INTRODUCTION:

1. We left off last week at Luke 4:37. Our Lord was in the synagogue at Capernaum, when a demon-possessed man cried out to Him (4:33, 34).
2. Our Lord commanded the devil to come out of the man, and the people were all amazed (4:35-37; cf. 4:41).
3. In addition to casting out devils, our Lord also healed the sick (4:38-40).
4. And in addition to casting out devils and healing the sick, our Lord moved from town to town preaching the kingdom of God (4:43, 44).
5. We see very clearly in the four Gospels that the preaching of the Gospel, casting out devils, and the healing of the sick went together in the salvation that our Lord came to bring.
6. These were all given as proof that Jesus was the Messiah (cf. Luke 7:22). Everywhere Jesus went He preached the Gospel, and cast out devils, and He healed the sick.
7. Andrew Murray said, Jesus, who took upon Him the soul and body of man, delivers both in equal measure from the consequences of sin.
8. In his commentary on the Gospel of Luke, W.H. Griffith Thomas divides this text into three parts:

1. JESUS, THE GENTLE HEALER
2. JESUS, THE ALL-SUFFICIENT HELPER
3. JESUS, THE UNSELFISH WORKER

 

I. JESUS, THE GENTLE HEALER (4:38, 39)

1. Note that Simon Peter had a wife (4:38). The RCC teaches that Peter was their first pope, and that popes cannot be married.
2. There is no Biblical support for their claims. In I Peter 5:1, Peter refers to himself as "an elder," not a priest or a pope.
3. There is also a reference to Peter (called Cephas ) having a wife in I Corinthians 9:5. We do not know her name.
4. According to Mark 1:29, the house was shared by Simon Peter and his brother Andrew. Peter s wife and mother-in-law lived there too. The Bible does not say if they had any children, or if Andrew was married.
5. John 1:44 tells us that Andrew and Peter were originally from the town of Bethsaida.
6. Luke 4:38 says Simon's wife's mother "was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her."
7. Our Lord "rebuked the fever" and healed her, and immediately she arose, and ministered unto them (4:39).
8. Luke, who was a physician, makes note of the immediate return of her usual strength. One minute the woman is very sick, "taken with a great fever," and the next minute she is bustling about serving her guests.
9. "A great fever" usually leaves one very weak. It normally takes time to get back to work. But Peter's mother-in-law rose up immediately. The cure was instantaneous and complete.
10. One commentator wrote, There was no lingering weakness or lassitude, such as accompanies ordinary convalescence. Her strength fully restored, she at once resumed her normal domestic functions, rendering beneficial ministries to the guests (D Edmond Hiebert, The Gospel of Mark).
11. As our Lord moved about men He manifested His compassion and power by delivering them from their diseases. In our Lord s deep, tender sympathies, He entered into the sorrows and sufferings of those whom He healed.
12. For example, you may recall what happened when the woman with the issue of blood touched the hem of His garment (cf. Mark 5:24-34).
13. Mark 5:30 says, And Jesus, immediately knowing in Himself that virtue (power) had gone out of Him, turned Him about in the press, and said, Who touched my clothes?
14. Our Lord perceived that virtue had gone out of Him. It cost Jesus something to heal people. He truly did bear the infirmities and diseases of others. He felt with them and for them.
15. Before moving on, let me stress that our Lord s main activity was preaching (4:43, 44). Casting out devils and healing was secondary.
16. Our Lord s ministry demonstrated that the establishment of the kingdom of God meant the overthrow of the kingdom of Satan (cf. 4:41).
17. Our Lord's miracles were a sign to the people of Israel that He was their promised Messiah. The prophet Isaiah said that when the Messiah would come, the eyes of the blind would be opened, and the ears of the deaf would be unstopped; the lame man shall leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing (Isaiah 35:5, 6).

 

II. JESUS, THE ALL-SUFFICIENT HELPER (4:40, 41)

1. Our Lord went into the synagogue in the morning (4:33). Then He visited Peter's house at midday (4:38). Then "when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto Him..." (4:40).
2. It is helpful to compare Luke's account with Matthew and Mark. Matthew 8:16, 17 says, When the even was come, they brought unto Him many that were possessed with devils: and he cast out the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses.
3. Matthew is quoting Isaiah 53:4, Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
4. Another New Testament reference to Isaiah 53 is I Peter 2:24, Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed (cf. Isaiah 53:5).
5. "And he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them" (4:40). None was turned away.
6. Alexander Maclaren said, "The point made prominent by Luke is the inexhaustible fullness of pity and power, which met and satisfied all the petitioners."
7. Luke 4:41 reminds us that the devils recognize Christ (cf. 4:33-35). Once again our Lord refused to receive testimony to His person and work from demons (4:41).
8. These various miracles provide a vivid picture of what sin does to men and women and how they are delivered. For example, the people possessed with devils gives us a picture of people who are controlled and dominated by Satanic power. They are driven by habits and passions from which they cannot deliver themselves.
9. Those who are "taken with a great fever" picture the feverishness of sin, from which the Lord gives complete freedom.

 

III. JESUS, THE UNSELFISH WORKER (4:42-44)

1. After a busy night of healing the sick and casting out devils, the sun came up, and "it was day" (4:42).
2. By comparing Luke's account with the Gospel of Mark, we see that our Lord went into a desert place for prayer as well as rest.
3. Mark 1:35 says, "And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed."
4. Christ's dependence upon prayer is proof of His manhood, and Christ's dependence upon prayer is a lesson for us on the importance of prayer.
5. Luke 11:1 says, "And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples."
6. In this deserted place, the crowd sought our Lord and came to Him, and tried to keep Him from leaving them (4:42).
7. "And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent" (4:43).

 

CONCLUSION:

1. In Matthew 6:33, our Lord said, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."
2. In Luke 4:43, our Lord said, "I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent."
3. The book of Acts concludes with the apostle Paul in Rome, "Preaching the kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ, with all confidence, no man forbidding him" (Acts 28:31).
4. The kingdom of God does not resemble any earthly kingdom because the kingdom of God is a spiritual kingdom.
5. Our Lord said to Pontius Pilate, "My kingdom is not of this world" (John 18:36).
6. The kingdoms of this world are maintained by force, but the kingdom of God is "righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost" (Romans 14:17).
7. The kingdoms of this world will all decay, and will all come to an end. In the Bible we read about the rise and fall of Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome.
8. In the newspapers we read about the USA, Russia, and China.
9. But the Bible says the kingdom of God is an everlasting kingdom.
10. Our Lord said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).
11. Have you been born again?
12. Are you trying to get people into God's kingdom?