#35. Luke 5:15-16 THE GROWING FAME
OF JESUS
Introduction:
In our previous text Jesus instructed the man He had cleansed of leprosy
to go to the priests and to
offer to the Lord certain sacrifices which had
been commanded under the law of
Moses. In doing so the man would give a
testimony
that would leave men without excuse for continuing to reject Jesus
as the Christ, the Savior of
men. The priests had earlier examined
this man
and had proclaimed him to be a
leper. They would now examine him again
and
would
proclaim him to be free from his leprosy.
Therefore when they would
learn
that it was Jesus who had cleansed the man from his leprosy, they
would
be without excuse if they continue to reject Jesus as the Christ.
Likewise all who would hear of this event
would also be without excuse if
they should continue to reject
Jesus as Savior. Thank God, not all
rejected
Him. Many received the testimony that had been
given and accepted Jesus as
the Christ and trusted Him as
Savior. In our text today, we see the
fame of
Jesus grow
tremendously.
I.
The spreading of His fame of Jesus
V. 15, "But so much the more went there a fame abroad of
him..." The
fame of Jesus had already begun
to spread. He was already the topic of
conversation
on almost every tongue throughout the land.
Luke says that
after
the healing of the leper, His fame spread so much the more. They
talked
about Him with a great deal more interest.
Those who were favorably
impressed
with Jesus were much more outspoken in their conversations with
others. They spoke with virtually every body they saw
about Jesus and
expressed
to them their enthusiasm about the greatness of this man. They
praised
Him highly and honored Him openly and enthusiastically to others.
On the other hand those who opposed Him
also spoke more strongly against Him
and said all manner of evil
against Him. However, that is not what
Luke is
talking
about here. Luke makes it clear in this
verse that as far as the
masses
of common people were concerned, the sentiment of the people was
overwhelmingly
in favor of Jesus. Jesus was at this
time extremely popular
with the great masses of common
people. It was chiefly the Jewish
leadership
who spoke out against Him and they were
vastly
outnumbered.
Everywhere you went people were talking about Jesus. It was Jesus,
Jesus, Jesus!
They were praising the name of Jesus.
That is the one name
that was on every lip. But I want you to keep in mind that it is a
name
that has a specific
meaning. The very word, Jesus, is very
meaningful. We
use the word all the time and
seldom think of the meaning. In fact, it
is
possible
that some in this congregation do not even know what the word
means. But those people knew. The people in that day who were talking
about
Jesus so much enthusiasm knew.
The word, Jesus, comes from the Old Testament word, Joshua. Literally,
the word, Jesus, as found in
the New Testament, is the Old Testament word,
Joshau,
spelled out in the Greek language. In
our English translations of
the Bible it came from the Old
Testament Hebrew through the New Testament
Greek and then into our English language. But the important matter is not
how we got our modern spelling
of the word. The important thing is the
meaning.
The word, Joshua, in the Old Testament, is used in two different ways.
It was often used as a verb to mean
"Jehovah saves." This is the
meaning
that was intended when this name
was given to the Old Testament character,
Joshua.
This was the Joshua who was an assistant to Moses and who succeeded
Moses as the leader of
were praising Jehovah God and
saying that Jehovah saves men.
However, the word, Joshua, as used as a noun, means "Jehovah, the
Savior." This is the meaning that rightly applies to
Jesus, the son of
Mary.
The name Jesus, as given to Him by instruction from God the Father,
and was intended not only to
call attention to the fact that Jehovah God
saves
men, but it was intended to point out that Mary's Son, Jesus, is
Jehovah God, the Savior. Jesus is Jehovah God, the
Savior. His name has
that very meaning.
Now let me remind you that while people of today here in our land may
not be familiar with the
meaning of the name, Jesus, the people of that day
were. They knew what the word meant. At the first, they would think that
this name was given to Him
merely to remind everybody that Jehovah God is
all powerful and that Jehovah
God saves. But in view of the miracles
that
Jesus was doing, some of the people were
beginning to get the point. This
man who has healed the sick,
caused the dumb to speak, made the lame to
walk, and now has healed even
the dread disease of leprosy, is actually
Jehovah God, Himself. He is Jehovah God the Savior. He is the Christ of
God. He is the Emmanuel spoken of in
prophecy. He is God with us. He is
Jehovah God dwelling in human flesh. He is Jehovah God the Savior.
(V. 15), "...and great multitudes came together to hear, and to be
healed
by him of their infirmities." The
result of all this increase of
talk about Jesus was that even
greater number of people came to the city to
see Him. Luke does not tell us what city they came
to. Presumably it was
the city where the leper had
been healed. They flooded into this city
in
droves.
It is not likely that all the people realized that Jesus is Jehovah God,
the Savior, but they did
recognize Him as a man sent from God.
Luke says
that they came for two purposes. First, they came to hear Jesus speak.
There was a ring of truth to all that He
said. What He spoke was the truth
of God and they wanted to hear
the truth of God that He had to present..
That is commendable. That is as it should be.
Furthermore, Luke said that many of them came to be healed. Many of
them were afflicted with dread
disease and they were convinced that Jesus
could
heal them from their disease. I don't
blame them for coming to Jesus.
If I had been living in that day and I
were afflicted with some terrible
disease,
I would do my dead level best to comet to Jesus. I would ask Jesus
to heal me of my disease. Who can blame them for coming to Jesus?
Let me say that the motive of these people was a lot better than those
who came to Jesus in some of
the cities where He traveled.. Some had
come
to Jesus just to watch Him
perform miracles. They wanted the excitement of
watching
Him perform miracles. Some, after the
miraculous feeding of the
multitude,
came to Jesus just in order to be fed.
They came hoping that
Jesus would miraculously feed them. They liked all that good eating and
hoped
that Jesus would do it again and again and again..
But these people that Luke speaks about in our text had a more noble
motive
than that. They sincerely wanted to
learn the truth of God and those
who were diseased desperately
wanted to be healed.
V. 16, "And he withdrew himself into the wilderness, and
prayed." It
may seem puzzling at first to
us why Jesus would leave the city where such
great
crowds were gathering and would go off into the wilderness. Luke does
not give us the answer to that
question. What Luke does say would lead
us
to believe that He merely
wanted to be alone in prayer. However,
Mark tells
us that the reason that He
left the city and went to the wilderness is that
the crowds were too large and
too disorderly. Jesus could not
effectively
minister
to that mean people at one time. They
virtually mobbed Him every
time He showed up in
public. They were not an unfriendly
mob. To the
contrary. They were an extremely friendly mob, but they
were a mob never-
the-less. The crowds were so jam packed in around Him
that it actually
became
dangerous for some of the people He was trying to help.
So Jesus went out into the wilderness not too distant from the city.
Luke says that there He prayed. The idea is that He did spend some time
alone
in prayer with God the Heavenly Father.
But this does not mean that
He altogether stopped ministering to the
people. It does not mean that He
stopped
preaching and teaching to them the truths of God. Nor does it mean
that He stopped healing those
who were diseased. Mark tells us that
the
people
continued to come to Him even out in the wilderness and that He
continued
His preaching and teaching and healing of the people. But the
difference
is that they came in smaller groups and at a slower pace. He had
time for His own personal
prayer-life with God the Father and He could more
effectively
minister to those who came to Him without putting anyone in
danger
of being trampled by a mob.
II. The reason for His fame
I want you to think with me for a moment why the fame of Jesus grew.
Jesus was a carpenter, but He was not
famous for any kind of carpentry work
that He did. I am confident that He always did a good job
with whatever He
built. Also I am confident that if He had chosen to
do so, He could have
become
famous for constructing great buildings.
Jesus did not become famous for any military activity on His part. Many
men have become famous because
of their military prowess. Joshua of the
Old
Testament is an example. Joshua is considered to be one of the great
military
geniuses of all time. Yet if Jesus had
chosen to take any kind of
leadership
role in military action, there is no army in all the world that
could
have withstood Him.
Jesus did not become famous because of any sports record that He has
achieved. Many men have become famous because of their
achievement in the
field
of sports. Even in the time f Jesus here
on earth sports events were
very popular. In fact the world Olympics were already being
held on an
annual
basis. Yet if Jesus had chosen to
compete in the Olympics there is
no question as to who would be
the winner. There is no way in the world
that any man could have
successfully competed against Him.
Jesus did not become famous because of any scientific discovery. Many
men have become famous for some
scientific discovery that they have made.
Yet if Jesus had chosen to use even a
small portion of His infinite
knowledge,
He could have astounded the scientists of the world with His
achievements. He still could today. Even the most modern and knowledgable
scientist
knows but pitifully little compared to the infinite knowledge of
nature. Jesus is the One who made it all. He knows all the laws of nature.
Jesus did not become famous because of the worldly riches that He had
amassed. The truth of the matter is that He was not
rich. He had become
poor for our sake. He had not a place of His own to lay His
head. Yet if
He had laid claim to that which is
rightfully His, He would have had a title
deed to every strip of land in
the whole world. He would have had every
piece
of money in the whole world in His own personal possession. He could
have owned all the oil, all the
timber, all minerals, everything. The
cattle
of a thousand hills are his.
What Jesus was famous for was His ability to preach and teach the truths
of God so that men could
understand what He was talking about and
could
have assurance that He was right
in what He said. There was no man in all
the world who could speak with
such great power and authority as Jesus.
Jesus was famous also for coming to the rescue of those who were
afflicted
with all manner of diseases. He was
famous for healing the sick.
He was famous for helping those who were
in need. If a blind man was
brought
to Jesus, Jesus would make him to see.
If a lame man was brought to
Jesus, Jesus would make him to walk. If there was one sick with a high
fever,
Jesus would drive the fever away. If one
was possessed with demons,
Jesus would drive the demons out. If one was a leper, Jesus would heal
him even from the leprosy. Those are the thing that made Jesus famous.
His fame spread far and near in Galilee.
His fame spread throughout all
Judea. His fame spread to Jerusalem, the capitol
city of Israel. At the
time of His death, He was known
throughout all the lands of Galilee, Judea
and even Samaria. Even secular historians wrote about Him. In three short
years
He had become a national figure. He was
known throughout the nation
and in some of the foreign
countries.
III. The continued growth of His fame
Then
at the end of those three years, Jesus was taken and brutally put
to death. He was put to death by crucifixion. You would expect that within
a few years His name would be
forgotten and few, if any, would be able to
recall
anything about His life.
But not so. The fame
of Jesus has continued to grow through the years.
Today the name of Jesus is known not only
throughout Galilee Judea, but
throughout
the entire world. Today the mighty deeds
that Jesus performed
during
His personal ministry are known in every nation and in every city.
The wondrous things that Jesus has done is
told in song, sermon, and
writings
of men in every language under the sun.
To some degree, He is famous also for His resurrection from the grave.
To some degree, He is famous for His
ascension into heaven. He traveled
from earth to heaven without a
space ship.
To some degree, He is famous for the promise of His return. To some
degree
He is famous for the prophecy of His defeat of the Anti-Christ. To
some degree He is famous as the
future King of the world during the
millennium. But the chief reason for His fame today is
still the good that
does for men, women, boys and
girls. He take
the sin sick soul that is
headed
for the fires of hell and He saves that soul and puts that soul on
the road to heaven. He takes the burdened heart that is burdened
down will
all manner of heartaches and
fears and He gives that heart peace and joy
beyond
measure. Jesus specializes in keeping
sinners out of the fires of
hell. He specializes in lifting the great burdens
that crush the soul. He
specializes
in saving all who will repent of sin and trust in Him. He saves
the small and great, the rich
and the poor.
One of these days His fame will be even greater than it has ever been in
all the history of the
world. One of these days in the near
future, God
will make Him to sit upon the
throne in Jerusalem and He will rule the
world. Col.
1:18 says that God the Father intends for Jesus to have the
preeminand
let Jesus
lift those burdens and take
those burdens away. I wonder if there is
not
someone
who will just cast all your cares upon Him and let Him help you with
that heavy, heavy load. Come this morning and repent of your
sin. Come
this morning and ask Jesus to
save your soul. Come this morning and
let
Jesus lift your
heart and let Him lead you in living a righteous life. I
wonder
if there is not some Christian here this morning who will not just
surrender
your life to Him and let Him have His way with your life. I
wonder
if there is not someone here today who will come forward and present
yourself
to this church to work for Him and life for Him. If so, then while
our musicians come and lead us
in the singing of a hymn, please step forward
and come.