The Book Of Mark #10

• In Mark 1:21, we read, “And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.”

• After he got through in the synagogue, he left Capernaum to go to Peter’s house and He healed Peter’s mother-in-law and many more.

• But as we come to chapter two, he tells us that the Lord returned to Capernaum. Look at verse 1, we read, “And again he entered into Capernaum…”

As you read through the Book of Mark, you can’t help but notice the continuous flow of information in the life of Christ. In this passage of scripture we want to look at several things.

First, we need to consider-

I. THE CROWD

Look at verses 1-2, we read, “And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house. And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.”

Notice, we see His popularity continues to grow. The Bible tells us that he entered a house, and the Word of God says, “…And it was noised that he was in the house.” The knowledge He was in the house accomplished two things:

• The Bible tells us that, “…Straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them…” Knowing He was there brought out the crowd. Again we can see that his popularity is really beginning to mushroom!

• Notice what happened once the crowd came out to see Him. It is important for us to see that when He had this large crowd, “…he preached the word unto them.”

IS THIS SIGNIFICANT? Yes, it is very significant! If the Lord Jesus was here on earth and He was going to start a church, have you ever wondered what kind of church He would start?

I do not believe it would be anything like many churches today. For example, we live in an age where the emphasis is on:

• Magnificent church buildings

• Great singing

• Entertaining dramas

• Activities

There is not a thing wrong with any of these things. But there is something wrong when we make these the emphasis and the drawing card to bring people to our churches.

Illus: These things may draw a crowd, but the circus that comes through town can also draw a crowd. A crowd does not constitute a church.

To be honest with you, I am not sure Jesus would use any of the things some churches today are using to draw a crowd. But one thing I know He would do is PREACH THE WORD OF GOD to the people.

So little of the Word of God today is being preached.

Illus: This is why many of these television hucksters can stay on the air. People are so ignorant of the Word of God!

Illus: These people in their ignorance make me think of the girl on her second date with a diehard baseball fan, and she was a little nervous. It was her fault that they arrived at the stadium a full hour after the game had begun. Taking her seat, she glanced up at the scoreboard. It was a tight pitcher’s battle; bottom of the fifth, 0-0. "Look Charlie," she exclaimed in relief, "we haven’t missed a thing!"

There is a lot of ignorance today, but especially among Christians who profess to be saved.

Sometimes we see large coliseums, auditoriums and churches that literally have thousands of people attending. What is so sad about the situation is that when some of these preachers get up to preach, there is so little of the Word of God preached.

Illus: One of these fellows on television came out one day looking like a clown from a circus. He had patches of cloth all over his coat and trousers. He was telling people that he had been wearing these patches for days and they were anointed by God.

He should have said, “If anyone in this listening audience is crazy enough to send me a thousand dollars I will send you one in the mail and you and put it on your body and you will be healed immediately.” He didn’t say the “crazy enough” part, but he did say the rest.

We have many preachers who give the impression that they get all their sermons straight from God. THEY ARE FULL OF THEMSELVES! Here is the problem; they have placed all their emphasis on THE MESSENGER, not THE MESSAGE!

Listen, I see nothing wrong with preaching someone else’s sermon word for word if it is Bible based. What is important is THE MESSAGE, not the MESSENGER! But when a person is FULL OF THEMSELVES, they never miss a shot at looking spiritual!