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You Cannot Do It Alone

September 26, 2007

 Bob Bradley

_________________________ 

Mark 1:32-39

 

32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils.

33 And all the city was gathered together at the door.

34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.

35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.

37 And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee.

38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.

39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.

  

The events that we have studied in the past couple of weeks happened on the Sabbath.  Jesus went to the synagogue on the Sabbath and He taught.  As He taught, there was a guy there with an unclean spirit.  We talked about a couple of weeks ago.  Jesus cast out the unclean spirit out of him.  We also know that when He left there how the people were amazed at His authority that He had that even the unclean spirits; even the demons were subject unto His Word. 

 

We studied last week that when they finished the synagogue service they go over to Peter's house at Capernaum.  He goes into Peter's house and we know that a short time after He gets there that they tell Him that Peter's mother-in-law is sick.  We know that He takes her by the hand and raises her up and the fever that she had was gone.  She then gets up and ministers unto Him.  In other words, she gets up and cooks them something to eat. 

 

We are still yet on the Sabbath day and still yet in Capernaum.  Think about something.  Had we been living during the time of Jesus in the city of Capernaum, we may have met Him.  It is a great possibility that in this city that we could have met Him walking the streets, in the shops, or He may have done some carpenter work for us.  I was thinking there were some people who saw Him, but they did not think about who He was.  They just let what He may have said; go in one ear and out the other.    However, those that saw Him walk the streets of Capernaum and rejected Him are going to see Him again one day.  They are going to meet Him again, but it is going to be on different terms the next time that they are going to meet Him. 

 

We have an awesome privilege today to be able to know Him personally.  I never had seen the Lord Jesus Christ with my natural eyes, but I have sure felt Him with this flesh and I know that He has saved me and I know that He has changed me.  I know that for sure. 

 

Here we are and the Sabbath has ended.  The Bible says:

 

32  And at even, when the sun did set...

 

Mark is telling us here that the sun has gone down.  The Sabbath ended at six o' clock in the afternoon.  That gave people the opportunity to bring their sick.  You could not do many things on the Sabbath day.  You could just travel so far, about an eighth of a mile.  You could not carry anything on the Sabbath day and you could not do any work.  There were many things that you could not do so when the Sabbath ended that gave these people the freedom to bring their folks that are sick to where Jesus is at.  Now this is after six o' clock in the evening.  He has been teaching.  He's been healing down through this day.  Now when the sun goes down and it is towards evening time; the Bible says:

 

32...they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them there were possessed with devils.

 

"They" that Mark was talking about are the two or three hundred thousand people of the city that lived here in Capernaum.  Jesus is in Peter's house.  Now when they have heard the fame, this city has heard what He has done, they have saw what He has done, they heard about the man possessed with devils in the synagogue.  They heard about these different things that He had been doing so now they are bringing their sick unto Him at evening time.

 

Sometimes, in the evening hours, we want to prop our feet up on a chair and go to sleep sometimes.  Jesus is accessible all the time.  Not all of us are accessible all the time.  Not all of us want to do something to benefit someone else all the time.  However, Jesus Christ, we have an access unto Him at any time, and any day. 

 

The Bible says that they brought unto Him all that were diseased.  When they begin to bring the crowd...when you read this in the original, it tells you that it was one steady stream.  It was not just a few people here.  It just was not a hand full of people here, but it was a steady stream of people here.  They were coming for Jesus Christ to touch their family. 

 

Our physical needs--are just that, they are needs--however, sometimes, we look at our physical needs and let them outweigh our spiritual needs.  God never tells us anywhere in His Word that He would make us comfortable.  God never told us in His Word anywhere that if I were to follow Him that I would have fame.  He never told us that He would do that.  However, He did tell us that He would take care of us; give us the grace that we need to go through whatever we need to go through.  We understand all of that, but sometimes we get our spiritual needs and our physical needs, flip-flopped.  We get to thinking that the things for this body are more important than our spiritual, or in other words, than our soul.  They bring in here thousands and thousands of people lined up to get to where Jesus is.  The Bible says that they were diseased.  It did not make a difference what kind of disease they had Jesus healed them.  It makes no difference what kind of disease it was or how it looked with the positions.  Jesus Christ does not operate on the level of this world. 

 

It does not matter what we have.  It does not matter what kind of ailment that we may have, but if it is in the will of God for us to be healed then God will heal us.  I believe that.  I know that.  It may not come in my time.  It may not come in my time frame, but if it is God's will for me to be healed then God will heal us.  Moreover, if God does heal us, then God heals us for a reason.  It is not just to sit down, take it easy, and say that I do not have any pain any longer.  God heals us that we can go to work for Him.  That is what Mary did. 

 

Mary was healed of this fever and she gets up and goes to work.  We get healed today, and God does some great things for us today and the first thing that we want to do is sit down. 

 

32...they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 

 

These folks understood there was nothing that Jesus, could not do.  They understood that whether they were possessed with devils or whatever disease they may have had they knew that if they could just get them to where He is at that they could be healed and it did not matter what it was.  That is a good lesson for us.  Even though the majority of people did not believe Jesus and they turned up their nose at Him, but there were people here that knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that if they could just get their folk to Jesus that they could be healed.  They knew that if they could get their folk to Jesus, these that were possessed with devils; they knew that they could be healed.  That is something that we should think about.  That is a lesson that we should learn.

 

We may have family, husbands, wives, children, neighbors, co-workers who may have some great ailment.  Do we really think about getting them to Jesus?  Get them to Jesus, not necessarily for their ailment, but for their soul.  Do we ever really think about getting them to Jesus?  Do we ever really think about getting them there so that they can be saved?  Do we really care about our co-workers?  Do we really care about those we meet?  Are we really taking our children before Almighty God in prayer?  Are we really doing that?  That is a good question.  If I am not concerned enough about them to pray for them then I am not really concerned about them.  If I am not concerned enough about them to take them before Almighty God in prayer then I am not worried about them a whole lot.  They do not mean anything to me.

 

33  And all the city was gathered together at the door. 

 

The city, the whole place was surrounding Peter's house.  Could you imagine...here Jesus is and literally, thousands and thousands of people were lined up outside surrounding the house?  That would have been a sight to see.  Now here Jesus is ...flesh just like you and I.  He got tired just like you and I get tired.  He had a body of flesh just like you and I do.  He had been ministering all day and He had been teaching all day long and now here it is up in the even and it is dark outside and there are thousands and thousands of people here wanting a piece of Him.  Wanting to get to where He is at so that they could touch Him. 

 

34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.

 

When you go back to Matthew 8:15 or 16; it talks about this same incident and it tells you that He healed all of them.  The Bible says that He healed "...all that that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out all the devils and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew Him..."  He did not turn anyone away.  He did not tell anyone that his or her case was too bad.  He did not tell anyone that they needed to come back in a week or two.  He did not tell any of them that they had been too mean.  He did not do that.  The Bible says that He healed all that were sick and He cast all the devils from those who had them. 

 

He is the same Savior that we are serving today.  His power has not diminished.  The healing that took place in these services that He was at, and these guys that were healed had the same diseases that we have today.  The demons and the devils that were possessing these people were cast out and came from the same source.  Why do we think that things are too hard for God?  Why do we think, when we think about our family members, that are lost...and who are forty or fifty years old and we say that we have asked them many times to come to church and they never came and will never come and you just write them off.  Where would you be at if someone forgot about you?  Where would you be at if someone had quit praying for you?  We would be lost.

 

Do not ever give up on people.  Do not ever think cases are too hard for God.  They are not too hard for God.

 

35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.

 

I do not know how long He ministered.  I do not know how long into the night that the crowd kept coming and the multitudes kept coming.  However, at some point, the crowds were gone and He gets to lay down for just a few minutes, or maybe a couple of hours to get just a little bit of rest.  Probably many of us, if we had been up late the night before, the first that we want to think about doing is sleeping until noon the next day.  Some of us do not have to be up the night before to sleep until noon the next day. 

 

He Jesus is...He has ministered all day the Sabbath day.  He has worked.  He has healed.  He has taught.  He has saved.  He has done all these things. 

 

It does take a toll on you.  You might think that it is not a big deal to do something for an hour or two.  It will zap you.  I did not think that was the case either until a few years ago when we went over to the TV station. You went over there and you had to tape five, thirty minute, services back to back.  You would talk for thirty minutes and they would let you get a drink of water.  Then you would talk for thirty minutes more.  That would not be anything for you but for two and a half hours you did that.  When I was done, I was absolutely worn out.  I could not imagine the virtue or power that went forth from Jesus in healing.  The Bible says that. 

 

Do you remember when He healed the lady that had the issue of blood?  The Bible says that virtue had gone out of Him.  That is power.

 

The strength that He had was being expended in the service that He was doing.  The Bible says, "...in the morning, rising up a great while before day..."  When you look at that, it is talking about the third or forth watch of the night, which would be between three o’clock and six o' clock in the morning.  It is probably closer to three o' clock in the morning.  When you read this in the original, it tells you that He is up early in the morning.  "...rising a great while before day..."  He went out and departs into a solitary place.  He leaves Peter's house.  He goes outside the city of Capernaum and the Bible says that He goes into a solitary place.  It might have been an empty building.  It might have been out in the countryside here where there is no one.  I do not know where He went.  All I know is that it was a place where He could be all alone and pray.

 

There have been many time in my life that I have prayed going down the road in my automobile.  I have prayed on bulldozers.  I have prayed on backhoes.  I prayed in airplanes and I have prayed in many different places.  Many times when I go down the road, there are people beside of me, in front of me, or behind me.  Alternatively, might be sitting beside me.  They might be sitting beside of me in the car.  That kind of praying is okay but what I want us to see is that our prayer life needs to go deeper than that.  Our prayer life needs to be something that is deeper than just praying when I go down the road.  Anytime we pray is great.  However, there needs to be a time in my life and in your life that we will get to a solitary place where we can go where no one else is at and shut the door behind us.  Pull the door in behind us to where there is no outside interference and we can talk to God. 

 

It does not take very much for us to be distracted.  I will guarantee you if you are going down the road and you are trying to pray and someone is blowing the horn, it will distract you.   Whatever you are doing, if something happens out of the ordinary it will distract you.  If you are trying to pray in the living room floor and the kids are over there watching “Sponge Bob" and something happens then that is going to distract you. 

 

He was getting ready to start on a missionary journey.  Jesus is going to start on a preaching tour in Galilee.  He is about to start this tour.  As I have studied, in Galilee itself, there are probably at least 200 different cities that were there.   Four of the major cities we talked about Sunday night.  There were 200 different cities just in this area.  Jesus Christ was going to go to these cities and preach in all these cities.  He was going to go there and preach in all these cities.  He knew that He could not do this without being strengthened by the hand of Almighty God.  He knew that He could not embark on this evangelistic mission and not have the power, strength and be energized by the Holy Spirit of God.  He knew that He could not do it.  He knew that He had to spend time alone with God to where that He could be re-energized because this evangelistic effort that He is going to embark on; people's lives, eternal souls were at stake.  He was going to make sure that everything that He was going to do to the very best of His ability. 

 

He knew that He needed to be strengthened.  Many times we read in the scriptures where the angels came and ministered unto Him, strengthened Him.  Jesus knew that He needed to be strengthened. 

 

We have, every one of us at this church if we are living as we should be living, there are opportunities for us.  If I am living as I should be living, God is going to give me, allow me, and bless me with opportunities to do some great things for Him.  Collectively or as a whole group, God is giving us and allowing us the privilege of doing some great things for Him.  Do you believe that?  I know that.  We need to understand that if Jesus Christ was about to start on this missionary journey and He knew that He had to spend time alone with His Father to be strengthened then why would we think that we can do it without praying and without being strengthened, and without the power of God in our lives.  Why would we think that?  It cannot be done. 

 

The job that we have here is too great for us.  I do not care how strong you are.  I do not care how spiritual you think you may be.  You cannot live and make it to heaven by yourself.  Jesus gets alone with His Father to pray.  He knew that He needed to be strengthened.  I want to encourage you tonight, if I ever encouraged you all, as in Campbell Chapel, to pray, it is now.  We have some great opportunities at this church that God is giving to us.  We cannot do it with our own strength.  With our own strength that we have, we could muster it all together and we absolutely cannot do it by ourselves.  It is an absolute impossibility.  When we will live and do, what we need to do and when we will allow the presence of Almighty God to flood our lives then He will empower us to do those things that we cannot do ourselves.  It is time that we moved from the natural things and get up here to where God wants us to live at.  Let Him show us what He can do in our lives if we will just let Him. 

 

We want to beat around the bush a lot.  We want to make excuses why we do not do this, why we do not that, or why we are not more spiritual.  We want to blame it on our husbands, we want to blame it on our wives, and we want to blame it on our jobs and lot of different things.  However, the reason that you are not spiritual, it is not your husband's fault, it is not your wife's fault, and it is not your kids fault; the reason that you are not spiritual is you.  God wants us to get to a place that when He asks us to do some things that we cannot do and He knows that then we will allow Him and we will trust to the place that He will do those things for us.

 

Jesus is getting ready to preach.  The Bible says

 

36 And Simon and they that were with him followed after him.

 

That means that Simon Peter wakes up and he sees that Jesus is not there and they hunt Him down, just as we would hunt an animal down.  They found Him and they said to Him that "...all men seek for you..."  Here He is out here in the morning three or four o'clock in the morning praying and Simon Peter wakes up, they chase Him down and find Him.  "What are you doing out here?  All men are looking for you.  All men are seeking for you.  Everybody here in Capernaum is looking for you.  What are you doing out here?"

 

God's way of doing things are different than the way that we think they should be done.  Peter though, Lord, what are you doing out here in a solitary place?  You should be back in Capernaum where all these people are.  People are listening, following you and being saved and their lives are being transformed.  Peter did not understand some things. 

 

38 And he said unto them, Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth.

 

What do you think about that?  If He had been a Free Will Baptist, He would have stayed in Capernaum, because He was getting a big following there.  People are coming out to hear Him.  Peter comes out and says, "...all men are seeking for you..."  Jesus said, "...Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I forth."  Jesus told him that He had to go to these other places.  Jesus could have stayed here for the next three years, went to Jerusalem, and died.  He could have done that but these other 200 towns in Galilee would have never heard a thing about Him.  They would have never saw Him.  They would have never saw Him do great things as He did.  Jesus understood that other people needed to hear the message of the kingdom of God.  There is no doubt that He took great pleasure in healing people and casting out their demons, the greatest pleasure He took in was when someone decided to follow Him and recognize Him as their Savior.  That is what is important.

 

If we die today of some ailment, or if we die of some dreaded disease where we have to lay and suffer and suffer and suffer; that is not going to be pleasant.  That does not mean that we are not saved.  It does not mean that at all.  It does not mean that God does not love us.  The greatest thing that we need to remember is that if we are saved today, our eternal soul, where we are going to live at eternally is more important than where I am going to stay at for a short time here on planet earth. 

 

Life is short, Eternity is not.

 

39 And he preached in their synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils.

 

When He cast out devils that meant He cleaned them up.  When He saved you, He cast the devils out of you. 

 

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