How remarkable is the life of
the Lord Jesus by the example he gives us. We have already
seen many things in this regard in our studies in the first chapter
of the Gospel of Mark. Today we come to verse 36. The Lord Jesus had spent the
night probably at Simon's, and all morning he had gone to a
deserted place to pray, and no one knew where he had gone. So
we read from verse 36, "...Simon and those who were with him went
in search of him. And when they found him, they
said to him, Are you all looking for him? He answered them, Let
us go elsewhere, to the neighboring towns, that I may also preach
there, for it is for this that I have come out." What do we
see in this passage? First, the Lord Jesus was not
looking for popularity. No, on the contrary, he fled. Everyone was looking for him. Peter said to him, but this is
not what interests him. He had a mission to accomplish,
and to do so, we note first of all that he did not allow himself
to be influenced by the crowd. The crowd had needs, of course,
but there were other people in other neighboring towns who also
had needs, and the Lord had to go to them too. and did not let himself be influenced
either by the praise of the crowd, for men sometimes acclaimed it,
and we have an example of this on the day he entered Jerusalem,
I sing you a hymn. No, the praise of the crowd did
not interest him, and it would seem that the pleading of the
crowd to stay at home did not interest him either. for the Lord Jesus did not come
into this world to announce the Gospel to a single family, to
a single city, or to a single region. He had to go everywhere
to announce the good news of salvation that God had foreseen
for men through his work on the cross. We also see that the Lord
did not allow himself to be influenced by his disciples. who did not
understand why he wanted to leave. It was not reasonable to leave,
he said. There are many people here who want to listen to you
and they need you. They had a house to stay in Capernaum. It was that of Peter. There was
also a place of preaching where he could preach. It was the synagogue. There was also a crowd who needed
his message and who wanted to listen to it. In Luke chapter
4, verse 42, we read, He wanted to hold him back so that he would
not leave them. But this did not tempt the Lord. It is often difficult to know
the will of God. But when God reveals it to us,
we must obey Him and not listen to neither the voice of men nor
our human reasoning. and of this we have an example
in the life of our Lord Jesus. If he had listened to the voice
of the crowd, or the reasoning of his disciples, he would not
have left Capernaum. But he did, and he brought his
message of good news everywhere in the country, and even to the
cross on Mount Calvary in the city of Jerusalem. It is for
this reason that he came into the world, and he says it in
verse 38 of the Gospel of Mark, the first chapter, where he says,
It is for this reason that I came out. Why? Out of where? Certainly
not just out of the house, but out of his father's house. It
is for this reason that he came into the world to preach the
Gospel, and he did it. Verses 38 and 39 of the first
chapter of the Gospel of Mark tell us what the Lord did when
he left Capernaum to go elsewhere in the land. The Lord said, Let
us go elsewhere, to the neighboring towns, that I may also preach
there, for it is for this that I have gone out. And he preached
it in the synagogues throughout Galilee, and he chased away the
demons. The Lord Jesus spends his time
in the preaching. For Christ, the preaching was
a very important thing. He says it in verse 38, Because
it is for this that I have come out. It is for this that he has
come into the world. The Lord says the same thing
in the Gospel of Luke, in chapter 4 and in verse 43, where we read,
It is also necessary that I announce to others the good news of the
kingdom of God, for it is for this that I have been sent. For the apostle Paul, too, the
preaching was very important. And we read in his first epistle
to the Corinthians, chapter 1 and verse 17, It is not to baptize
that Christ sent me, it is to announce the Gospel, and this
without the wisdom of language, so that the cross of Christ is
not made vain. What was the purpose of the ministry
of the apostle Paul? It was not to baptize, he says,
it was to announce the Gospel. The preaching for Paul was the
most important thing. as it was the most important
thing for the Lord himself. It is important to note this. In today's world, people attach
very little importance to preaching. Besides, many people say that
preaching is outdated, and that we must announce the Gospel by
other means. It is also said that the most
important thing is to do miracles. But this was certainly not the
most important thing in the ministry of the Lord Jesus. He came to
preach, to announce the good news, and miracles were very
secondary to this. Let us not attach too much importance
to these things today. People run after those who profess
to do miracles, but there are very few today who run after
the preachers of the Gospel, and yet this is the most important
thing. And also note that the sacraments
are not the most important things. There are people who attach an
enormous importance to the sacraments. Take the baptism, for example.
They would not think of not baptizing their children. They would not
think of not attending once or twice a year at Mass or at the
Holy Saint. But do you know that the Lord
Himself did not do any baptism? The Bible tells us this in the
Gospel of John, chapter 4, verse 2. However, Jesus did not baptize
himself, but his disciples did. No baptism? Is that possible? The Bible says so. No, for the
Lord, baptism was not the most important thing. And it was not
the Holy Saint either. because we know that he administered
it only once to his disciples, and it was just before he left,
to die. Do not attach too much importance to these things, but
let us attach importance to what is essential, and that is the
preaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The baptism and the Holy
Saint are important. because these are things that
the Lord has taught us and commanded us to practice in our churches.
But neither the baptism, nor the holy scene save us. What saves us is Jesus Christ.
And how would we know the Gospel if it is not by the preaching
of this Gospel? Thus, the preaching must be central
in our churches. and we must make sure that when
the message of the Gospel is preached, it is faithfully preached,
because this is not always the case. Very often in our churches,
we hear discourses on such and such a subject, and sometimes
even political discourses. No, the Church's duty is to announce
the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and nothing else. The purpose of
the preaching should not be to convince men to change their
opinion, but to convince them of sin, so that God changes their
hearts and they leave sin to turn to God. This is the purpose
of this preaching today. to show you that we can be attached
to something other than the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We can be attached
to the miracle, to the sacrament, and not to Jesus Christ himself. I exhort you, if you are one
of those who have not yet turned to the Lord Jesus in repentance
and faith, do so today. This is the very center of the
message of the Gospel that we must preach. Repent and turn
to Jesus Christ, and then follow him to be a faithful disciple. We are always very happy to receive
letters from our listeners. If you have a problem or if you
think that we can help you, write to us and we will be very happy
to answer you. Here is the address to which
you must write. Listen to the truth, Postal Box 505 71322 Chalon-sur-Saône
It's written C-H-A-L-O-N France I repeat this address Echo de
la Vérité Postal Box 505 71 322, Chalon-sur-Saône, France. Montagne des ailes, je les sors
aujourd'hui. Jusqu'à part de la gennelle,
je les sors aujourd'hui. Que la parole à l'autre cône,
ouvre la salle de parole. Jesus.