#31. Luke 4:42-44 CARRYING THE GOSPEL TO OTHERS

 

Introduction:

 

    In our previous text  the people of Capernaum came to Jesus in mass

numbers bringing their sick and afflicted to Him that they might be healed.

Jesus ministered to them way into the night healing all the sick who were

brought to Him.

    The people of Capernaum showed great concern about their loved ones and

friends.  They went to great effort to bring them to Jesus that they might

be healed.  The primary lesson in this for us is that we ought to be just as

much concerned about the souls of our family members and our friends.  In

fact we ought to be a lot more concerned about the souls of our loved ones

than they were about the physical health of their loved ones.  We ought to

be willing to make a lot greater effort to bring our unsaved loved ones to

Christ that they might be saved than those people did to bring their sick

loved ones to Jesus that they might be healed.

    Out text today deals with a similar theme.  It still deals with the

theme of caring about the physical and spiritual well being of others.

The difference is that this lesson focuses not on the need of our own loved

ones and friends.  It focuses on the need of strangers.  It focuses our

attention on carrying the gospel to those who are strangers.  Another

difference is that this text focuses attention not on bringing people in to

a given place, but on our going out to them--our going out to them with the

gospel.  It talks about carrying the gospel to others.

 

I.  The request of the people for Jesus to stay

 

    Let us now look at the text.  V. 42, "And when it was day, he departed

and went into a desert place..."  Mark tells us that actually Jesus arose

long before daylight and went out alone into an isolated place.  Mark said

that He went there to be alone in prayer.  Now if Jesus needed to spend time

alone with God in prayer, so do we.  We ought to spend a great deal of time

alone with God in prayer.

    (V. 42), "...and the people sought him, and came unto him..."  Mark does

not mention the people coming to Him, but speaks only of Simon Peter coming

to Him.  When we add what Mark says to what Luke says, we see that Jesus

went out alone before daylight.  Then after daylight the people of the city

of Capernaum began to re-gather at the home of Simon Peter as they had

gathered there the night before.  They had been there the night before well

into the night before, but now they are back bright and early next morning.

They are there to see Jesus.  They are excited about Jesus and they could

hardly wait to get back to see Him.  I think I know how they felt.  I have

never yet had the privilege of seeing Him and listening to Him speak.  I

have anxiously waited to see Him these forty-six years since my conversion,

but I have not had that privilege yet.  I am not worried.  I know that I

will see Him some day soon.

    But here was this great crowd of people gathered outside the home of

Simon Peter and Simon Peter went out to see them and see what they wanted.

It did not take long for him to learn that they wanted to see Jesus.  By

this time, however, Jesus was gone.  Apparently Simon Peter knew where Jesus

was or where He usually went.  Mark says that Peter went out to find Him and

to tell Him that the people were anxious to see Him and talk with Him.

    I gather from what Luke says that the crowd of people followed pretty

close behind Simon Peter.  Just about the time that Peter got through

telling Jesus that the people wanted to see Him a great crowd of them showed

up.  (V. 42), "...  and stayed him, that he should not depart from them."

    I gather from this that the people were aware that Jesus did not usually

stay in Capernaum for long periods of time.  This was more or less His

headquarters and so He came often, but He did not stay long when He came.

The people knew that if He followed His usual pattern that He would soon be

gone again.

    Luke says that they "...stayed him..."  The Greek word that here is

translated "stayed" means "to hold on to; to delay someone by holding on to

him." They literally caught hold of Jesus with their hands and held on

tight.  They would not turn loose, at least not for a while.

    They not only held on to Him with their hands in an effort to keep Him

from leaving them, but they pled with Him with their words.  They asked Him

not to leave them.  They said, "Please don't go; please stay here at

Capernaum" or something to that effect.

 

II.  The Lord's call of duty to other people

 

    To say the least, this was encouraging.  It was a far cry from the

reception that He had received at His own home town of Nazareth.  There,

too, they c hold on Him, but not to keep Him from leaving.  They caught Him

and drove Him out of down and sought to throw Him headlong down a bluff to

His death.  Here at Capernaum they are catching hold of His hands and

catching hold of His garments and they are pleading with them to stay at

Capernaum.

    I feel sure that the Lord's heart was touched by the great show of

acceptance which they gave Him.  If it were not for the call of duty, I am

sure that He would have liked to stay with them.  In the plan of God there

will come a time when He will be with His people and He will never leave

them.  He loves His people and really wants to be with them.

    But in this case the call of duty does beckon to Jesus.  V. 43, "And he

said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for

therefore am I sent."  You see, even though Jesus loved these people and

would have loved to stay with them, yet there were others that He also loved

and it was needful for Him to go to other people.

    In fact it was more than a pull of His own heart to go to the other

people, it was a direct command from God the Heavenly Father.  Jesus said

that He had been sent to these other people.  God the Father had instructed

Him to go.  He must go or else be disobedient to God the Father.

    It was also very logical for Him to go to other areas and preach the

gospel in other areas.  He had already repeatedly preached the gospel at

Capernaum.  The people had all had opportunity to know first hand that He

was sent from God.  Many of them had already believed in Him as the Christ,

the Messiah, the Son of God.  In other words, many of them were already

saved as a result of His ministry in that city.  When He would leave

Capernaum, the city of Capernaum would not be without a witness to present

the gospel to those who were yet unsaved in the city.  Those who had heard

Him and seen Him and believed on Him as the Savior, would still be there

spreading the good news.

    But there were many town and villages throughout Galilee which had not

yet seen Him.  They had not yet heard Him.  They needed to have an

opportunity to see and hear Him.  So Jesus would not stay as the people

requested.  He would leave them and go to other cities and towns and

villages.  He would do what God the Father had sent Him to do.  He would go

and preach the gospel of the kingdom of God to other places to other people.

    Now you will observe, that Jesus said nothing about needing to go to

other places in order to heal the sick.  He would heal the sick when He got

there.  But the reason for Him going was never to heal the sick.  He went

there to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God.

   V. 43, "And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee."  The idea is that

Jesus went from city to city, town to town and village to village.

Wherever He went He was asked to speak in the Jewish synagogue on the

sabbath day.  His fame as a speaker had gone ahead of Him.  They were

anxious to see Him and anxious to hear Him.  So far as I know, without

exception, He was asked to speak in all of the synagogues that He visited.

    This was what He went for.  This was what He was sent for.  He was sent

to preach the gospel to those people.  Now, as I said earlier.  I am sure

that the people brought sick folds to Him that He might heal them.  But the

main point is that not only did some people get healed;  some people got

saved!  That was what it was all about.  He was there to seek and to save

those who were lost in sin.  Then when He would leave that place to move on

and go to another city or village He would leave saved people behind who

would help to spread the gospel to others.

    Luke said that He went throughout Galilee that way.  In every place that

He would go, He would preach the gospel and some would be saved.  When He

would leave, He would leave a nucleus of saved people behind who would help

to spread the gospel word to others.

    I want you to see another thing.  Jesus was preparing for the time when

He would no longer be here on the earth and He would leave a church behind

to carry on His work in the world.  He would leave the church at the city of

Jerusalem.  Before He would leave, He would commission them to preach the

gospel throughout the world.  He would want them to organize churches in

every place they could.

    What Jesus was doing was laying the groundwork for them in all the

cities and villages where they would go.  Wherever the disciples would go

went throughout Galilee, they would find a nucleus of saved people already

waiting to start a church there.  They were waiting for the missionaries to

come from the Jerusalem church to gather them together into a church.  So in

spite of the opposition from the Jewish leadership, there would be a ripe

mission field in Galilee just waiting for the Christians to come out and

start churches throughout the land.

 

III.  The call of duty for Christians today

 

    But I did not take all of this time telling you all of these things just

to entertain you.  Neither did I take all of this time just so that you

would be better informed of what took place way back there nearly 2,000

years ago.  I have told you these things because I wanted to make a point.

I have told you these things because they should help us to better

understand what God wants out of us as a church.

    God wants us as a church first to be concerned about our own lost loved

ones and our own friends and neighbors.  He wants us to do like the people

of Capernaum.  They brought their loved ones and friends to Jesus that they

might be healed and even so we are to make every effort to bring our unsaved

loved ones and friends to Jesus.

    Last Sunday I gave you some suggestions how you might go about doing

this.  That is, I gave those suggestions to those who were able to be here

during all that sleet and icy roads.  I want to briefly relate them to you

again.  One thing you can do to bring your unsaved loved ones to Jesus is to

bring them to church.  Many of the unsaved who regularly come to church get

saved.  If they will not come to church, bring them a gospel tract.  Most

likely they will read it and it will tell them how to be saved.  Bring them

your own personal testimony.  Tell they about the time that you were saved.

Tell them how you felt about your sin and about eternity and about hell and

about heaven.  Tell them that you called on Jesus and asked Him to save you

and that Jesus heard your prayer and saved your soul.  Point out to them

that Jesus will do the same for them if they will trust Him.  Further I

suggested that if they still do not get saved, then bring them to your

pastor providing they are willing, of course.  After you have already done

all of that witnessing to them there is just a pretty good chance that I may

be able to lead them to Christ for salvation.  At least I stand a lot better

chance of doing so after you have witnessed to them and prayed for them.

    But as I pointed out in the beginning of this message, the text that we

have before us today does not talk about bringing people to Jesus.  Rather

it talks about going out and carrying the gospel message to them.  There is

a difference.  We may think that if we have tried to bring someone to church

to hear the gospel that this is all that God requires of us.  Not so.  In

our text Jesus made it crystal clear that He had been sent to go out to

other places and carry the gospel the people.  God the Father would not have

been satisfied for Jesus to take the attitude, "They know that I am here in

Capernaum.  If they want to hear what I have to say, let them come to

Capernaum and come to me."  No.  God the Father sent Jesus out to them.  He

was to go where they were.  He was to carry the gospel to the people out

where the people were.  He was to go to them in the big cities.  He was to

go to them in their villages.  He was not to wait for them to come to Him.

He was to go to them.

    Then in John 20:21 Jesus said to His disciples, "...as my Father hath

sent me, even so send I you."  Listen, it is great when we bring someone to

church and they get saved.  But that is not enough.  That is not all that

the Lord requires of us to do.  We are to go out to the unsaved and carry

the gospel message to them.

    We are to do this on a local basis.  We are to go out into the

neighborhoods around us and carry the gospel message to those who are

unsaved.  To use an expression from the Scripture which is so familiar, let

us go into the highways and hedges and spread the good news.  This is what

we could call "local missions."

    We are to do this on an area wide basis.  This could be called "county

or regional missions."

    We are to do this on a state, and interstate basis.  This is state and

interstate missions.

    We are to do this on a foreign basis.  This is foreign missions.

    Now let me emphasize to you that this is not optional on our part.  We

are either going to do what He has commanded us to do or we are going to be

negligent.  At the best we would be negligent.  At the worst, we would be

outright disobedient.  If we are deliberately disobedient, woe be unto us.

He has set us an example that we should follow His example.  He specifically

instructed us to follow.  As the Father had sent Him, even so He sends us.

    Let me see now if I can suggest to you some practical ways of carrying

out our Lord's instructions.  First and most important, let us personally go

out to the unsaved and let us personally carry the gospel message to them.

Let us carry the gospel message to a many as we can.  Let each one of us do

this.  It makes no difference whether they are rich or poor whether they are

good or bad.  They all need to be saved.  They all need Jesus.

    Then there are a lot of people that we cannot personally go to. So let

us help to support missions and help somebody else to go to them.  People in

every village and city of the world need the Lord.  They need to hear the

gospel message.  They need to hear it from me and they need to hear it from

you.

 

Conclusion:

 

    Even those of you who are unsaved right here in this service need the

Lord.  Without the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior you will spend eternity

in the fires of hell.  I am asking you here this morning to call upon the

Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.  I am asking you to turn to Him before it

is everlastingly too late.

    Then there are those of you who are already saved.  Will you go and tell

others?  If so, will you tell the Lord right now that you are willing to go

and tell someone about Jesus and will you ask His help in doing so.  I am

not asking you to raise your hand.  But I am asking you to make a commitment

to God that you will reach out a helping hand to those who are lost and hell

bound. I am asking you to carry the gospel to them.  Won't you do it?  Won't

you make the commitment right now?