They Were All Amazed Series

THEY WERE ALL AMAZED

Mark 1:21-28

If you have spent much time in “church life”, you have likely encountered certain people who thought that they ran the church. In fact, many times it is not that they “think” that they run the church they actually do “run the church”. This is the reason that there are so many assemblies that are struggling today.

When you encounter a church that has constant strife and turmoil it is usually because the focus has shifted from Jesus Christ to certain people and their personal preferences. On the other hand, there is nothing sweeter than an assembly of God’s people who are united in their love and devotion for the Savior and focused on God’s glory.

When Jesus is in control of a church some amazing things will happen. We have proof of this fact in our selected text today. One Sabbath, Jesus entered a Synagogue and taught the people. By the time He was finished, the people in that gathering were astonished by what they had seen and heard. The same thing has happened and I pray will continue to happen within our own assembly.

I want to examine the events that took place in that Synagogue and preach a message entitled “…And They Were All Amazed”. When we are finished, I hope that it will be apparent that the things that took place within that Synagogue that day should take place in this church every time we gather together.

On that day THERE WAS A GREAT MESSAGE, THERE WAS A GREAT MINISTRY and THERE WAS A GREAT MIRACLE. Let’s begin with the fact that in that assembly:

I. THERE WAS A GREAT MESSAGE

v21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.

- The first thing that we see is:

A. THE SPEAKER

The speaker in the Synagogue was none other than the sinless Son of God. Throughout my life I have heard thousands of sermons. Some were from men who were seminary educated with decades of experience, and others were from recent converts with very little bible knowledge. I have benefitted from many of these sermons, not because of the men who delivered them, but because of the power of God’s Holy Word.

Leighton Ford was speaking at an open-air crusade in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Billy Graham was to speak the next night and had arrived a day early. He came incognito and sat on the grass at the rear of the crowd. Because he was wearing a hat and dark glasses, no one recognized him. Directly in front of him sat an elderly gentleman who seemed to be listening intently to my presentation. When I invited people to come forward as an open sign of commitment, Billy decided to do a little personal evangelism. He tapped the man on the shoulder and asked, “Would you like to accept Christ? I’ll be glad to walk down with you if you want to.” The old man looked him up and down, thought it over for a moment, and then said, “Naw, I think I’ll just wait till the big gun comes tomorrow night.” (Good News is for Sharing, Leighton Ford, 1977, David C. Cook Publishing Co., p. 67)

I am here to tell you that there is only one “big gun” and His name is Jesus Christ. It doesn’t matter who is speaking, when the power of the Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures are at work, lives can be changed. That was the case in this Synagogue and that is the case today as well.

- Now that we have seen The Speaker, let’s take a moment and examine:

B. THE SERMON

We are not told what the specific subject matter was, but there are some safe assumptions that we can make concerning Jesus’ message. The heart of Jesus’ message in those days was “repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand”.

On another occasion Jesus entered a synagogue and read from the Book of Isaiah.

Luke 4:16 and he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, 18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. 21 And he began to say unto them, this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.