When They Heard All Jesus Was Doing, They Came to Him
Truth Taught- People began to follow Jesus as they heard all that He was doing.
For the last two weeks, we have seen our Lord engaged in the spiritual battle with the legalists. The Pharisees had been closely watching Jesus and His disciples to see if they could trap Jesus in some technicality; some human tradition that they had set in place to snare Him.
Jesus picked grain to eat on the Sabbath. Jesus healed on the Sabbath. Jesus declared Himself to be Lord of the Sabbath. It was on the Sabbath that the Pharisees had been excluded from the synagogue in Capernaum as they plotted to murder Jesus.
So, we have seen these Pharisee as unbelievers who were very much opposed to Jesus and His message. They were the antagonists of the day. They refused to believe even when the proof stood right before them as the man stretched out his hand completely healed, they still refused to believe.
Now, Mark turns to the great multitude who began to follow Jesus. They did believe some things. They were not antagonists but they were on some level at least believers. They believed that Jesus could heal them. They believed Jesus had power that others do not have. They even believed that this power came from God. They heard Jesus teach and preach. They believed on some level.
Unlike the Pharisees who did not believe and refused to believe the crowd did believe. What did they believe? While they did believe some things correctly about Jesus, this great multitude did not believe unto salvation. They did believe certain things but did not possess saving faith.
So, Mark is showing us that while the great crowd believed that Jesus had power and could heal diseases this is not the same thing saving faith. People can believe many right things about Jesus and still be eternally lost.
While the crowd was not at least at this point believing for salvation, they did believe and they were coming to Christ. Many later who had heard Jesus and witnessed miracles would eventually believe, it’s important for us to understand
1. What We Must Believe in Order to Be Saved
Acts 16:30–31 (ESV)
30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Romans 10:9 (ESV)
9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
A-We must believe that we are sinners…
A person that doesn’t believe he is a sinner can’t be saved. If there is nothing to forgive, Jesus didn’t do anything for me. If he didn’t do anything for me, I’m not believing him for salvation. If I’m not believing him for salvation, then I’m not saved. So, you must believe you are a sinner.
Romans 3:22–23 (ESV)
22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
B-We must believe God is holy and righteous and is angered by our sin…
Sin by definition is the falling short of the expectations of your Creator. So there has to be a Creator God out there who has expectations of humans. God expects humans to trust him, love him and live for him. And we fail or as the Bible tells us we fall short.
Romans 3:23 (ESV)
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,
C-We must believe, because God is holy and righteous, He will judge sinners…
Which leads us to the third thing we must believe. Because we fail to trust, love and live for God we are under his holy judgment—his wrath. You’ve got to believe that.
If you are a sinner and there is a holy God, and if you are defining sin as a falling short of that God, then in order to understand what he is doing to make things right you must understand that God is angry about sin. He is a good and just judge. God is angry with you because you are the sinner and you will be judged.
D-We must believe God has sent His Son into the world to save us…
So, what has he done to solve the problem of our alienation from him? He has sent his Son into the world. You’ve got to believe in the deity of Jesus. Psalm 49 says that no man can pay a ransom for another man. A few verses later, in verse 15, it says God will pay the ransom.
He couldn’t have used John, or Peter or Paul to die for us. He had to have the God-man die for us. So, the deity of Jesus is essential.
This is what Mark and John emphasize, Jesus is the Son of God, meaning that He is God the second Person of the Trinity. Jesus is the God/Man, therefore, He can be our Mediator.
E-We must believe Jesus is the Sinless Son of God…
You also must acknowledge what Jesus did. He lived the perfect life. You cannot believe that Jesus sinned and still be saved. Because then the sacrifice made for you was not what God required, and you aren’t believing in what God did for you. So, Jesus is the sinless Son of God and he gives himself up to die in my place.
This substitutionary dimension of the death of Christ for my sins is necessary. Let’s just say that what is required is the core of the gospel—that the remedy is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who never sinned got in my place and took the wrath of God for me. He died in my place.
Mark 1:1 (ESV)
1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
John 20:30–31 (ESV)
30 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.
F-We must believe Jesus rose from the dead…
If Jesus is still in the tomb, then we are not saved. The reason is that if He is still in the grave then He was not sinless and something went wrong with God’s plan. God’s plan is perfect and so is our Savior.
The fact that Jesus rose from the dead also matters because our justification hinges on it. “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification” (Romans 4:25). A dead Savior cannot save, but we have a living Savior who justifies us and makes intercession for us (see Hebrews 7:25).
Please Stand:
Mark 3:7–12 (ESV)
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him. 9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him. 11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
2. Why Did the People Follow Jesus? (3:7-8)
7 Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed, from Galilee and Judea 8 and Jerusalem and Idumea and from beyond the Jordan and from around Tyre and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
All who were following Jesus were not following Him with the right motives. Most were following because He had proven Himself to be a Healer. Jesus could heal every sickness, disease, handicap, every issue, He could heal it. So, most that followed Him were following for what Jesus could give them. Some followed from mere curiosity. Jesus was a good show to watch and He separated them from their boring routine. Some came to listen. They had not heard anyone like this before. They came to listen but were not interested in believing. Some came to be fed with loaves and fish. In all these cases, Jesus was courteous and kind and merciful. He did heal, speak, and feed even though He knew they were not there because of their sin and seeking to be forgiven and yet our Lord was merciful to them.
Then some came… When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him.
There were some who came with a believing heart. More than just to be physically healed or fed or to see some attraction. They came because they we seeing clearly that they were sinners who needed to be saved by God.
Notice that Mark tells us that some people came a great distance to see Jesus and be healed by Him. Much of the list is Israel then places like Idumea and beyond the Jordan speak of far away lands. They traveled a great distance to see Jesus.
I would venture to say that most of us were saved because we heard of the great works of Jesus in others and the Holy Spirit began to work in our hearts as well. We may have come initially perhaps for something else but then God worked and saved us. The grand Gospel statement rings true that Jesus can save to the uttermost.
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I’d like to mention that whatever the motive was in these people who followed Jesus if it was for healing, they came to Him because they needed healed. They did not simply watch as He healed others, they themselves wanted healed.
If you today have seen others changed because Jesus has saved them, why not come to Christ for yourself? Why not stop looking at what Jesus is doing in others and come to Him for you. He has saved others and He can and is willing to save you. Your parents’ faith is not going to save you.
If you understand and believe the Gospel why not trust Christ and be saved yourself. Maybe you’re young and think, what’s the hurry? I have all the time in the world to be saved. Then a flash flood comes and, in a moment, you are swept away. Listen to me today is the day to be saved.
Perhaps you’ve grown up in a Christian home and have been under the influence of the Gospel and think that somehow you are okay with God because you may understand some things about Christianity. Have you believed for yourself? Have you seen your sin and believe because you’re a sinner, the wrath of God is waiting for you unless you believe and trust Christ yourself.
3. The People Kept Pressing in Upon Jesus (3:9-10)
9 And he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him, 10 for he had healed many, so that all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.
This section begins by sharing with us that the crowd was so dense and so thick that there was a danger that Jesus was going to be trampled upon.
He sends His disciples on ahead to find a boat sufficient for Jesus to get into so that He can teach without being trampled on.
I want to say that for these people who heard all the wonderful acts of Jesus, they heard all that he was doing they were not content in just hearing. Imagine with me the blind man who heard that Jesus was healing the blind. He could not just sit and listen over and over about how Jesus was healing the blind because he wondered, if Jesus would heal him? We may think of the demon possessed who when in his right mind wondered since Jesus was casting out demons would He rid him of his demonic intruder?
So these people wanted to experience the healing of Jesus for themselves. So, they pressed in upon Him to touch Him and be healed. Hearing about Jesus was not enough.
Beloved, we must not be content with hearing about Jesus only. Have you come to Jesus?
all who had diseases pressed around him to touch him.
This section is for us a preview of what Jesus can do in our case. He can heal physical diseases but more importantly, Jesus can heal us of our sin.
How foolish would that blind man have been if week after week he went to the man who had been healed of his blindness and went home saying how much better he felt now that he heard about what Jesus did for my friend. Would anyone in their right mind be satisfied with the good news for someone else or the healing someone else received when they are still blind?
This is an intense moment showing that the people were coming to Jesus themselves because He had the cure. Don’t rest with simply hearing about Jesus forgiving others for sin when your sin is still hanging over your head, come to Jesus, press in on Him seek forgiveness for yourself.
We should also see that there was a sense of immediacy. Jesus was there right then He may never be back. Also, they came with their diseases on them. They didn’t wait thay came to Jesus as they were sickness and all.
Listen we must come to Jesus just as we are because that’s the only way we can come. He has the remedy for our sin sickness. He alone can save. Don’t wait, don’t put it off any longer. They came to Jesus in all their sickness and disease, all the oozing, and puss ridden bodies. They came with all their shriveled-up limbs and blindness and deafness. They came in all their stink and horridness. The lepers came, the blind, lame, deaf, paralyzed, sick, and the demon possessed and Jesus healed them all.
They came to Him and did not wait for Jesus to visit their house. They came and pressed in upon Him.
Jesus healed them all. Not one person who came to Jesus was ever turned away. None were too repulsive that they could not be healed. We too must realize Jesus will never turn away the one who comes to Him by faith. He will heal our sin sickness.
4. The Demons Were Cast Out with Just a Glance (3:11-12)
11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.” 12 And he strictly ordered them not to make him known.
Strangely enough, even in the fourth chapter of Mark, well into the story, well into the evidence, not written but seen and experienced by the disciples who are following Jesus, it is the disciples who ask the question, after Jesus controls the wind and the waves, “What kind of man is this?”
In fact, all through the Gospel of Mark, you never find the disciples saying, “You’re the Son of God.” In chapter 8, verse 29, Peter says, “You’re the Christ; You’re the Messiah.” But in Mark’s Gospel, no one says, “You are the Son of God,” until the fifteenth chapter and the thirty-ninth verse. And of all things, it’s a Roman soldier.
Mark 15:38–39 (ESV)
38 And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. 39 And when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, “Truly this man was the Son of God!”
The Son of God, our Divine Savior Jesus Christ has authority over all creation. The demons have authority over their human hosts but they tremble at the supreme authority of Jesus, the Son of God.
11 And whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, “You are the Son of God.”
There is testimony in the early part of this Gospel that Jesus is the Son of God. It comes from God the Father at His baptism, as we read in chapter one, “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” There is testimony also in chapter 1 from a demon who says, “You are the Holy One of God.” There is further testimony, in the section before us in chapter 3, from another demon, that this is the Son of God. Heaven knows He’s the Son of God. Hell knows He’s the Son of God. Mark lays out, with the other Gospel writers, the evidence for all men to know that He is the Son of God, but in spite of all of that evidence, He is rejected by the nation and executed as a criminal. We stand with that Roman soldier.
I pray today that you believe…
You are a sinner
God is greatly offended by your sin
God judges all sin
God sent Jesus into the world as our Savior
Jesus is the sinless Son of God
Jesus rose from the dead
Acts 16:31 (ESV)
31 And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.”
Resources used:
A Powerful Reason for Coming to Christ by C H Spurgeon
Mark by William Lane
Words of Blessing
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