Shabbat Shalom everyone. Will you please open your Bibles to Mark chapter 3. And today, with the help of the Lord, we'll seek to cover verses 1 to 19. "And he," this is Yeshua, "entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there which had a withered hand, and they watched him, whether he would heal him on the Shabbat day, that they might accuse him. And he saith unto them, "And he saith unto them, is it lawful to do good on a Shabbat day, or to do evil, to save life, or to kill?" "But they held their peace." "And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, stretch forth thine hand." "And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored whole as the other." "And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him." "But Jesus, Yeshua, withdrew himself with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him, and from Judea, and from Yerushalayim, and from Edom, and from beyond Jordan.

And they about Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they had heard what great things he did, they came unto him." "And he spake to his disciples, that a small ship should wait on him because of the multitude, lest they should crush him." "For he had healed many, inasmuch that they pressed upon him, for to touch him as many as had plagues." "And unclean spirits, when they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, saying, "Thou art the Son of God, atah ben ha'elohim." "And he straightly charged them, that they should not make him known." "And he goeth up into a mountain, and he calleth unto him, whom he would." "And they came unto him,

and he ordained twelve, that they should be with him, and that he might send them forth to preach." "And to have power to heal sicknesses, and to cast out demons." "And Simon, he surnamed Peter." "And James, this is Yaakov, the son of Zebedee." "And John, this is Yohanan, the brother of James." "And he surnamed them Bonaigus, which is the Sons of Thunder." "And Andrew, and Philip, and Barthalmai, and Matityahu, and Thomas, and James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus, and Simon the Canaanite." "And Yehudas, or Yehuda, Ishkrayot, which also betrayed him, and they went into an house." And I'll stop here in verse 19 for the ministry of the Word of God for today.

"Again, to remind us, as I do every Shabbat, every ministry, every Saturday together, that we remember that the Gospel of Mark represents Yeshua, Jesus our Messiah, as the servant of the Lord." "He is the true servant of Jehovah." "Amazing to get attracted to Him." "He is so attracted because of the manner He lived, the words He spoke, the things He has done." "It drew our hearts, never a man spake like this man," they said many years ago. "Never a man did what this man has done." "He is a unique man, He is the Messiah of Israel, the Savior of the world who was willing to come down to this earth." "In order to give Himself a ransom for many." "So you and I today, just like those of all, can receive forgiveness of sins if we only believe on Him." "If we only accept His work for us on the tree, on the cross, where He shed His blood." "And He died for us, and He paid the penalty that each and every one of us have to pay." "And He was the one who was willing to take it upon Himself." "We haven't arrived yet to His death and resurrection, but we can see the progress in the Gospel of Mark." "How?

He moves in this direction." "He is just about, as time passes by, eventually He will be rejected and despised and ultimately placed upon a cruel and shameful cross." "Where He is going to die the just for the unjust." "If you remember when we concluded chapter 2 of the Gospel of Mark, after they asked Him the question, "Why are your disciples doing these unlawful things by going into the cornfields and eating from the corn and crushing them and eating them?" "He had to explain to the leaders of our own people Israel that they haven't done anything wrong." "He didn't break the Shabbat." "But not only that, that He is indeed the Lord of the Shabbat." "Adon

HaShabbat." "In fact, what we really learned from that, when He said, I am the Lord of the Shabbat." "Adon HaShabbat." "What He was really saying, I am the very God who gave the Shabbat day to Israel." "From this time, some 1500 years ago in Mount Sinai." "I was the one that gave the Shabbat to Moshe and to our nation Israel." "He is the Lord of the Shabbat." "He reminded these Pharisees who had a great beginning and meant very well to preserve our people Israel, but have gone astray, gone beyond what God had intended for Israel in the Shabbat." "They have introduced so many additional rules and regulations in order to preserve our people Israel in

maintaining the Shabbat." "And He had to remind them, in Mark chapter 2, verse 27, that the Shabbat was made for men, and not men for the Shabbat." "And I think this is a great lesson for us to learn." "You know, the Shabbat, when it was given, was so beautiful." "A day when Israel rested from all the work that they were doing." "And that's the only, really, requirement for the Shabbat day." "Is to rest and to take this time with your family, with your brothers and sisters, with the nation, to reflect upon the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." "And to enjoy Him on that particular day." "And it was very serious, beloved brothers and sisters."

"God was very serious when He gave Israel the Shabbat day." "He commended them." "And I just want to read there in Exodus chapter 20, as He gave those 10 commandments." "He said to Israel in Exodus chapter 20, verse 8, He said," ""He said to Israel in Exodus chapter 20, verse 8, ""And the Lord had made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in the world."" ""But on the seventh day is a Shabbat, but on the seventh day is a Shabbat of the Lord thy God." "In it thou shalt not do any work." "Thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that

is within thy gate." "For six days the Lord had made heaven and earth and the sea and all that is in them." "And He rested on the seventh day, therefore the Lord God blessed the Shabbat day to hallow it." "So when God gave the Shabbat day to Israel, our nation of all, and by the way, the Shabbat we don't ever read in Scripture that He ever gave it to any other nation." "In fact, if you read chapter 31, it was a sign that was made between God and the nation of Israel." "But you see what happened.

It began so precious, so beautiful. And then Israel gone astray." "And if you can see, if you read in the book of Jeremiah, in the book of Nehemiah, in the book of Numbers, how violation of the Shabbat day came by so many things that men, that Israel have done for themselves, rather than to rest in the Lord and what He had brought them into." "Well, you see, brothers and sisters, in the passages, in the gospel specifically, that the conflict, the greatest conflict that Yeshua had is with the issue of the Shabbat with His own people." "So we already read in chapter 2, verses 23 to 28, that the Pharisees introduced the fact that you can't even go through the field, take a corn, crush it, and eat of it, because that was considered to be work." "Now, not only that, we can see in the passage that we are entering right now, that they've gone even beyond that, that you can't even do some good or healing in this context, on a Shabbat day, because according to them, it becomes a violation of the Shabbat." "Now, the issue of the conflict with the Shabbat between Yeshua and the spiritual leaders of Israel did not begin here." "It did not even begin in the Galil, as we read it right now.

It actually began in Jerusalem a few weeks earlier." "I'd like you for a moment to turn to John chapter 5 for a moment." "And this is very important to read because it didn't begin here." "In John chapter 5, and I'm reading just some verses there, I don't want to read everything." "You know, there is a place that was called Beit Chazda, in English you say Bethesda." "In Bethesda there was pools, and all the impotent people who were not doing well physically came there." "And apparently, in Bethesda, they believed that there was a shaking of the water, that an angel shook the water, according to John chapter 5." "It says in verse 4, 'And an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and he troubled the water, and whosoever then first, after the troubling of the water, stepped in, he was made whole, and whatsoever disease he had, he was released from that disease." "So apparently, the Lord went there, Yeshua went there." "And what did he see?

He saw a man in verse 5, John 5:5." "There was a certain man there, which had an infirmity for 38 years." "Now I don't know, some of us are here younger than 20, some of us here are maybe 30, 40, of course some of us are older than 40, 50, 60, and so on, but can you imagine to have an infirmity for 38 years? All your life! 38 years!" "So here comes Yeshua to the place called Beit Chazda." "By the way, Beit Chazda in Hebrew, Beit house, Chazda or Chesed, the house of grace." "He's coming there, and you see, Jesus saw this man, Yeshua saw this man, verse 6, and he knew that he had been now for a long time in this condition." "So graciously he asked him, and he said, would you like to be made whole?

Would you like to be healed?" "Now that man, of course, want to be healed." "You and I are writing prayer requests in our books because we have a headache here or something, problem there." "But could you imagine to have infirmities for 38 years, nearly 40 years, the need that this man have had?" "So he answered to Yeshua, the impotent answer, and he said, 'I have no man.' "When the water is troubled, to put me into the pool, but while I am coming, another comes inside before me, and again, I remain in the very same condition." "Can you imagine every time you are hoping that you are going to be the first one to go into the pool, with the troubling of the water that happened there, and you are going to be the first one to get in, and get fixed, and get healed, and you are trying to get in, and somebody else made it before you, and you are waiting again." "This man was disappointed, he came in and left, came in and left, by the pool he is waiting, and waiting eagerly to try to come into the water, so he will be able to get healed, but he had no man," he said to Yeshua.

"So Yeshua said to him in verse 8, he said, Yeshua said unto him, 'Rise up, take up your bed and walk.' "And immediately he rose, he took up his bed, as it says he was made whole, he took up his bed, and notice what it says at the end of verse 9, 'The same day was a Shabbat day.' "There was a Shabbat day." "And immediately the Jews, when he says the Jews, he is always speaking about the spiritual leaders of Israel. "And the Jewish leaders, the spiritual leaders of Israel, therefore said unto him, that was cured." "He said, it is a Shabbat day, and it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed." "You can't lift up your bed on a Shabbat day, never mind that you were impotent for 38 years." "But it is a Shabbat day, you can't carry out their bed." "They didn't come to him and say, 'Praise God, you are healed.

God has healed you.' "And this man did not only have physical healing, as you read the text, he also had spiritual healing." "He ended up accepting that Yeshua is the Messiah, but the beginning of the whole issue, the conflict between Yeshua the Messiah and the spiritual leaders of Israel will begin right here in John chapter 5." "But we are in Mark chapter 3." "And in Mark chapter 2 and chapter 3, it is an additional conflict." "You see, Yeshua by that time knew very well that whatever he is going to do, the spiritual leaders of Israel were not going to accept him, because even the prophets of Israel said." "Who has believed our report?" the prophet Isaiah said.

"God knew that the Messiah will not be accepted by the nation of Israel at his first coming." "He was rejected and despised of men, a man of sorrow that had been acquainted with grief." "The prophet Isaiah declared it a long time ago." "And not only rejected by Israel, he will be rejected by the whole world." "Why do the heathen rage?" Psalm 2 says.

"And the people are marching vain things against the Lord and against his Mashiach, Meshicho, his anointed." "The whole world up till today, beloved brothers and sisters, it's the same old issue." "The rejection of the Messiah Yeshua by men." "Israel as a nation?" "The last majority of the nations of the world, just the same, have rejected the offer of God for 2,000 years." "But the context, of course, is Israel." "It's 2,000 years ago." "It is when the Messiah was born and living here among his own people." "Before he died, was buried and resurrected." "And the issue here, there is a local situation." "And so we read, notice that back please to chapter 3 with me of

the Gospel of Mark." "And you will notice now in chapter 3, in verses 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6, how again Yeshua is healing another person." "This time it's not in Yerushalayim, it is in the Galil, it's not in the center of the religious leaders, but it is in the north of Israel." "And notice it, it says that he is entering into a synagogue." "You know, that was his custom." "Verset 1 of Mark chapter 3, his custom was to enter into a synagogue." "That's because he was living among his own people." "He was still, you might say, acting among his own people, seeking to lead them to himself." "And so he entered on the

Shabbat day, and there was a man which had a withered hand." "Now okay, he had a trouble in Jerusalem on a Shabbat day when he healed that man who was desperate on a Shabbat day." "But now this man only had a withered hand." "He could wait another day." "He could do something for him tomorrow, not Shabbat." "But you see, he knew very well what was going to happen there." "He knew very well the hearts of all that were there." "By the way, he knows your heart today and mine just the same." "You and I are no different." "He searches the hearts." "He knows the word of God is sharper than two-edged sword." "He knows every

need, every situation in our lives as well." "Today, just like he knew that 2,000 years ago." "So you see, in verse 1, he comes there on a Shabbat day." "This time you see he's entering into the synagogue." "And there was also a man which had a withered hand." "He came to worship the God of Israel." "They're all sitting around listening to the rabbi, to the rabbi, reading from the text, from the scripture." "And then the Lord, all of a sudden, notice what we read here, that they watched him." "They watched him." "Who are the they?" "The they is again the spiritual leaders of Israel, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the Herodians." "Or those that at least

were against him, trying to find already fault." "They remember what he did earlier, a week or so earlier in Yerushalayim." "But now he's coming here again in the Galil, he's coming into the synagogue." "Let's see what he's going to do." "Now he knows the hearts of all." "And as they are watching him there, you know, whether he would heal him as if he's going to do something bad, something wrong." "They was watching him." "I mean I'm fascinated, there are so many places in scripture when people watch Jesus, Yeshua." "Now it's one thing to watch him and to be fascinated by his person." "It's another thing to watch him in order to try to find fault

in him." "To cause him to stumble." "It's one thing to observe him and to see what an amazing person this Yeshua the Messiah is." "But it is altogether another thing to watch him in order to find some faults in him." "In order that we will be able to accuse him and then ultimately destroy him." "See what happened here." "They watched him, whether he would heal him on a Shabbat day." "In order why?" "In order that they might accuse him." "You know, if they only watched him in order that they will learn from him." "In order to find the grace of God that is found in him." "The love of God that is found in this

person." "They watched him in order to accuse him." "You know, brothers and sisters, I would like to encourage you." "When you read the word of God and you watch the person of the Lord." "Just see the preciousness of this person." "The willingness to come down to this sin-sick world." "And to be willing to give his life a ransom for many." "You and I were far from God." "And we can watch him." "And I think if you would agree with me." "The reason that we came to faith in him." "Because we watched him as we read the Gospels." "And we find out that no one loves us like him." "We found that no one was able

to deliver us from the judgment that we deserve." "We found out ourselves as guilty." "And God said," "I declare you guilty but because you believe in my son, the Mashiach." "I declare you just and justified." "That's the way to watch him." "But they didn't.

They closed their hearts." "You see, brothers and sisters, turning our hearts off is a sad thing." "And so we read," "They watched him and the reason that they watched him." "In verse 2, they wanted to accuse him." "They wanted to accuse him." "So the Lord knows that." "So what does he do in verse 3?" "He is requesting from the men to stand before everyone." "He was going to do something publicly right now." "He know very well what these leaders intending to do." "So he's asking purposely." "It seems to be very much purposely here." "He asked the men which had their withered hand, he said," "Stand forth.

Stand before all of us." "This man, imagine, one hand cannot move." "It says here that his hand was withered, it was dried, couldn't move." "And he's standing there before everyone with his hand like that." "And the Lord said unto them." "Not to the men." "He asked them, those that watched him." "He says, listen, is it lawful to do good on a Shabbat day?" "Or to do evil?" "To save life?" "Or to kill?" "What a question." "Is it the right thing to do good on Shabbat?" "Or to do evil?" "To save life?" "Or to kill on a Shabbat day." "Well, according to the spiritual leaders of Israel, the Pharisees," "to heal on a Shabbat day was

considered wrong." "And not only to heal, if a person that was sick like the one in chapter 5 of the Gospel of John," "to carry his bed on which bed he was for 38 years," "to carry the bed become work." "Even if he for 38 years was unable to walk." "And so notice, they held their peace." "They didn't say a word." "They didn't say one word." "If you read a little bit further, beloved brothers and sisters," "You will find out that in another situation, they also held their peace." "They didn't say a word when he asked them in Luke chapter 14." "I'll read that verse as well." "Luke chapter 14, verse 1, 2, and 3."

"And it came to pass as he went into a house of one of the chief Pharisees," "to eat bread on a Shabbat day, they watched him." "Here in Galilee they watched him in the synagogue." "There in the house of a Pharisee they watched him in the house to see what will he do on a Shabbat day." "And behold there was a certain man before him which has the dropsy." "And Jesus answering and he spake unto the lawyers and the Pharisees and he said," "Is it lawful to heal on a Shabbat day?" "And they held their peace." "You see, because they don't have anything to say against his activity," "because it is not unlawful to heal

a person who has a need on a Shabbat day." "So they held their peace." "They didn't say a word." "And so notice that that's rather sad." "Because in verse 5 of Mark chapter 3," "When he looked around about on them with anger." "You know, I think if I'm correct, this is the only passage in the Brit HaChadasha" "that said about the Lord that he looked upon them with anger." "That anger is a righteous indignation." "It's not like you and I when we are angry at something because we are sinful." "Or because we didn't get our own way." "This is righteous indignation." "Looking around, can you imagine this is the scene in the synagogue." "And he

was angry with them." "The anger was righteous anger." "How can you get to that extent?" "That for someone to do good on a Shabbat, he can't." "Or for someone to be healed on a Shabbat, it's wrong." "Or for somebody to carry the bed that he laid upon it for 38 years, it is evil." "How can you be so hardened?" "And so it says here that he looked around." "And I can just imagine the calmness, the quietness." "He looked around in a synagogue and he looked at the eyes of everyone." "And you know again, beloved brothers and sisters." "He knows everyone's heart." "He knows everyone's soul." "He knows the thoughts of each and every one long

before." "They even know them themselves." "He knows far off everything that men think." "Even if the person doesn't realize that." "He looks around with anger, but not only anger." "He was also grieved in his heart." "He was so grieved." "Because he said being grieved for the hardness of their hearts." "You know the Bible, in God's Word, there are three types of hardness." "Or blindness." "There is a natural blindness." "Or natural hardness." "But this was not a natural hardness." "This was the second kind of hardness." "It is a willful hardness." "No, I'm not going to believe and accept what you are saying." "No, I'm not going to acknowledge that what you are doing is from the

Lord and from God." "They hardened their hearts." "You know the Bible say about Israel, our nation." "Blindness in part happened to Israel." "Until the fullness of the Gentiles become in." "And then all Israel shall be saved." "Romans 11:25 and 26." "That hardness." "No, I'm not going to acknowledge that what you are doing is from the Lord and from God." "They hardened their hearts." "You know the Bible say about Israel, our nation." "Blindness in part happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles become in." "And then all Israel shall be saved." "Romans 11:25 and 26." "That hardness in Romans chapter 11 is the third hardness." "It is the judicial hardness." "It is purposed by God

in judgment." "Okay, you have a natural hardness." "It's one thing." "But to have a willful hardness." "This is altogether another story." "And a willful hardness will eventually bring about judicial hardness." "And that's what happened." "Partial hardness happened to our own nation Israel." "For a season." "In order that the Gentile world will come in and accept Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah." "For this present day of the church age where the gospel is going on throughout the nations of the world." "But when that day is over, God will restore Israel." "Because He will open their hearts." "The Spirit of God will open their eyes." "And they will recognize that He was truly the Messiah." "But here their hearts

were hardened." "So He was angry." "And He was grieved because of the hardness of their hearts." "And so you know what He did?" "You would say, 'Well, I will just stop.

I will just sit down. I will not do anything." "But intentionally." "He wanted to confront the leaders of Israel concerning who He was and the reason that He came." "And so He said to the man, 'Stretch up your hand.'" "And he stretched it out and his hand was restored whole as the other hand." "He healed him on the spot." "And everybody sees it." "And they're amazed." "And they're amazed." "How come?" "This man could not move his hand for who knows how long." "He speaks a word or he say or even in his thoughts." "Be healed." "And this man's hand was now just the same like the regular other hand that he had." "Stretched out his hand and it was restored whole as the other." "And you would think, wow, this is amazing." "He must be someone that came for the purpose of becoming Israel's promised Mashiach." "This is unique.

We are going to accept Him and follow after Him." "Do you notice that?" "In verse 6 we find out the reaction of the Pharisees and the leaders of Israel as a nation." "They were not happy with it." "We read in verse 6." "And the Pharisees went forth and straightway they took counsel with the Herodians against Him how they might destroy Him." "Now the Herodians were liberal Jewish people who have sided with Herod and his family." "They were not religious at all." "The Pharisees and of course the Sadducees, Purshim vetzdukim, they were the conservative spiritual leaders of Israel." "But now the Pharisees, the religious leaders, all of a sudden united together with the liberals." "To go

together against Yeshua." "It's always like that, beloved brothers and sisters." "All along they don't agree with each other." "All along they have not one purpose and one mind because the Herodians were totally liberal." "They were siding with Herod." "They were siding with his sons, with his family." "They were the more liberal." "They were the, you might say, the one who became more Grecian influence." "Hellenistic." "But they were Jewish." "The Pharisees were the religious Jewish people." "They were the one who kept, you might say, managing with the Sadducees, the temple and all what's going on." "The religious activity among the people of Israel." "And all of a sudden they are together." "And the plan is not

for the Messiah, but against the Messiah." "They wanted to put Him away to destroy Him." "Now do you think this was not known before?" "Again, I mentioned that the whole scripture that God had given to our forefathers have already set this in order." "All the prophets of Israel predicted that when a Mashiach will come at His first coming, He will be rejected by men." "The nation." "We often read this famous chapter of Isaiah 53." "Who has believed our report," verse 1.

"And to whom the arm of the Lord had been revealed." "For He has grown up before Him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground." "He has no form nor commonness, but when we shall see Him, there is no beauty that we should desire Him." "They looked back and they saw the rejection of the Messiah." "He is despised, He is rejected of men." "He is a man of sorrow that had been acquainted with grief, and we hid as it were our faces from Him." "We hardened our hearts." "He was despised and we esteemed Him not." "Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrow, and we did esteem Him as

stricken and smitten of God and afflicted." "He was wounded for our transgression." "He was bruised for our iniquities." "The chastisement of our peace was upon Him and with His stripes." "We are healed." "All we like sheep have gone astray." "We have turned everyone to his own way." "But the Lord laid upon Him the iniquities of us all." "He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth." "He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, as a sheep before her shearer is dumb." "So He opened not His mouth." "He was taken from prison and from judgment." "And who shall declare His generation." "For He was cut out of the land of the

living for the transgression of my people," Isaiah says.

"He was stricken." "I just read the first eight verses of Isaiah 53." "That was known." "God was not caught by surprise that they wanted to put Him away and reject Him." "Because God predicted that through the prophets of Israel." "We can read Psalm 2." "We can read Psalm 22." "And it's not only Israel, beloved brothers and sisters, that rejected Him." "But the whole world till today still despised and reject the Lord Yeshua the Messiah." "And you and I are saved by grace because we have embraced Him as our Lord and our Messiah." "And so now, after this happened, in verse 7 on, He withdrew Himself." "He did not stay there because the time for His

death did not yet come." "They wanted to destroy Him." "They took counsel together." "The Herodian with the Pharisees to go against Him and to put Him away." "So you know what He does?" "He goes to a time of prayer on the mountains." "He separates Himself from the religious leaders." "He leaves the synagogue." "And so we read, notice that in verse 7 to verse 12, that Yeshua the Messiah." "As He separated Himself and going away from the religious leaders in that synagogue in particular." "But a multitude of people followed Him." "Look what it says, and I'm going to read these verses." "In chapter 3, in verse 7 and 8, He withdrew away from the synagogue." "Yet

the multitude are following after Him." "People are following after Him." "Notice it says here, and Yeshua withdrew Himself." "Jesus withdrew Himself with His disciples to the sea." "And a great multitude followed after Him." "Now people were impressed." "The ordinary Israeli Jewish people were moved." "And they wanted to be healed as well." "If this man, his withered hand became fine." "If the man who was in the pool of Beit Chazda after 38 years was healed." "And where He healed all sorts of people around in Galilee and so on." "We want to be healed as well." "So everybody followed after Him." "You notice that it says here, from the north, from the south, from the east, from

the west, from all over the area of Israel and beyond the borders of Israel." "People followed Yeshua the Messiah." "You might say that He became like a star." "You know, I watched the other day on the television." "You want to see a movie star that everybody is so impressed, that crowd coming upon them?" "Just put it on the television, that movie star." "And so many people are going to follow after this movie star." "If you are a great singer and you just made for yourself some sort of nice CD or something." "And everybody kind of want to hear you singing." "And the crowds of people can come into a huge room, thousands of them." "Cheering

up and singing along with that singer." "It is a great star." "Maybe you have achieved so many things in your life." "And so many people are following after those stars." "The movie stars." "The singing stars." "On and on and on and on, they love the crowds coming towards them." "The stars like to have everybody come towards them and acknowledge them." "But the Lord was completely different." "Yes, He was a star." "But He was a star that came out of Jacob." "He was a shining, the Shekinah glory rested upon Him." "He was the one that was a light shining in darkness." "And He was the one that came from heaven to save sinners." "And notice what

it says in verse 7." "Great multitude." "Number one, from the Galil, this is the north." "Number two, from Yehuda, Judea and Jerusalem, this is the south." "Number three, from Edom, this is the east of Israel." "And beyond the Jordan, this is east." "And number four, from Tyre and Sidon." "Multitude, this is the west." "From the north, from the south, from the east, from the west." "Multitude of people." "And you notice how many times the word multitude?" "In Hebrew it's called Amrav or Hamonrav." "Plenty of people." "Multitude in verse 7." "Multitude in verse 8." "Multitude in verse 9." "And so on." "Multitude of people followed Him." "You know, I would love to be able to see

this scene." "Where many thousands upon thousands upon thousands." "We are not talking about a hundred people coming to a meeting." "We are talking about tens of thousands were following after Him." "Because, notice it says here in verse 8." "Because they have heard what great thing He did." "So they came to Him." "But you see there was a problem in their situation." "If you only come to Yeshua because He is a great healer, you have a problem." "Because the Lord did not come, the Messiah did not come in order to fix and improve our body." "Obviously not." "Otherwise, none who believed on Him would ever die." "But you notice all the people that believe on Him,

even though they trusted in Him and maybe He healed them in one time or another." "The decay never stopped." "We were born, we live, we grow up, and eventually we leave this scene." "That's the nature, that's the way, the natural way that life is here existing." "But there is hope beyond the grave." "And that's the reason that He came to this world." "Multitude followed after Him." "They came to Him." "And you notice in verse 9 and 10, Yeshua was in danger because they almost crushed Him." "It says in verse 9, He specced to His disciples that a small ship should wait on Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him." "Verset 9, they

were just coming upon Him, just they wanted to hear Him that He would do something for them." "In fact, it came to the extent that they only wanted to touch His garment." "Verset 10 said," "And He healed many inasmuch that they pressed upon Him for to touch Him as many that had plagues." "That reminds me, if you remember the Phoenician woman in Matthew chapter 9, that had an issue of blood." "You remember that?" "And how this woman, she was diseased with an issue of blood in Matthew chapter 9." "And then she just touched the hem of His garment." "And then the Bible tells us, Yeshua turned about and He says, "Daughter, be of good cheer,

thy faith had made thee whole." "He saw that this woman had faith in Him, just to touch the hem of His garment." "And you see, the reason that they wanted so much from Him, because they realized that this man was unique." "He was different than the religious leaders." "He acted in grace towards everyone." "He was meeting the needs of the people who were in trouble in the land of Israel." "So, in verses 11 and verse 12, you see what happened." "The recognition that Yeshua realized that even the unclean spirit recognized who He was." "Even the demons, the fallen angels realized that He was more than just an ordinary man." "And so we read in verse

11 and 12." "An unclean spirit, when they saw Him, they fell down before Him and they cried saying, "You are the Son of God." "You see, the unclean spirit, this is the fallen angels." "They knew very well with whom they are dealing." "And they themselves, publicly saying through the people to whom they have entered." "They said to Him, 'You are the Son of God.'" "They recognize Him." "The person that was healed recognized Him." "The disciples recognized Him." "But the religious leaders opposed Him." "Go figure this out." "That's why, brothers and sisters, religion is very dangerous." "Men-made religion." "Relationship with the Lord is precious." "But religion of men is just like today." "We are now 2,000

years later." "The vast majority in Christendom have introduced all kinds of things." "If you just read what the apostle already warned Timothy." "What Peter warned many years ago, he says in the last days." "They will have form of godliness without reality." "It's only a form of godliness." "Without the power thereof." "2 Timothy tells us about it." "How dangerous religion is if there is no true relationship with the Lord." "Even the demons recognize that He was the Son of God." "But the religious person did not recognize." "So we find out that He said, He told those unclean spirits." "He charged them in verse 12 and He said to them that they should not make Him known."

"You know why?" "Because He does not want that anybody will speak about Him who is from the demonic world." "He doesn't need them to publicly tell who He was." "He doesn't want anything to do with Satan." "He is going to judge Satan." "But He doesn't want any of the demonic world to participate in a testimony of the person of Yeshua the Messiah." "He wants men and women like you and I." "Who repent of our sins and acknowledge Him as our Messiah, Lord and Savior." "That we will recognize that He is the Son of God." "Ben Elohim." "And so now finally, look at this." "After He left." "After He healed the multitude but went away from

there, He wanted a ship to be ready for Him." "So we'll go to the mountain to be alone." "Then He called the twelve disciples." "And those verses are very interesting because from verse 13 to verse 19, Yeshua selects twelve individuals to be His servants.

And to be those whom He is going to use in the preaching of the Gospel. Those whom will actually be the foundation of the church, of the assembly later on. They were assuming that He will restore Israel immediately. But here He is telling, notice what happened in verse 13. "As He go up to the mountain, He called unto Him whom He would and they came unto Him." He specifically chose certain individuals to come to be with Him. And He ordained, notice verse 14, He ordained twelve. And the number twelve is found in the Scripture many, many times. Yaakov had twelve sons. Israel had twelve tribes. The number twelve becomes the number of administration.

We read in Deuteronomy 32:8 and 9 that when He divided the nations of the world, He divided the portion according to the number of the children of Israel. The number twelve became an amazing number. Speak of administration. Later on in the book of Revelation, we find out that when God is going to make a new heaven and a new earth. There will be twelve gates. And upon the twelve gates, there will be twelve angels there. And then the twelve apostles will be there as well, mention their name. And also the twelve tribes of Israel are mentioned there. The number twelve speak of administration. It is so interesting, beloved brothers and sisters.

And there is one more word that I want to read about the number twelve in Matthew 19. If you just turn with me for a second. There the Lord is saying to the disciples, verse 27. We read: Then answered Peter and he said unto him: Behold, we have forsaken all and we follow after thee. What shall we have therefore? We have left everything, we follow after you. Peter is saying: What are we going to get out of that? And the Lord said unto him. In fact, he was saying to everyone: Verily I say unto you, that ye which have followed me in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

You see, he called twelve disciples, and they became the twelve apostles. They became the foundation later on of the assembly, the church, the ecclesia. But also, he promised that in the regeneration, that means in a new era, when the Son of Man, when the Messiah will come back to restore and to establish the messianic kingdom, the twelve apostles will sit upon twelve thrones, and they will judge the twelve tribes of Israel. Again, the number twelve speaks of administration. That's the way God had set it. Twelve sons of Jacob, twelve tribes of Israel, twelve apostles, twelve gates in the New Jerusalem, twelve angels going to be there, twelve apostles' names are being mentioned there, twelve tribes of Israel, they're mentioned as well in Revelation chapter 21, and those twelve apostles in a future day are going to reign with him, and they're going to be judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

He tells us that there is a regeneration. The day is a future restoration of Israel. That the Messiah will ruin and reign over Israel, but the twelve apostles are going to have ministry, you might say, doing the restoration of the people of Israel, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. So he called the twelve. And you notice how beautiful they were to do three things. Number one, that they should be with him. If you want to serve the Lord, and if I want to serve the Lord, we cannot serve the Lord and be away from him. If they are going to now begin to serve him in the world in which we live in, they've got to be with him.

You have to be with him. So the first thing that he said, he ordained them, he established them, but number one, they have to be with him. And they watched him. And they watched him. See those, earlier the Pharisees watched him in order to cause him to stumble. But these apostles, these disciples, are called to be there to learn from him. He will train them. They will watch how he lived. They will learn from the master. Secondly, it's not only that they will be with him, but he wanted them to be sent. To be sent up to be preachers of the gospel. And you know that you and I today, whatever you and I have entered into, it is because of the apostles and the prophets who taught us what we have today.

The whole new covenant that we have in our hands today was written by New Testament apostles and prophets. Like Shaul Paul. Like John, Yohanan. Like James and Jude. Like, of course, Peter, Shimon Petos. They were called to go to preach. And you see, Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 20, that we are built, the body of Messiah is built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And Jesus, the Messiah himself, is the chief cornerstone. That's how it all began. He chose the twelve. He set them apart. They learned from their master in order for them to be sent to become an apostles. In Hebrew, the word is shlichim.

They were messengers of the Lord. They were sent all to preach the message of the gospel. But not only that, the third thing that we have here, not only that they should be with him, not only that they might be able to preach, but thirdly, that they will have power to heal the sick and to cast out demons. And you know how the book of Acts began. After Yeshua finished the work on the cross, on the tree, and he went to heaven, and he empowered them with the power of the Holy Spirit of God, and they went to preach. And as they preached the message of the gospel, to validate the truth of the gospel, they were used by the Lord to heal the sick, to do so many miracles in the early days of the church age, as we read this in the book of Acts.

These are the twelve that he'd chosen. He didn't want popularity. He didn't look for some kind of being called a star. I don't know if you've watched the play many years ago, Jesus Christ Super Star. That's what man makes. But he didn't want that. He wanted disciples to follow after him. He didn't want any glory for himself. And then we find out, no, he's going to receive the glory because of who he is. But he didn't look for all these man-made situations. From verse 16 on to verse 19, we have the twelve names of the twelve disciples. Simon, this is Shimon. James, this is Yaakov. John, this is Yohanan.

And then we read in verse 18, Andrew, Philip, Barthalmai, Matthew. We talked about Matityahu. Remember Matthew? We just saw how Matthew Levy invited him to his own house. And then Thomas, in Hebrew, Teom, a twin. And then another James, another Yaakov. And Thadias. And then another Shimon. And finally in verse 19, you have Judas. Now Judas, we know, that later on he was replaced by someone else that Judas actually betrayed him. But we read here, "Judas which also betrayed him, and they went into a house." In other words, the Bible very clearly saying, "Oh, we know that Judas will betray him eventually." It's like the prophet of all and the psalmist of all said, "My own familiar friend with whom I went to the house of the Lord have turned against me." It was predicted.

And he knew that. He knew that very well. And he allowed Judas to be chosen among the twelve, but Judas obviously was not chosen in order to be actually one of the twelve, but he was chosen there for that time. Later on, he replaced him by someone else. And in verse 19 is where we have the final part for us for this ministry. Between verse 19 and verse 20, we have what is known to be the Sermon on the Mount, which we find in Matthew 5, 6, and 7, but we don't find it here in the Gospel of Mark. So, brothers and sisters, what did we learn? That Yeshua, the Messiah, is a healer of the sick, and he can meet many needs, physical needs, but also spiritual needs.

And the reason that he came to this world is in order to set the captive free and to bring us hope. And he knew that he will be rejected. And unfortunately, they planned to destroy him. That's very sad when you really think about it. But he had a purpose. He came to give his life a ransom for many. And we praise God for that because today, if he did not die and was buried and he rose, you and I would have nothing to stand upon. We will all be without hope. But because he died and rose again, we have a hope to spend time and eternity with him in glory.

Can we say amen to that?