Jesus a wonderful savior

Morning. Let me say first and that it is a delight to be here with you today. Our scripture reading this morning will come from Mark chapter five. I'll be preaching from the second half of March chapter five, but we will read for our scripture reading this morning the first half of Mark chapter five, to put that in proper context. They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gharriscenes. And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with chains, for he had often been bound with shackles and chains. But he wrenched the chains apart, and he broke the shackles and pieces. No one had the strength to subdue him. Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from Afar, he ran and fell down before him, and, crying out with a loud voice, he said, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God. I adjure you, by God, do not torment me. For he was saying to him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit. And Jesus asked him, what is your name? He replied, my name is Legion, for we are many, and he begged him earnestly to send them out of the country. Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him, saying, send us to the pigs, let us enter them. So he gave them permission, and the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs, and the herd, numbering about two thousand, rushed down the steep bank into the sea and were drowned in the sea. The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country, and people came to see what it was that had happened. And they came to Jesus and saw the demon possessed man, the one who had had the legion, sitting there, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon possessed man and to the pigs, and they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. And he was getting into the boat or as he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him, and he did not permit him, but said to him, go home to your friends, and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in the dicapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled. As I said, this morning, we will be looking into the Gospel of Mark. It's very important that as believers we spend time in the four Gospels, that we spend time there seeing Jesus doing and being who he is. And as we read the gospels, there are those that become favorites to us. There are those that are easier for us to read or understand than those that are more difficult for us to read or understand. Some, I'm sure are still in that place where you wonder why we have these four gospels instead of just one, and why there are times when the gospels seem to be repeating things identically, and I'm not seeing to but actually are repeating things identically, and sometimes they're telling different stories altogether. Sometimes they're telling the same story different ways. One of the things that it's important for us to do is to understand the various gospel writers and their intentions. And I would argue that the Gospel of Mark, while the easiest one to read, is actually the most difficult one to preach or teach. I'll explain why Mark is the shortest of the Gospels. It makes it easier to read because of his brevity. One of Mark's favorite words, in fact, that the word that he uses more often than any other word is the word immediately or straight away, and it sort of gives you the tempo of the Gospel of Mark. If these were movies, you know, Matthew may be a long, epic drama, but Mark would be an action adventure movie with car chases and fight scenes and everything else. He just goes from one thing to the next to the next. That's also what makes it difficult to teach, because oftentimes you will read something, for example, in Matthew or in Luke that they will take thirty or forty verses to explain, and Mark explains it intent and all of a sudden, when you read Mark, sometimes you feel like I thought I knew this story and I thought there was more. In fact, I'm sure I know this story, and I'm sure there's supposed to be more. And much of that has to do with the intent of the various gospel writers. Mark's intent is seen right at the beginning to be different, for example, than the intent of Matthew. Mark doesn't give us a genealogy. He doesn't begin with the birth of Jesus. When you look, for example, at the beginning of Mark, he says, the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He doesn't take time to explain through a genealogy why Jesus is the son of God. He doesn't take time, I'm like Matthew does, to make sure to connect Jesus with Abraham and with David. Because Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, and he has one single goal to demonstrate the fact that Jesus Christ is the promised Jewish Messiah, and more specifically, that he is the personification of faithful Israel. When you get to Luke, Luke the physician and historian in his prologue makes it clear that he is writing as a physician and as an historian, and he says there are others who have written down accounts of these things, but I thought it fitting for me to do so, having followed everything carefully from the beginning or for some time, I wanted to write you an orderly account. Mookes excellent theophilis, so he's very concerned with the orderly and factual account of things as they happen. John often referred to as the Evangelist, makes it clear that he writes his gospel so that you might believe. He writes his gospel around these seven major signs that Jesus performed, and his goal, quite simply is to demonstrate to you that Jesus is the Savior. Mark is writing to a gentile audience, mainly unlike his counterparts, and Mark wants to give you a picture of the things that happened and give you an understanding of their significance. One of the things that's very important for us to grasp is to grasp an understanding of geography, especially the geography of the Sea of Galilee, because there are many times when he says Jesus went over to the other side, or he went to this side and then back to the other side. And when that happens Marcus actually communicating a great deal without communicating much at all in terms of words. I'll never forget when this came alive to me the first time that I took a trip to Israel and actually rowed on a boat on that very sea, looking at some of those places, and realizing that when he was making the statement and he went over to the other side, there was much more to it than just those few words. And here in chapter five that is also true. Here in chapter five, I believe Jesus that Mark is giving us a portrait of Jesus as a wonderful savior. How So, one of the things that's difficult to comprehend in Mark is the miracles and how quickly they come and what their significance is. Trust me, they all have significance. And up until we get to chapter five, we have already seen Jesus performing some of the same miracles that he performs here. In fact, we just read about the casting of the legion into the pigs. Jesus' first miracle was also the cleansing of an unclean spirit. This is the cleansing of an unclean spirit, but it's on the other side of the lake, and there is great significance. To that fact. Jesus miracles have great meaning for various reasons. Some of them have great meaning because of when they occurred, his healings on the Sabbath, for example, leading to discussions with the Pharisees about him being the Lord of the Sabbath. Some of his miracles are significant because of how they occurred. For example, the miracle in the house when the paralytic man is let down through a hole in the roof, and he basically says that it's because of the faith of his friends that he heals the man. But also he says, your sins are forgiven. So he demonstrates that he has power and authority over sin, as well as power and authority over sickness, as well as power and authority over the spiritual realm. He has authority over demons, he has authority over sickness. He has authority over physical life and spiritual life. Right before this miracle of the healing of this demoniac, there is the healing on this see which overwhelms even his own disciples, who marvel at him and ask the question, what manner of man is this that even the wind and the waves obey him? Now we know that Jesus has authority even over creation. And as Mark goes through quickly and says immediately, immediately, immediately, immediately, one car chase and fights scene after another, he demonstrates, moment by moment by moment his first line that Jesus is indeed the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. He is unlike anyone who has ever been or ever will be. He has authority over sin, he has authority over sickness. He has authority over demons. He has already even over nature itself. At other times, his miracles are significant because of where they take place or upon whom they take place. And that is the significance of the miracles that we see in chapter five three, in particular one, we've already read this miracle of the healing of this particular demoniac. Why is this miracle significant? Why does this miracle demonstrate that Jesus is such a wonderful savior. I'll explain to you why, because of where the miracle takes place. He has gone from Capernaum, which is his headquarters. He was a rabbi in Capernaum at a particular synagogue where he preached regularly. This is the place where Peter was from Peter's house is there? You can actually go and visit today the sight of the archaeological dig where Peter's house was, and where this particular synagogue was that Jesus would have taught on a regular basis. That he's gone over to the other side, to the land of the garrisons. One of the questions that you often ask when there's the healing of this man with the legion of demons is why are there pigs? Amen? Why are there pigs? And I've had people even ask me that question. Wait a minute, why are there pigs? Because Jews and pigs don't mix. And that's the point. He's gone over from the Jewish side of the Sea of Galilee to the Gentile side of the Sea of Galilee. And in fact, after the man is healed, he goes and proclaims what Jesus has done to all of the de capitalists? What is the decapitalis decca meaning ten? There are ten cities on the other side that are all gentile cities. So in this one miracle, Jesus is healing another demoniac. We already know that he has authority over the spiritual realm. But when he heals the demoniac on the other side of the lake, we know that he not only has authority over the spiritual realm, but that he has come to exercise that authority among Jews and gentiles alike. This is tremendously significant in his day and age. Do you remember when Nebekanazark comes and he defeats Israel, Judah takes him into captivity. One of the things that he does is he takes all of the implements of worship into captivity as well and puts them in a storeroom. Why do you do that? Why was it that Israel would go out to battle and the Ark would be with them, and others would go out to battle and they would have their various symbols with them, Because until very recent times, when people went to war, they understood that their god fought for them. And if my people defeated your people, it was because our God is more powerful than your god. And it was always understood that gods had this regional power. One of the reasons that Israel would often fall into idolatry was because they were in this land where other gods bales and Asheroth were worshiped, and they believed that they needed to pay homage to the gods of the region so that they could appease them. Certainly, Yahweh he know us how to deliver us in the desert. He's a good desert god. He knows how to give us food in the desert and water in the desert. But now we're in a different region where the rains need to come on time. We're farming people now, we're in agrarian society now, and there are other gods who are better at that than Yahweh is. So we'll worship him, but will worship them as well, and God punishes his people for that unless you look down on them. Please know that you and I do the same thing. There is worship that we offer on Sunday morning, but for many of us on Monday, the worship of our God is not appreciated. And there is an entirely different mask that we're required to put on, and we're more than happy to do it in order to accommodate those who write our paychecks. If you can't say amen, you ought to say out so. Jesus, the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, is performing these miracles among God's people, the Jews. But now he has gone to the other side of the lake, and he heals a gentile man who goes and tells the Gentiles all on the eastern side about this Jesus and what he has done. Because Jesus is a wonderful savior, he saves Jews and gentiles alike. There is no one beyond his reach. There is no one beyond the reach of his healing. There is no one beyond the reach of his power. Jesus is a wonderful savior. That same thing continues for the rest of this chapter. Look beginning at verse sixteen, and when Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side again. Remember I told you when you see that phrase in Mark, you need to understand the geography. He's gone over into the Gentile territory. Now he's come back over into the Jewish territory. A great crowd gathered about him, and he was beside the sea. Then came one of the rulers of the synagogue, Gyrus by name, and seeing him, he fell at his feet and implored him earnestly, saying, my little daughter is at the point of death, and lay your hands on her so that she may be made well and live. And he went with him, and a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. Please don't miss the significance of what is about to happen. First, don't miss the significance that this is the ruler of a synagogue. These are the individuals with whom Jesus has the greatest amount of difficulty in trouble. These are the people who don't believe. These are the people who don't follow. These are the people who want him killed. But not this man. This man is a ruler of a synagogue. Also, please do not allow this fact to pass you by. Being a ruler of the synagogue means he's one of the most religious men around. And yet when he needs God, he has to go to this carpenter, the son of a carpenter, This Jesus who is despised by those in his class. And he can despise Jesus at dinner parties. He can sit around with his friends and laugh at this son of a Jewish carpenter, and laugh at the rabble that follows him around. But when your baby girl is about to die, you don't have time for politics. You go get help wherever help can be found. And this man knows that Jesus is a wonderful savior, so he runs to him. And notice that he says, I want you to come and touch her. Because this man believes that Jesus would just touch her, she would be made well. Then there's this great crowd that throngs in verse twenty five. And there was a woman who had a discharge of blood for twelve years, and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse. Those are words that may ring as significant for you, but I've found that for many they really cannot comprehend this woman's plight, that is, unless they read Leviticus fifteen. Turn with me to Leviticus fifteen and read beginning in verse twenty five. If you want to understand the significance of this miracle and mark, if you want to understand the significance of Jesus being a wonderful savior, read what this woman's life was like for twelve years, beginning at verse twenty five. If a woman has a discharge of blood for many days, not at the time of her menstrual impurity. Again, a woman was considered unclean during her time of menstruation already. This is on top of that. Or if she has a discharge beyond the time of her impurity, all the days of the discharge she shall continue in uncleanness, as in the days of her impurity. She shall be unclean. By the way, what does that mean? That means you don't get to go to church. You are ceremonially unclean. You don't get to approach God for twelve years. She doesn't get to approach God because she is considered unclean, not worthy. I'd like to say that there are people in here just like that, but the fact of the matter is that people just like this usually don't come in here because they don't think they're worthy to be among us. They think we have it all together, they think we do everything right, and they're just not good enough to be here. Every bed on which she lies all the days of her discharge shall be to her as the bed of her impurity, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean, as in the uncleanness of her minstrual impurity. And whoever touches these things shall be unclean. And shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until evening. But if she is cleansed of her discharge, she shall comfort herself seven days, and after that she shall be clean. Now wrap your mind around mark chapter five. Now wrap your mind around what it took for this woman to come into a crowd, because anyone who she touched would be unclean. Anything that she touched would be unclean. Everywhere she lay down, everywhere she sat down, everywhere she went, she was unclean for twelve years. She had spent all that she had because she did not want to be unclean. She wanted to be made well. But more than that, she wanted to be made worthy. She wanted to worship God. She wanted to go to the She wanted to go to the synagogue. She wanted her children to not have to stay away from her for the twenty four hours before they went to the synagogue, so that they wouldn't be made unclean and be unable to go to the synagogue. She wanted her husband to be able to be close to her again so that he wouldn't be unclean. Twelve years, Verse twenty seven, she had heard reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. For she said, listen, what did Giras say? Gira said, you just touch my girl and she'll be all right. She said, if I touch the hem of his garments, I'll be made well. And immediately there's that word. The flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. And Jesus, perceiving him in himself, that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, who touched my garments? And think about this, as a crowd people everywhere, Jesus turns around and say who touched my garments? His disciples said to him what any of us would say. You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say who touched me? And he looked around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and said to him the whole truth. And he said to her daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, healed of your disease. Go home, Touch your babies, touch your friends, go to church, bring an offering before God, like you haven't been able to do for twelve long years, because Jesus is a wonderful savior Verse thirty five. While he was still speaking, there came from the ruler's house some who said, your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further, because certainly it's too late now. I mean, yes, he has authority over demons and the spiritual realm. Yes he has authority over sickness. Yes, he even has authority over sin. Yes he has authority over nature. We can't repire our minds around that. But even the wind and the waves obey him. Yes he has authority here and there. Yes he has authority among Jews and among gentiles. But certainly he has no authority over death. Certainly there must be a limit, and this has to be it. But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the ruler of the synagogue, do not fear, only believe. And he allowed no one to follow him except Peter and James, and John, the brother of James. They came to the house of the ruler of the synagogue, and Jesus saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing, loudly, and when he had entered, he said to them, why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping. And they laughed at him. But he put them outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. Taking her by the hand, he said to her, talitha kumi, which means little girl, I say to you, arise. And immediately the girl got up and began walking, for she was twelve years of age. And they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. There is a second cycle of meta miracles that begins here, and this second cycle of miracles communicates one thing very clearly, that Jesus is indeed a wonderful savior. Yes, he has all of the authority that has been displayed in the first four chapters. He has the authority to teach unlike anyone. He has the authority over sickness, the authority over sin, the authority over the spiritual realm and demonic forces. He has authority over nature itself. And in chapter five Mark says in case you were wondering. There is no limit to his authority. There is no limit to his saving and healing power. Jesus has the authority over you and gentile alike. It doesn't matter what side of the sea you find yourself on. Jesus has authority to heal you, to make you hold, to save you, because he is a wonderful savior. But what ground does he break with the issue of blood and with Jyrus's daughter. I'll tell you what ground he breaks he heals women. Why is that significant? Come with me to the Temple in Jerusalem. And as we go to the Temple in Jerusalem, let's zoom in to the Holy of Holies. And as we zoom in to the Holy of Holies, this place where God's presence uniquely dwelt, we would zoom in on a place that was only visited one time per year by one person, and one person only. The High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies on the day of Atonement in order to atone for the sins of Israel. And on that day he went in with a rope tied to his leg and a bell on him, and he would ring the bell so that everyone outside the Holy of Holies, knew that he was still alive and that God hadn't killed him for his sin. Why is the rope tied to his leg? Because if the high priest goes into the Holy of Holies and God kills him for his sin, no one gets to go in after him until there's a new high priest a year later. So you tie the rope so you can drag him out of the presence of God. Outside of the Holy of Holies is the place where the priests who were all Levites could minister. Beyond that veil there would have been the Court of the Men, where Jewish men could come and offer their sacrifices in worship. Beyond that there was the Court of the Women, where the Jewish women could come, and beyond that there's the Court of the Gentiles, as far away as you could possibly get. So Jesus heals this man, who, if he were to come and worship God, would be as far away as anyone could get. The woman with the issue of blood could have been closer than him, but because she had the issue of blood, she would have actually been farther. She wouldn't have been allowed to come at all. And of course you can't come to worship if you're dead. What is communicated here in this chapter. No matter how far away from God you think you are, Jesus is a wonderful savior. He can save you, he can heal you. Don't doubt, only believe, is what he says to Jyrus, the woman with the issue of blood. What does he say, daughter, your faith has made you whole. What do we do? We believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and we're saved. We repent of our sin, we turn from our sin. We turn to Christ. We flee to him, and we find in him a wonderful savior. But you don't know what I've done. I don't have to know what you've done. I know what He's done and what he's done Trump's what you've done. Yes, but you don't know where I've been. I don't care where you've been. There is no place too far for Jesus to reach, because he is indeed a wonderful savior. All we, like sheep, had gone astray. Each of us had turned to his own way. But God has laid upon him the iniquity of us. All we now know what they did. Not they knew that Jesus was a wonderful savior, but they didn't know why, and they didn't know how until the spotless, sinless Lamb of God demonstrated he could bring all worshippers into the presence of God because he is the lamb who was slain on the high Holy Day. He is the one who atoned for sin, and he is the great high priest everything in that room. This is why when Jesus dies, the veil of the temple is torn into because the lamb who went in to be slain was also the high priest who slays the lamb on behalf of the period of the people. God has made atonement for sin. There is no longer any need, not only for the Holy of Holies, but the court of the priest, the court of the men, the court of the women, the court of the gentiles. It's all gone. Jesus is a wonderful savior, and because of him, there are no walls of division between us as people, or between us and God. If we but believe, if we but come to Him in faith, if we but cling to him, if we but trust in Him and him alone, Jesus is a wonderful savior. There is none like him. There never has been, and there never will be, and there doesn't need to be, because in Him we have all we will ever need. Do you think you're too far, Do you think you're too ruined, Do you think your circumstances are too desperate? Know this, Jesus is a wonderful savior, and he is able to save even you, even me. And beside him there is no other who can save. And this is true for all those who do not doubt, but merely believe, who come to Him in repentance and faith. Let's break. Gracious God, we thank you. We thank you for your goodness and for your kindness and for your mercy. We thank you for your saving and cleansing power. We thank you that there is no one too far for you to reach, that even death is conquered by your beloved son. Grant by your grace that we might turn to him in repentance and faith and be saved. Grant this, we pray, and Christ's name and for his sake. Amen,