksgiving, right?

We see it all the time.

That's what's happening with Jesus.

These people are gathering.

You get the picture that in the process of this,

people are fighting.

They're fighting one another

to get to where Jesus is.

They're trying to get,

they're trying to touch him

and it becomes chaotic.

And in their attempts to get to Jesus,

they actually became a threat to him.

Now, before we move on,

there's something striking to me

about the way that Jesus prepared

for this potential escape.

Jesus could have done anything

to get away from these people.

He could have literally,

in his power as God,

immediately transported himself

and his disciples

to a completely different place

and be gone.

He could have done that.

He did it in other passages.

You remember in John chapter six,

Jesus was walking on water

and the disciples didn't recognize him at first

and they finally recognize him

and he gets in the boat

and it says they had been,

they'd been rowing all night,

contrary to the wind.

They were fighting to get

to the other side of the shore

and they couldn't make any progress.

They're stuck out in the middle of the sea.

Jesus gets in the boat

and it says immediately

they were at the shore.

He gets in the boat

and the disciples look up

and hey, we're not in the sea anymore.

We're where we wanted to go.

Okay, Jesus has that power.

He could have done that.

There was another time in,

I believe it was Nazareth actually,

where Jesus was being mobbed by a crowd

and it says that he passed through the crowd

and they did not perceive that he was there.

This was another miracle moment

where Jesus is moving through.

But Jesus didn't do that here.

He didn't do that here.

And it strikes me as kind of unusual.

Why wouldn't he do that here?

It was the ordinary means of a boat

that he used

instead of displaying his supernatural power.

Here's the point.

Oftentimes in our prayers,

we can be guilty

of requesting a supernatural act from God

when his plan is really to bless us

with the ordinary means of grace instead.

We get behind in our bills maybe

and we're just trying to figure out

how we're gonna pay it off

and it drives us to prayer, right?

And we get down to what is it that we pray?

If you're like me,

it's a selfish prayer.

Lord, if you would please

just let me go to the mailbox today

and there just be,

the stimulus check has arrived, Lord.

Would you, whatever it is.

We pray.

You know what?

Sometimes it's not that God

is seeking to supernaturally

drop money from the sky for us.

It may be the ordinary means of a budget.

It could just be the ordinary means

of giving you a few extra hours at work

or whatever it may be.

It's the ordinary means of grace

that God brings about.

It works in other situations in life as well.

We think about,

we pray for health,

particularly when people we know

are sick and they're struggling,

maybe even knocking at death's door.

We know that God sometimes works in our bodies

to provide healing

that doctors can't explain and comprehend.

We know that's the work of the Lord.

Oftentimes that's what we pray for.

And it's right for us to acknowledge

that God can do that.

Sometimes he does

and it's not wrong for us to pray

for divine intervention.

It's not a wrong thing to do.

However, God usually employs

the ordinary means of technology

and the education of doctors

and medicine

in order to meet those needs.

We have a tendency to think

that God is only at work

in the sensational things.

And it affects our prayer.

It affects the way that we talk about him.

In the way that we praise him.

And my point is that God's work

is not limited to what we perceive

as supernatural.

He often works in ways

that seem completely ordinary.

Now, our faith

believes in God's ability to do anything.

And that's right.

And it's good.

Our gratitude should reflect

that he is sovereign over everything.

Yes, God can provide supernaturally,

abundantly,

in ways that you would have never expected.

But he provides for you every day

in ordinary ways

that we completely disregard

and never actually show gratitude for.

You say,

well, I got this job that I have right now

because I filled out an application

and I interviewed well.

Well, yeah, that's true.

But that was the ordinary means of grace

that God used

to provide you with a job

that he wanted to bless you with

to fulfill his purpose.

He wasn't absent from that.

God is intricately involved in your life.

Intricately involved.

There is nothing in your life

that his hand is not touching.

And sometimes, most of the time,

it's completely ordinary.

So yes,

pray for the supernatural.

Pray for God's moving

in a unique way,

but recognize

that there's not one moment

in your life

that he's not moving.

There's not one thing

that happens to you

that he hasn't involved himself with.

Jesus and his disciples

were in imminent danger,

but Jesus sets an example

of preparedness

through the ordinary means of grace.

Well, let's move on.

Number three,

greedy hearts.

Greedy hearts.

We've seen huge crowds.

We've seen imminent danger.

Now we see greedy hearts

in verse 10.

For he had healed many

insomuch that they pressed upon him

for to touch him

as many as had plagues.

Verse 10 tells us

why the people came to Galilee.

They were hoping for healing

from their diseases.

And certainly,

able people were there

for other reasons,

but the emphasis of the text here

is on those who were diseased.

Now, there's no problem

in them seeking healing.

That's not the problem here.

We pray for healing all the time.

God never condemns us

for coming to him

in order to have him meet

our physical needs.

Jesus actually looked compassionately

at these people.

We've seen this over and over

just in the first two and a half chapters

of this book.

He looks compassionately.

He never denied them

the healing that they sought.

In fact, his love

is so great for us

that he healed many people

that would not follow him.

He healed many people

that would deny him.

Perhaps some people

that were a part of the crowd

that yelled,

crucify him.

Even in his arrest,

Peter pulls out his knife

and he cuts off Malchus' ear.

This man has literally

come to arrest Jesus

to go and have him crucified.

And what does Jesus do?

Knowing the rejection of his heart,

he picks up his ear

and he puts it back

on the side of his head.

There is a compassion

and a love

in Jesus

and in his actions

that we can't even comprehend.

And we've quoted

Dane Orland in this way,

but it's worth doing it again.

Jesus did not simply operate

in deeds of compassion,

but actually felt

the inner turmoils

and roiling emotions

of pity

toward the unfortunate.

When Jesus healed people

in these crowds,

it wasn't because

he felt an obligation

to do so.

It's because he had

genuine compassion for them.

He loved them.

He wanted to make a difference

in their lives.

He hated

to see what life

in a fallen world

had done.

And he wanted

to set that right.

So the problem

is not that they came

to him for healing.

That's not the problem.

The problem is that

their greedy hearts

only cared

about what they could

get from Jesus.

None of them stopped

for just a moment

just to consider

what he was trying to do.

He didn't come to heal.

He came to preach

the gospel.

But nobody wanted

to listen to his message.

There's no indication

anywhere in these verses

that Jesus even had

an opportunity

to actually preach

the truth to these people

because the way

they were pressing

against him.

They're clamoring

over each other.

They're putting other people

in danger in order

that they could get

to Jesus

to have him meet there.

And he didn't care

about anybody else.

There's greed in this.

Violent greed.

Jesus noted

a similar situation

after he fed

the 5,000

in John chapter 6.

John 6 · chapter mention

Do you remember

that story?

You can write down

the passage.

You can flip there

if you want.

John chapter 6

John 6:25–30

verses 25 to 30.

Jesus has just

fed the 5,000

and he and his disciples

went across the lake

and they made their way

around

and they followed him

around.

And here's what he said.

When they found him

on the other side

of the sea

they said to him

Rabbi

when did you come here?

And Jesus answered them

truly, truly

I say to you

you are seeking me

not because you saw signs

not because you are

trying to figure out

who I am

and understand my message

but because you ate

your fill of the loaves.

They were prosperity seekers.

And then he tells them

do not work

for the food

that perishes

but for the food

that endures

to eternal life

which the son of man

will give to you.

He's referencing himself.

For on him

God the Father

has set his seal.

And then they said this

What must we do

to be doing

the works of God?

And Jesus answered them

This is the work of God

that you believe in him

who he has sent.

So they said

Then what sign do you do

that we may see

and believe you?

What work do you perform?

He just took

five pieces of bread

and a few fish

and fed 5,000 people

and these same people

are now looking at Jesus

and saying

Okay, okay

prove it.

What?

They didn't actually care

about who Jesus was

they just wanted

more from him.

Give us more food.

They were prosperity seekers.

They came to church

because they wanted

to see if Jesus

would give them something

that he would reward them

for going to church.

If he would reward them

for putting money

in the offering.

If he would reward them

for doing their religious duties.

They were prosperity seekers.

That's what they were looking for.

That's the crowd

in Mark chapter 3.

Mark 3 · chapter mention

They're greedy.

They're just looking

to get something from him.

And while Jesus

cared deeply

about their needs

his chief objective

was to preach the gospel.

His compassionate heart

wanted what was best

for these people

but he knew

what was actually best

for them

was the message

of forgiveness

that only he could provide.

And his miracles

though genuinely performed

performed were meant

to point people

to his identity.

If they had just

listened to his message

they would have realized

that he was offering

eternal healing

that far surpassed

the temporary pleasures

that they were seeking

from him then.

The irony is

that they clamored

for the one

that could heal

their souls

but all they wanted

was for him

to heal their bodies.

Do you realize

you are

a soul?

You have

a body.

Your soul

will live forever.

Your body

will not.

You could go

through your whole life

live perfectly healthy

never get any

major diseases

stay in shape

eat right

and your body

is still going to die.

You are going to die.

These people

were clamoring

to Jesus

and he was offering

life eternal

for them

and all they wanted

was for him

to take care

of something

that was going

to die anyways.

And how many people

they flood to churches

or they flood to religion

or they flood to whatever

it is that they're looking for

and they flood to it

they're looking for

life now to be better

but this life

it's not going to last.

And Jesus is sitting here

he said I'll give you

something that's far greater.

Give you something

far greater than life

right now.

Far greater than health

right now.

Far greater than peace

right now.

Far greater than riches

right now.

I will give you

eternal life

in heaven

with me.

But all they wanted

was healing

for their body.

Number four

evil opposition.

We've seen huge crowds

imminent danger

greedy hearts

and then finally

evil opposition.

Look with me

at verse 11.

And unclean spirits

when they saw him

fell down before him

and cried saying

thou art the son of God

and he straightly charged them

that they should not

make him known.

That seems weird

right?

Now once again

Mark is bringing together

demon possession

and diseases

all at one time.

Now he's not doing that

to suggest that disease

is a result of

demonic oppression

or possession.

That's not the point.

What he's doing

is he's bringing together

the fact of

life in a fallen world

having both physical

and spiritual realities

to it.

And that Jesus

has authority

over both the physical

and the spiritual.

That's the point

in bringing these two

things together.

The interactions

between Jesus

and the demons

are recorded often

in the gospels.

And the demons

every time

except for perhaps

Satan

and the temptations

in the wilderness

we don't see

the same thing happening

but every single time

demons are confronted

by Jesus

they react fearfully

to his presence.

They react fearfully

because they know

exactly who he is.

James chapter 2

James 2 · chapter mention

tells us this.

James chapter 2

James 2 · chapter mention

in verse 19

you believe that God

is one

you do well

but then James

basically says

so what?

Even the demons

believe that

and they shudder

they tremble

they shake before him

that's their disposition.

It's one thing

to acknowledge

that God

that Jesus is God

it's another thing

to follow him

as Lord

the demons

were not willing

to do that

and so they feared

before him

because they knew

his authority

and they knew

his power.

Now

fallen angels

like this

they do not

usually desire

to be known

as such.

There are instances

in the scripture

clearly most of the time

around Jesus

where they afflict

people physically

but their work

is often in the realm

of false religion

and government.

We see that all

through the scripture.

It's subtle

and no matter

how much they preferred

to remain concealed

they could not help

but outwardly respond

when confronted

by Jesus.

We often hear

about this

crying out

that they would do

they would cry out

thou art the son

of God

identifying who he is

but he always

every time

commands their silence.

It's not because

Jesus didn't want

people to know

who he was

that was the whole

point of all the stuff.

He's healing people

so that they would

see who he was.

He's teaching

so that they will

hear who he is.

He plainly said

on multiple occasions

I and the father

are one.

He wasn't trying

to hide his identity.

What he was doing

is he was proving

his identity

proving his power

by showing his authority

even over the spirit world.

The demons

his silencing

his aminas

of revealing

who he is

and he demonstrates

his power over them

but it's also true

that Jesus

is not interested

in his ministry

being connected

with that which is evil.

And that just makes sense.

We see this often.

You can go to Acts 16

and see another description

of this with Paul.

We won't do that now

but in the same sense

we are in no way

interested

in Christianity

associating

with false religions

like Mormonism

and Jehovah's Witnesses

and Christian science

Roman Catholicism

to unite with such groups

is to deny

the gospel of Jesus

and to perpetuate error.

Paul when he was

confronting the Corinthians

about their involvement

in some of the pagan temples

and when they ate there

and the idols

that were involved

he said

he encouraged

and exhorted

against that

because

what is behind

those idols

what is behind

those religions

he said

are demons

demonic forces.

we see in the Old Testament

we see the fights

between

the right

and the wrong

the representatives

of God

and the representatives

of Satan

in the form of

government.

That's how they work

mostly.

Well we're not

interested in Christianity

associating with

the natural world

we're set apart.

Well

let's close here.

would you consider

as we close

the intense pressure

under which

Jesus lived

we consider

this whole passage

here

thousands of people

pressing against

him

demanding

of him

ignoring

what he has

to say

misrepresenting

who he is

unclean spirits

and all of this

on the heels

of a group

of

religious

and political

men

seeking to

put him to death.

There's quite a bit

of pressure

in a life like that.

Sometimes our focus

is so much

on the deity

of Christ

and rightly so

that we

forget

his humanity.

Jesus

overcame

every human

struggle

that was

because of

his deity

but he also

felt the

pressure of

human life

to the

fullest

extent.

There was

mounting

hostility

from religious

and political

groups that

culminated in

plots for

his murder.

He knew

well

the scrutiny

of critical

eyes

and faced

people constantly

that did

nothing but

express what

they thought

was wrong

with him

he felt

the unending

demands of

people that

clamored for

his attention.

He knew

the heartache

of friends

and family

forsaking

him.

He felt

the pain

of demonic

opposition

and its

hold on the

people that

he loved.

Kent Hughes

said the

pressure upon

Christ was

immense.

Our Lord's

every move

night and

day

was observed

by hostile

interlopers.

The worst

interpretation

was placed

on everything

that they

saw and

heard.

Our Lord

being truly

a man

felt the

pain of

hatred

intensely

with its

emotional

discomfort

and pervasive

alienation.

Have you ever

felt that way?

have you ever

been in a

place in

your life

where it

just seems

like everybody

around you

is trying to

find everything

that's wrong

with you

and they

don't mind

letting you

know?

The point

is that Jesus

knew by

experience

everything that

we go

through.

Not in

theory but

because he

went through

it too.

Have you

been forsaken?

He knows.

have people

lied about

you?

He knows

what that's

like.

Have you

been misunderstood?

He knows

that too.

Have you

been hurt?

He knows.

Have you

been broke?

He knows.

Have you

been tempted?

He knows.

Hebrews 4

tells us

that we

don't have

a high

priest who

is unable

to sympathize

with our

weaknesses

but one

who in

every respect

remember that

phrase

in every

respect

has been

tempted as

we are

yet

without

sin.

And then

he says

let us

then come

boldly with

confidence

drawing near

to the

throne of

grace

that we

may receive

mercy

and find

grace to

help in

time of

need.

Do you

see the

gospel taking

shape in

that?

Jesus

willingly

and purposefully

subjected

himself to

all of

this.

Why?

so that

we can

come with

confidence

to his

throne

to find

mercy

and grace.

That's

the heart

of Christ.

when we

come to

him in

our

troubles

when we

come to

him with

our

sin

when we

come to

him with

all the

things that

we're

struggling

with in

life

he doesn't

look on

us with

just an

unassociated

pity.

No he

looks

compassionately

he feels

that because

he has

been there

he knows

exactly how

you feel

and because

he did it

all without

sinning we

can come

boldly to

him knowing

that when

we go

there we

get mercy

and we

get grace

from him.

Why would

you go to

anything else?

Nothing else

can provide

that.

No

relationship

can provide

that.

No family

can provide

that.

No job

no success

there is

nothing in

this life

that can

provide for

you the

compassion

and the

love and

the mercy

that Jesus

extends to

everyone who

comes to

him.

And he

ultimately

felt our

needs to

the fullest

extent in

his death.

What is

our greatest

struggle?

Impending

death.

It's

coming.

Jesus

knew

death.

But because

of his

resurrection

he offers

us life.

He conquered

sin and

death in

order to

provide for

us what we

cannot provide

for ourselves.

love.

That is the

love of

Christ.

Why did

he subject

himself to

all of

this?

Love.

Love.

The question

for us then

is will we

receive it?

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