[0:00] So if you're physically able and desire to do so would you join with me as we stand together let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby so that I may preach there also for this is what I came for and he went into their synagogues throughout all Galilee preaching and casting out the demons and the leper came to Jesus beseeching him and falling on his knees before him and saying if you are willing you can make me clean moved with compassion Jesus stretched out his hand and touched him and said to him I am willing be cleansed immediately the leprosy left him and he was cleansed and he sternly warned him and immediately sent him away and he said to him see that you say nothing to anyone but go show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses commanded as a testimony to them but he went out and began to proclaim it freely and to spread the news around to such an extent that Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city but stayed out in the unpopulated areas and they were coming to him from everywhere let's pray father we thank you so much for this day father what a glorious day it is to be able to gather together with brothers and sisters in Christ and to open up the word of God with one another lord each and every opportunity is a grand opportunity so we praise you for that we praise you for the freedoms and the possibilities we have of reading the word of God publicly with one another that we may be encouraged and we may be challenged by it so lord now as we have read your word and we have come to it where we see you in your word I pray that you give us eyes to see ears to hear and hearts and minds to desire it and to apply it and may you be glorified through it all we ask it all in Jesus name amen you may be seated this morning we come to our passage before us and we continue our theme of the kingdom focus because if you remember in the 14th chapter it says that when John had been taken into custody
[2:31] Jesus came proclaiming the gospel of God and he proclaimed the kingdom of heaven is here it is the grand difference between the proclamation of John the Baptist in which he was declaring the kingdom of heaven is near and the proclamation of Christ where he says the kingdom of heaven is here there is a huge difference between the nearness of the kingdom and the position of it being presently among them as the kingdom and when Jesus came proclaiming the arrival of the kingdom he was introducing a a whole new series of events that are spoken of in the old testament prophesied throughout the prophetic books of the old testament and even find his fulfillment at the end of the new testament it was the introduction of the final age if you will where the kingdom of heaven comes to dwell among men it is not the eschatological study of the end times but it is the time where things will be brought to their fulfillment and when we looked at that proclamation it was according to the divine timetable it was according to the fullness of times or at the end of times it was the closing of one epic and then it was the introduction of the second or the next epic which would be the time of the kingdom now i know that's a lot to say because jesus came proclaiming the kingdom and then he displayed the power of the kingdom and we saw that last week where we were looking at the power of the kingdom that it could confront the demons that it could control the demons and then it can conform us to become more christ-like that christ is there displaying his power and authority over that which as a representative of the kingdom shows us the power of the kingdom among us but now we come to the passion of the kingdom that is what is the driving passion behind the kingdom that in christ we have been introduced to we have been made joint heirs with him we are a part if we know jesus christ as our lord and savior we are a part of that very kingdom so what should we be passionate about and how should we display that passion now it's easy to lose some of this especially in the gospel of mark because mark moves very rapidly mark moves very fast we saw even in our text this morning the repetition of the word immediately or straightway or you know right away it is writing to an audience that is concerned about action that is what is the king doing he is not writing to an audience that is concerned so much about instruction and knowledge but rather what is the king doing where is he at he is writing to a roman gentile greek-minded audience that wants to know what did this man do why did he come they're not so focused on what did he teach we find the completion of that uh in our other corresponding gospel accounts as we read in matthew luke and then later on into john we see more of the instruction more of the discourse more of the teaching and the filling in the gaps so it is easy for us when we open up the gospel of mark to think that all that jesus came to do and all that he came to be passionate about were all these wonderful miraculous things which he did but we have to be careful we have to caution ourselves there because we know that the theme of mark is mark chapter 10 verse 45 actually we have to go back and see verses 43 and 44 and we see that where jesus is in the 45th chapter the son of man came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many if you were to stay just in that 10th chapter of mark and you were to go back just a little bit further before he makes that declarative statement you will see that jesus has set his face towards jerusalem this is one of the most astounding things i think it's one of the most subtle things that we find in the gospels that we tend to overlook and that jesus had set his face towards jerusalem and they were following after him and it says and they were amazed at the way he was going towards jerusalem
[6:38] and that many who followed him were fearful there was a holy reverent awe that had settled over those who were behind him as he was on his way to jerusalem and then jesus says the son of man came to give his life a ransom for many we need to know what the passion of the kingdom is and we see it here in our text so how do we understand we've seen the proclamation we've seen the power now what is the kingdom concerned about what is it passionate about what is it really focused on and not only what is the king passionate about but what should we be passionate about and how do we ensure that we stay focused on the right things and the proper things number one we see that passion is born out of the posture passion is born out of the posture of our heart look at what it says in verse 35 in the early morning while it was still dark now to really catch the weight of this you have to go back and read the verses which precede this and we would see that when the sabbath had come to an end that was at sundown because the day following this was the sabbath day and so at sundown people began to bring the sick and the needy and the hurting and the demonic the demon possessed people to jesus and he was at peter's house he was at simon peter's house because simon's mother-in-law is sick and he heals her and she gets up and waits on them and all these people keep coming because he is just deeming demon out of the man in the synagogue on the sabbath day and now that the sabbath has ended sun has went down people can travel and carry burdens and they can bring their sick loved ones to him and they are on their way to the house where he is staying and throughout the night they're bringing people they're bringing needy people people people that need his work and throughout the night jesus is healing the sick he's cleansing the unclean he's casting out the demons and he is busy what we don't find is jesus turning anyone away and all these people are coming to him throughout the night yes but very early in the morning while it was still dark on the hills of all of this busyness and on the hills of all of this activity and on the hills of all those who needed him jesus steps aside and he does it very early in the morning while it is still dark he goes away to a secluded place the word secluded there is a word used in scripture often referring to a desert region now we know that around capernaum there is no desert so he's not in a desert region but he went into a desolate area one that no one could find him and it says and he was praying there he was praying there you know passion is often rooted in what we give priority to first thing what we do early in the morning will often dictate and determine what we are passionate about all day if you're honest and you're transparent with yourself how you start your day is how you live your day so well i didn't have a very good day today and you look back and you say well it is because this is what happened to me this didn't go according to plans i have those as much as you do it and sometimes i think well this day will be great and you look back and you say well it wasn't that pleasant of a day it didn't go as i thought it would go and it usually is set in course because it may not be the circumstances that happen throughout the day because circumstances are quite often out of our control but how we respond to those circumstances are very much within our control
[10:39] and it is usually determined by what takes place first but what is given here that christ even though he had been busy and you said well yes he's he's jesus christ he is fully god and fully man and you're absolutely right but in his humanity he was revealing for us still his dependency upon the father through this thing called prayer right he is fully god and fully man but to humanity of christ is absolutely real now can we wrap our minds around that no but can we understand that yes because scripture tells us it happens that in his humanity with all of our weaknesses with all of our our insecurities he experienced that did he know that the way we know it no but did he experience it yes because it says he was tempted in every way as we yet without sin and in his humanity he displayed his grand dependence upon how he started his day and on that day he says and he was praying there it is here that we see the posture of his heart because he knows that what needs to take place on the day before him must be determined before anything else you know mark gives us three occurrences of christ in prayer only three now we know that jesus prayed quite often and we know from the other gospel accounts jesus prays more than three times we knows that we know that it was his custom to withdraw to secluded places and pray we know from the other gospels that he prayed before the selection of the 12 apostles we know that he spent the night in prayer before he named them so it should not catch you by surprise when he names judas iscariot as one of them because he had just spent all night in fellowship with the father knowing that one of the ones that he was appointing would be the one who is the quote unquote son of perdition knowing also that every one of them would forsake him and fail him in that desperate moment of need but the three occurrences that mark gives us of prayer is this one it is the time when he is praying before he walks on the sea and it is the time he prays in the garden of gethsemane so three occurrences of prayer that mark records for us are all three moments of grand decision they are all critical moments that are before christ and before he enters into that moment he first establishes a proper posture of his heart heart why because passion is determined by the posture of our heart what our heart is set upon will undoubtedly be that which we are passionate about and it will dictate and determine this is why my friend it is so critical it's so important what is the very first thing you put into your hearts in the day now i encourage people uh in their daily reading plan i encourage people you do it at your best time people say should i read in the morning or should i read at night i say you do it when is your best time i want you in the word of god and i want you in it at your best some of you are night owls and so you you think better at night you you can comprehend better at night so i said then read your word at night and people love going to bed reading their scripture and they can hold on to it and meditate on it throughout the night my common practice and it has been my practice ever since i became a believer is to read the word of god very early in the morning that the very first thing i do is i get up and i open up the word of god now well i'm just let me back that up i want to be honest with you i start a pot of coffee i get a cup of coffee then i read my bible because i want to be awake when i'm reading my bible
[14:43] now that's my practice there are mornings and there are times where the busyness of life has kept me from that it is not a legalistic attitude but is it is an absolute without a doubt unfailing that when do i do not follow that practice my days do not go as i believe they should there are pressures and pushes upon every heart and upon every mind now do you say well pastor do you always know everything you've read sometimes i read through and sometimes i'm like lord i just i need you to let it settle in i'm just being transparent with you do i go through it because i'm going through the motions no i want to say lord speak to me i want to hear from you father before the day starts but we must first set the posture of our heart and once the heart's posture has been right we get to the second thing the passion of the kingdom is determined by the posture of our heart number two by the purpose we commit to look at what the word of god says and early in the morning while it was still dark jesus got up left the house and went away to a secluded place and was praying there there's his posture verse 36 simon and his companions by the way this is the first mentioning of simon taking leadership role in the gospel maybe it's accidental i don't think so i think it's intentional this is the very first mentioning of peter taking a leadership role i i resonate with peter okay i'm the guy who jumps out of the boat swims to shore i'm also the guy who takes the sword out and cut somebody's ear off i'm the guy who thinks he can walk on water and takes i'm just that guy i resonate some of you resonate with others i resonate with peter this is peter's leadership he says let's go find him and we find here that simon of course they were at his house he takes we don't know how many of them we know there's at least four there and he takes them he's got his brother he's got james and john as well uh so the four of them are looking for him and then they they find christ so we need to understand this why do you need to set your heart posture early well you need to set it early because there will always be someone else in this world who wants to set your course for you if you don't set your posture somebody else will determine it for you and they may even be good people if christ had not secluded in where his friends those he had called to himself were there because simon and the others were looking for him now the word looking there's they had an intended purpose there was something they wanted him to do beyond a shadow of a doubt people will set the course of our life if we're not careful and it says and they found him to him everyone is looking for you so now not only is it simon and those with him that were looking for him everyone is looking for you so now we have this conflict right those that are nearest and dearest to him those whom he has called to himself those whom he has began to entrust himself he's called them to be his disciples believe that he should go here and he should be around everyone else and the popularity is beginning to pick up just a little bit everyone is looking for him friend listen purpose is not determined by popularity jesus wasn't moved in his purpose by what the crowds wanted as a matter of fact if we were to just do a quick study in scripture jesus did more to run the crowds away than he did to bring the crowds in
[18:48] when he had a great multitude following after he fed the 5 000 men which was probably near 10 000 individuals and everybody was following him you know he dismissed them and told them they need to go he spent the night in prayer put his disciples in a boat and they went across the sea but then that's when he walked on water he gets on the other side of the sea and everybody knows that he went there so people are taking boats and everybody goes to the other side and there's this crowd this height of of craziness is around christ he's just fed the multitudes and everybody's there and people are coming from all over the region to see him and he's in this populated area and jesus looks at them and says you didn't come to me because of what i said you came to me because i gave you bread and they were yeah and then he tells them something i mean if you think about it from a quote unquote church growth moment he had everybody right where he wanted it but then jesus says some hard stuff some of the hardest things he says in scripture are right there in the height of his popularity he says the bread from heaven i am the bread of heaven if you don't eat of my flesh and drink of my blood you have no part in me everybody looked and went that makes no sense and they all left him it said except for his disciples see popularity can dictate purpose even in the good things and if churches aren't careful if we move beyond individuals when we move into the corporate world if churches aren't careful it will be the popularity of the culture that determines the purpose of the church and friend that's been going on for years in our own nation i'm not going to quote them for you but i could quote book after book after book of church growth i could quote all kinds of studies i can quote things that are quote unquote good some people that you would agree with i mean we could go throughout the list and we could do a lot of things and every one of them have one thing in common it is the popularity of the culture that dictates the purpose of the church and that's dangerous i don't mean this to be offensive but it has never been my overarching purpose as a pastor to be popular i don't want to be offensive as a person but it is not my desire to be popular it is my desire to be biblical and to be truthful and to be honest now if the lord uses that to draw individuals then that is wonderful but if that truth offends and causes a divide among the world then so be it we see here that everyone is looking for him so how do we have this purpose that he's committed to because look at this everyone is looking for you and jesus said in verse 38 he said to them let us go somewhere else to the towns nearby do you notice that everyone here is looking for you so jesus's response is let us go somewhere else so he's missing the opportunity no really he's not because why were they looking for him they were looking for him because he was healing the sick casting out the demons causing the blind to see and the deaf to hear for everything that he was doing right but look at what it says he said let us go to the towns nearby that i may preach there also the purpose of christ go back to the proclamation he came proclaiming the gospel of god the purpose of christ
[22:50] was to proclaim the good news of salvation through the redemption of man and the suffering of the lamb the purpose was proclaiming the release of the captives that was primary and he makes this declarative statement he says for this is what i came for now in the original language it's a little bit lengthier than that it actually says for this is why i have come out come out come out so the implication of the phrase is that he had come out from somewhere bible translators and scholars are like does that mean that's why he came out of capernaum really the literal reading is that's why he came out of heaven he's declared as the son of god very early on in the gospel of mark he said this is why i came he came to proclaim the gospel which he is the gospel he came to give his life a ransom for many he came so that he may be the sacrifice that would atone for the sin of man and he never lost sight of that purpose the healings the casting out demons these are secondary issues to the primary purpose and you know what i have found is we like to focus on the secondary because it is a little bit more fanatic than the primary we say well we want to see the healings and we want to see the the casting out of demons and we want to see all these wonderful things those are secondary issues what we ought to say is lord may your kingdom be known through the release of man from the sins which enslaved them the greatest healing that could ever take place is for the sinner to be set free the greatest healing that could ever be taking place is the thing that we will find in the second chapter when the paralytic man is laid down before christ and the very first thing he looks at them and says son your sins are forgiven you that is the wonderful healing that is the most magnificent release that is the most magnificent thing that could ever be done and the only reason he tells him to take up his bed and go home is so that everyone would know that the primary thing has already taken place as being evidenced through the secondary but we say if i don't see the healing or if i don't see the answer to the prayers if i don't see this then i simply won't believe the primary purpose of christ is to set men and women free from sin it is the gospel it is the good news that redemption has come everything else is secondary everything else is to highlight the primary paul said it this way paul says i am intent on one purpose if we want to understand to live with passion for the kingdom then we need to know the purpose that god has sent us forth from his presence one of my challenges and admonitions to believers is to know what it is that god has called them to do say well pastor how do i know it what is is is very easy uh you get into the word of god and you let the word of god get into you you spend time with the father god through the son of god and the spirit of god and you hang out with the people of god and all of a sudden those things just begin to naturally take place you're like well i'm not so sure i like that thing where there's been a lot of things that i didn't like doing that's what god wanted me to do at that moment and be intent on that purpose and everything else you do be secondary we need to know the purpose that god has called us for because without that purpose we will not be passionate even in ministry and in pastoral ministry as the lord was calling me into that i had to determine the purpose and had to write it out this is what i know god has called me to do everything else will serve that purpose and if we're not careful
[26:51] we'll let the secondary become the primary and then we'll lose sight you can only be fully committed to one purpose only one and if we want to maintain passion for the kingdom then we get the posture of our heart right we get the purpose that we are committed to right and third and finally we see the passion and the people we touch you cannot separate passion from people and as he was going about fulfilling his purpose it says and a leper came to jesus beseeching him and falling on his knees before him this is one of the individuals that we looked at even here we looked at a series not too long ago called the untouchables that christ touched the untouchables this is one of them the leper came to jesus as he was fulfilling his purpose now the healings and the cleansing are secondary to the purpose of proclaiming the gospel but that does not mean he doesn't do them right and you'll see why here in just a moment so this leper this man who is an outcast and dismissed and unclean the king by society this man who could not go to christ in the synagogue because he's not even allowed to be in the synagogue this man who has no right among the common people this man comes to christ christ has positioned himself and now the one that the world cannot be around has an opportunity to be around christ he comes to him and he falls upon his knees he says if you are willing you can the leper didn't doubt the ability of christ but he is doubting the willingness of christ he knows that i know you can do it i'm just not sure if you're willing to do it now i love this reality and it says in jesus it says immediately he came to him he says move with the compassion in verse 41 move with compassion i need to just be fully transparent with you here because there are some translations you may be reading that does not use the word compassion there because if you go back to some of the oldest manuscripts of scripture and i expected you to be good students of the word so i want to give you everything that the word says and so some translations the oldest manuscripts say mood with anger or mood with indignation and if you're reading from some translations it may say mood with indignation and then the question is what is jesus mad at some would say well he's mad at the leper because he knows that the leper won't follow his his advice he knows that the leper won't do what he tells him to do and there's some stretching and translation there and some stretching and word usage that i just don't find appropriate and i would never say that he's moved with that because of what follows this moving of compassion or moving of indignation something moves christ but it moves him to touch the person whether it be compassion concern for the individual or indignation for the disease that has overcome the individual either way it matters little because this moving of christ moves him to do something and he touches him it says and he touched him and said be cleansed notice in scriptures astounding i only saw this even this morning as i was studying this nowhere in scriptures leprosy ever said to be cured is only said to be cleansed you never go show yourself to the priest for your curing but you show yourself to the priest for your cleansing why because in scripture leprosy is a representation of sin friend you're not cured from sin you're cleansed from sin the blood of the lamb and paul would tell you that that wretched person that we are still resides within us but we are cleansed from it and whatever it is it moved jesus to touch the man now we understand jesus did not have to touch the leper it's a very word of his mouth he created the heavens and the earth what does it say in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was
[30:51] god and the word was among us and we refer to him as the man he well it is that all things were created by him and for him and through him and to him that everything that has been created was created by him that he spoke it into existence that is jesus is the word of god and in the beginning when god said you don't say anything without words so in the beginning when god said the word of god made happen let there be light and then there was light and it says and let the light and darkness be separated and it was separated in two so we see that he created everything with the sound of his voice the sword of the lord that comes from the mouth of christ in the book of revelations is the word of christ that in the great battle of armageddon all he will have to do is say the word and the enemies will fall that when he declares his name in the garden of gethsemane everybody falls on their faces and he tells them to get up and arrest them because he is who he says he is he didn't have to touch him all he had to do was say the word he raises dead men with the word of his voice he cleanses daughters and servants at the word of his voice but he touches the leper why move he say go and show yourself to the priest as a testimony to them a testimony to the authority of the one who is proclaiming the gospel see the healing is a testimonial sign to the purpose what the priest could not do he did with the simple word of his mouth and the proclamation of the kingdom is so we see here that the passion of the kingdom is moved will draw close to those whom nobody else would desire to and they do it not so that they may be seen but they do it because it is a testimony to the truth that they proclaim friend it is simply impossible to proclaim the glories of a savior who forgives and redeems us and restores us and not be a person who will forgive redeem and restore those around us james says how can we say that we love god and not love our fellow man for our love of god is displayed by our love of man you know john 3 16 for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life john wrote other works too do you know first john 3 16 by this will your love for god be known by your love for one another that you would give yourself for your brothers and sisters in christ see john 3 16 says god loved us enough to die for us first john 3 16 says we love him enough to die for others our passion for the kingdom is displayed in the people we touch we have to have a posture of our heart right we have to have our purpose fixed and we can't forget that it is people that we interact with let's pray father we thank you so much for this day we thank you for the opportunity the glorious opportunity we've had to be together
[34:53] i pray that your word would speak to our hearts and minds i pray that we would be moved by it for the glory of the king lord as you've redeemed us and called us we pray that we would be passionate about the kingdom for those who are present who may not know you as lord and savior we pray that you would draw them by your power and your love we ask it all in jesus name amen you