I invite you to turn with me
this morning to Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one. I titled the lesson this morning,
A Day with the Savior. That's what it describes. He
went in that synagogue and he cast out those demons out of
that man and from that point his fame spread abroad all over
that countryside and then it talks about the rest of his day
here in these verses, in verses 29 through 34. My thought was when I read through
this, what must it have been to have walked with Him for a
day, to have walked with the Son of God for a whole day, and
hear Him just the way you're hearing me this morning, and
see Him, and see those lepers cleansed, and see the blind. able to see and to see those
things that he did and to walk with him for a whole day. And
that's what I want to talk to you about this morning. You know,
just to be in his presence and feel his presence and feel his
power. To see him in action. And yet in a very real and spiritual
sense We do that every day. Every day. And faith perceives
that. It may not perceive it all at
the beginning, but the longer you're here and the stronger
faith gets, the more you're able to perceive his presence and
power. And we walk with him. As you
have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. established,
grounded in the faith, established in Him. He preaches to us. He cleanses
us. He casts out our demonic spirits. He gives us life from the dead.
We walk with Him. We walk with Him. And spiritually,
I've seen everything the disciples saw. I've seen the blind giving
sight. I was blind. spiritually blind,
and he gave me sight. I'm able to see. I see what other... I read it to folks now. Well,
I don't see that. Well, I do. Don't you? He gave me eyes to see. I don't
have to stand there like this and speculate and imagine and
do all those things that blind folks do. I can see. I've seen the blind given sight.
I've seen the dead raised. I've seen the lepers cleansed,
the false religion exposed for what it is. I've seen disciples
chosen and called and preachers ordained. I've seen the storms
calmed. I've had storms in my own life
that I thought surely I was going to perish and yet he just It
just calms the storms. Calms the storms. I've seen divine requests answered. I've seen everything that they
saw physically, I've seen spiritually. But what must it have been to
been standing at his side. And that's what I want us to
look at this morning and try to draw a comparison between
that day and this day that we live in. After demonstrating the glory
and power of God in the salvation of a sinner, leaving that whole
congregation bewildered and amazed His fame, it says, spread abroad
throughout all the region round about Galilee. And then it says here in verse
29, now leaving the synagogue, they entered into the house of
Simon and Andrew with James and John. Now Jesus of Nazareth had no
job. He didn't have a job. I know he was raised under a
carpenter. I suspect he knew how to build
things and do things, but he had no job. He wasn't employed
working with his hands. He had no bank account. He had
no possessions. The scripture said he had nowhere
to lay his head, yet he never wanted for anything, did he?
Isn't that amazing? He never wanted for anything.
When he got hungry, most of the time the meal was already prepared
and they were waiting for him. When he needed to rest, there
was a house. When he needed to preach, there
was a synagogue. There was a seashore. There was
a ship. The means were always provided. He wanted for nothing,
and yet he had nothing in his name. He didn't own anything.
And yet he owned the whole world. When he was tired, there was
always a willing soul to offer him a bed. And when he was hungry,
there was always a willing soul to set before him a table. And then notice this. There was for all his followers
the same thing. All those that walked with him
entered into this house. His disciples, all of them, all
four of them that he just called, they walked in this house. What a true disciple has, he
enjoys, But it belongs to the master, don't it? When he says,
I have need of it, we just willingly give it to him. Here it is. Here
it is. I'll never forget that illustration
Brother Mahan gave years ago. He was preaching on the Pearl
of Great Price, and when he finally, decided that that pearl was worth
it all, he said, okay. He said, this is everything I
have. Put his money, bag of gold or
whatever he had, he put it up there. He said, well, he said, all I
got left is my job. He said, oh, you have a job?
One job. And Found out he had a car. Oh, he
said one car. Had a family. Oh, one family. Wrote that down. All that he
had, he got. When he's done, he said, now
you just hang on to this stuff. But he said, if I ever send somebody
by that has need of that car, you won't mind loaning it to
me, would you? Huh? You won't mind letting him. If
he comes by and he's hungry and I send somebody by, you're not
going to mind if he eats with you, are you? If I want to take one of your
family home to be with me, they're mine. You won't mind, will you? Huh? Hm. What a privilege to have Christ
come into your house. And that's what he did. He went
into their house and have him to eat with you and commune with
you and grant you to have his presence. But when he got there,
there was a problem. There always is. There always
is. Verse 30, Simon's wife's mother
lay sick of a fever, and Anan, that is, at once, very quickly,
they tell him of her. When there's trouble in the believer's
house, he quickly tells the Lord on him. When there's trouble,
things out of his control. He quickly tells the Lord. Who
else could do anything about it? Huh? She'd been laying there with
a fever. They loved her. If they could have done anything
about it, they'd already done it. But who else could do it? Nobody else could do it. And
that's why we were going to tell him, because we can't do it.
If we could do it, we would, but we can't. When trouble arises
in the believer's house, he runs quickly and tells the Lord. He's the great physician. He
can do something about it. And I wish I could train this
head and this heart to seek the Lord first and then look for
the means. Seek Him first. Go to Him first. That's what
they did. They went to him first. Now, they didn't go to him and
warn him and ask him to, now, you better use some caution. You might get whatever she's
got. They didn't tell him that. He was bigger than that, wasn't
he? No, they just hurried to tell
him, hoping he'd do something for her. And you know, we've
got loved ones in our lives and some even in our homes that are
troubled. They're troubled. They have trouble
beyond their control and beyond our control. Some of them don't
know the Lord. Some of them are dead in trespasses
and sin. Some of them are blind. You say, I just don't know what
to do about it. Tell him. Tell him. He don't want to do
anything about it. Tell him. And then do what he
tells you to do. Look to a I don't know what it
is about us, but something goes on and we run to a counselor.
We run to a psychiatrist. We run to a specialist. We run.
Go to him first. Go to him first. I guarantee
you he knows more than any counselor. He's the counselor. That's his
name. Wonderful counselor, the mighty
God. Make haste first, and tell the
Lord. And they'd already felt the power
of His call, and they'd seen His grace exampled. But haven't
we experienced those same things? So they were on, and they told
him of her. Now watch this. And he came. That's what happened to me. Somebody
told him, and he came. He came. I don't know why we doubt that
he will. Scripture said we're encompassed about by so great
a cloud of witnesses. My soul looked back over the
last 6,000 years. How many examples do you need? Lay aside these weights and the
sin, that sin of unbelief that does so easily beset us and let
us run with patience. The race that is set before us,
now watch this, looking unto Jesus. Go to him first, look
to him. He's the author and finisher
of our faith. And I'm telling you this, we've
got no excuse for our unbelief. We have the full canon of scriptures
to read. We have 4,000 years of collective
preaching and examples of His grace. We have His word, we have
His pastor's words, and we have the experience of grace in our
own heart. Call on Him. Call on Him. I don't know if he'll hear me.
He delights to show mercy, doesn't he? He delights to show mercy. And then there's something else
exampled here in this, and that is prayer for the sick. We're
told in the scriptures, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous
man availeth much. That ought to encourage us to
pray, shouldn't it? Pray for these ones who are sick.
Pray for these ones who are lost. It availeth much because prayer
is a means ordained of God. Our Lord prayed. In fact, after
this day is over, the very next morning, he went off by himself
to pray. That's the very thing, that's
how he started the next day. James said, is there any sick
among you? Let him call for the elders of the church and let
them pray over him. Pray over him. What good can
they do? They can do a lot of good when
God ordains it. He says, the prayer of faith
shall save the sick and the Lord shall raise him up. And that's
exactly what happened. in this house. They ran and told him and he
came. Now listen, and took her by the
hand and lifted her up. You know something odd I saw
here? She still had the fever. Fever
wasn't gone yet. He just went straight into the
bed where she was, took her by the hand and lifted her up. Lifted
her up. And what he demonstrated here
in the physical, he often does today in the spiritual. He lifts
us up out of our troubles and out of our diseases and out of
our spiritual inability and takes hold of us and lifts us up. That's exactly what he does.
He lifts us up and his disciples knew it. I hope we do. I hope
we do. And then look at this. This woman
who moments before couldn't do anything, having been lifted
up, the fever leaves her and she begins to minister to those
in the house. Everyone that God raises up becomes
a minister of some kind. Some work with their hands to
give to them that have needs. Some are devoted to support their
local assemblies and enable their pastors to have that precious
time needed to study and pray. Others care for the physical
needs, both of the people and whatever the building requires
that they meet in. We all minister. And sometimes
it's just the willingness to listen. Just to not say anything. Just go and sit down and listen. Listen. Let them pour their heart
out. Let them tell you what their
trouble is. Listen. And then sometimes it's
just your presence and a smile, and you don't have to do either. It's just a smile. It's somebody's
presence. Kathy was laying in the bed comatose. She hadn't spoken in two days. Walter and his wife come to visit.
Myla walked in the room and Kathy opened her eyes and said, hi. Sometimes that's all it is. Just
be there. Just be there. And now comes the evening. Verse 34. And it even, when the sun did
set, They brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed
with devils. They filled up the house with
people with troubles beyond their control. And all the city, verse
33, was gathered together at the door, and he healed many
that were sick of diverse diseases. and cast out many devils, and
he suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. Now this was the end of the day.
The sun was fully set, and our Lord is yet actively engaged
in the work that His Father sent Him to do. Jesus Christ was a man. Hebrews
5.2, a man compassed with infirmity. That's what the scripture said. He was a man with a man's hunger. Somebody said, well, it wasn't
nothing for him to fast. It's just as much for him to
fast as it was for you. Wasn't nothing for him. He was
the son of God. He could have went from now on
without drinking. Huh? This was the God-man. He needed water. His body needed
water just as much as ours does. He had a man's feelings. He felt tiredness. He felt cold
and heat. But there was no quit in him.
There just was no quit in him. We throw our hands up, don't
we? I'm just tired. There was no quit in him. I must work while it's day, he
said. Night comes when no man can work. He was fully devoted, fully committed,
and fully engaged in this ministry. Now here's what I want you to
see. I want you to see the similarities of that night compared to our
day. There was darkness everywhere
in the land except in this house. Huh? Isn't that what it says? The sun had fully set. It was
dark. There's darkness everywhere except
in this house. But in this house was the light
of the world. This is the light that lighteth
every man that cometh into the world. There was divine light,
pure light, spiritual light, any way you want to look at light.
Even the sun was a symbol of him. He's light. This is the
very light of God in this house. But there's no light anywhere
else. It's in this house. Darkness everywhere in the land
except in the house of his disciples. Well, what about today? Is there light anywhere else around
here this morning except in this place? Any place you know of? I don't know of any place. But
there's light here. All those born of Adam, ruined
by the fall, deceived by satanic religion, walk in the vanity
of their mind, having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life
of God through the ignorance that's in them because of the
blindness of their heart. And when God saves a sinner,
he tells us that he calls him out of darkness into his marvelous
light. Huh? Isn't that what happens? He tells them, disciples, you
are the light of the world. And when God saves sinners, 1
Corinthians 4, 6, it is described this way. For God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. There was light in this house.
Light in this house. And the gospel we preach today
is the light of the gospel. It's the very light of God that
He shined in our hearts. The light of the glory of God.
And Paul said, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to the law.
in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds of them
that believe not, now watch this, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. There wasn't any light anywhere
else, just in this house. Just in this house. There's always light in the house
where Christ dwells. Is that right? Always light. And so this house was no different
than any other house till Christ entered in. When he entered in,
light entered in. Now it's a house of light. And
all the city was gathered together at the door of this house. The House of Light, where Christ
dwells, is a house, it's the first thing I want you to see,
with an open door. With an open door. Folks are not bored, they're
not forbidden to see. Has an open door. Open to who? Well, it says in
our text in Mark 1.32, they brought unto him all that were diseased,
and them that were possessed were devils, and a crowd on top
of that. They brought all the hard cases
to Christ. Christ never seen any temporary
ailments. They never brought him, Never
brought anybody to him with a headache. They brought lepers to him. They didn't bring people with
splinters in their hand for him to pick out or somebody with
the flu. They brought the dead. My son's
dead. If thou canst do anything, can
you do anything for him? Oh, my son. They brought all
the hard cases. They brought blind men and lepers
and paralyzed folks and folks deaf and dumb. They brought to them what others
gave up on. Sinners. Vile sinners. Fallen sinners. Ruined sinners.
They brought them all to Him. All the hard cases. Now watch this. and he healed
many and cast out many devils. Now
let me make some applications here. If you bring into the house of
light, into the disciples' house, the house where Jesus dwells,
I cannot promise you that he'll heal everyone you bring. But I can promise you this, they
won't be healed if you don't. Well, you got to lose. If you bring into this sanctuary
your friends and relatives possessed with the spirit of antichrist,
I cannot guarantee you that Christ will cast out those foul spirits,
but he cast out many. And he don't change. He said,
I'm the same yesterday, today, and forever. But if you don't bring them in,
nobody else can do anything for them. This was the master. This was the savior. This was
the Christ. And so they brought all their
hard cases to him. They brought all the demon-possessed. And this great crowd gathered
to see and hear what this man called Jesus could do. And our
house is situated by the providence of God between Louisville and
Stamps. And you can bet the eyes of this
community is watching this little church to see what God might
do. We're a mystery to them. We're
a mystery to them. We don't mix with these other
churches. We don't preach the same thing
they preach, and they're watching. They're watching. They're watching to see what the Lord might do. Now this crowd hadn't come through
the door. They weren't in the house of
light. They were on the outside looking in. But they wanted to
see. They wanted to see. Oh, then let me determine this
in my heart to preach Christ. Christ crucified. Christ, the
end of the law for righteousness to all those that believe. Christ,
our substitute. Christ, our representative. Christ,
the great physician. Let me determine in my heart
to preach Christ. Just might be that Christ will
come again and save many and cast out many demons. Nobody
else gonna do it. Nobody else gonna do it. So let's
run till the end. and then preach him, let his
light fill the house. Just might be God'll speak and
command his light to shine in their hearts and they'll see
that glory and they'll hunger for it and they won't quit coming. They'll come to hear, they'll
be ready to hear when they come. All right, thank you.