Shabbat Shalom! Please open your Bibles to the Gospel of Mark, chapter 1, verses 12 to 28. And I am reading: "And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness; and he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts; and the angels ministered unto him." Now, after that John, Yohanan, was put in prison, Yeshua came into Galilee, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom of God, and saying: "The time is fulfilled, and the Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye, and believe the Gospel." "Now as he walked by the sea of Galilee, he saw Shimon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the sea; for they were fishers.

And Yeshua said unto them, 'Come ye after me, and I will make you become fishers of men.' And straightway they forsook their nets, and followed him. And when he had gone a little further, thence he saw Yaakov, James, the son of Zebedee, and John, Yohanan, his brother, who also were in the ship, mending their nets. And straightway he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the higher servants, and went after him. And they went into Kfar Nechum, and straightway on the Shabbat day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. "And they were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.

And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, 'Let us alone! What have we to do with thee, thou Yeshua of Natseret? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.' And Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Hold thy peace, and come out of him.' And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. All amazed inasmuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, 'What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commendeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him.' And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee." And I stop here with the reading of this passage.

Beloved brothers and sisters, to remind you, and I'm often repeating myself, but I know it is a good Jewish way in which we study the Bible, repetition, repetition, repetition. This is the way we have been always taught in past days in Israel. And always, as those who are studying the Word of God, we need repetition, because repetition helps us to grasp much more the mind of the Lord as we study His Word. We are studying the Gospel of Mark. Mark is one of these individuals that God has used to present before us the person of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. Mark is presenting the Lord Yeshua the Messiah as the servant of the Lord.

Matthew presented the Lord Jesus the Messiah as the King of Israel. Mark presents Jesus the Messiah as the servant of Jehovah. Luke presents Yeshua the Messiah as the Son of Man. And John, Yohanan presents Yeshua the Messiah as the Son of God. All these four Gospels, in Hebrew we call them Besorot. It really focuses upon one person, namely our Messiah, Yeshua, who came from heaven to seek and to save that which was lost. Now in the Gospel of Matthew and Mark and Luke, we see more or less the chronological way in which Yeshua walked here in this world. In the Gospel of Mark, we see him as a servant, how he always served God.

He did things immediately. He continued on faithfully. He was not lax. He was not careless. He served Jehovah. He served the God of Israel faithfully and immediately, as we can see this again and again in this Gospel of Mark. Well, in our previous ministry on those first 11 verses, we saw Yohanan, John the Baptizer, presenting him and saying to our people of all the people of Israel, he says, listen, they are to be ready. A voice crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. The Messiah is coming. The Mashiach is coming. Get ready. He is coming to the nation of Israel. And after, of course, the presentation of the Messiah, we found out in the previous portion that we study how Yeshua went to the Jordan River.

He was baptized by John the Baptizer. And how when he came out of the water, a voice came from heaven and saying, "You are my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." And the Spirit of God as a dove came and descended upon the person of Yeshua the Messiah. And there and then we see the triunity of Godhead. The voice of the Father from heaven. The Son himself in the water of baptism in the Jordan River. And the Holy Spirit of God came in the form of a dove. And you hear the whole triune persons of the Godhead presenting before us the Messiah himself.

And now as we are moving along, in Mark chapter 1, from verse 12 to verse 28, we see a servant, namely Yeshua, who has authority. A servant who has authority. Usually it's the reverse. Usually a servant, submit to authority. But here what we find out in Mark chapter 1, verse 12 to 28, that the servant have authority and power and everything, even the elements are listening to the authority of this servant. And so we read three things about this servant, who is now showing that he has an authority, because he is also the eternal Son of God. And notice the three points that I would like to present before us today in this ministry meeting.

Number one, in verses 12 and verse 13, we see the temptation of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah by Satan in the wilderness, in the desert. Notice I'm reading, "Immediately the Spirit drives him into the wilderness, and he was there in the wilderness forty days, tempted of Satan, and was with the wild beasts, and the angels ministered unto him." We find out that immediately, the first thing that happened to Yeshua after his baptism, or the Tvila, where he came out of the water, and he was now pronounced as the one that was the beloved of the Father, the beloved of God. Now immediately, even before he went to begin the public ministry, he was taken by the Spirit, and he was led to the wilderness, to be in the wilderness for forty days, and as it says here, tempted by Satan.

Now imagine, when we were in Israel just last week, we went to this wilderness where Yeshua the Messiah was taken, according to this verse 12, he was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. Now when you think about the wilderness of Judea, it's really dry. You see the heat is there, the extreme heat, and the dryness of the whole area, it's called here that wilderness. He was driven by the Holy Spirit of God into the wilderness, in order that he will be tested by Satan himself. In fact, Matthew used the word that he was led by the Spirit, but Mark used the word he was driven by the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit of God took this man by the name of Yeshua, and led him, and drove him to the desert in order to be tested. Why the word driven is used here in the Gospel of Mark, and Matthew used the word led by the Spirit, is because the Gospel of Mark again and again presents for us the thought of immediately hastiness. A servant obeying immediately does not delay when God is calling him to do something. Now, the Spirit of God drove him. The Spirit of God drove him to the wilderness. Why? Because God is now introducing before us the man of his counsel. The servant of the Lord.

The servant of whom God found so much delight. Isaiah 42 says, "Behold my servant." "He neavdi." "My servant." "He is my servant." "And he is going to obey me." "And he is going to please me." "And he came here to this world in order to please me." "To accomplish the work of redemption." "And the proof that he is qualified to be that one." "I am going to send him to the wilderness." "And he is going to be tested." "Or tempted by Satan for 40 days." Now, brothers and sisters, listen. The reason that we read today from Genesis chapter 3 about Adam's temptation or testing in the Garden of Eden is to show us the difference between Adam and Eve, Adam v'chava, and Yeshua, Jesus, the Messiah.

Adam was the head, the federal head of all humanity. God placed Adam, not in the wilderness, but in the Garden of Delight. In Hebrew, the word Gan Eden simply means the Garden of Delight. He had everything he wanted in that garden. He was there. He had plenty of food. He had plenty of things that he could enjoy in the Garden of Eden. He didn't have any problem whatsoever. He only were commended not to eat of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. He was in the Garden of Delight. On the other hand, another man comes, and this man is the Lord from glory, the Messiah himself.

And him, God does not place him in the Garden of Eden. In Gan Eden, he placed him in the wilderness that he will be tempted by Satan. To show us the contrast between man, Adam, who was created by God, and another man altogether, the Messiah, Yeshua, who came from God. He is the eternal Son of God who became a man to come into this world. And what do you think was the difference? Adam failed. One single command. And by the way, if you and I were there, we would have done the very same thing. Adam failed. You remember how Satan beguiled Eve? In three areas.

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. And Eve was beguiled. And she ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Then she gave it unto her husband. He was not beguiled. He disobeyed God. He violated the word of God. And by eating from that fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he plunged the whole human race into sin. And that's why you and I are sinners today. We have inherited a sinful nature. But here come another man. He is the Lord from glory. He comes from heaven. And this man is all together after a different order.

He is the Son of God. He is the Messiah. He came from heaven. And for him, he doesn't go to the Gan Eden or the Garden of Delight. He goes immediately to the wilderness. And there, beloved brothers and sisters, we read, for 40 days. If you read the Gospel of Matthew, he fasted. He didn't have any food for 40 days and 40 nights. While Adam had all the pleasures that he wanted, that he could have in Gan Eden. And the difference is simply this. Adam failed. Adam has sinned. But this man, by the name of Yeshua, the Messiah, never failed. He honored God and he brought God glory.

We read in 1 Corinthians chapter 15. I just want to read that one verse there in verse 45. Listen, it says, For it is written that the first man, Adam, was made a living soul. But the last man, the last Adam, he was a quickening spirit. Verse 47 said in 1 Corinthians 15. The first man is of the earth, earthy. But the second man is the Lord from heaven. You see, beloved brothers and sisters, God is sending his servant, who is the Mashiach of Israel and the Savior of this world, in order to bring us into a relationship with him. Because all of us, as descendants of Adam, had fallen into sin.

And so we read. He was driven by the Spirit into the wilderness. And there we read, notice, he was there in the wilderness for 40 days. And he was tempted of Satan. And he was with the wild beast. And the angels eventually ministered unto him. Now, the number 40 is very interesting. Because the Bible tells us that the number 40 always represents before us a time of testing. If you remember Moshe, Moses was for 40 years in the kingdom of Pharaoh. The kingdom of Pharaoh, but he led our people for 40 years in the wilderness. When he took them out of the land of Egypt. God gave us rain upon this world in Genesis chapter 7.

Rain for 40 days during the flood. 40 days there was rain that came upon the face of this earth. We read in scripture that the prophet Ezekiel laid on his right side for 40 days. To expose the sins of our people Israel. For 40 days in Ezekiel. We read in chapter 4 and verse 6. And we can go on and go on. The spies that went to spy the land of Israel. They were for 40 days in the land of Israel. Spying the land of Israel. Before the nation of Israel came into the promised land. And what about Elijah who ran for 40 days. And Jonah says 40 days and neither shall be destroyed.

40 days is a number of testing. And while all of us and all have fallen. And all have, you might say, have come to a point that they did not submit completely. In testing we fail. But here is a man that never failed. His name is Yeshua. He was tempted by Satan for 40 days. And there he found himself as a gold mine shining. He honored God. In fact, the Bible shows us that every time Satan wanted to cause him to fall. Yeshua's answer him. And he said to him, man does not live by bread alone. Thou shall not tempt God. And so on. He gave him an answer after he was tested by the tempter himself.

You remember what we read in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 4. It is written, man shall not live by bread alone. And then he continued. And he said in verse 7, it is written, thou shall not tempt God. In verse 7 of Matthew chapter 4. And then he quoted again the book of Deuteronomy in verse 10 of Matthew chapter 4. Get thee hence, Satan, for it is written, thou shall worship the Lord thy God and him only shalt thou serve. Satan was tempting him in every form and shape. And he was victorious because he was that sinless one. Satan tempted him in all these areas that we often fail. The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

Every temptation that Yeshua was tempted by Satan, he came out victorious. He honored God in his life. And therefore, beloved brothers and sisters, it is a proof for us that the first man, Adam, came from the earth and he was earthy. But the last Adam was the one that came from heaven. And he is the one that is qualified to be the Messiah of Israel and the savior of the world. And therefore, notice that verses 12 and 13, the tempter was not successful. And the Messiah was successful to honor God in his life. And imagine, imagine what we read here in verse 13, that he was with the wild beasts.

Now, sometimes people think that he was with the wild beasts there that they were attacking him. But no, the point is to learn that even the wild beasts recognize that he was the one that came from heaven. And not only them, because it says here in verse 13 that angels ministered unto him. The angels realized that they are servants. They are ministering spirits to serve the Messiah, the savior, the son of God, who came down from heaven to become the redeemer of mankind. And so, the temptation of Yeshua in the wilderness only shows us that he indeed have authority over all things here upon the face of this earth, even though he was tempted and tested for 40 days and 40 nights.

But it's not only this. Because the Gospel of Mark continues and teaches us another thing of the authority of Yeshua in the next verses. In verses 14 to verse 22, we see the authority of Yeshua as he preached in the land of Israel and in the area that is called Galilee. It says in verse 14 and 15, "Now after that John was put in prison, Yeshua came into Galilee preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God." And saying, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel." Now, notice that he went to Galilee and the Sea of Galilee, we call it the Kinneret in Hebrew.

And on the Sea of Galilee, many things have happened on the Sea of Galilee. But Galilee is surrounded by mountains. And when Yeshua moved from Judea to Galilee, much of his ministry was done in Galilee, in the Galil. And apparently, he moved to the Galilee after that Yohanan, this is John the baptizer, he was put in prison. And you know the story, if you remember the story in the earlier part of the Gospel of Matthew, how John the baptizer was taken into prison. And if you remember, eventually he was kind of discouraged and he asked his disciples, he sent them to Yeshua and he said, "Are thou he that shall come or do we look for another?" He was kind of discouraged, like we get sometimes discouraged in our life.

"Is Yeshua the Messiah? Is he the one that is coming? Is he going to accomplish redemption for us?" And John the baptizer was discouraged, being put in prison. Just earlier, he preached so much, all Judea and Jerusalem came down to him. And now he finds himself in prison. And that time that he was in prison, made it kind of provide a way whereby the Lord Jesus the Messiah would go to the Galil, where much of his ministry was done in the northern part of Israel. So, he went to Galilee and he began to preach there publicly to all the people in Galilee. And what does he preach?

Notice it says here, in verse 15, it says, "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel." Now, I want us to understand, the church was not formed as yet here when the Messiah was still alive. The message of the gospel is in relationship to the coming kingdom. What does that mean? God promised Israel that one day the Messiah will come and he will establish a kingdom in the land of Israel and around the world, where he that is the Messiah will be a king of kings and Lord of lords. Daniel spoke about it in chapter 2, that to his kingdom there will be no end.

In chapter 7, that the kingdom will come and the kingdom will be given to the people of Israel. And they will be the one that will be a blessing to the world. The kingdom is coming. The king is coming. The Messiah is coming. So the gospel, the good news, the Besorah in Hebrew was in relationship to the coming messianic kingdom. And so he's saying to the people of Israel, he says the time is fulfilled. Here I am. I am the Mashiach. I am the Messiah. The kingdom of God is at hand. He said, number one, repent. And number two, believe the message. Repent. Believe the message.

Now, those two things are very important. If the kingdom is going to be established, the nation of Israel have to repent. Repent of what? Repent of their sins. Repent of their wrongdoing. Repent because they have gone astray. Like today, when we preach the gospel of the grace of God, we say the very same thing. You have to repent. You have to turn in your heart to the Lord and to say, God, I have failed you. I have sinned. I need your mercy. I need your grace. Not to come with arrogance and to say, I'm fine, God. I don't need you. I can do it on my own.

Repentance is essential if one ever is going to turn to become a saved person. And not only to repent, because immediately he said, believe. Not only to repent, to say, God, I'm a sinner, but also to believe the message of the gospel. You remember what the Bible tells us? It is in every dispensation, it's always the same. To believe on the Lord and his word. Without faith, it is impossible to please God. And he that cometh to God must believe that he is a rewarder of them that diligently believe in him. Diligently follow after him. You know, without faith, it is impossible to please God.

Faith cometh by hearing. And hearing by the word of God. See, God wants people to simply trust him. To believe his word. To acknowledge that they fail and they need forgiveness of sins. Why? Because one day, we are all going to stand before the living God. And God is going to ask a simple question. What have you done with my son, the Messiah? Have you repented of your sins? And have you believed the gospel of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah? And you know, brothers and sisters, it's good to distinguish that. Because the gospel of the kingdom of God is in relationship to the future kingdom that will come.

The gospel of the grace of God, it is in relationship to the church age in which we live in today. When the church is going to be taken out of here, the people in the future day, during the tribulation period, are going to preach the very same gospel, but in relationship to the coming kingdom. Today, when we preach the gospel, we say, people, you better turn to the Lord. We preach the gospel message, but it's in relationship to be part of the company that will be saved and taken to here, to be in the Father's house with the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. So Yeshua is here as a Jew among his own Jewish brethren, as the Messiah of Israel among the nation of Israel.

He doesn't preach in Canada. He doesn't preach in America. He doesn't preach in Europe. He doesn't preach even to the nations of the world at this point of time. He's preaching to the people of Israel in Galilee, and he's saying to them, the time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Israel repents. Israel believed the message of the gospel, the good news. I am the Mashiach, and I came to establish the promised kingdom to Israel. Well, unfortunately, we will find out later on that our nation, as a nation, did not accept as a nation. Though the early disciples who became believers in Yeshua were all Israeli, Hebrews, Jewish individuals who have acknowledged that he was the Messiah.

So, notice verses 14 and 15. Repent, in Hebrew, shuvu, turn around. And secondly, believe, in Hebrew, ha-aminu. Believe on the Lord that he is the Messiah. He is the coming king that is going to restore the nation of Israel. That word, the kingdom of God, comes from the Hebrew word, malchut ha-elohim. God is a king, and he is going to rule over the affairs of this world, and he is coming in a future day to have his rightful place in this world. This is exactly what Daniel said to King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 2 and verse 44. And in the days of these kings, the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed.

And the kingdom shall not be left to other people. But it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms of the other nations, and it shall stand forever. That is the kingdom that is coming in a future day, in a coming day. Well, here is the Messiah in his life proclaiming the message of the gospel of the kingdom. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, we continue here to see that he had an authority in the preaching that he did in the Galil. In verses 16 to verse 18, we see that Yeshua electing and selecting the disciples that will follow after him. They will become the apostles later on.

And now he is calling them to be disciples, learners, talmidim. They are going to follow after Yeshua here in this earth. And notice how precious. They are responding to his call. We read in verse 16 to 18, first of all, the call of Simon Peter and Andrew, his brother. And as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, you can see the Sea of Galilee. He walked right by the Sea of Galilee. We just came from the Sea of Galilee. We took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee. We walked around the Sea of Galilee. We have gone to many areas that the ministry of Yeshua the Messiah was around the Sea of Galilee.

And just like him, he walked by the Sea of Galilee. And then we find out that he saw Simon or Shimon in Hebrew and Andrew, so Andrew, his brother, casting nets into the sea. They were fishers or fishermen. And so Yeshua is calling them. You can just imagine. They have already became believers. We read it in John 1. He had already led them to know that he was the Messiah. But they went back to their original job. And now he's calling them. And he says, listen, I know that you have acknowledged me as the Messiah, according to John 1. It was earlier days. But now he's calling them to become followers of him.

They went back to work as fishers. And then Yeshua calling them in verse 17. And he said to them very beautifully. And he said to them, come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. No longer fishers of fish. On the Sea of Galilee, there are plenty of fish. But I do not want you to go back to your original job as fishers or fishermen. But I want you to become fishers of men. That means that I want you to cast a net. And the net represents, you might say, the message of the gospel. To preach the word. And share the message of the gospel.

And I want you now not to catch fish anymore. But I want you to catch men. That is not to do it in a deceitful way. No. It's not deceiving men. But I want you to share the gospel. I want you to bring men in that they will become part of a redeemed company. You are going to be my servant. Come ye after me. And I am going to make you to become fishers of people. Fishers of men. And when you think about it. Simon, Peter, Shimon, Petrus, and Andrew, his brother, have obeyed the Messiah. Because we read in verse 18. Straight way. They forsook their nets.

And they followed after him. It's so beautiful to see that. Yes, they believe that he was the Messiah. John 1. But now they are going not only to believe that he was the Messiah. But now they are going to participate in the ministry. They are going to serve him. They are going to become those that will share the gospel. They will be the one that will present this glorious gospel. The gospel, of course, of the kingdom in the past. But now the gospel of the grace of God. The Jew and Gentile from every nation can come in and accept the Messiah. And become part of a redeemed company.

Come after me and I will make you to become fishers of men. And indeed, beloved brothers and sisters, we know that. From the end of the gospel of Matthew. That Jesus told them in verse 18 of chapter 28. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all nations. Baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. I am asking you to follow me. I will make you fishers of men.

And these were the early Hebrew disciples. They were in the land of Israel. They were by the Sea of Galilee at that time. Later on, they moved to Jerusalem. They followed after him. And they became the early part of the assembly of the church age. They were the foundation, you might say, that present before us even today. Because of them, the message of the grace of God. So, Shimon and Andrew were called to become fishers of men. The question, of course, is for you and I today. Where do we fit into all this? We have heard the message of the Gospel. We have accepted the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, as our Lord and Savior.

And I trust all of us did. But we have also a responsibility to share the message. To be those that are like channels. To let others know that the Messiah, Jesus, is our Lord and our Savior. And the way of salvation is through faith in Him. Immediately, straightway, verse 18, they forsook their nets. And they followed Him. How precious it is to follow Him. They left everything. They left their job at home. They left, you notice in the next people, James and John even left their father, their family. Notice verse 19 and 20. When he had gone a little further, then he saw Yaakov, James, Yaakov in Hebrew, the son of Zebedee, and Yohanan, John, his brother, who also were in a ship, mending their nets.

He called them also. It says here straight where he called them. And verse 20 of Mark chapter 1 says, They left their father Zebedee in the ship with the higher servants, and they went after him. It is amazing to see how these early disciples left some of them even their own family. But the beautiful thing here is to see that they were not careless about their father, because they left him with hired servants. They didn't leave him alone. They cared for their father, but they followed their Messiah. They followed Yeshua. But you notice the expression straightway, immediately, straightway. The whole Gospel of Mark emphasized the immediate urgency in following the Messiah, and Yeshua as a servant in serving and ministering immediately, immediately.

And so the Gospels, by the way, in Mark 1, and in Matthew 4, and in Luke 5, shows us not all the disciples, only the first few disciples that have been selected. But if you will notice a little bit later, in Matthew chapter 10, you have a list of all those disciples, the twelve elected and chosen disciples. I want to read Matthew chapter 10, and I want you to notice there we have the list of all the twelve. And they were not only disciples, they became apostles. There were twelve disciples, twelve talmidim, and they became twelve apostles, twelve shlichim in Hebrew, messengers of the Gospel. Matthew chapter 10, and when he had called unto his, the twelve disciples, he gave them power against unclean spirit, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease.

Now the name of the twelve apostles. You notice he changed from disciples to apostles in verse 2. These are their names. The first one was Shimon, which is called Peter. Then Andrew, his brother. Then James, this is Yaakov, the son of Zebedee. And then John, this is Yohanan, his brother. Verse 3, Philip. And then Barthalmai. And then Thomas, or Teom in Hebrew. And then Matai, that is Matthew, the publican. Then another Yaakov, James, the son of Alphaeus. And then Labias, whose surname was Tadaos. And then another Simon, verse 4, the Canaanite. And finally Judas, or Yehuda, Ishkrayot, who also betrayed him. These twelve Yeshua sent forth, and he commanded them.

He commanded them. Notice that. Go not to the highway of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter not. But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Immediately, at first, they were called to preach the gospel among the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Once Israel rejected the Messiahship of Yeshua, the door was open to the rest of the nations of the world. So, beloved brothers and sisters, a servant that had authority, we can see him in the wilderness having authority over Satan, over the elements. Secondly, we see him in Galilee have authority over the disciples by calling them and choosing them to come to be with him as fishers of men.

They came to become those that follow Yeshua, the Messiah, as their disciples, and ultimately the apostles, the shlichim. Well, we are moving along here. And from the next verses, verses 21 and 22, we can see that he is now teaching even in the synagogue of the Jewish people in the Galilee. And again, we are in Galilee, and you notice that now, a picture that we just have here from our recent visit to Israel. We find out that in verses 21 and verse 22, it says that, And they went into Kfar Nachum, Kapar Nachum. In English, it says Kapar Nachum, but it's two Hebrew words. Kfar means a village. Nachum is a name of a man by the name of Nachum.

It may have been the prophet Nachum, or any other Nachum from among the people of Israel. It is a Hebrew name, the village of Nachum, Kfar Nachum. And so we read: They went to Kfar Nachum, and straightway on a Shabbat day, he entered into the synagogue, and he taught. And they were all astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. Now, what you can actually see, this is exactly the way the synagogue in Kfar Nachum looks like. That was not the synagogue from 2,000 years ago, but that the synagogue, this synagogue was built upon the existing synagogue, the Beit Knesset, to which Yeshua the Messiah entered, 2,000 years ago.

And so it is interesting. He is coming into a city or to a village that's called Kfar Nachum, the village of comfort. And there, it happened to be that he is coming to the synagogue there, and he is coming on a Shabbat day. The Shabbat day. Remember, beloved brothers and sisters, that God gave our people, Israel, the seventh day, the Shabbat day, to keep it holy. Israel and the Messiah himself kept the Shabbat day as long that Israel were in that present situation in their days. It was given to the nation of Israel, the Shabbat day. Yeshua, a Jew among his own Jewish people, goes on a Shabbat day to the synagogue.

But what does he do there? He is teaching. Again, all of a sudden you can see that he is in authority over everyone. Everyone, apparently, by the very fact that they allow him to teach, they recognize him. That he was a rabbi, one that had much to teach and much to say. And even, notice that it says in verse 22, they were astonished at his doctrine because he taught them as one that have an authority and not like the scribe. You see, how can a servant have so much authority? The reason that he has so much authority, because he was more than just another man. He was the Son of God, God the Son, the Mashiach.

He was, in eternity past, he was the pre-existence one. He never had a beginning. But he entered humanity. He became a man. And he became a servant. And here we see him now, a servant that had an authority. The Messiah is a servant having authority. And so he entered to Kfar Nachum. And he's going there on a Shabbat day. Now, actually, I would like, if you don't mind, to turn with me to the Gospel of Luke for a moment. To Luke chapter 4, you will notice that that was his custom. His custom was to go on a Shabbat day to the synagogue. Like everyone among our Jewish people historically, Shabbat day, they always have gone to the synagogue.

Today, not every Jewish person goes to the synagogue on a Shabbat day, because many of our own people are very secular. They are not really attending the synagogues today, as it was in biblical times, especially in the early days. Remember that the synagogue is not a temple. The temple, sacrifices were offered. In a synagogue, simply our people of all came to learn from the word, to worship the God of Israel, to read the text from the word of God. But the synagogue is not the temple. The temple was in Jerusalem. Senagogues were all over. Already in the time of Yeshua, the Messiah, synagogue existed everywhere.

The synagogue was always around in many towns and many cities. It began already during the time when Israel was in Babylon, and they did not have the temple in Jerusalem. So, the synagogue existed many years, even prior to the coming of Yeshua, the Messiah. Notice in Luke chapter 4 and verse 16: And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on a Shabbat day, and he stood up to read. That was his custom. He lived in the city of Nazareth. If you remember, he was called Yeshua from Nazareth, the Nazarene. And in Nazareth, in his hometown, as a little boy, he always gone to the synagogue in the city of Nazareth.

There was other cities with other synagogues in various localities. But he was always in the synagogue, as it was his custom, in the city of Nazareth, going to the synagogue to learn, to worship, to go with his family when he was a young boy, a young child. But now, as he grew up, and time passes by, now he is taking authority. And you can see him now coming to the synagogue and teaching. He did so in Luke 4, as it was his custom. He read in the text of the Bible, in Isaiah 61, and we see him here in Mark chapter 1 in the synagogue. And so back to our chapter.

Mark chapter 1, verse 21 and 22, what does he do in the synagogue? He teach. He came to Kfar Nachum. He came on Shabbat day. He entered into the synagogue and he taught. Now when he taught, he didn't teach like I teach. He didn't teach like the Pharisees teach. He didn't teach like any others who taught. But he taught with authority. It says in verse 22, they all were astonished. Why? Because his teaching was presented with much authority. He taught them not like the other scribes, like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, but he had authority. And why, beloved brothers and sisters, he had authority? Because of who he is.

When he speaks about repentance and the necessity to repent, he's speaking that as God the Son, who became a man and a servant. He says, "Listen, thus saith the Lord." There was authority in his word. There was power in his word. And the people were convicted, apparently. To the point that they were astonished. His doctrine was not like the Pharisees' doctrine. He didn't say, "Do this and do this and do this and do this in order to be right with God. Keep this and keep that." He didn't focus on deeds, per se, first of all. They had, first of all, to repent. Repentance brings about the necessity to believe.

And when one believes, it flows living a life for God out of faith. Sincere faith. True repentance. Bring about works. And you notice today in the world in which we live in, many tell us, "You better do this in order to please God. You do this in order to get saved." God says, "No, you better get saved." And then you will end up living life that is pleasing to the Lord as you have fellowship with Him. We don't work our way in order to get saved. We, first of all, repent. Confess our sins. Turn away from them. Believe on the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah. And if we are sincerely doing so, it will make a change in our lives.

Not by works of righteousness which we have done He had saved us, Paul said to Titus, but according to His mercy He saved us. Paul said to Ephesians, "By grace are ye saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast." You see, salvation is an internal experience in the soul. And if we repent and we realize and we say, "Oh God, be merciful to me. I have failed you. I have sinned." And we turn away and we say, "Help me, Lord, to turn away. I believe the gospel of the grace of God, the gospel of the Messiah Yeshua, and I turn to Him by faith." He helps us to live a life for Him.

That's what the Lord wanted from His people Israel. And that's why they were fascinated, the people who were there. They said, "How is it possible?" He's not teaching like the scribes. He is teaching differently. He has an authority. He's glorifying God. He's asking an internal change, not merely an external religious activity. He says, "I want you to change from within, so you can live for God, so you can have forgiveness of sins." And so, His authority in the synagogue, in Kfar Nachum, and the people were astonished in the way that Yeshua presented the word of the Lord. So, notice that we said that there are three things here in verses 12 to 28, a servant with authority.

Number one, His authority at the temptation in the wilderness. Number two, His authority in the preaching in the Galilee. But now finally, in verses 23 to 28, we see the authority that the Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, have even over the demons. You see, demons are fallen angels. God created the angelic being to serve Him. But there was an element, a group of angels that fell, that followed Satan. And demonic activity existed long time ago, and specifically at the time when the Mashiach came. Because Satan didn't want that the Messiah will accomplish what he came for. So, demonic activity was in force, you might say, during the first coming of the Messiah.

And so, we read in verses 23 to verse 28, His command, His authority, even over the fallen angels. And so, in verse 23, we read, And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, and he said, "Let us alone," verse 24. "What have we to do with thee, thou Yeshua of Natseret? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God." That is interesting. That in the synagogue, there are still those that came to attend the synagogue, And apparently, they were possessed by demons. Demon possession in the time of the first coming of the Messiah was something that was evident.

We see it throughout the Gospel. And so, here's that man. He must have come to the synagogue many times. He must have heard many times the reading of the scripture and so on. But he was not as much convicted as when the Messiah came. And when Yeshua came, apparently, he exposed this man or exposed this demon who took over this human being, this poor man. And so, can you imagine to be demon-possessed? Where this demon is controlling you and leading you. You know, you and I who are believers in Yeshua can never be demon-possessed. Satan might attack us. Demons might seek to harm us. But we can never have demons because we belong to Yeshua.

The Holy Spirit is indwelling us. But here's this man. Unsaved, you might say, man as yet. And so, Yeshua comes to the Beit HaKneset, to the synagogue. He's preaching to them. He's sharing with them the word of the Lord. He's telling them the necessity to repent. He taught them the word of God. And there was a man there who was right in the midst there in the synagogue who was listening to that. But he had an unclean spirit within him. Now, notice the Bible says unclean spirit because a spirit, the angels are spirit. We are in the spirit realm. And the unclean spirit was a fallen angel.

And so, we read immediately in verse 24 how this spirit now, and apparently it's more than just one that was in existence there. Because it says, saying, using the voice of this man, saying to Yeshua, notice, not let me alone, but let us alone. Let us alone, what have we to do with thee? And he continued and he said, thou, Yeshua of Nazareth, art thou come to destroy us? You see, apparently, the demons know who Yeshua is. You know, it is interesting. Men don't know who Yeshua is. But demons know very well who Yeshua is. These fallen angels know very well who Yeshua is. But the human race do not recognize it.

You know why? Because the human race have turned away from the Lord, resisted the message of the Gospel, hardened the hearts, I'm not saying all, the vast majority, rejecting the Messiahship of Yeshua. But here we see this demon, fallen angels. Yea, he's gone away from God. He's following after Satan. But they recognize very well that he was more than just another Pharisee or another person teaching God's Word. And so he said, let us alone, leave us alone. What we have to do with you. You, Yeshua from Nazareth. They know very well that he is Jesus, Yeshua, from the city of Nazareth. He was called the Nazarene.

The Bible prophesied the Messiah will come who will be called a Nazarene from the city of Nazareth. Amen. Those demons knew very well, you might say, the fallen angels. And so notice at the end of this same verse, he says, I know who thou art. Notice he changed the word from we to I. Now this is actually that individual unclean spirit is speaking now and he's saying to the Lord, Yeshua, the Messiah, I know who you are. And then he says, you are the Holy One of God. You are Kadosh or Kadosh Ha'Elohim. You are the one that came from God. You are the Holy One of God.

And he understood that Yeshua was more than just another man. And so we read, beloved brothers and sisters, we read, how did he realize that he is the Holy One of God? And notice he called him Holy One. Yeshua was a man among his own people there, but he realized that he is holy. And why? Because the Bible always taught, God always taught, when the Messiah will come, he will be the Holy One of Israel. You remember when the baby Yeshua was born, the angel said to Miriam and to yourself, that Holy One that will be born of you shall be called the Son of God.

You remember what Psalm 16:10 said, thou shall not leave thine Holy One to see corruption. In other words, you will not allow your Holy One to see corruption. You will raise him from among the dead. Psalm 16:10. Hebrew writers say about the Messiah, we have a high priest who is holy, who is harmless, who is undefiled, who is separate from sinners. The Lord Yeshua is holy. Holy means he is set apart for God. He is harmless, he is undefiled, he is sinless. In contrast to all humanity who have sinned, he is the sinless one, he is the Holy One. Thou shall not leave thine Holy One to see corruption.

How beautiful it is as we see this in this text. And this fallen spirit can see it. Declaring him that he is that Holy One, the Holy One of God. So in verse 25, Yeshua is commending the unclean spirit to come out of this man. Now, who have an authority as this? Who have the power to be able to commend a fallen angel, an unclean spirit to come out of a person? Only God the Son, the Son of God, the servant. He has given power to the early disciples to commend the unclean spirits to come out, but it was never on their own. It was always in the power of the Spirit of God.

They could not do it on their own. And here we find out that he says, listen to this, and Yeshua rebuked him. And he says, hold thy peace and come out of him. Don't speak anymore. Come immediately out of him. I don't know if you've ever seen a person who is a demonic, possessed, terrible condition. We read it in other passages. One who was throwing himself to the fire, and then later on throwing himself to the water. We're living in a condition where the demon captivated him, never giving him freedom and liberty. What you might say in a wrong direction, suffering and trial in a person that live a life controlled by the unclean spirit.

So he rebuked this unclean spirit and he commanded him. He says, hold your peace. Don't speak anymore and come out of this man. And I immediately noticed that even the demons obey the word or the command of the Lord. And so we find out in verse 26. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and he cried with a loud voice, and he came out of him. You can just imagine what it meant for this man now that he is free from being possessed by that unclean spirit. And it is because the command of the Lord Yeshua the Messiah. There is a verse that I need to read in the book of James.

James chapter 2. Just this verse in connection with this passage. James chapter 2. And we read there in verse 19. You believe that there is one God? James is writing to those to whom he wrote. He says, you do well. But he says, even the demons believe and tremble. But will thou know, O man, that faith without works is dead? In other words, Yaakov, James, was writing to those that it taught or said that, you know, I believe, but I don't need to change my life. He says, no, I am just a believer, you see, I don't need to change my life. He says, really? You mean you think that you can carry on and you say that you believe God and you carry on in a life of sin?

I'm telling you, even the demons believe and they tremble. Faith in the Lord ought to change the conduct of a person because look what happened to this demon or this unclean spirit. He believed that Yeshua was the Holy One of God. And when he commended him to come out, he came out of him. They trembled. They fear God the Son, the Messiah himself, who came to earth to become the servant of the Lord. Eved Adonai. How wonderful to see this here. And so, beloved brothers and sisters, in conclusion, verses 27 and verses 28, we see all in the synagogue were amazed. They were wondering at what Yeshua had done there in the midst, in the town called Kfar Nachum.

We find out in verse 27 and 28 that all of them were amazed. Inasmuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, what thing is this? What new doctrine is this? "For with authority he commending even the unclean spirits and they do obey him." Listen. He is the Lord of all things. He is the creator of the universe. He is God the Son. He is the Holy One of God, the Holy One of Israel. He commends and he has an authority even over the unseen world. The unclean spirit. You know, Satan cannot do anything unless the Lord allows him and gives him that room to do it. Because the Lord could destroy him in a moment.

The Messiah could destroy him in a moment. He is an authority. He is an authority. And even the unclean spirits obey him. And finally, in verse 28, immediately. Notice that? Immediately, verse 28. It is found that the word immediately, maher in Hebrew. Immediately. His fame spread abroad throughout the regions round about the Galil. Everybody heard about Yeshua. His fame was presented all over the area of Galilee. Did you hear about Yeshua? Did you hear about this man? What thing he is doing? How his teachings are different than the scribes and the Pharisees? He has an authority even to remove unclean spirits from those who were possessed by unclean spirits.

Did you ever hear about him? And of course, it didn't take too long. And everyone heard about Yeshua from Nazareth. Everyone heard about him. And you know, brothers and sisters, actually, all over the world today, the person of Yeshua, the Messiah, is heard everywhere. Even though people don't accept him, don't submit to him, don't accept his word, but his fame is all over. Look at us. Two thousand years later, we sit here in a room and we read about the same Yeshua. Why? Because he is the Messiah of Israel, the servant of Jehovah, God the Son who came to seek and to save us who were lost.

His fame is going all over the world. In this case, it began there, Judea, Samaria, and then here is Galil in the Galil. Everyone says, did you hear about Yeshua? Did you hear about this man from Nazareth? Do you see how he speaks, how he preached? You heard about what he says, look what he did. And everyone began to follow him. And you know, the ordinary Israelis followed him. The ordinary Israelis wanted to hear more about him. Unfortunately, the spiritual leaders of Israel turned the nation in another way. And they don't want our people to learn about Yeshua. And it is so unfortunate because without Yeshua, the Messiah, we have no hope.

No religion can save us. No human system can save us. No money that we can pay can save us. No parents and grandparents can save us. No relationship to anyone can save us. Only through the person and the work of Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah. Without the person of the Lord Yeshua, we have no hope. And so his fame was spread throughout Galilee. And it is still spread today around the world. May the Lord bless his word and use us to spread his word today. Can we say amen to this?