This is the manuscript of the second sermon in the Centrality Of The Cross series. Large crowds started following Jesus at the beginning of His earthly ministry with His Sermon on the Mount recorded in Matthew chapters 5 through 7. When He finished that sermon the crowds continued to follow Him. But the more significant thing is that crowds continue to follow Jesus Christ today, after more than two thousand years.
What's the secret of this magnetism of the Teacher who spoke those remarkable words of the Sermon on the Mount? What is it that causes the crowds to continue to follow Him after more than two thousand years? Why is it that you and I continue to follow Him?
For an audio recording click the YouTube link at the end of the manuscript
Scripture Reading: Matthew 5:1–2; 7:28–8:1
Matthew 5:1-2 NIV Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:
Matthew 7:28-8:1NIV When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law. When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
Text:
Matthew 8:1 NIV When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
Introduction
The passage of Scripture between Matthew 5:1 and 8:1 is known as the Sermon on the Mount. We went through the Beatitudes, which is part of that sermon in our last series “The Way To Happiness”. The entire Sermon starts at Matthew 5:3 and ends at Matthew 7:29. Our Wednesday Bible Study went through the entire sermon. If you’re interested the notes to the entire study are on my blog at faiththeevidence.com.
It is significant that this sermon was delivered to the crowds that had started following Jesus
Matthew 5:1-2 NIV Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and he began to teach them. He said:
and once he had completed this sermon, the crowds followed him down from the mountain.
Matthew 8:1 NIV When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him.
But the more significant thing is that crowds continue to follow Jesus Christ, today, after more than two thousand years have rolled by. By the grace of God, we have been chosen to be among the crowds that follow him and listen to him.
What is the secret of this magnetism of the Teacher who spoke these remarkable words of the Sermon on the Mount? What is it that causes the crowds to continue to follow Him after more than two thousand years? Why is it that you and I continue to follow him?
Let's see if we can figure out why we follow Jesus.
Famous celebrities attract a crowd wherever they go. To enjoy any privacy at all, they must conceal their identity and their presence. Often when they want to shop themselves, many times they have people shop for them, but when they want to shop for themselves they have to go in the dead of night or the stores have to close to the public so the person can take time to shop.
Jesus Christ was and is the God-man, the eternal God clothed in a human body. He is the Messiah promised by the prophets, the One for whom Israel had been waiting. God revealed this truth to Peter, and Peter verbalized the conviction of his heart by declaring, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16 RSV). Jesus was more than just a good man and a great teacher. He is God in human flesh.
John 20:26-29 NIV week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
Revelation 22:12-13 NIV “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.
John 1:1-3 NIV In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.
Because of who He is, we continue to follow him.
2. We follow Jesus because of what he did.
We follow Jesus Christ because of what he did during his earthly life. He ministered to the sick, comforted the grieving, gave hope to the discouraged, and fed the hungry.
For example the scripture right after our text says that he healed a leper;
Matthew 8:1-3, 5-6 NIV When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy. When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. “Lord,” he said, “my servant lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”
Matthew 8:14-17 NIV When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw Peter’s mother-in-law lying in bed with a fever. He touched her hand and the fever left her, and she got up and began to wait on him. When evening came, many who were demon-possessed were brought to him, and he drove out the spirits with a word and healed all the sick. This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet Isaiah: “He took up our infirmities and bore our diseases.”
He even stopped a big storm:
Matthew 8:23-27 NIV Then he got into the boat and his disciples followed him. Suddenly a furious storm came up on the lake, so that the waves swept over the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!” He replied, “You of little faith, why are you so afraid?” Then he got up and rebuked the winds and the waves, and it was completely calm. The men were amazed and asked, “What kind of man is this? Even the winds and the waves obey him!”
We don't have time today to mention all the things He did while on the earth. The Apostle John wrote
John 21:25 NIV Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.
But his greatest achievements were on a cross and in a tomb. On the cross, he took our place, demonstrating the height and depth and breadth of his love for unworthy sinners. He paid our sin debt by dying as a substitute for each of us.
Galatians 3:13-14 NIV Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.
1 Peter 2:24-25 NIV “He himself bore our sins” in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; “by his wounds you have been healed.” For “you were like sheep going astray,” but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.
Romans 5:6-8 NIV You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
In the tomb, our Lord conquered death, hell, and the grave.
Matthew 28:1-6 NIV After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
He demonstrated that death will have no final victory over those who trust him. By conquering death and the grave, Jesus became a living Savior, able to save unto the uttermost those who come to God by him.
Romans 6:8-10 NIV Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
Because of what Jesus did, we continue to follow him more two thousand years later.
3. We follow Jesus because of what he can do.
We follow Jesus because he is able to forgive our sins and make us clean and acceptable to the Father God,
Romans 3:21-24 NIV But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.
2 Corinthians 5:21 NIV God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
Because he can give the gift of eternal life and cause us to love the things that are lovable in God’s eyes,
John 3:16-17 NIV For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
Because he gives us a new quality of life, because he gives us victory over the evil within us and the evil that threatens us from without,
2 Cori nthians 5:17 NIVTherefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
We follow Jesus because he is able to help us be productive and victorious as we live the abundant life he provides.
Romans 8:31-39 NIV What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
We follow him because it is through him that we can achieve our greatest potential.
4. We follow Jesus because we need him.
Children need their parents. A husband needs his wife. A wife needs her husband. We need our friends. We need certain professionals who can provide us with services in times of need. All of us are in need of others. More than anyone else in all of existence, Jesus Christ is the One we need. Thus we follow him.
John 4:13-14 NIV Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
John 12:44-46 NIV Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me. The one who looks at me is seeing the one who sent me. I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.
John 14:6 NIV Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
We follow him because it pays to serve him.
John 10:7-10 NIV Therefore Jesus said again, “Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who have come before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep have not listened to them. I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
Now this is going to sound very presumptuous but hear me out.
5. We follow Jesus because he needs us.
It is in the divine plan that God uses men and women to share the good news of his love with others. God could have chosen to use the angels to tell the message of his love, but he didn’t. God could have chosen to use the sky as a great screen on which he could have revealed the message of his love, but he didn’t.
Matthew 5:13-16 NIV “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
We follow him because he needs us. If we do not follow him, the work he began and wishes for us to continue won’t happen.
6. We follow Jesus because others need him.
People have many needs. They need such things as food, clothing, shelter, education, jobs, medical care, and insurance, and we can and should certainly help with these things. But humankind’s greatest need is for a right relationship with God that comes through repentance toward God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We can meet their greatest need when we help them receive the forgiveness of sin and the gift of new life that comes only through Jesus Christ.
2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.
Romans 10:13-15, 17 GNT As the scripture says, “Everyone who calls out to the Lord for help will be saved.” But how can they call to him for help if they have not believed? And how can they believe if they have not heard the message? And how can they hear if the message is not proclaimed? And how can the message be proclaimed if the messengers are not sent out? As the scripture says, “How wonderful is the coming of messengers who bring good news!” So then, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message comes through preaching Christ.
Conclusion
The crowds followed Jesus during his earthly ministry, and they have continued to follow him down through the centuries. You and I can rejoice over the privilege of being among the crowds that follow him. If you have not yet begun to follow him, right now would be a good time to forsake the way of life that ends in disappointment and come to him who alone can give you life and hope and peace and joy.
If you are not a follower of Jesus you can become true follower of Jesus Christ today because of who he is, what he has done, and what he can do in your life.