Well, good afternoon. Please meet me in the Gospel
According to Mark and your Bibles and chapter one.
Gospel According to Mark in chapter one.
And meet me here in verse 21. Mark 121.
Pray with me. But we thank you for our time
together. We know that some are away for
this weekend. We know some are busy with
families and plans but thank you that we can still Gather in this
place to receive your word and we just ask Lord that you would
help us help us understand what these passages mean.
We want to be more in the light than we were when we came in we
want to know you more than we did before we drove up here and
we ask for that, there would be a particular Grace and
delivering this word and a much-needed Grace for our hearts
to be opened. And Lord we just ask that we
would sense the reality of your Authority and that Lord, we
would be able to rest in that Authority rejoice in that
Authority. And Lord know that in you we are
more than conquerors. And greater.
Is he that is in us than he who is in the world.
We give you praise now in Jesus name, amen.
As we explore this passage in scripture.
It's helpful to know that at this particular point the
author, as you've realized. Who had a certain Pace in the
previous verses will now slow down the rhythm of his thoughts.
As we come here to this tax because now we can say that this
is really the beginning of the the main body of marks record of
his account of the life and Ministry of Jesus Christ.
And so now we're going to see that he is going to expand his
thoughts on certain events about the ministry of Jesus Christ.
And although there is going to be a change of shift in that
Rhythm. There are Also be a continuation
of certain themes that will flow from the verses that you, and I
have been exploring the previous Sundays.
And one of those themes that will continue especially in this
text is the unmatched. Superior authority of the person
of Jesus Christ. Up to this point you and I've
just gotten a glimpse of his authority in different Arenas.
We have seen how he is much more Supreme than Satan.
We have seen his Mastery over severe and intense Temptation.
We can also say that there is something about an attractive
Authority, that melted the hearts of these grown fisherman
who joyfully submitted to his tutelage.
And would follow him wherever he would go.
And if we think that up to this point, there is nothing else to
be. Proved the spirit is preparing
us now to see how the authority of Jesus Christ extends into a
different Realm. And that realm has to do with
the Demonic, unseen spirits and Unseen World a world that in the
days of Jesus, and not just the days of Jesus.
But from the beginning of time, has tormented many in this
world, has shown great power and deception to sway people into
self harm and destruction towards others Christ.
Now, in this portrait, that we are going to see by the hand of
Mark is going to show that. he indeed rules and Reigns not just
over different aspects that we are familiar with but even that
which we do not know much of and so we see that here, and verse
21 and they went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath,
he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and they were
astonished at his teaching for he taught them as one who had
Authority and not as the scribes and immediately, there was in
their synagogue, a man with an unclean spirit.
And he cried out. What have you to do with us?
Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us?
I know who You are the Holy One of God.
But Jesus rebuked him saying be silent and come out of him, and
the unclean Spirit convulsing him and crying out with a loud
voice. Came out of him and they were
all amazed. So that they question among
themselves saying, what is this, a new teaching with authority?
He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him, and
out. Once his Fame spread everywhere,
throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee, The subject
of Angels and Demons has captivated the masses for
centuries. The Curiosity around Spiritual
Beings has been something that has spilled over even into our
culture, a secular culture. And I believe the main reason
for that is because mankind generally has a yearning
yearning to know. How to satisfy this nying sense
that there is this Unseen World that interacts with our own
world? And the great amount of books
and movies. And this new desire, this
growing desire for the phenomenon of new age and all
these different things testify that our culture is probing and
you even have some who claim to have answers, But no matter what
experience people have, no matter what kind of blurry
footage of citing, someone may claim to have God's word as a
final Authority, God's word gives us the sufficient data
that we need to understand all that we need to know about
angels and demons. And our subject today in
particular, is that of demons. And as we understand this, we
should be satisfied in knowing that in the spirits wisdom, he
has given us all that. We need to know.
We don't have to Like to figure out the answers that Jesus or
God's word doesn't give us and just to rest in the fact that
whatever we are exposed, to is enough for us to glorify God, be
free from confusion and walk in Holiness As He commands us to
walk. And that is what we are going to
see here. This is not going to be a
comprehensive study of all that we can know about demons about
Fallen Angels about unclean spirits.
But in the verses that you and I just read There is important.
Truths about this Kingdom, it's a dark kingdom.
It's an evil Kingdom. It's a king that opposes the
kingdom of God for us, to be edified and prepared to continue
to follow our master. And so the insights that we see
here it is, our duty to collect this information and it comes
from a very detailed description of a day in the ministry of
Jesus Christ. And so, here are some points.
Here are four points to consider about this realm about these
foes. Number one, demons are able to
influence. Men demons are able to influence
men. As we just read Jesus and his
disciples entered into Capernaum and immediately went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day. Now, it's important to
understand that synagogues, you probably seen it throughout the
New Testament emerged the emerge during the Babylonian captivity.
This was not something that was known.
On before the Babylonian captivity.
But once the Israelites were taken out of their land under
the rule of King Nebuchadnezzar, they could not have access to
the temple to worship. God, they could not go freely
and perform pilgrimage and honor God with the feast that he has
commanded them to honor. And so, what they did was they
establish these places of worship called synagogues while
they were in a foreign land. So they can come together,
recite scripture, received some kind of teaching, and pray.
And now, as we fast forward to the days of Jesus, we know that
these places of worship remained in Jewish society, and we're
still honored as places of worship for different Jews in
different areas. And so we see that here, it's
prevalent, they would come, they would, they would invite rabbis
to speak. And there is even a freedom for
rabbis to come into these synagogues and volunteered to
share something. We see that with Paul and we see
that in the New Testament, in the book of Acts where we see
the people going and spreading the gospel in Synagogue
synagogues played an instrumental role.
They were used greatly by the early church to spread the truth
of the Gospel. I love that.
This is something that was later
on in Jewish culture, but was used for the gospel.
And I like to apply that to our own lives.
That as we think, see, things invented and emerge that are not
blatantly sinful that we should utilize them for the spread of
the Gospel. We should utilize him to speak
truth, where there is freedom of speech.
Still let us utilize this Time and the tools that we have
before, it's too late. And that's what we see here with
Jesus. Jesus spent many many times.
Many, many days sessions in synagogues to proclaim the
gospel. That we see here.
And on this particular day, a guest teacher by the name of
Jesus visited and stunned his listeners.
He came in and they heard him preach, and when they heard him
preach, they were amazed. They were astonished at, not
just the content of his message, but the method, his delivery,
the way he spoke, they recognize that this guest teacher, many
scribes have came in and out, but this particular guest
teacher has Authority when he speaks.
There's conviction, there's boldness, there's Clarity,
there's authenticity. And there is a weightiness to
this man. When he preaches, we know that
it's coming from a heart that not just believes it.
But a power, there's a power Behind these words.
And I believe the reason why Jesus walked in this
authorities, from what we learned in the previous week's,
he was anointed with the holy spirit of God.
He was Jesus in those Waters of baptism and he was praying
according to Luke and the Holy Spirit came and descended upon
him and he goes into that Wilderness and he defeats Satan
and he overcomes Temptation. And Luke also tells us he comes
out of that Wilderness with great power.
Great power. To all be aspiring teachers of
God's word, to all the aspiring preachers and perhaps even the
Evangelist and this place may I tell you and remind you today
that you can acquire great information from seminaries.
You can gain much theology from books, but Authority Spirit
inspired Authority. Only comes from heaven.
It only comes when you realize your need and you walk in the
spirit. It only comes with it through a
life of prayers, Jesus. Demonstrated, and only comes
when you as Jesus did know how to First overcome sin and your
private life, because there is no such thing as Authority
publicly, if there's not authenticity privately and Jesus
had those components. And when he came on the scene,
they realized there's something different about this guy.
When he speaks that there's a compelling persuasion behind it,
these scribes were Hypocrites. They just had a wealth of
knowledge and they would come and give their little speech and
it didn't touch anyone. But all this Jesus comes and he
speaks and there is such a gripping element to it.
But there is something else about that particular day that
astonished these listeners, these regular attendees of the
synagogue in Capernaum. We are told immediately in verse
23, there was in their synagogue, a man with an unclean
spirit. This man was possessed with a
devil and this man was not by the tombs like the man in Mark
chapter 5 undressed chained, cutting himself, screaming and
disturbing the neighborhood. This man was sitting in a
spiritual religious service. Some would even say he was a
regular attendee of the synagogue.
He had interest in religious. Things.
He wanted to hear God's word. He was willing to be taught.
He was willing to be among God's people, and yet hidden in this
man was an unclean Wicked spirit.
This teaches us many things, but here's one thing it does teach
us. In fact that we should consider
for ourselves in terms of our understanding of demonology.
When we put all the scriptures together, what we learn is that
there is a wide range of symptoms of demonic influence in
people's lives. Just because somebody may be
having a demon, in them does not mean that there are always out
of control and dramatic and their behavior, the symptoms are
diverse and the various accounts of Deliverance in Jesus
ministry, and the New Testament. Clearly teach that you have some
who were overpowered by demons, and all we are told about them
is that they were either mute or deaf, they were not erratic,
they simply had These powerful ailments placed upon them by
demons others, experience, sporadic, seizures.
Others experienced this. Pull to self harm and there is
even some in some cases where they were Supernatural strength
on display. That could not be explained by
human reasoning. And in this case, we have no
comments of this man being ill, there's no ailments described.
There is no strange Behavior other than the Fact, that while
God's word was being preached, there was an outburst.
Of resistance and confrontation against the Lord and his
message. Listen, though, demonic
Deliverance throughout. Jesus ministry, was a major
feature. It was not the only feature.
We see him doing many other things, including healing,
people miraculously and when he healed many people it was not
ever. Always rather tied to demonic
influence. Why is that important to
understand? Because we have to be careful
and attempting to identify strange Behavior or disease
because of demons. There are people who are sick.
There are people who even have psychological or physiological
physiological, disorders that are just because As a result of
the Fall. Not because there is an evil
spirit behind it. Not because an evil spirit Is
possessing someone to be harmed or to be self-destructive just
because we live in a broken world and Jesus ministry proves
that. Because in many cases, he's just
heals them out of compassion and other times he delivers them.
From demonic stronghold. And the great question that many
people want to know is, well, how do I make that distinction?
How do I make that distinction between somebody's behavior that
seems very strange or somebody situation that seems very dark,
whether this is something coming from an evil spirit or something
that's just coming from a result of the fall.
And the Bible doesn't really give us any kind of lists of
chekhov's so that you and I can make that conclusion for
ourselves. If there is anything that we
can, we can have confidence in For an answer for that
distinction being made is in the ministry of Jesus himself, Jesus
himself by the power of the spirit, was able to deliver
people and at the same time, he was able to discern by the
spirit. He was able to discern.
What was what who was struggling with what, and then making the
appropriate action to bring about relief to the person who
is either Bound by a demon or just experiencing a consequence
of the Fall. There is great, need of
discernment, and there needs to be greater Great.
Hesitation and running around saying this is demonic and this
is not demonic. The Lord, was able to make that
clear distinction, because he was given the spirit without
measure, and more can be said about identifying demonic
activity, but I want to use this time to explain some of that.
It's crucially important because this verse that I just read to
you is often used by those who would believe that it is
possible for Christian believers who are filled with the spirit
to be at the same time. By a demon.
That might be something that you are familiar with in your
network. But I must say that among
Millennials, this is a growing Trend.
It is becoming increasingly popular, where you are, having
people claim and believe that Christians can be possessed by
demons and then make up their entire Ministry called
Deliverance, Ministry, doing Deliverance.
Has on people who are apparently child, a child of God or
children of God. And what they would say with a
verse, like, this is, well, you see you, see a man who was in
the synagogue, a place of worship and because this man was
a regular attendee in a place of worship, who had a demon, what
makes us not believe that somebody who comes to a regular
church service can be possessed with a demon.
There's so many problems with that and it might sound clever
but it is extremely problematic and severely overly simplistic.
You can't just come to a verse like this and say well there was
somebody in a synagogue who had a demon so people in church who
are Christians can have demons. first of all, you and I know
this who says that you coming to church means that you're an
actually child of God, we can just end the argument right
there just because somebody's regularly attending a service
does not mean automatically, we don't presume that they belong
to Christ. So to make the conclusion that
somebody was sitting physically in a religious service means
that they are in right. Status with God, is already an
argument that defeats the whole thing.
But we have to understand if this teaches anything is that
you can have people who regularly, attend a church
service who are demonized and unsaved.
That's how we interpret it. And they might go on to say
that. Well, you see many instances,
the New Testament, where people who work followers of Christ are
clearly possessed by a devil. And so they will use scriptures
like with Jesus, rebuking Peter, when Peter tried to rebuke him
about going to the cross and what does Jesus say?
Get behind me. Satan get behind me.
Satan, you see, here's Peter that in a moment.
Satan entered him and influence them and spoke through him to
speak to Jesus and try to divert him from the cross.
And then they would go on to say, well, That's even seen in
the book of Acts, where you see ananias and Sapphira, they come
into the church and they lie about their giving and Peter
looks at this couple and says, we're rather the man first.
How has Satan? Why do you allow Satan to fill
your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit to lie to God?
You see Satan filled this church gourd.
This Christian is follower of Christ, filled his heart and so
it's possible for Satan to enter into a Christian and then
perform his will through The Christian and I just have one
simple question with both of those instances and many other
instances that they would use in the scripture.
If that was the case, then why didn't Jesus cast The Devil out
of Peter? And if that was the case, why
didn't Peter cast The Devil out of ananias?
No, what you see there in both of those instances is that the
evil one influence their thinking?
And even with Peter, Jesus, I'm paraphrasing looks at him and
says your mind is on the things of man, and not the things of
God. And then ananias is case, we all
believe that it is possible for evil spirits to influence us, to
tempt us to suggest things in us.
But we are not among those who believes that a demon can come
and have direct influence over your behavior and your speech.
There's so many argument we can spend the rest of the service,
debunking these things. But let me give you one simple.
I believe final verse that would close this argument.
It's found in Ephesians chapter 2, 1 and 2.
What you see in this portion of scripture is Paul addressing the
Glorious rescue in Jesus Christ. He's telling these Christians
who you were before Christ, the things that you were caught up
in before Christ. And who you are now?
Because of Christ, Ephesians 2, 1 to 10, but let me read to you.
The first two verses, And you were dead in the trespasses and
sins in which you. Once walked following the course
of this world, following the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit, that is now at work in the sons of disobedience.
The spirit that is now at work in the sons of Disobedience.
There are many explanations for what this means.
But one thing I know in The Wider context is that the
spirit, the prince of the power of the air, only has access to
various degrees in those who are outside of Christ.
Those who are outside of Christ as they, whether knowingly, or
unknowingly follow Satan and are Guided by Satan through sin.
And the deceptions of this World open themselves up to his
influence, in their lives to various degrees and depending
upon the severity of a sin or the invitation of a person for
the Demonic that can even include demonic possession.
You have those who are messing up with the occult those who are
messing up with certain drugs and these different kind of
activities that open themselves up for Satan to have access to
them and very powerful ways. But that is a threat, that is a
danger for those who are outside of Christ when Jesus Rescues you
and I he fills us and he seals us with the Holy Spirit and part
of that is that we are protected from Ownership from Satan.
And this is an extremely important truth because I want
to tell you the fruit of this teaching, among many who are in
my age bracket and there are some or older will believe this
too. Deliverance has been replacing
repentance. What do I mean by that?
Now, what you're having is a demon for every sin So if I
struggle with pornography, it's a spirit of lust.
If I have a habit of lying, it's a spirit of deception.
If I have gambling issues, the spirit of greed, and so every
sin pattern, now has a demon behind it.
And what you have people doing is lining up to these kind of
ministers asking to be delivered, from particular sins.
When in the Bible, Jesus didn't say get the devil out of you.
He says, repent. So, do you see how this is very,
very tricky. What you're having now is people
who not only receive one form of Deliverance, they come for
constant Deliverance. Because the same people who say
that you have a demon in, you will also say, you need multiple
sessions to be delivered, which is fascinating to me.
Because when you explore those who hold to this view of
Deliverance, they would argue Jesus delivered.
Jesus had a Deliverance Ministry.
And so, Christians must also. And I believe that there are
demons, and I believed that demons can be cast out today,
because it is biblical but what I'm trying to say is those who
say that we have to do Deliverance, because Jesus that
Deliverance, Don't do Deliverance the way Jesus did
Deliverance. Look at how Jesus brought about
Deliverance of people with such Authority with one word.
And those who propagate this. Deliverance Ministry among
Christians. Have hours upon hours exhausting
themselves and others multiple sessions to see a demon cast
out. And so, there are a lot of flags
here. And my main concern is, it's
bring about much fear, among the people of God, much confusion.
And more importantly, Deliverance now is actually
replacing the call to Simply repent.
It's not a devil, it's your flesh.
Crucify, your flesh. Come to the Cross carry your
cross. And so I needed to touch on that
because you have many people who would say, what I'm saying is
false and they would often use their experience or their
ministry as validation for their belief.
But you don't take your experience and then use your
experience to interpret the word of God, you take the word of God
and you interpret that experience.
And so some who might be watching, this might accuse me
of not believing that Jesus can deliver and people need
Deliverance. I believe that people need
Deliverance. I just praise God that because
I'm saved. I don't have any worry to be
possessed by the devil Demons can influence, people demons are
able to influence people. But number two, demons are at
war with the truth. Demons are at war with the
truth. Look here again, in verse 23 and
immediately there was in their synagogue, a man with an unclean
spirit and he cried out. What have you to do with us?
Jesus of Nazareth. Have you come to destroy us?
I know who you are. The Holy One of God.
Now, what's amazing about this is that demon activity is much
more sophisticated than people perceive these spiritual agents
of Satan, do not only seek to destroy people's minds and their
bodies. But they are more eager to
deceive and divert people from the truth.
And First Timothy 4:1. Paul tells us that there are
deceitful spirits and teachings of Beeman's unclean.
Spirits are the masterminds behind damn Doctrines, their
inventors of Blasphemous teachings and recruiters of
humans, so that they would be helpers and persuading the
masses to adopt that thought the originated with a fallen angel.
And this is something important to understand.
Because demons also know that God has his men, God has his
servants, who are faithful and proclaiming the truth, and
spreading the gospel in advancing in, The kingdom of God
in this world and because of that, their strategy is not just
trying to invent and deceive others, but it also includes
being obstacles to those who do move forward with the truth.
And that's exactly what we see here.
Note the timing of this, demon interrupting the service.
We read, write that Jesus was speaking with authority and it
wasn't just that. Look at verse 22 and they were
astonished at his teaching. And so it was after the truth
was proclaimed with authority. And after the people expressed
amazement at what they had heard, it was then that the
demon Manifested demons cannot stand still.
When the Lord Jesus is being preached and when the people are
praising him in truth, Wherever people hearts are stirred by the
truth of the Gospel. You can expect a stirring up of
evil opposition. Ministry with spirit-empowered
authority will attract unseen adversaries.
And Satan's arsenal of distraction and disruption of
interference is vanished. We see it with a man here who
seem to be just a religious Jew who screams in the middle of the
church. Service to try to distract
everybody from the preaching. We see it in Acts chapter 13,
when Paul and Barnabas are preaching to a politician and
there was a magician but name of Alamos and he sought to persuade
sergius paulus away from the gospel.
And Paul by the spirit, has a confrontation with this man who
is indeed dabbling with in the occult.
And we see it even in a place like Acts chapter 16.
The reason why I'm bringing these things up is to help you
understand the strategies of the evil one.
Turn with me to act 16 very quickly in verse 16.
What you see here is Paul and Silas Paul and Silas are in
Philippi. Let's start in verse 14, I want
you to notice something. In verse 14 of Acts chapter 16,
One who heard us was a woman named Lydia?
Remember, they went to a place by the river to pray and there
they found some woman one who heard us was a woman named Lydia
from the city of thyatira. A seller of purple Goods who was
a worshiper of God, the Lord opened her heart.
To pay attention to what was said by Paul and after she was
baptized and her household as well, she ER, just saying if you
have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come to my house and
stay, and she prevailed upon us. See, here is a clear conversion
story Lidia was converted, her household was saved and notice
what happens after a soul was saved in this region.
Verse 16, as we were going to the place of prayer, we were met
by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her
owners much gain by fortune. Telling she followed Paul and US
crying out. These men are Servants of the
most high God, who same to you the way of salvation.
You see the timing? This demon possessed, young
girl, who is making money through some kind of knowledge
that she had received from from Spirits.
Begin to follow Paul begin to follow Silas after a soul was
converted. In other words, the Demonic
realm, recognize that Paul and Silas were making great
advancements in the region and they want to put a halt to it as
soon as possible. And so you see this demon
possessed, girl, harassing not just in this moment but four
days we read days she kept persisting.
Annoying them to the point where he finally cast The Devil out of
her. And so interesting, is it not
because it's no different for us today.
We see it with Jesus ministry, Satan often, when he recognizes
that something is spirit-empowered, something will
be effective. He seeks to put a stop to it as
soon as possible. Mark chapter 1, where, at the
beginning of Jesus ministry here in Acts 16, we see that there's
a new region, a new missionary Endeavor and the devil's
recognize it so they come in, they put up a fight.
But not just that. Look at verse 16 again and as we
were going to the place of Prayer.
You want spiritual warfare in your life?
Anyone want to volunteer? You want spiritual warfare?
Get a prayer life. You want to see things happen in
this church. You want to see resistance Come
to the prayer meeting. The devil's know that a praying
man. A Praying Woman.
A Praying church is a dangerous man.
A dangerous woman, a dangerous Church. and so as they set
themselves to pray, which encourages me, Because they just
want to saw in a household of souls to Christ.
And yet they still need to see their need to come before God to
Humble themselves and to seek him in prayer.
These disciples knew that, we are dependent upon God, not just
for success, but even after our success, and not just these
disciples, not just these missionaries.
But the devil's themselves new. We cannot let these men pray.
We cannot let them come in contact with God.
We cannot let them receive more power there.
Really causing trouble in our midst.
And so I want to tell you something, if there's any
Ministry that Satan will tax, surely it is the preaching of
God's word especially when it is with authority, but also the
prayer meeting. Any church that does not have a
prayer meeting is already losing Church, in my opinion.
That's not my personal opinion, that's because the scriptures
command us to pray. And there is no other way by
which we can receive great power, wisdom, and guidance
other than when we humble ourselves before God, and these
Devils knew that Satan knows how to bring about a resistance and
distraction, Whenever there is a work of God happening, I
remember hearing an evangelist preached about the birds of the
air that come to steal the word from the hearts of the
listeners. And you shared a story that
while he was preaching. Once he looked out by the way,
preachers can see everything when they preach just to give
you a heads up. They can see everything.
And so here's this preacher preaching and as he is
preaching, he recognizes and he sees a woman in the Pew holding
a calm still baby. And as he was declaring the
truth, he saw her hand reach out and pinch the baby.
So that that baby would shriek and pain.
And cause a distraction in the service, the baby didn't just
come busting, tears, babies cry. All the time, we shouldn't be
disturbed by that. He saw this mother take her hand
and squeeze the baby. So that baby would cry out loud.
He finished preaching, he approached her confronted her,
her face changed color and she ran out of the building.
Satan and his demons. Hate the truth.
And we see here that after this demon and Mark chapter one,
realized that there was a man now who came, and he was no
ordinary men with authority in the people's hearts were being
stirred that he was going to do whatever he could to bring about
some kind of interference and the devil knows how to find
troublemakers. He in fact knows how to find men
and women to do his bidding. But let me tell you something,
this account and Mark should encourage us, you know why?
Because it tells us that the devil's know, the great power
behind the word being preached. He is threatened by what's
happening right now and I love to know that what we are doing
today is threatening him and bringing glory to God.
So let us continue to preach and let us continue to pray with no
fear, no fear. But with a preparedness that
there were, in fact come times where the enemy will make very
very, very obvious attempts. To put up resistance against the
move of God. Demons hate the truth.
Demons. And their activity is not just
limited to crazy behavior. They have minds, they create
teachings, they influence people and Powers.
They have some kind of influence even over Nations and
governments. It goes beyond, just people
acting in a certain way. That's obvious.
No, no. They are much more clever than
that. And we need discernment to
realize it. Our Wars bigger than just demons
being Passed out. It is also pulling down
strongholds with the truth because they have lies to share
number three, demons have a knowledge of God.
Demons have a knowledge of God verse 24.
What have you to do with us? Jesus of Nazareth.
Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are.
The Holy One Of God. Mark by the spirit, clearly
wants us to know what this invisible enemy said in that
meeting when he protested, he wants us to see exactly what was
said. And much can be said about this
Dreadful expression. But I want us to know here that
I find it quite interesting to see that the very first
acknowledgement and accurate description.
Of the person of Jesus Christ came from a wicked spirit.
It didn't come from his early followers.
It didn't come from the religious Jews.
That didn't come from any Jew. It came from a demon.
And the demon new for aspects of Christ with great accuracy, the
humanity of Christ, notice here, what have you to do with us?
Jesus of Nazareth. The humanity of Jesus, the deity
of Jesus. The Holy One of God, the
authority of Jesus, have you come to destroy us?
And even the fate of the end of all things, he realized what his
Destiny was and what Jesus Destiny for him was and yet with
this level of insight and with this understanding to outshine,
those of Jesus day. This demon also confessed that
he was terrified of being destroyed.
Other than the fact that Hebrews tells us that the Lord did not
come to save. Angels, namely Fallen Angels
this demonic manifestation proven here, Mark chapter 1
teaches us, that there is a critical difference about
knowing things about God and knowing god, Great difference.
James to informs us that there is in verse 19, a type of faith
that has the quality of demonic belief.
It's a faith. That understands very, very
maybe even Rich, Revelations of God, insightful things about the
word of God. That can include the Eternal
existence of Christ. The Incarnation of Christ, The
Works of Christ, The Return of Christ.
Just like this devil, he had all the same time, you can be damned
to hell. You can have this very same fate
as this demon. And what this demon soberly
teaches us is that a precise perception of Jesus will not
save you and it is not the thing that we measure somebody
salvation off of what is needed is a humble submission to the
truth of Jesus Christ. That makes all the difference.
And so you have some people who have a knowledge of Christ but
just like this, devil are headed towards destruction because they
have never repented and believed they have not submitted to the
lordship of Jesus Christ. There are some people who have
phds and theology who will be damned for eternity.
And this may make you feel very uncomfortable, but the Screech
of Terror that pierced the atmosphere of that synagogue
foreshadows the torment that this demon will face one day but
also those who share his quality of faith.
There will be some people who will be in Hell, who have
amazing. Amazing ability to articulate
Doctrine. Because that truth has not
changed them and cause them to fall at their feet at the feet
of Jesus and to repent they were never delivered.
Demons have a knowledge of God and James uses that to explain
if your faith does not have Works in Chapter 2, then you are
no different than the demons themselves.
Demons. Have you ever noticed and your
wide range of scripture? When you consider cover-to-cover
that, they tend to Peak in their manifestation during the
ministry of Jesus Christ. You don't really see them much
their kind of veiled in the Old Testament.
You do see him in the book of Acts and you see him later in
Revelation, but they were really at the feverish pitch during the
life of Jesus. Have you ever wondered that?
I'll tell you why? It's because when Jesus Christ
came in the flesh, the presence of his Holiness and the
overwhelming Authority, that he carried compelled, these demons
to expose themselves, they could no longer remain hidden but Is
that their enemies to before them and they knew how powerless
they were before him. And so they shrieked out of pure
Terror that he is here and just like a light switch goes off and
all the Cockroaches come out. So it is when Jesus walked the
Earth for those three years, all these demons they're just coming
out and falling beforehand because they realized the Holy
One Of God is here. Which brings us to our last
point. Yes, demons are able to
influence men. Demons are at war with the
truth. Demons also have a knowledge of
God, but demons are rendered powerless before Christ.
No matter how vicious are terrifying, these beings, maybe
no matter what they've done to people's lives, no matter how
intimidating they might have been no matter what failed
attempts to subdue them. Like the man in Mark chapter 5.
What we see here is that they do not stand a chance before the
Lord. There is no competition here.
Get it out of your mind that we have God and Satan, and they're
they're they're equal in their strengths.
That that they have a tug of war with each other.
That is not the case at all. One brief command from the lips
of the Savior can send a horde of reluctant demons into
whatever direction that he desires, one brief command.
And what you see here in the life of Jesus, is clearly a
sovereignty over Satan early on and his minions.
But you have to understand that that sovereignty has remained
and will remain Until the End of the Age.
It is no different now and it will show itself in various ways
and one of the ways in which we will even see it.
We see it in the scripture. Is while Christ is in heaven.
He still exercises, his sovereignty.
Not just bringing about deliverance and people But these
these demons who think that they can run rampant and do what they
want to do Revelation shows us. That is not the case.
I love it, I love it. Because you see during the
tribulation period when the restraining force of God is
removed and the Antichrist will want to do what he wants to do
and feels like he has the most freedom than he ever had.
And begins to bring about deception and destruction and
false signs and wonders. And you see it's clear that this
world will not see tribulation Like then, and that great part
of that is because of the Demonic activity, that will be
so obvious. What's amazing?
Is that you'll have these demons doing something at one point and
it's in Revelation 16, I want you to see this as we close in a
moment, Revelation 16 and verse 13.
Near the end of the Great Tribulation, as a return of
Christ will only be moments away.
Look what happens. Look what these evil spirits
will do and consider how it ties into the truth of the supremacy
of Jesus Christ and Revelation 16:13.
And I saw John says coming out of the mouth of the dragon out
of the mouth of the Beast. Out of the mouth of the false
prophet. How many, how many results?
What's the number there? Three?
Right? You have the dragon Satan?
You have the Beast, the Antichrist.
You have the false prophet, right?
Who will help the Antichrist? You know what that is?
The Unholy Trinity. My Satan, so wants to be like
God so wants to imitate God, Satan understands the nature of
God that he is one but three and he wants to try to actually
reflect that himself. See if the dragon you have the
false prophet, you have the Beast and these evil spirits are
coming out of their mouths. And look at verse 14 for they
are demonic spirits performing signs.
Now, look what they will do at this point in the tribulation,
the Great Tribulation, who go abroad to the kings of the whole
world too. Some of them for battle on the
great day of God, the Almighty. These evil spirits who have the
ability to perform false signs and wonders at one point will
persuade the rulers of the nation's to collaborate in their
efforts to join forces to come to that piece of real estate
that has known trouble for centuries and thousands of
years. In their pride and their
foolishness to actually wage war against not one another.
But God himself, they will be so impressed by these evil spirits.
They will be so moved because of their own pride and their own
openness and their own hatred of God that they will move together
with all of their might and all of their military to park, in
the park, in Israel, and a certain Valley.
And to prepare to make war with God himself.
And when you Capabilities, evil spirits.
You can you can say that it is quite impressive to actually
come up with this, kind of a concert to deceive so many
people, and to bring it to the same place to line them up so
that they can fight against God is quite the effort, quite the
accomplishment. What's amazing, is that the
prophet Zechariah who tells us of the same event, who describes
the very same event, hundreds of years before gen, John penned,
these prophecies tells us something quite interesting.
Here's our last passage Zechariah 14 and the Old
Testament. notice what the prophet says on behalf of the
Lord of hosts, Zechariah 14, verse 1.
Behold. A day is coming for the Lord.
when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst
verse 2, For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to
battle. And the city shall be taken, in
the house has plundered and the woman raped half of the city
shall go out into Exile. But the rest of the people shall
not be cut off from the city. Did you see it?
Revelation, 16 tells us that it will be these demonic spirits,
who will assemble the Nations and bring them to Jerusalem to
fight against God Zechariah speaking on behalf of God says,
in verse 2, I will gather I will gather all the nations against
Jerusalem to battle. Who is it?
Is it the demonic spirits? Or is it God who's leading this,
who's in charge of this? Well, here's what you have while
Satan thinks that he is in control over the nation.
God is the one who is actually orchestrating these events.
He is using their Rebellion to accomplish his ultimate Cause
And while these demons Spirits, think that they are persuading,
and they are leading to fulfill their purpose and their agenda,
and their evil will got sits in the heavens and he laughs Psalm
2 as he's Nations, come to rage against God.
God has not taken by surprise. God is actually allowing an in
his sovereignty allowing and orchestrating these nations to
come not to hurt him. But for them to be judged, So
Satan, as much as he displays power and destruction, is
ultimately submitted to The Sovereign will of our God.
And this is what we see here. I will gather you go to
Revelation. You see, the, you think these
demonic spirits are doing anything?
It's the charge of the Unholy Trinity know, the real Trinity's
in charge. And they come now, to this point
in the Rebellion only for God to accomplish his purpose.
Praise be to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Should we not be amazed because we come back to mark one and we
conclude with verse 27 and they were all amazed So, that the
question among themselves saying, what is this a new
teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean
spirits and they obey him. Yes, you should be amazed, I
should be amazed at this one that we worship and love and
adore. He'd not he does not just have
sovereignty over Temptation, it does not just have sovereignty
over things in this life. Even demons tremble.
Even they obey even they cannot resist, even their ultimate plan
to try to usurp the Throne of Jesus.
The physical throne in Jerusalem, one day to initiate,
the millennial Kingdom. Even they have to obey and you,
and I have this King as our master, and as our Lord, there
is nothing to fear. He is with us and he is for us,
let us pray. Louis, thank you.
That we have just be held. Something of the majesty and the
dominating power of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Louis, thank you. That when you save us, you seal
us. And we thank You O Lord.
That your word. Has given us much more light and
confidence that we are in the truth.
And we ask, oh, God. that if there's any confusion, That you
would bring about deliverance from confusion.
And if there is any demonic influence, Temptation attack.
That you would bring about Deliverance. and what we pray
that as we move forward, that we would have discernment That we
would realize that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood.
Help us realize that we are on The Winning Side.
And that you will prevail. and that nothing can stand before
you and that the end of all every knee will bow.
Every knee in heaven on Earth, and under the Earth and every
tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
We choose to do, so we choose to do so now.
Thank You O, Lord that we can receive truth and no truth and
that truth can save us. But we think of these demons who
know truth, but they cannot be saved.
Thank you for your mercy, and your love and your forgiveness.
Though. We worship you.
The one who is Sovereign over all the seen realm in the Unseen
Realm. You are Lord and not just Lord.
You are the Lord of lords and you are the king of kings
Blessed. Be Your Name, and Jesus name.
We pray. Amen.
Let's stand and worship together.