Welcome to the
Crestview Church of Christ
Marshall, Texas
When God Cannot Help You
Mark 6:1 Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. 2 When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, "Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? 3 "Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him. 4 Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and among his own relatives and in his own household." 5 And He could do no miracle there except that He laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them. 6 And He wondered at their unbelief.
“Jesus could do no miracle there, except heal a few sick people” WHY?
Because of their unbelief. Does UNBELIEF make Jesus less powerful?
Does unbelief take away Jesus’ power? Does belief GIVE Jesus Power?
Look at the end of this same chapter:
Mark 6: 53 When they had crossed over they came to land at Gennesaret, and moored to the shore. 54 When they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized Him, 55 and ran about that whole country and began to carry here and there on their pallets those who were sick, to the place they heard He was. 56 Wherever He entered villages, or cities, or countryside, they were laying the sick in the market places, and imploring Him that they might just touch the fringe of His cloak; and as many as touched it were being cured.
Did their Faith GIVE Jesus Power He did not have in His hometown?
Does your Faith Give Jesus Power in your life He doesn’t have in the lives of your unsaved friends & family?
Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Jesus had the SAME power of God in His hometown as He had in Gennesaret!
In Nazareth, He could do hardly anything. In Gennesaret, He cured everybody!
What existed in the people of Nazareth that kept Jesus from showing God’s Power?
And do such people exist today where we MUST say: God cannot help them!
What MAKES a people be such unbelievers that God CANNOT help them?
Let’s examine the people of Nazareth:
1. THEY WERE SURE OF THEMSELVES
Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? (WHY did they not think: GOD!) Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?" And they took offense at Him
Offense = skandalizo scandalized! to make indignant - God would not work in a way that I disapprove of! I am SURE my ways are God’s ways
1. Pharisees - They were SURE that Jesus was FALSE because He did not follow their ways. Miracles could not sway them.
2. Scribes - They were SURE Jesus was a FALSE Messiah because He did not follow their teachings. (You have heard it said..., but I say to you...) Irrefutable Wisdom from Scripture could not sway them.
3. The Jewish people - they were SURE that their Messiah would be seen as Glorious & Powerful & set up David’s throne on earth. (the MEEK will inherit?) Prophecy fulfilled to the letter could not sway them (even today!)
If a person is SURE of themselves that their ways & beliefs are God’s Ways & beliefs -
God cannot help them. (Blessed are the POOR in Spirit-those who have & know nothing!)