The Great Galilean Ministry (2)

of our Lord's life and ministry known as the Great Galilee and ministry. And it's known by that title for a couple of reasons, great because it lasted for 18 months. It is the largest single section of our Lord's ministry. If you break it into different categories and sections and time and so forth, this 18-month period is the longest of the continuing ministry of our Lord in a particular location. Great Galilee and ministry. Galilee and of course because it was in the region of Galilee. And so let's take a look at the map. I think we have the map up next. Thank you. And just orient you to where we are. This is Israel in the first century. New Testament times. Here's Judea. There's Bethlehem and Jerusalem. Then Samaria between Judea and Galilee. Galilee is this blue section in the north part of Israel. Of course you see the main bodies of water here that you're familiar with. The Sea of Galilee, the Jordan River connecting the Sea of Galilee with the Dead Sea. Jesus will spend pretty much 18 months of his ministry in Galilee with a couple of excursions out of Galilee to go to Jerusalem for a feast or something like that. But we're in that part of his ministry. We cannot obviously in this survey of the life of Christ cover every detail that happened even in the Gospels during this time in our Lord's ministry. But we're trying to hit the high spots. We talked first of all a couple of weeks ago about some characteristics of this time period. It is a very extensive ministry. It includes three tours of Galilee. These are preaching tours. The Lord himself or along with his disciples touring the whole region, preaching in many, many villages. And then there was an emphasis on the power of Christ, particularly in the Gospel of Luke in this section of our Lord's ministry. There are lots of miracles that happen. This is early in his ministry and he's providing his credentials to show that he is qualified to be the Messiah. And so lots of miracles later in his ministry. The miracles will subside. There will still be some, but the miracles will subside and he'll focus on the training of the 12. But at this time in his ministry, lots of miracles taking place. And then there's growing opposition from the Pharisees, from the religious leaders in Israel. So those are some of the major characteristics. Then we started into the first actual ministry part of this great Galilee and ministry, which is the rejection at Nazareth and a new home. And we found that Jesus teaching in Galilee is summarized. We talked about the healing of the noblemen's son in John chapter 4. Jesus is in Cana. He heals a young man who is 20 miles away in Copernum just by speaking the word that he was healed. Then we found the first rejection at Nazareth. Jesus goes to his hometown of Nazareth where he teaches in the synagogue and his teaching with authority and his claim to be the fulfillment of the Messianic prophecy in Isaiah 61 arouses such shock, amazement, anger on the part of the people that they try to kill him. They take him to the edge of a cliff at the edge of Nazareth to throw him off and kill him and Jesus walks through the midst of them. Now that's where we quit last time. We're going to see starting tonight that he is now taking up residence in a new town. He has a new home in Copernum. Matthew chapter 4 is where we will begin tonight. Matthew 4 verse 13. Leaving Nazareth, okay, he's just left from being rejected there. Leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Copernum which was by the lake. Now that's the Sea of Galilee. It is a very small sea and so it's often called a lake in the New Testament. It is, for instance, here which was by the lake in the area of Zebulin and Naphtali to fulfill what was said through the prophet Isaiah, land of Zebulin and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea along the Jordan Galilee of the Gentiles, the people living in darkness have seen a great light. On those living in the land of the shadow of death, a light has dawned. Verse 17, from that time on Jesus began to preach repent for the kingdom of heaven is near. Now let's take a look at the map again just to make sure we understand where Copernum is. Again, it's right on the northern edge of the Sea of Galilee, right on the sea. In fact, let's look at a few pictures of Copernum today. You can see the edge of the Sea of Galilee, some of the ruins of Old Copernum right here. As you can see, let's go to the next picture. Beautiful setting right along the Sea of Galilee. The next picture shows a synagogue. Now this is the remains of a synagogue that has been unearthed by archaeologists. But this synagogue is from the 400s. There were those who claimed that it would have been there in the first century, but probably not. This synagogue goes back to the 400s. So it's not the exact one Jesus would teach in in Copernum. But most believe it's built over the site of the synagogue where Jesus would have taught. You know, a lot of people when they go to Israel talk about how walked where Jesus walked. No, you probably didn't. Jesus probably walked 20 feet or so under where you were walking. You may have walked on the same general area, but things have a tendency to build up over the centuries. But this is a very ancient synagogue and probably in the same location where Jesus would have taught. Now the last picture is one of the actually the ruins, the archaeological dig that has come up with the base of what many believe to be Peter's house. You say, well, how do we know it was Peter's house? Did you leave some of his family pictures there or something? No, no, we don't have any pictures. But in the 300s and 400s, when Constantine became emperor of Rome, he began, actually his mother, began to build churches over many holy sites in Israel. And this was one of the places where a church was built over a house. And it was claimed at that time to be the house of Peter. And there's no good reason to reject that. Obviously we can't tell for sure, but many believe this was the base, the foundation of the house where Simon Peter lived in Capernaum. If so, it is very likely that Jesus spent time there. We know he did from Mark 1. May have been the place where Jesus stayed. Jesus did not have a home in Capernaum. He probably stayed with Peter and Andrew in their home. Just one other thing I'd like to say about Capernaum and Jesus making his home there. Because Jesus makes his home there, much of the Galilee and ministry will radiate out from this town. And there will be miracles in Capernaum. There will be teachings along the lake shore in this area. People in Capernaum will have abundant opportunity to see and hear the Messiah. And that's why Jesus will say in Matthew 11 that great is the punishment for Capernaum. And Bethesda, another city in this northern area, the Sea of Galilee, because of all the light that they had. Jesus says if the works that were done and you'd been done in Sodom, Gomorrah, they would have repented a long time ago. And they obviously did not wholesale in Capernaum and northern Galilee. So because they had the Messiah living in their midst, doing miracles, teaching, right where they were. And overall rejected him how tremendous their judgment will be. Okay, any questions about Capernaum or that Jesus making his home there? All right, let's move to the next thing that happens, which is the selection of the four fishers of men. You find that in three of the Gospels and we're going to look, well let's look since we're here in Matthew. Let's look at Matthew's account first and then we'll flip over to Luke. Matthew chapter four verse 18, as Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee and now you know from seeing that's not hard to do in Capernaum. I mean you step outside your front door and you're right by the Sea of Galilee. So he's walking by the Sea of Galilee. He saw two brothers, Simon, called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake for they were fishermen. Come follow me, Jesus said and I will make you fishers of men. At once they left their nets and followed him going on from there he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebede and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebede preparing their nets. Jesus called them and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. Now you may be thinking, hasn't this happened before? Were these people already following Jesus? Where have we seen them before? At least some of them by name. Yes, they were with John the Baptist in John chapter one. They were some of John's followers. At least Andrew was and he went and got his brother Peter. Remember there in John chapter one. And so you're thinking I'm giving you credit here. You're thinking these people are already followers of Jesus. They're already following what is this call again? And what happens here is that there can be a confusion between several calls, if you will. If you want to call them that of the disciples in the gospel. So I'm going to put this on the screen. Greg is going to do it for me. Thank you. I wish we had a smaller chapel where we could all be real cozy at the front. I know some of you are not going to be able to see this. There was no way to make it any bigger. This was a slide. I used the ABC and it's locked in. So the call of the disciples. There are four different calls of the disciples. First in John 135 to 51, the first call that Jordan River beginning of Christ ministry. And the ones you are called Andrew John Peter James is implied because of John. We don't know that for sure. And then Philip and the Samuel are mentioned there. This is the call to believe in Christ. It's the call to salvation. It's their first call to begin following him. They're not following him yet as a vocation. They are called in the sense of salvation to come and understand who he is and to commit their lives to him. In that sense that call seems to be the one there in John 1. Then the one we are seeing now Mark 1. We could put their Matthew 4 the verses we just read. And we'll look in a moment at Luke 5. This is the second call of Simon Peter and Andrew James and John by the Sea of Galilee on the first Galilee and tour. And this is a call to follow Christ not in the sense of salvation but in the sense of vocation. Because they leave their nets now. They leave their business and start to follow him. You see when they were called to follow him and John 1. They're called to recognize he's the Messiah. John the Baptist says, hey, this is a Lamb of God. This is the Son of God who's come to pay for our sins. And so they understand that much about him and accept him in that sense and follow him in that way. Now they're leaving their business. And they're following him as a vocation. Hey, the third call of a disciple is a separate one Matthew. This is in Mark 2.13 to 17. Also in Matthew 9. We'll look at that a little bit later. This is the third call by the Sea of Galilee. They're in the first Galilee and tour. But this is a Matthew. This is a different disciple that's called. And this is also a call to follow Christ in the sense of vocation like these four were. And then you've got a fourth call which is described in Mark 3. You could also put Luke 6 there. In Luke 6, there's a fourth call. This is on a mountain in Galilee during the first Galilee and interim. And we'll talk about that later. This is when out of a large number of followers, Jesus calls 12 to be what? Disciples? Yes. But in other word, also apostles. These. There are lots of disciples already. There'll be one time when Jesus will send out 70 to in one of the tours of Galilee. But these 12 are called to be apostles and they are ordained by Christ in the sense of commission. They're commissioned to a special ministry. Sent ones. They're sent out to do special ministry. These are the ones that are going to be the founding blocks of the church, if you will. Obviously with the exception of Judas is carried. But these are the 12 that will follow Jesus throughout his ministry and Jesus will prepare them to be the ones to to found the church and the book of Acts. So you get all these calls going on and it's kind of hard to figure out sometimes. Wait a second. I thought they were already called. This was in Matthew. That was in Luke. What's happening over here in John? It can get a little confusing sometimes. So hopefully that little chart will help put it together for you. Having said that, let's go back to this call we just saw. And we're going to look at Luke's account for a moment because Luke's account of the call of Peter and Andrew and James and John fills in some details that we don't have in the other gospels. It's very interesting. So let's look at Luke chapter 5. Luke 5 verses 1 through 11. One day is Jesus was standing by the lake of Ganesherit. Another another title. No name for the Sea of Galilee. Lake of Ganesherit. With the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God. Notice that. It's very easy to slip over that. As I said last week. There are many, many, many more references to Jesus preaching and teaching in the Galilee and ministry than doing works of power and miracles. There are 12 references to his popularity and fame. There are 30 references to his preaching in this time period. Jesus was first and foremost a preacher of the word of God. He was preaching and teaching the word. So he's there listening to him preach the word of God. And verse 2. He saw the water's edge two boats left there by the fisherman who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little from shore there he sat down and taught the people from the boat. That's quite a pulpit, isn't it? I mean he's teaching from the edge of the boat. I've had some interesting pulpits in different places. I remember in Brazil in Natal. There was little church being started by Steve Scrugg's father there and father-in-law. And the church was in an old meat market and right on a street corner. I mean a bus pulls up right outside the little church. I mean the church was probably about the size of this little space up here at front. And the bus pulls up right on the corner and we had to stop the service while the bus is out there because it's too noisy. But I preached from behind a meat counter. That was my pulpit. I've seen some interesting pulpits but I've never preached from a boat. Jesus preached from a boat here. Now look at verse 4. When he had finished speaking he said to Simon put out into deep water and let down the nets for a catch. Now there's something really strange about that. First of all, who is the fisherman in this group? Peter is the fisherman. And look at what Peter says in verse 5. Simon answered, Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything but because you say so I will let down the nets. Now there's something extremely interesting going on here. In Galilee as is often the case today, I'm not a fisherman but in Galilee at this time fishing was done at night. When the fish would rise to the surface of the water, fishing was done at night and it was done in shallow water with nets basically that would be thrown out over the water, the fish or near the surface and you can catch a lot of fish that way. Here's an expert fisherman. He makes his living fishing. He's been out all night when you're supposed to be fishing in shallow water and he hasn't caught a thing. And here comes this carpenter who tells him go out in the deep water and it's during the day. This does not make sense from a fisherman's perspective. But did you see what was at verse 6? We were in. Now verse 5, but because you say so I will let down the nets. Now why do you think Peter did that? This expert fisherman take the word of a carpenter who obviously is going against everything Peter knows about fishing. Why do you think he did that? He knew who he was. He had already recognized him as the Messiah, the Savior. Was Peter with him in Cana? You think? I think he was. Wasn't he John 2? Remember he started following him in John 1 and Jesus in John 2 goes to Cana to the wedding with some of his disciples it says. Probably Peter was among that group. Do you remember when Mary spoke to Jesus and said they've run out of wine at the wedding feast here and Jesus says my hour is not yet come. Do you remember what Mary turned and said to the people? Do whatever he says. Whatever he tells you to do do it. And what happened when those who were told to do something by Jesus did it? What did they see? They saw a miracle didn't they? They saw water turned into wine because Jesus told them to do it. Do you think Peter who was probably a part of that group? Do you think he remembered that as he's on the boat? Do you think maybe he remembered that I remember Mary one time not too long ago telling us whatever he says do you do it? And when we did that we saw a miracle. I better do what he says. Do you think maybe that was going on? I think it probably was. I think maybe Peter was saying Lord this doesn't make any sense. We've worked all night. I know when to fish. I'm the fisherman here Lord remember that. I know when we've worked all night we haven't called a thing. But because you said to do it we'll do it. I think that's exactly what was going on in Peter's mind. I think he was thinking back to Cana. So look at what happens. Verse 6 when they had done so they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. They came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw this he fell at Jesus knees and said go away from me Lord. I am a sinful man for he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken. And so were James and John the sons of Zebedee Simon's partners. Then Jesus said to Simon don't be afraid from now on you will catch men remember Matthew's gospel said follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Here Luke's expresses it this way from now on you will catch men so they pulled their boats up on shore left everything and followed him. You see the other gospels don't fill in all the details here but Luke does. Luke says there's a little bit more to the story than Jesus walking along the seashore and seeing these men and saying hey come follow me. I used to read that story in Matthew and think wow you know why were they so compelled to leave everything and following when Jesus just said follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Well there's a little bit more to it than that. Remember when you put all the gospels together you get the full picture and the full picture here is Peter had just witnessed along with Andrew and James and John a miracle like they had never seen before. I mean they knew fishing and they'd never seen anything like this and so given that yeah you tell me to leave my nets I'm going to leave them I'm going to go with you. I think they were no I don't know that it was a fear of the boat sinking although they you know I think that might be some natural fear there but I think maybe they were afraid of him. I think you know when when Peter says depart from me I'm a sinful man I think they recognize they were in the presence of God and and what's he going to do next. I think that sense of awe of a fear of who he was and his power. I think they were overcome in much the same way Isaiah was when he saw the Lord and John and others. I think maybe that was maybe that was the fear and why Jesus said don't be afraid. Okay any other questions or comments about this amazing story of the calling of the first disciples. Okay the next thing that that happens and remember again the gospel writers are kind of piling miracle upon miracle because they're showing Jesus credentials the next thing that happens is the healing of a demoniac on the Sabbath and this the account that we're going to look at is in Mark chapter one. Mark chapter one verses 21 to 28 and let's look at the map again just to remind you where we are we're in cappernum now this is the larger map of Galilee and here's cappernum. He's been calling his men here along the sea of Galilee now he's back in the synagogue verse 21 of Mark one they went to cappernum and when the Sabbath came Jesus went into the Sabbath and began to teach again. Here he is teaching the word in the Sabbath the people were amazed at his teaching because he taught them as one who had authority not as the teachers of the law we talked about that a little bit last time teachers of the law just compared with each other you know I got three rabbis on my side I take this view and the other guy was two rabbis over here but one of them is a pretty big guy you know and so I mean they just compared rabbis and stuff and Jesus taught with authority this is what the Bible means this is what it says. And then look at what happens in verse 23 just in a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out what do you want with us Jesus of Nazareth have you come to destroy us I know who you are the holy one of God be quiet said Jesus sternly come out of him the evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek the people were all so amazed that they asked each other what is this a new teaching and with authority he even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him I mean that they hadn't seen any of their rabbis do that verse 28 news about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee you can see these miracles are beginning the word of these miracles are beginning to spread and all over Galilee people are hearing about him. So he he owes this demoniac cast the demon out of this demon possessed man in the synagogue on the Sabbath day a man who interrupts him as he's teaching. Okay I don't have any other comments to make on that questions observations you might want to make on this story. Okay notice the next thing that happens verses 29 to 34 is the healing of many others. Okay now get the scene he's been in the synagogue on the Sabbath days been teaching now he's cast the demon out of a man verse 29 says as soon as they left the synagogue they went with James and John to the home of Simon and Andrew. Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever and they told Jesus about her. Okay now they're beginning to understand his power who he is who coming to understand that more and more so they tell him about Peter's mother-in-law her 31 so he went to her took her hand and helped her up the fever left her and she began to wait on them. By the way I've always wondered if Peter was the one who asked for that miracle. Would you ask for your mother-in-law to be no let's not go there. Verse 32. That evening after sunset the people brought to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed. Now get a feel for this what's happening. That evening after sunset Sabbath day is ended now it ends at sunset. People bring to Jesus all the sick and demon possessed. Now cappernum is not a city of a million people but still you're talking about news spreading as to what Jesus is doing the healing of or the casting out of the demon of that man earlier in the synagogue the healing of Peter's mother-in-law words going out. Everybody brings the sick and demon possessed verse 33 the whole town gathered at the door and Jesus healed many who had various diseases. He also drew out many demons but he would not let the demon speak because they knew who he was. Why do you think that is put there he would not let the demons speak about who he was. Okay he didn't want any of the demons saying anything to the people about him why why not. Okay wasn't time yet for for his ministry to come to this kind of peak. Jesus will quite often say that and he will move out of places where the popularity seems to be rising to a fever pitch with that very statement my hours not yet come that may play a part in it. I think there may be another part of another reason as well. The first demon that he cast out of the man in the morning in the synagogue called him the holy one of God. I know who you are you're the holy one of God. Okay now then he cast out many more demons but he will not allow them to speak what's going on there Mark. Maybe recognizing I'm sorry through faith. Okay I think you're headed down the right trail there he doesn't want people to hear that from demons he wants them to come to that conclusion on their own okay Charlie. Free will. Okay that kind of going along with Mark said in sense that the decision needs to be made from their faith and not under any kind of coercion. Thank you. I think that's it. I think that really that kind of brings everything else together I think what what Vicki said was. Let me paraphrase if I can because you said it so well I'm sure I can say it as well that Jesus does not need the endorsement of demons and people may begin to suspect oh you're in cahoots with. The demons okay you'll recognize each other you all work together you see the problem there Jesus does not want nor does he need an endorsement from demons that could be confusing to the people. And this will happen not only in Jesus ministry it'll also happen in the book of Acts won't it. You remember what happened when Paul is in philipi in Acts 16 same thing happens a woman with a familiar spirit is following him and telling people listen to this these people because they're from God and finally Paul has enough of it turns around and rebukes the demon cast him out and the implication seems to be we don't need endorsements from demons we don't want people to be misled into thinking that we're we're together. You see that oh demons in Jesus their buddy buddy there they know each other there no we're not on the same side. Yeah I think that's really the essence of what's going on here and why Jesus will not let the demons speak and give testimony as to who he is now it's obvious that the demons do know who he is and they are afraid of him the one demon who did speak as he came out of the man earlier that day says what. What what have you to do with us have you come to judge us to destroy us we know who you are okay they know they're afraid. But Jesus does not want endorsement of demons I think that's the key. Okay any other comments questions yes Amy. That's a great question I hope everybody heard that question it seems like in these little towns I mean there's not a huge population here but it seems like in these little towns it's a lot of demon possession. Is that still the case today I kind of want to hedge my answer by saying we're not really sure I think there are legitimate cases of demon possession today and there may be cases of demon possession that we attribute other causes of things rather than possession by demons. Many believe and I would tend to agree that one of the reasons why you see such a heavy concentration of it is because Jesus is on earth right now establishing his kingdom if you will and Satan is going to oppose him with everything he can and there probably was a spike you know a blip on the radar screen of demon possession during this time as Satan is doing all he can to fight the encroachment of Christ's kingdom. I think I think you would find it to be true today that in places where the gospel is making inroads into Satan's territory you find much more demonic oppression and demon possession missionaries will tell you that. That they see evidence of it that maybe we wouldn't recognize here in this country because Satan's territory has been taken over and that's similar to what was happening in the gospels I think maybe that's what was happening you do see a lot of that. Yes Bob? I'm not sure I called the second part of the quick did the demons cause them to go or did the people bring them okay. It seems like at least in this case other people brought them doesn't it I mean it's kind of stated in the same sense of people bringing sick they also brought demon possessed. You know we know that there are instances for instance where a father brought a demon possessed boy to the disciples remember they couldn't cast out the demon that happens later so I think there are I think there are cases and this does appear to be one of them where people who recognized some kind of a demon. It's a demonic oppression or maybe they weren't sure that's what it was but they brought they brought their family members or friends or whatever to Jesus and Jesus cast out the demons that seems to be at least what's happening here. Now there are times where Jesus is just in the presence like earlier in the day in the synagogue doesn't appear that anybody's brought that man he just is there and the demon inside that man recognizes Jesus and shrieks out. And maybe people you know how would you like to have been a guy sitting next to him in the synagogue and you thought he was a good neighbor you know and creepy. It's hard to tell how much of that was happening. How do you know when someone's demon possessed that is that's a whole study in itself and I hesitate to give an abbreviated answer. There are lots of signs and there have been books written on this that have taken the gospel accounts and have kind of pulled together the symptoms and the behaviors of people who are demon possessed. I guess I would say it would be difficult to know for sure. There are certain signs such as a demon speaking using another person's voice which seems to be obvious and that happens in the gospels that's what happened in Mark 1 with that man in the synagogue. Sometimes that can happen there are certain physical manifestations of uncontrollable behavior and so forth that happen in the gospels. There have been books written on that. I hesitate to try to give a list but I didn't think it was not visible to them. No, no they apparently are not visible to the eye. I mean one way you would know for sure is like in this case a demon recognizing who Jesus was and being fearful of punishment. I mean you know something supernatural is going on there. This is not normal physical behavior. So there are some things that might happen like that. A demon is possessing a person using that person's body as a vehicle for expression. You can't see the demon obviously. You know you can't say for sure the Charles Manson type thing but it sure appears to be demonic. There is a fine line between what man and his own depravity can do and what man controlled by demons can do. It's hard to tell sometimes where the line is but there are certain things that are done like that. I mean you know sadistic type killings and even graffiti that would pay homage to the devil and that kind of thing that makes you wonder is this demonic. Okay. All right any other questions there. I think we're at a yeah Greg go ahead you've been wanting to ask a question for weeks out of that booth go ahead. I'm sorry. Can demons be saved by Jesus it's an interesting question. Okay let's let's identify first of all who demons are who are demons where they come from. Fallen angels aren't they they're angels that followed Satan in his rebellion against God. Now you have to kind of go back most theologians believe that angels were created in a state of what's called unconfirmed holiness. In other words they were all good angels to start with but they were in unconfirmed holies they had a choice they could follow Satan or they could stay loyal to God. Once that choice was made they are confirmed either in holiness or unholiness so the good angels stay angels the bad angels become demons and no demons are redeemed. There's no evidence in the Bible that demons ever get saved and go to heaven. Their destiny is pretty well settled by Jesus when he says in Matthew 2541 that people will be cast into the lake of fire prepared in advance for the devil and his angels. So their destiny seems to be sealed. Okay. I think we're at a good stopping point here and since the clock says eight o'clock that's telling us we are at a good stopping point so let's let's go ahead and stop. Let's pray.