LUKE 5:12-16 HOPELESS AND DEMANDING SITUATIONS2011 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Luke 5:12-16 Hopeless And Demanding Situations

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You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2011.

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It's really appropriate, and we didn't plan this in advance. It just kind of worked out that way. But as Jackie is sharing about the work that God did and the healing that was provided in her life, we also see in our portion this morning, there was a man who was in need of healing, and Jesus does a miraculous work in his life, and he heals him.

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And from that we learn a couple things. First of all, we want to look at the example of the leper in our portion this morning. And as we look at the example of the leper, we're looking at the subject of hopeless situations and how to deal with, how to handle hopeless situations from the example of this leper who comes to Jesus.

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But we also want to see the example of Jesus in the last two verses of our portion today and how he handled the demands of the multitude and how you and I can follow the example to handle the demanding situations that we face when there's pressures all around us. The way that we respond, well, we can follow the example and the model that Jesus has set for us

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And we'll see that as we go forward today. So just two points this morning that I'd like to share with you from our portion. I think it's kind of a simple, you know, thought process or a simple message that God has for us, for us to take heed to, to pay attention to, and to consider in the things that we face in our life. And so first of all, talking about hopeless situations.

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And I want to encourage you this morning as we talk about hopeless situations, that the way to handle them is to go to Jesus. And we see that take place in the life of this leper here in Luke chapter 5. Look again with me please at verse 12 through 14. It says,

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And it happened when he was in a certain city that behold a man who was full of leprosy saw Jesus. And he fell on his face and implored him saying, Lord if you are willing you can make me clean. Then he put out his hand and touched him saying, I am willing be cleansed. Immediately the leprosy left him.

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Here in verses 12 through 14, we see first of all that when you're in a hopeless situation, when there's no hope, when there's no help, when you're facing something that is impossible for it to be worked out, for it to be accomplished, for you to succeed, you're in a hopeless situation.

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The instruction, the model that we have here is to go to Jesus. That's what this guy does. This man that we see here in this portion is truly in a hopeless situation because here he's described as being full of leprosy.

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Now leprosy is a disease that is not very common for us. You and I don't see a whole lot of cases of leprosy, but it was very common throughout history and it's still pretty common today. In fact, there's estimated about 15 million people with leprosy worldwide currently and mostly in the third world countries.

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And so it's something that still goes on, but it was something that was common, that was well known in Jesus' day and in biblical times.

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Today, leprosy is known as or referred to often as Hansen's disease. After the doctor who discovered or recognized that leprosy, what it actually is, is an organism. It's a type of bacteria that infects a person and that causes the disease to grow and spread. And so he discovered this and so now it's referred to as Hansen's disease since he discovered it.

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But what takes place when a person has leprosy is really pretty gruesome. And I'm not going to get into a lot of details and I'm not going to like show you pictures or anything, okay? I don't want to, you know, ruin your lunch plans. But...

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Leprosy began normally as a spot. It would be, you know, a light spot or a dark spot, a red spot on a person's body. It could be anywhere on their body. And the skin would change color and usually the hair that was in the skin would also change color, oftentimes turning white.

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And sometimes they would begin, even in those early stages, to begin to lose feeling in that spot that appeared on their body. Well, that was the beginning stage. And then the spots would spread. It would go and cover different parts of their body. But really, leprosy is a disease that attacks the nervous system.

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And so what ends up happening is it attacks primarily the limbs, like your hands, your fingers, your feet, your face. And so as the nervous system is being attacked, the skin and the meat in those areas begin to rot away. They begin to decrease significantly.

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but also they begin to lose feeling. And so there's this deterioration that's taking place, but then there's also the damage that's done by not being able to feel. And so you can imagine, you know, being cut or burned or hurt or, you know, in those different ways because you can't feel your feet, you can't feel your hands, you don't recognize that it's on the stove, you know, that type of thing. And so they're being subject to injury, but just not noticing what's happening and not noticing what's going on.

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Well, as a result, then those wounds would get infected and oftentimes they would lose, you know, their fingers or different limbs as a result of the infection that was going on, as a result also of the deterioration that would take place as the disease progressed.

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In the face, it would attack particularly the eyes and the nerves endings of the eyes. And so the eyes would become numb and the eyelids wouldn't work properly. And so then they wouldn't be able to blink to bring moisture to their eyes or even protect their eyes. And so often it would result in blindness in a person who had leprosy.

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It would also affect the nose and often the nose would collapse as the cartilage deteriorated and on and on and on. And I'm just trying to give you a little bit of a picture, okay? It's very gruesome. And so they would often be disfigured and outcasts of society, really.

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And so the Bible gives us pretty detailed instructions on diagnosing leprosy and then also what to do if leprosy is found. And you can check that out later on if you want in Leviticus chapter 13 and 14. But basically what would happen if you've had a spot, if it occurred on your body, then the priest would examine you.

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And he would do some tests. He would set you aside for a certain amount of time and see if it spread or see if it healed, that kind of thing. And then if it truly was leprosy, then you would be put out of the camp or out of the city. You could not be dwelling amongst the people any longer. So whatever family you had, you had to leave behind. Whatever children you had, you had to leave behind. And you had to go outside of the camp

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You had to dwell pretty much alone unless there was some other lepers there and you could be with them. But you would be their outcast of society and if you were...

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in contact with or coming close to other people in the camp or in society, then the law required that you covered your mustache or covered your face and shouted out unclean, unclean, so that the people would recognize and know that a leper was among them so that they would be careful not to get too close and not to also get the disease.

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And so it was a very humbling and humiliating, difficult, painful disease to have. And so this man, as I said, was truly in a hopeless situation. Because not only does he have leprosy, but again it describes him being full of leprosy. Full means to be covered completely.

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And so he's not just, you know, got one spot, you know, not a little bit of discoloration, not, you know, a couple of hairs that have changed colors, but he's had this disease for a long time. And so it's in an advanced state of the disease. So now that he's full of leprosy, he's completely covered with leprosy. Leprosy starts out small, but as it progresses, it covers more and more of the person.

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And so here he is full of leprosy. Now today they do have some treatments for leprosy and it's a process. It takes about a year to kill the bacteria to stop it from progressing. But that's only been available for the last about 130 years.

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And so for the rest of history, there was nothing that anybody could do. There was nothing that could be done for someone who had obtained leprosy. There was no herbs, you know, there was no special treatment or ointment or anything that could be done. And so a person who obtained leprosy was truly hopeless. They couldn't heal themselves. Nobody else could heal them.

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It didn't matter if they were rich or poor, they would end up the same way, deteriorating, disfigured, and then finally dying as a result of this disease. And so what we see first off here in this portion this morning is a person who is in a hopeless situation. Now as we look at this, of course, we want to look at, well, what is our hopeless situations? What is it that you're facing today? I don't know where you are or what you're going through.

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But you and I still today face hopeless situations. Even though there is advances in technology, even though there's, you know, advances in society and different things that we've experienced and grown in as humans, yet still today we face hopeless situations. There's diseases that we face that there's no hope.

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Even if the doctors are able to do their best and even in the case where, you know, we're able to treat some diseases, still there's a lot of times where the person is without hope in the midst of that, where the doctors are powerless, unable to help them in their situation. Doctors often can do the best that they can do and just hope for the rest. They can't guarantee really anything.

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And so we have situations, as Jackie just shared about, that are hopeless, where the doctor says, you have cancer. You know, Pastor Sisko recently went through that as well. We could also look at some other examples in our body. And so there's issues, there's situations that we face where we're in a physical condition, there's a sickness, there's an ailment that we face, and we find ourselves in this hopeless situation.

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But it doesn't have to be a sickness or a disease to be hopeless. Some people will find themselves, and I've certainly found myself in this throughout my history, in a hopeless financial situation. You ever been in one of those? Or maybe you're in one of them right now. Where you just, it's hopeless. You can't make ends meet no matter how hard you try. You can't get those bills paid. Those creditors are never going to leave you alone. That house is never going to sell, you know, whatever the case may be. And there's

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Times there's people who are in this hopeless predicament when it comes to finances. But it doesn't have to be a sickness or finances. Maybe you are hopeless in your marriage situation. You're just stuck in this hopeless situation that it just seems like there could never be reconciliation. There could never be healing. There could never be a real good godly marriage.

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And some people are certainly stuck or trapped or feel like their marriage situation is hopeless. Now every one of us has experienced hopelessness in the area of our sinful condition. Whether you recognize it or not, you and I, without Jesus Christ as our Savior,

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In our sinful condition, we are completely hopeless in every sense of the word. Just like this man who had leprosy couldn't heal himself, you and I in our sinful condition, we can't heal ourselves. We can't correct the sinful condition and we can't pay for our sin on our own.

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Not only that, but everyone around us can't help us with our sinful condition either. I mean, you could go to therapy, you could go to doctors, you could have training, you could do all kinds of things like that, but it doesn't change your heart. It doesn't change the root issue, which is the heart. And so, truly we are hopeless in our sin. And yet, there is hope because God has provided a Savior. And so in our sinful condition,

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We've learned through the gospel message that we can go to Jesus. That he is able to cleanse us from our sin, to forgive us of our sin, and to give us the hope of eternal life. But you know, it's not just our sin condition that we can go to Jesus for. And that's what I want to encourage you in this morning as we look at the example of this leper. That whatever hopeless situation you face,

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You can go to Jesus, whether it be medical or financial or in your marriage, whatever the situation may be, you can go to Jesus with that situation, with that condition that you face, with that situation that you're in. We see as this guy came to Jesus that he did three things. It says there in verse 12 that he fell on his face and implored him.

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He also said, Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean. Three things. What did he do? Well, he came asking, he came submitting, and he came believing. Asking, submitting, and believing. He comes to Jesus, first of all, asking, or it uses the word implore. He implored him. It means to ask or even to pray. And so you could say that this man came praying to Jesus for healing.

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He came asking. Now you and I, as we face our hopeless situations, we need to come to Jesus and we're able to come to Jesus, but I want to encourage you specifically to come to Jesus, go to Jesus and ask for help. I know it sounds simple, but how many times as Christians do we

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Not ask Jesus for help. We'll ask grandma. We'll ask mom and dad. We'll ask spouse. We'll ask friends. We'll even ask pastor. But we forget to ask Jesus for help. In your hopeless situation, make sure that you go to Jesus, but also make sure that you ask him for help. Ask him to work in that situation. James tells us in his letter,

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He says, sometimes you have not because you ask not. The reason why God hasn't supplied that need or given to you is because you have not asked. Now Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount that the Father knows, God knows what we need even before we ask it. But he still calls us to ask because it's his way of allowing us to participate in his work.

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And so yeah, God knows what you need and God can step in and he doesn't have to wait for you to tell him to, but he invites you to be a part and he waits for you to invite him into the situation. He waits for you to say, yeah, come on in Lord and do what you need to do. Work in this medical situation or this financial situation or this marital situation. He waits for us to ask.

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And that's what we see happen here with this leper. He comes to Jesus and he asks. Now the second thing we see though is that he was submitted to the Lord because he says, if you are willing, his request is subject to Jesus's will. He doesn't come with a demand. He doesn't say, Jesus, you must heal me because I'm speaking by faith. He doesn't say, Jesus, you must heal me or else.

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He doesn't start making threats or try to bargain. You know, he doesn't say, well, look, Lord, I'll follow you as long as you heal me. Or if you heal me, then I'll tithe. Or then I'll give to the temple. Or he doesn't bargain. He doesn't threaten. He doesn't make demands. He comes and he asks, but he's submitted to the will of the Lord. He says, if you are willing, it's up to you. It's your choice. I'm asking, but you get to choose.

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So he came asking, he came submitting, but he also came believing. Because there at the end he said, you can make me clean. This guy believed in Jesus. It wasn't a question of his power or his ability or his position. It was only a question of if you're willing, if it's your will, if it's what God wants to do. He believed that Jesus was the Son of God.

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Now, this is pretty radical when you think about it because, again, he was a leper. There was no cure. Jesus was not a physician. And yet he comes to him and he believes. You can make me clean. You can heal me. Because he knew, he believed that Jesus is the Son of God. And so he came asking, submitting, and believing.

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And in your hopeless situation, whatever it may be, you can follow His example. To come to Jesus asking, inviting Him, Lord, would you work in this situation? Submitted to His will. We'll talk more about that in a couple minutes. But then also believing. Believe that God can work. Your marriage is not beyond repair. It's not beyond the hand of God. Your financial situation is not beyond the hand of God. It's interesting to...

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To observe, you know, how we pray regarding different matters that come before us. You know, when someone asks for prayer because they have a cold,

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You know, a little bit of a cough or a sneeze. You know, that's an easy one. You don't have to work too hard or work up too much, you know, strength to pray for that kind of thing. But then someone comes and says, well, I have cancer. And then it's like, oh man, we got to really work hard on this prayer. We got to really, you know, exert ourselves and cry out loud. And, you know, and we change the way that we pray regarding the situation that stands in front of us. And why is that? Well, because in our mind,

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it's a whole lot easier for God to heal a headache than it is for him to heal cancer. I mean, we think that

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Wow, God, you're going to have to really work hard on this one. So we're really begging you. I mean, it's okay. Let me be late to work. You don't have to provide, you know, through the traffic. I'll take the hit on that so you can save your strength and then you can heal this person. I mean, you really got to save yourself for this one, God, and build up for it. You know, it's kind of like a video game, you know, build up your miracle power and then boom, and then you can do it, right? We pray differently because that's,

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I know we know better, but that's how we think. That's what we feel. It's like we got to really work hard with this one. You know, it's going to be difficult for God to do. This guy is a leper, completely covered in leprosy. And he comes to Jesus and he believes. Although he's in a hopeless situation, he says, you can help me. You can heal me.

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Because he believes in Jesus. Now, as we're talking about coming to Jesus and asking him, I do want to point out, I know it's probably not necessary, but just in case, listen.

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You don't have to wait until the situation is hopeless to come to Jesus. Okay? Make sure you know that, alright? Look, you don't have to wait until you've tried everything else. Okay, well, I've tried mom. I've tried the credit cards. I've tried the doctors. I've tried the TV. I've tried the radio. I've tried... I got all the advice. I got all the counsel. Nothing worked. Okay, finally, God, could you maybe do something? You know, that... You don't have to wait until then, okay? Immediately, whenever there's a situation, whenever there's an issue, a difficulty, a struggle in your life...

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Take it to the Lord and allow him. Give him first opportunity. Even before you go to everybody else, give him first opportunity to work and to speak in the situation that you're faced with.

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And so you don't have to wait till the impossible situation is there. But I want you to know that when you're in the impossible situation, when you're in the hopeless situation, you can still come to Jesus. Because what's impossible for man is possible with God. There's nothing that's impossible for God. He's the creator and he can heal cancer as easily as a headache.

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It's no sweat for him. So come to him, asking, submitting, and believing. Well, in verse 13, as we go on it, we see that Jesus now puts out his hand and touches him and says, I am willing be cleansed. And it says immediately the leprosy left him. What an amazing experience this must have been for this guy. He comes to Jesus asking for healing and Jesus reaches out his hand and touches him.

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Remember, he's got leprosy. Nobody touches the leper for fear of getting the disease themselves. But Jesus reaches out. How long has it been since someone has touched him? Since someone's laid his hand on his shoulder? How long has it been? We don't know. But what an amazing experience for him to feel the touch of Jesus. As he comes to Jesus, Jesus touches him and says, I'm willing. Be cleansed. And then immediately,

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Instantly, the leprosy is gone. Amazing, the miracle that takes place. More amazing for him than I'm sure we can even really imagine. It wasn't an internal disease, you know, which you couldn't really tell there was a difference. It was an external disease. I mean, it was his skin. His face was disfigured. He'd experienced the effects and ravages of this disease. And yet, instantly, immediately, he is healed. He's made whole.

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And we'll see in just a moment that he was so excited, he runs and tells everybody he can about the work that Jesus did. But as we talk about this guy being healed, I know one question that we all struggle with is going to be, is everyone healed? So we see the example of this guy. He goes to Jesus. He asks. He submits. He believes. And he's healed. He's healed.

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And so is that the formula? So that anybody who goes to Jesus asking, submitting, and believing, that then they should be healed. Well, the reality, of course, is that's not true. That's not a formula. Not everybody is healed. Not everybody is rescued. Not everybody is preserved. Some people look at the Gospels, they look at the accounts that we have here in the Scriptures, and they

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They notice, well, it looks like everybody who went to Jesus was healed. And so then they

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jump to a conclusion saying, so anybody who goes to Jesus now will be healed too. And if you weren't healed, then either you must not have enough faith or you must not have been coming to Jesus or maybe there's some secret sin in your life. They make up all of these other things to try to support the conclusion that they've jumped to. But the reality is not everybody who asks for healing is healed. Right?

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And not everybody who asks for help in certain situations have those situations resolved the way that they want. You can see an example of that in the Apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, Paul describes a thorn in the flesh that he had. We also know in the book of Galatians that he had some kind of condition with his eyes, some type of disease. And it might have been the same thing, that his eye condition was the thorn in the flesh, but we don't know for sure.

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But whatever it was, he had this condition, this issue in his life. And he says, I went before the Lord and I asked the Lord to remove it from me. Now we know Paul believed. We know Paul was obedient to the will of God. And we know he asked. But when he asked, the Lord said no. And so he asked again. And the Lord said no. And so he asked a third time. And the Lord said no the third time. Along with this message, Paul, my grace is sufficient for you.

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Paul, I'm going to carry you through this. My grace is sufficient to enable you to continue on and to endure this difficulty, this thorn in the flesh that you have. And so Paul did not receive healing from the Lord. Instead, he received grace from the Lord to endure the affliction, the difficulty that he faced. You see, we have to face the reality that some things are more important than our physical healing.

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Some things are more important than our temporary happiness. Some things are more important than what we want and the way we want things to be. Because we need to keep in perspective eternity. And in the eternal perspective, when you look at eternity, so it starts here when you were born and then it continues on infinitely. So that's a long timeline to keep in mind. But then you zoom in

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on the part of the timeline that is your life here on this earth and now it becomes pretty, pretty small. I mean, it's just a tiny portion of the rest of your existence. And God's got your whole existence in mind and what's best for you for the rest of eternity. And so some things in this life are going to be uncomfortable and painful and difficult, but in the big picture, yeah, we're here maybe 70, 80, 90 years. It's a tiny sliver of the rest of eternity.

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And it's the eternal perspective that God has in mind. You know, we have the scripture Romans 8, 28 that we all know and love. Paul says, we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to his purpose. This is what we know, Paul says, all things work together for good. And we quote that all the time. But here's the thing we have to keep in mind. It's all things work together for good. And God's talking about eternally, eternal perspective.

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He's not saying all things work together for good in the next five minutes or in the next two hours or in the next ten days or even the next ten years. He's saying ultimately in eternity you will see that all things work together for good. And that's a promise. You can hold on to it. But that doesn't mean everything will be resolved the way that you want it to be and that you won't experience difficulty or affliction. And the best example of that is the cross.

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Because here's Jesus, the Son of God, praying in the garden, Lord, if there's any other way, let this cup pass from me. But Jesus endured the cross. He endured the pain. He endured the agony, the humiliation, the affliction. He endured death. Why? Well, because He decided, He accounted it worth it. He says, look, it's worth it for me to go through the cross, for me to be put to death, for me to experience that.

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So that these people could be saved. It's worth it. It's not in vain. It's not useless. But it's worth every moment of pain. Every moment of difficulty. All the apostles that followed Jesus were put to death for their witness of Jesus except for John. The apostle John was not martyred but it wasn't for lack of trying. They boiled him in oil and he survived.

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So they exiled him to the island of Patmos and he survived and received the vision of the book of Revelation. They were all tortured. They tried to put all of them to death for their faith, for their testimony of Jesus. And so understand, there's going to be affliction. There's going to be difficult. And in some cases, God will work and he'll remove that difficulty. He'll remove that affliction.

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But in some cases, he won't. It's up to his will, his plan, which is for our eternal good. And so we must trust him to do its best. And so we come to him in our hopeless situation asking, because we're in the situation, we're in the pain, we're in the difficulty, we're experiencing it, and we need to ask, invite him to be part of it and to work in the midst of it.

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Now he may say no, and that's why we need to be submitted to his will. But even when he says no, you know what he also says? My grace is sufficient for you. He says, no, I'm not going to take you out of this, but I'll help you through it. I'll get you through it. You can rely upon me. My grace is sufficient. I'll take care of you. You can endure it. You can handle it. It's not too much. And so we come to him asking, but also submitting to his will. Whatever you want, God. Believing that he can, knowing that he can. That's not the question.

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But it's whether or not this is what's ultimately best for us. Now as we look at this, I want to encourage you. It's not wrong to ask. It's not wrong to ask. God doesn't discourage you from asking for healing, for help in whatever situation you face. But when you ask, believe and be willing to submit to His will.

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Well, in verse 14, it goes on to say that Jesus charged him to tell no one after he'd been healed. He says, but go show yourself to the priest and make an offering for your cleansing as a testimony to them, just as Moses commanded. And so now Jesus tells him, all right, don't go tell anybody, but go to the priest, go show yourself and do the things that the law prescribes. In the Old Testament, in the book of Leviticus chapter 14, we have the

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The instructions that God gives for a leper who has been healed or cleansed of his leprosy. In Leviticus chapter 14 verse 2 it says, This shall be the law of the leper for the day of his cleansing. And so we have God's instruction for what to do with a leper when they've been cleansed. Now this is important for a couple reasons. First of all, leprosy was incurable.

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And so God was leaving room in his law to work for him to do the miraculous and to bring healing even though that was impossible by man's standards. But the second thing I love about this is the redemption part of it. Because you see, if someone was a leper and they're put out of the camp, but then they're healed, God makes provision for them to be able to be brought back in, to be restored.

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to his family, to the community, and to partake once again of the feasts, the worship of God. And that's so amazing and beautiful about our God. Leprosy oftentimes is referred to as a picture of sin because it really illustrates the way that sin works. Sin in our lives, it does often start out small, maybe a little spot, maybe a little discoloration.

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But as it grows, as it spreads, it contaminates us completely and leaves us in a condition where we're outside of the camp. We're disconnected. We cannot have relationship with God or really with God's people because of our condition of sin, because of our sinful practice. Spiritually, we become disfigured. We become deteriorated. And yet, God provides for us

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a solution, a salvation through Jesus Christ. And through that, he gives us the opportunity to be restored, to be reconciled to right relationship with God. And so Leviticus chapter 14, it's a beautiful picture of redemption. I'd encourage you to check it out later. Even the sacrifices that are offered, they're pictures of Jesus there in Leviticus chapter 14. So Jesus tells him to go and to fulfill the law and to do what the law required for someone who'd been cleansed of leprosy.

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But he also charges the man to tell nobody, which is interesting. A lot of times people ask, why? Why would he tell him not to tell people about what Jesus had done in his life?

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Well, understand that Jesus' goal was not to get famous, you know, by his miracles. He wasn't trying to get a big crowd or, you know, as many people following him on Twitter as possible. He wasn't trying to, you know, amass a big thing or make a big move. He was reaching out to individuals. It's amazing. As we see, he reached out and touched this guy. All throughout the Gospel of Luke, we'll see how Jesus took the time to connect with individual people in need.

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And that's what he was doing. He wasn't doing a miracle so that everybody could stand up and take notice. He was doing a miracle so that guy could be touched, so that he could be ministered to because he loves each and every person, each and every individual. The real issue here, why he charged the man to tell no one, was timing. And Jesus often said, you see it throughout the Gospel of John, my hour has not yet come. It was not yet the time for him to be revealed to the nation as the Messiah.

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That would come as he rode into the donkey on the triumphal entry, as prophesied by Zechariah in Daniel chapter 9. That was his presentation to the nation. That was the right time. He says, my time's not yet come. And so if you spread the news, then, well, it's not yet time for that. Not only that, but then when the crowds came, it really limited his mobility and his ability to go into different places because the crowds that were there, and we'll see that as we look at the next verse.

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So he tells him not to tell anybody, but the guy, even though he asked and he submitted and he believed, he didn't listen to Jesus on that point. And so he goes and he declares it freely, it says in Mark chapter 1. He tells everybody what the Lord did. Now I want to encourage you. For us, we really need to follow the example of this guy because for us, the timing is right. Jesus has already revealed himself. He's already presented himself as the Savior. And so the timing is right.

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So share what God has done. That's why we gave Jackie an opportunity because she wanted to share. I said, great, it fits. We see the miraculous work that God was doing in the scriptures as well as today, but also sharing the good news, what God has done. First of all, for your sinful condition with the gospel message, but also those miraculous things that he's done in the hopeless situations in your life. Be bold and spread the news. Share what God has done.

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And so the first thing we see here in this portion, as we look at this first guy, the leper, is in a hopeless situation, we can go to Jesus. And we can go to him asking, submitting, and believing. Well, finally, we look at the last two verses and we see how to deal with a multitude of demands. A multitude of demands now is surrounding Jesus. And in his example, we learn that

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how to handle that, and we learn really to get alone and pray frequently. Look at verse 15. It says, However, the report went around concerning him all the more, and great multitudes came together to hear and to be healed by him of their infirmities. So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. So now as we continue the story, the guy is healed. Jesus says, Go show yourself to the priest, but don't tell everybody.

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But the guy doesn't listen to him. And he goes and it says, the report went around concerning him all the more. In Mark chapter 1 verse 45, the same account, we have a little bit more insight about what happened. It says that this guy, the leper, he began to proclaim it freely and spread the matter. And so much so that Jesus could no longer openly enter the city but was outside in deserted places. So here's the thing.

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The news spread. He's out there spreading the news. He spreads the news so much so that Jesus is not able to enter the city because the whole city knows. I mean, this guy is excited. He's healed. And you can maybe begin to imagine a little bit about what that was like to be healed of such a terrible condition.

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And so he's shouting from the rooftops. He's running down the streets. He's telling everybody what Jesus did. And the crowds are gathering as a result. They're hearing about this great miracle that has taken place. And now Jesus, as a result of this one guy, is no longer able to enter into the cities because he's spread the news. He's declared what God has done. It says in Mark 1.45 that now the people are coming to Jesus from every direction.

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And so we get this picture of Jesus just being surrounded by these people who've heard the news. They've heard what Jesus did. And now the multitudes have gathered. It says in verse 15 that the multitudes came together to hear and to be healed. I'm sure that you know a little bit about a multitude of demands. Maybe not exactly like Jesus. You know, maybe there's not crowds of people that come around to hear you speak today.

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And maybe they don't crowd around you to be healed by you. But you know what it's like to have people around you requesting things of you, requiring things of you, making demands upon you for your attention, for your energy, for your decisions, all kinds of things. You're being pulled in different directions as you face this multitude of demands. There at work, perhaps you have your boss and

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Your boss is making demands. Your boss is requiring things of you. But then your boss's boss comes on the scene and they require some different things upon you. And then you have co-workers around you who are relying upon you for other things. And then you have your subordinates who are relying upon you as well. And so at work you're being pulled in all these different directions. There's all these different pressures being put upon you. But then you go home and now you have your spouse...

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requiring things and needing things from you. And then you have the kids who are hanging on your arms and legs and needing your attention and requiring things of you. And then you have your extended family and then you go on your friends and there's all these pressures. And then you get to church and Pastor Pooley makes you work seven days a week here at church and gives you so much responsibility and pressures here. And so you know what it's like to have all these multitudes of demands around you, pulling at you, demanding your attention, requiring things

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And maybe it's brought you to the point, maybe you've come to the point where you just want to scream. We just, I can't do everything. Maybe you know what that's like to experience a multitude of demands. Well, that's what Jesus was at. Now, of course we know Jesus is God. Yet, don't let that distract you from how this relates to you. Because although Jesus is God, He limited Himself.

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He humbled himself and became a man. And he limited himself to the same resources that you and I have. He limited himself to the resources that you and I have. The work of the Holy Spirit is how Jesus accomplished his ministry. Same way you and I do. And so here he is with a crowd around him. Multitudes. And what are they asking for? Well, they want him to speak. Now, I don't know if you've ever spoken to a crowd before.

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But speaking to a crowd is, well, it's draining. It's exhausting. It's difficult. Not just because of the fear of public speaking, but the process of thinking through and concentrating and focusing, it drains you. Projecting your voice, you know, speaking so that people can hear. It's difficult. And yet these multitudes are here to hear Jesus speak. But they're also here with the sick, right?

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Here's one Jesus, heal that person. All right, here's another one. Oh, look over here. Heal that person, Jesus. I mean, just being bombarded by people who want to hear, people who want to be healed, these demands that he's facing. And so how did he handle that? How could he take all this pressure? Well, we see what he did was he got alone

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And he prayed frequently. Look at verse 16. So he himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed. Jesus handled it by spending time in prayer. And when more demands came, more frequently,

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He got away and spent time in prayer. Now, as we talk about prayer for the next couple minutes here, I just want to, first of all, encourage you. Look, this is not, you know, a big club to beat you down with and tell you how terrible you are because you don't pray enough.

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Whenever we talk about prayer as Christians, it's an opportunity for condemnation for ourselves because all of us feel like we don't pray enough. All of us can condemn ourselves and say how terrible we are and the enemy loves to jump on that and say, yes, you're terrible. You should just give up. Why try speaking to God or praying? Why even bother? He doesn't want to hear you because you haven't been speaking to him this whole time. It just beats us down, the subject of prayer.

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But this is not in condemnation, okay? This is not to say you're a dummy and you need to pray more. This is saying, look, when you get busy, it's more opportunity that you have to get alone with the Father and to receive from Him what you need to be able to meet the demands that you're facing. Think about it this way. Jesus waited for His disciples to ask before He taught them how to pray.

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Think about what that means for a second, okay? He waited for his disciples to ask, Lord, teach us to pray. He didn't beat them down when they asked. He didn't scold them, well, it's about time you asked. What did he do? He said, okay, here's how to pray. He's not upset with you. He's not mad at you. He loves you. And he wants to spend time with you. So it's an invitation. It's not a condemnation. It's not a beating. It's not a driving away. It's an invitation. Come.

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Come, pray, yeah. Come spend time with me. This is what Jesus did. Now, just by a show of hands, can I take a quick survey? Don't be scared, okay? Who here has a busy life? Anybody? Pretty much everybody, right? I mean, we're all busy. Even retired people. You talk to my grandpa, oh man, he's so busy. He's got so much to do. I'm like, what do you got to do? You're retired. Relax. Relax.

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We're all busy. Our lives are filled with all kinds of things. And when we're busy, very often the easiest temptation there is, is to lay aside time with the Lord. Even as a pastor, I can share that with you. That's where the temptation is. I got a lot of stuff to do, a lot of things on my plate, a lot of things I got to get going on. So I got to set aside that time so that I can get things done.

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Jesus did exactly the opposite. As the demands grew, as the pressures became more and more, it says, so he got away often and prayed. So I want to encourage you today. When you're facing a multitude of demands, increase. As a result of that, let that be the opportunity, the driving force to take you to the Lord. We also see here in verse 16 that it says that he often withdrew.

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This passage is really not speaking about long prayer time, but frequent times of prayer. Martin Luther is quoted as saying, you know, I'm so busy, if I didn't pray three hours a day, I don't know how I would get through the day. And we read that and we go, oh man, I only pray 15 minutes, you know, I'm like a loser. It's not saying everybody's supposed to pray, you know, three hours a day, you know, you got to wake up at four, you can pray till seven, then you can get ready for work, okay? No, no, no.

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He often withdrew. It's speaking about he just frequently, regularly, he was stepping aside. He was spending time with the Lord. I think Nehemiah is a great example of that. That just, you know, right in the moment he needed it. There were situations around him. There was pressures building and he would just boom instantly. And you don't have, you know, chapter or two chapter prayers recorded of Nehemiah. It's just quick, you know. He prays to the Lord. And so it doesn't have to be incredibly long. But just take a few moments. Frequently. Frequently.

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and spend time with the Father. But also it says here in verse 16 that he withdrew into the wilderness. The wilderness, literally, it's a lonesome place. So the idea is he got alone with God.

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I like the word withdrew because it has the idea of sneaking away. You know, so like you can imagine a crowd of people and you just kind of like sneak away. You know, you just sneak out of service or you just sneak away from the crowd. You sneak into the closet, sneak into that room, you sneak over there and you just spend a few moments by yourself with the Lord.

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Get to a place where it's just you and God. Maybe that's a closet. Maybe it's a walk around the parking lot. Maybe it's in your car. Maybe it's in the garage. Wherever it is, just get alone. Even if it's just for a couple moments. Repeatedly, throughout the day. Maybe three, four, five, six, seven times a day. Just sneak away for a moment. Spend a minute or two. Spend a few moments with the Lord. Just you and Him. Ask Him for help and strength.

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The word prayed here, as it describes of Jesus, includes all kinds of prayer. It's thanks, rejoicing, praising, asking, special requests, all kinds of prayer. And so as the demands increased, Jesus spent more frequent times in prayer. And there's lots of demands, lots of responsibilities involved.

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We need to do the same. Withdraw often to pray. Otherwise, you get caught up in the busyness. And it's very easy when you get caught up in the busyness to lose your footing, to lose your bearing. And because you're so busy and you're caught up doing all the things that you've got to do, you forget what God's called you to do. You forget to hear from Him, to connect with Him, and to go the direction that He wants you to go. And so pray for direction. Pray for wisdom. Pray for words. Pray for strength.

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in the situation that you're faced. Whenever you're busy, it's even more important for you to frequently get away, get alone, and spend time with the Father. And so today, whatever your situation you're in, if you're in a hopeless situation, go to Jesus. If you're in a situation where you're facing a multitude of demands, get alone with Jesus. Spend some time with Him. Allow Him to meet your needs and provide what you need. Amen? Let's pray.

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Heavenly Father, we thank you that you love us so much that you sent your only begotten Son to die upon the cross for us. Because Lord, we were covered in sin like this man was covered in leprosy and we needed a Savior. And you provided that Savior through Jesus.

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So thank you God for loving us, for providing us salvation. Thank you that we can come to you with our sin condition to be forgiven, to be given eternal life. Thank you that we can come to you with all the other hopeless situations that we face in life as well. All the other difficulties and everything else that we go through. That we can come to you. I pray Lord that you would help us, encourage us to do so. Lord that we would not stand afar off, but Lord that we would draw near and invite you to be at work in our lives.

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And I pray, God, as we face the multitude of demands in our life, Lord, that we would allow that to be an opportunity for us to get away and spend some time with you. Not the other way, which is so normal for us, where the busyness causes us to not spend time with you. I pray, Lord, that the busyness in our lives would cause us to frequently step away, to get alone, and spend a few moments with you.

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Lord, that you could meet our needs, that you could provide our strength, that you could lead us and guide us. Lord, that we could glorify you with our lives. And so, Lord, I pray that you would work in our midst as we draw near to you, that you would meet our needs. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.