Amen. We now turn to our text for today. We are continuing our look at Mark, Mark chapter one, verses 21 through 28. Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught. And they were astonished at his teaching. For he taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, saying, let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be quiet and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, what is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority, he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And immediately, his fame spread throughout all the region around Judea. thus far the reading of God's holy word. Please be seated. So as we continue our journey through Mark, a lot's happened already. We see John the Baptist coming before Jesus, started his earthly ministry proclaiming that Jesus is coming. We see the last time that we saw Jesus' baptism, his being anointed by the Holy Spirit, and his coronation. He was given the title King of Kings. that coronation and then the tempting that followed was a necessary beginning to Jesus's earthly ministry. And as Mark quickly moves through this, we see a few more immediate leads as Mark's favorite words. So this is happening in a very short time frame. We saw Jordan brought to us last time that Jesus called his first four disciples. He needed to have those disciples, witnesses to what he was about to do. Those disciples are a key point to be seen here. He needs witnesses because everything he does gets twisted, gets misunderstood, and we need those disciples to be able to relay what Jesus's next moves in this world are. And so we come to his first appearance in the synagogues. He's in Capernaum, which is largely his base of operation. He tends to circle back to this location. This is the starting point. There he goes into the synagogue and enter there and taught. Mark doesn't say what he taught about. But what he did teach was amazing. It says they were astonished at his teaching. They were amazed. That word amazed in the Greek is synonymous with amazed or astonished, but it also means to strike out of one's senses. The things that he spoke, In today's vernacular, it would probably be, he blew their minds. It was so new. They'd never heard anything like this before. That they were, and it says, as he taught them, as one having authority and not as the scribes. not as the scribes. The scribes in this day and age, they only regurgitated previously stated ideologies of other rabbis, largely bereft of any biblical understanding. It was a matter of just recycling the same talking points. I would imagine that was a fairly dull service if it was only the same things being spoken. These scribes would only, they never had any new ideas. There was never anything spoken that they probably hadn't heard a thousand times before in these synagogues. It was just a quoting of a different person or a quoting of a different rabbi. And so when Jesus comes, I can see where that would blow their minds. His words had authority. They had And he didn't quote anybody else apart from, I guess, one caveat would be he did quote the Old Testament. We don't see that in this particular passage, but he does in later talks. But he didn't quote anyone. That's something interesting to consider. And the question is being asked here, well, He taught them as one having authority and not as described. What's that authority? Where did he get this authority? Well, most of these people weren't present for his coronation not too long ago. They didn't see or hear God saying, this is my son with whom I am well pleased. They didn't see the heavens ripped open and the Holy Spirit descending as a dove upon him. So they didn't have that in their minds to understand that. But where did he get it? Well, he got that authority from God. We see in John. In Jesus' own words, John 12, verses 49, Jesus says, for I have not spoken of my own authority, but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. So Jesus recognizes that his authority comes from God the Father, comes from above. But these people don't see that yet. They don't know what they're dealing with and who Jesus is. They don't understand. They don't have the eyes to see it. And when we come to authority, that's an interesting concept. We tend to not like authority. It's something of a, I guess I understand why we don't like to be under authority in our lives. Authority is something that I don't think we grasp very well. A lot of my favorite stories in scripture are actually dealing with the military guys. I like what they can see, which a lot of people don't. We read in Matthew 8, 5 through 10, when we talk about the centurion, and it says, Now when Jesus had entered the Capernaum, a centurion came to him pleading with him, saying, Lord, my servant is lying at home, paralyzed, dreadfully tormented. And Jesus said to him, I will come to heal him. The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof, but only speak a word and my servant will be healed, for I also am a man under authority. having soldiers under me, and I say to this one, go, and he goes, and another, come, and he comes, and to my servant, do this, and he does it. And when Jesus heard it, he marveled and said to those following, assuredly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel. The military guys recognize authority. They understand if something is spoken, it is done. It is true. I don't get to challenge it. I don't get to question it. I am to obey. Also, we see that in almost every instance where we mention the military guy in this, which I have an affinity for, having been in the Army. I remember a story that I'll tell you a story about that as you learn to adapt to the authority that, as you go into basic training, you often, it gets smacked in your face. It is not a comfortable thing. It's very interesting, as I watched and observed, joining with these other young men who were full of bravado, full of testosterone, and were big, tough guys, and then they get hit with the authority. that is now over them, that the drill sergeants basically own us. And it's interesting to watch all that bravado go away. All that strength is, it's interesting how quickly these strong young men crumble under authority. Maybe they've never experienced authority before. They don't naturally do it. We as people don't naturally like authority. One of the times that I remember going to church as the only time we were able to get off of base, we would go to church, and I would bring other young guys with me. On Sundays, it was typically a cleaning day. We would be cleaning toilets, cleaning floors, polishing stuff. So I don't know why people actually didn't want to go to church, The options were seemingly, I really want to go to church. So I remember one time a drill sergeant came to me and tried to prevent me from going to church and to bring other young men with me. And I asked him, you need to do this, this, and this, and this. He was giving me the, I don't want you going. You need to do all these things. The floors aren't scrubbed. The toilets aren't cleaned. The drill sergeant, the church is starting soon. I don't care. And in my impetuousness, I quoted a higher authority. I said, drill sergeant, are you asking me to choose between my country and my god? He didn't like that answer very much. He cussed me up one side, down another. But he couldn't defeat that argument. There is a higher authority, one who I was invoking at that time. And he cussed me out, sent me on my way with the other guys. I ended up paying for that with a few hundred pushups later, but that was worth it. But that authority, we have to recognize who the ultimate authority is, and it is Jesus Christ. The people recognize this. they recognized that he was speaking with authority. And he had also, they were amazed by, he had the authority over unclean spirits, that would signify a demon. He had power and authority over the demons themselves. And yet, it doesn't mention anywhere in this passage that they believed. They had that understanding that this man is something special. This is blowing our minds. We are amazed. We are astonished. And they still didn't believe. They still didn't recognize and agree to the authority that they are seeing and hearing with their own eyes and ears. Turn back to Mark. And so they were astonished, but they didn't turn to him. And so we see the next part of this. And they were astonished at his teaching, and they taught them. Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, a demon, and he cried out, let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. It's interesting to see this interaction happen. The demons know who Jesus is. They absolutely know what authority he has. They were there when they were created. He was there when they were cast out of heaven. and they also know that their destiny that awaits them is as sure as they know that Jesus is the Son of God. It's interesting to note that they are in the synagogue. They're in church on the Sabbath day. It's interesting to note that demons go to church. But at the mere presence of Jesus, they cry out. They can't help it. Let us alone. That phrase, let us alone, in the Greek is basically, the other version is, ah! It's interesting that they scream. In his presence, they blow their cover. The demons, we can't see them. We know they're true, and we know they're there. They know that God's word has a power and authority over them, and Jesus himself will be sentencing them. Their condemnation is sure. There is no getting out of it. There is no way that they are not going to be cast into the lake of fire in the end of times. And Jesus's presence on the world stage at this point is a big deal. Up until this point, the Old Testament does not speak much at all to demons, unclean spirits. And so there's not a whole lot of context in which we can look back at. Jesus's presence stirs the whole spiritual world And literally, at his presence, all hell breaks loose. I don't know if that's where that phrase came from, but it seems to fit in this particular situation. At Jesus' presence, all hell breaks loose. The demons can't help but scream. They know who he is. They hide very well, the demonic world. They hide very well. Like I said, we don't see much in the way of discussion about them in the Old Testament. We have to kind of read between the lines. I don't doubt that the idols that many of the people worshipped were, in fact, demons. Molech, Baal. If you see what kind of worship they required, it's pretty assuredly they were demons. We can't see them physically, but we can see the outward manifestations of them. And so we need to be able to recognize that. And like anything else, they cause twisted hearts. They cause mutilations. You can see the darkness in people. They hide very well. And as we can see in this passage, they're hiding in a religious service, albeit a false one. The scribes in that day and age, the Judaism had been so twisted and turned into something that was completely evil and contrary to God. It's why Jesus spends many, many times rebuking them. But it's interesting still to see how and why the demons scream. This is not the first time. And let's look at Luke 4. There's another good passage that talks about that, 440 through 41. It says, when the sun was setting, all those who had any who had any that were sick with various diseases, brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out, saying, you are the Christ, the Son of God. And he rebuking them did not allow them to speak, for they knew that he was the Christ. More screaming. They always scream. But why? Why would they be afraid of him? Well, we kind of mentioned that already, that they know their destiny. They know there's no escaping it. It is a sure thing. They cannot be saved. There is no redemption for the demonic world. Jesus has that authority. And they know it. And so they scream. They know he can do what is going to come. They just don't know when. So they think that now is the time for that. They know no difference. And so they are saying, now is, have you come to destroy us? They think they're about to be destroyed. I would probably tend to think that's why they scream. They also scream because they are being confronted by truth. Jesus is teaching here, ultimately, complete truth. Demons cannot stand in the presence of truth. They are exposed by that truth. As we see, they're very comfortable in houses of religion, where truth is being twisted and subverted. But we, see this interaction with Jesus and this demon. And he's wondering, is this the time and is this the place that we are to be destroyed? They blow their cover. So we don't normally see this in this day and age. For many years, I suspected or thought that the demonic world was largely past, gone, doesn't happen anymore. I have learned otherwise. For as much as there is a God in heaven, there is a demon in hell. And they are here to harass us, to harm us, to impinge on everything that God stands for in our lives. To be sure, no saved believer can be demon-possessed. but we can be harassed, and they do. They cause as much pain and suffering in our hearts as they possibly can muster, but they cannot possess His faithful believers. We see these things only in the people that are unbelievers. We see in this particular passage, they don't even really There's no really mention of the man himself that this demon was possessing. We don't even know what happened to him afterwards. That's not the focus of this passage. But it is to be understood that the wicked, evil people that are destined for wrath do in fact have demons that are possessing them. I've witnessed on the mission field in various places where there's a lot of occult type of worship, a lot of evil through all sorts of places that demons do exist. And maybe it's only in other countries, I thought for a while. No. You ought to come to a pride festival. I thought that that was far from us. I thought the demonic world had been kind of pushed back or just not around. But as I stand down at Pride festivals, and you see the Satan worship, first of all, they're literally worshiping Satan in our presence. There's those that come up to us uttering complete gibberish. making us wonder, what was that? We have no idea. It's just complete gibberish, and then they walk away. They're blaspheming God. They're cursing God. They're calling down curses from God in our presence. It's the strangest thing I'd ever seen. They're gnashing their teeth. I remember one young woman stood up and showed her arms. There's cuts. on all of her arms, all the way up and down. She goes, this is what your God made me do. This is what your God made me. She was screaming. No doubts that that woman was possessed. We see that in scripture. They're cutting themselves. They're throwing these people into the fire. They're causing bodily harm. they are hurting the people that they possess to their death, and then they go to the next. And seeing that in real life in a real way is very interesting because we can see that scripture is still happening. The things in this passage didn't change. They're still going on. The thing about the demonic world is the biggest lie that I think the devil's ever told is that he doesn't exist. And he surely does. Do not believe that for a second. You cannot only believe that God exists, but know that there is a forces and that raging lion is out here in this world trying to destroy us. And that is something that I see in this day and in this age. It's interesting, within the Pride Festival, we stand off to the side. We're not trying to be in the middle of them. But they come up to us. It's very interesting, because they can walk by. They don't have to engage us. But it is their joy and sport to come and scream in our faces. It's very interesting. And as I look at the scripture and I think of those times, they came to scream at us, to scream at the truth being proclaimed. They heard our message being proclaimed. They heard the gospel being spoken. The truth was being spoken. And they exposed themselves. This is still happening. This is still true today. Scripture is true as much as it was written, as it is today. This is still happening. We need to recognize that in our lives. And so we come to the next part of this, this part where I call it the shut up. Jesus tells this demon, to shut up and come out of him, be quiet and come out of him. Jesus didn't want the demons affirming who he was for multiple reasons. First of all, they're the first ones that proclaim who he actually is. Nobody knew exactly who he was at that point in time. The people that he was teaching didn't know. They just were amazed by what he taught. They didn't know he was the very holy one of God. His disciples, the four that he'd had, they weren't so sure yet of who he was. And they hadn't proclaimed it for sure. But we see the first proclamation of the Son of God coming from the mouth of a demon. They know very well who Jesus is. And Jesus didn't want them to be his proclaimer. He didn't want them to be the ones that tell the world who he is. And there's a lot of underlying things that the demon does here. First of all, he says, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Firstly, he refers to Jesus of Nazareth, which is typically a derogatory term, because in that day and age, Nazareth, Nazareth, was a no-name place where nothing good comes from. And so it's a derogatory term, Jesus of Nazareth. And so he tries that. That didn't work. He asks then, did you come to destroy us? And then he says, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. This is to insinuate that somehow this demon and Jesus had something in common. This was a way of the demonic world trying to say, we have some association, we know who you are. They were trying to trick and to have Jesus somehow have a degree of understanding with him. Essentially, they're also flattering, trying to flatter Jesus. They went with derision, now they're gonna go try flattering. And Jesus shuts them up. Shut up and come out. It's an imperative command in the Greek, and it was obeyed. That is authority. It's kind of a side note here that when we look at the Greek, we see imperative commands. Jesus gave a very strong one here. Be quiet and come out. He rebukes it and they obey immediately. His words weren't an option. They weren't a suggestion. This is power, this is authority. He is exerting that power and authority and we ought to do the same with Jesus's words. Obeying immediately, responding immediately. Too often we take Jesus' words as a suggestion. And when we take them as a suggestion, we are refuting the authority from where those words came from. So he gives this demon a direct command, and it is obeyed immediately. There's no more talk. They cannot speak, as far as I can tell. They convulse the man and cry out with a loud voice, and he came out of him. It's interesting that they refer to Jesus as the Holy One of God. Now this is a common Old Testament reference. In Isaiah, it's probably the most used term for God. They use it 26 times for God, the Holy One of God. It is a title for the Lord that denotes deity and supremacy. And it is also probably the most appropriate name given to Jesus. But again, this was meant to flatter him. Jesus cannot be flattered. And he commands them to come out. And then we see again, the people saw this, they watched this happen, and it blew their minds. And so as they said here in verse 27, then they went, Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, what is this? This is a new doctrine, is this? For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey. That was new, they hadn't seen that before. And that was blowing their mind. And immediately his fame spread throughout all of the region and around Galilee. So this first working of power blew people's minds. We'd seen a few weeks ago that Jesus obviously was tested by Satan himself, and he stood the test. These demons stood far less of a chance. But as we look at this, well, how do we apply this to our lives? What can we gain from an understanding of this scripture and this passage? My question, I have a couple of questions here for you today. What blows your mind in this day and age? Does scripture, does God's word blow your mind? Does the word of God have that kind of power and authority in your life? It should. Have you lost your sense of amazement at his holy word? As I've studied in seminaries and almost on a daily basis, I marvel at the things I didn't previously know. I'd read many passages dozens of times and never delved deeper. seeking now the marrow of scripture, looking deeper into things, my mind is often blown. How couldn't I have seen that before? That's the power of God's word. In my youth, I memorized the book of James, and then I started, and I thought I understood it pretty well. So I'd read it hundreds of times to memorize it. And then I started reading it in Greek, and I thought, that's what this means? That's what this is? I had only just memorized the surface of this and didn't look deeper to what it's truly saying. We are all guilty of that. We can gloss over it. I've had people tell me, oh, I've read the Bible, and I don't need to read it again. Done, finished. You got it all figured out, do you? Wow, you're the first one. we cannot lose our sense of amazement at God's Word. We must be in His Word. I realize that there is so much more knowledge in that book than any man can fathom. If we could figure out everything that's written in His Word, this wouldn't be the Word of God. Many people malign it. Many people try to change it, alter it. And for us to take a stand against those changes and alterations, we have to know it. We have to grow in our understanding of God's word and especially Jesus' authority. Which brings me to the second question. Do you recognize Christ's authority in your life? Are you letting him have that authority? Over every action, every thought, every attitude of your heart. If you do, there should be some violence that will accompany that. As you see the screams of demons in the presence of truth, so too our flesh screams at the presence of the Holy One of God. That Holy Presence should cause a violence in our hearts, as it is a point where it rips us. It rips apart the things that are of him, of the evil, wicked, fleshly things in our lives, as we turn to Christ and run to our Savior. We see that the demons know that Jesus is the judge, and they fear that judge. And we know as they do, he is coming again, and to judge the earth. Do you fear this judge? Do you fear God? If you do the wickedness and sin in your heart, it cannot stand in the presence of the holy one in the life of a believer. It must be purged. and this is going to hurt. There's going to be screaming in your soul as you put to death your fleshly impulses. Your flesh may scream at it, push it away as it loses its hold on the last vestiges of your self-confidence, your self-righteousness, your self-justification, your self-holiness, your self-worship? Are you willing to go there? Are you willing to be broken to the point of death for Christ, to die to who you think you are, and to accept the title that God gives his faithful, that you are his chosen child of God? There is a violence that will happen. Don't run from it. It is a gift. And it's never fun. I'm not gonna sugarcoat this. It is hard. Following the narrow path in this life is hard. Looking at our own souls, allowing God to rip the sin and wickedness out of your flesh may very well cause you to scream. This is, but this is a crucial thing in your life. There is, as we read in our call to worship, there is a, he binds up the brokenhearted, especially when he's the one breaking it. He will break our hearts so that we, he can bind it. He will purge the evil from within us if we let him do it. We giving up our rights to ourself, rights to who we are, all of those things, all those self-motivated things. Your individualistic ideology of who you are. And I'm sorry, it will be uncomfortable. It will hurt. Don't pull away from it when and if it happens. It should happen. If you're seeking God, if you're letting his word and his authority dwell and abide in your heart, this is going to happen. So we see in this text, we see the people were amazed at Jesus' authority and words. And most of them, as far as we know, still went to hell. The demons were not amazed at all, but they knew exactly who Jesus was, and they will occupy hell for all eternity. What we need as faithful believers is what both of these two groups have. We need that sense of amazement and authority of Jesus Christ and his teachings in our life, and we need to know who God and who his son truly is in our lives. He is the Holy One of God. We need both of what each of these groups of entities or persons and demons have. Right here we see a split. We need to understand that amazing authority of Jesus that he has as the Son of God, and as our salvation, and as our King. Lean into that. Grow in that. And let his reign and rule of your heart be ever before you. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we see who you are. Lord, help us to gain a greater understanding of who you are. You are the Holy One of God. Your desire is for your people that they would grow and accept the authority that you place in our lives. Lord, increase our faith. Lord, help us as we draw nearer to you and the things of this earth, the things of our flesh are burnt and removed by your gracious hand. Lord, when those times come, I pray that each and every person would accept your loving rebuke, your loving admonishment, your loving brokenness before you. Lord, in those times, in those dark moments in our lives, in those dark recesses of our hearts that we hold onto, Lord, you know everything in us. the good, the bad, and the indifferent. Lord, we ask that you reach into each person here. I ask that you would guide our hearts in the sanctification that you are graciously bestowing upon us as you purge the evil and wickedness that is within us. Lord, help us to lean into that. Help us not to flee from it, to self-protect ourselves, but to bring our hearts before you, open and honest, humbly before you, oh God. Convict our hearts, change our hearts, soften our hearts to hear your message. Lord, you have all authority and power. Help us to grasp that. Only by you can we truly understand that. Lord, we are so set on turning from you at many times in our lives. There are many who proclaim some form of faith but are denying your power. Lord, I ask that you would break us in accordance with your will, that you might bind our hearts, lifting them up to you to be embraced by your love and by your grace. We pray this in your precious name of Jesus.