Luke 4, beginning with verse 31. You may remember Jesus has just been thrust out of Nazareth, his hometown. People were trying to stone him to death and throw him off a tower to his death. And we read on, and he, talking of Jesus, went down to Capernaum. a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath. And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, Ha! 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 when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out. And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. And he rose and left the synagogue and entered Simon's house. Now Simon's mother-in-law was ill with a high fever. And they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever and the laughter. And immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any sick, any who 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 saying, you are the Son of God. But He rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew He was the Christ. And when it was day, He departed and went to a desolate place. And the people sought Him and came to Him and would have kept Him from leaving them. But he said to them, I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns as well. For I was sent for this purpose and was preaching into the synagogues of Judea. You may remember back in chapter 1 verse 2 as we started going through In this book, The Gospel of Luke, it is written for a man, the Theophilus, what his purpose was. He wrote to Theophilus that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. And so, as Luke writes, he wants Theophilus to know certain things with absolute certainty. And I suggested last week there are two main ideas he's trying to get across to his readers, to Theophilus and all who would read his Gospel. First is, who is Jesus? Theophilus has heard certain things about Him. Who is He? And throughout the Gospel we'll see who Jesus is. And then the second question to answer is, what response does he want? What does it mean to me? as I consider who Jesus is." Well, as we come to this final section of chapter 4, we're met really with those same two questions. Who is Jesus? What kind of authority does He have? And then what is the response? How should people respond to Him? And then we're added a little bit more clarification of what His mission is. What is His purpose? and what's his method about going and fulfilling his purpose. And so we'll see those three points. Who Jesus is, the authority he has, how we are to respond, maybe how not to respond, and then his method and his purpose. So the first point then is Jesus exercises authority in three different areas. Now people exercise authority in all sorts of ways, in all sorts of situations. Sometimes it's very clear, sometimes it's not so clear. A general exercises authority by giving orders and seeing them carried out. He inspects the troops, makes sure they're ready to go to battle. An organization exercises authority in a different way. It often has a board that meets and makes motions and passes them and that's the way it exercises authority. Parents have authority and they exercise their authority over their children by disciplining and correcting. A traffic cop Children, you're listening? What does a traffic cop do to show his authority? Well, he has a whistle. He uses his hand to maybe wave people on. Sometimes he writes up a ticket, a citation, to reinforce what he's doing. And sometimes these authorities can get a little off. I think of the sound in music where you have the captain and what's he used to? He's used to authority on the ship and the whistle and what does he do for his family, his children? Well, they all have whistles. It doesn't work quite the same way in the family as it does aboard ship. Well, Jesus is exercising authority in three different areas as we look at these verses. First, as a teaching authority. And we see that in verses 31 and 32. You know, from Nazareth, where he's thrown out, Jesus now proceeds down to where the lake is, the Sea of Galilee, the Sea of Tiberias, as it's sometimes called. And there's this town, Capernaum, where Simon lives, and others live. and were told He was teaching them on the Sabbath. And they were astonished at His teaching, for His Word possessed authority. We find a similar thing at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, when it tells us that when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at His teaching, for His teaching was one who had authority. and not as their scribes. And so the thing that stands out about Jesus' teaching is it had authority. There was authority behind what Jesus was saying. And it was such that the people were amazed. Completely amazed at the way Jesus went about teaching. Now part of this would be Jesus' teaching would stand in contrast to the rabbis. The rabbis used to love to quote others. To refer back to other rabbis, respected rabbis, and saying, well this is what Rabbi so-and-so said. And there's one rabbi who kind of brags that he never said one thing that he hadn't heard from his previous teachers. It was so ingrained with him, you don't say anything new, you just repeat what you like about other rabbis. And so Jesus would stand in contrast as he's not going back. And we can do that today, because we can refer back to, you know, this is what Calvin said, this is what Augustine said, or whoever. Instead of saying this is what the Word of God says. That's a danger that we face as well. But I think there's a second reason that Jesus taught with authority. And it's because he was God in the flesh. And so there was divine authority behind his words. These were the very words of God. And so they weren't the musings of some man, some maybe wise man, thinking about things, thinking about life, thinking about spiritual issues. This was God speaking to his people. And so it can carry divine weight with it. Today, to a lesser extent, the preacher should do the same thing. That we should be sending before the people the Word of God. This is what the Word of God says. It's not just the musings of someone maybe who has some wisdom or maybe doesn't. who has some insight, but this is the Word of God. Now it's not equal with Jesus, that Jesus spoke infallibly the Word of God. But the goal should be the same, to bring God's Word to bear in people's lives. And so Jesus has teaching authority. We also see that he has spiritual authority, authority over the forces of wickedness. As you look at verse 33 and following, as he casts out demons. On this occasion as he goes into the synagogue and teach, on the Sabbath day we're told there is a spirit of an unclean demon. Now that phrase, unclean demon, is unusual, it's not used elsewhere. The question really is, what does that mean? And it's really nowhere to find. But we have the sense that this is a really bad demon in some sort of way. Even worse, So the average demons that Jesus would account, and we often see that as Jesus accounts a demon, they're sometimes bad, but sometimes there's a legion of them, sometimes there's seven of them. Here it's an unclean one. Probably pointing to especially vile in what it produces in this man. You know, it's interesting as we look at the scriptures that the focus, the pinnacle of that demon activity is while Jesus was here on earth. You look in the Old Testament, it's pretty rare, and even the rest of the New Testament it's not so common. And why was that? Well, this was the epitome of the battle between good and evil. Jesus has come to earth to confront the forces of evil, to break their stranglehold on mankind. And as such, we should expect that all the forces of evil would be marshaled against Him. The devil would come and try to tempt Him. The demons would come and try to plague lives of people around Him. And so we see a confrontation here. between Jesus' come to destroy the works of the evil one and the works of the evil one. One who is evil and is working evil within a life. And the thing we need to see is that this is a confrontation between two unequal forces. You know, it's like taking a group of boys that are under 10 and going and playing against the pacers. You have no doubt which team is going to win in that game. And so to hear there's no long, drawn out fight, battle between good and evil. Jesus merely tells the demon to be quiet and to come out of him and the demon has to respond immediately. And he does so not harming the man in any way. And as terrifying as the devil is and demons would be, the forces of evil might be to us, we're to understand that scripture makes it abundantly clear. We're powerless before Christ. Jesus has absolutely all authority over evil. And so we have no reason to ultimately fear them. We're to resist the devil and we're told he'll flee away from us. He is the one that should be afraid. You could go down in verse 41 and there's a more generic verse that talks about the demons being cast out. Again, showing the power that Jesus has over the forces of evil. And so, he has teaching authority, he has sort of spiritual authority over evil. Third thing is we see Jesus has authority over illness in verses 38 to 40. We're first given one particular person who's sick. who's healed, and then a more generic in verse 40 of a bunch of people, whatever their diseases, the various diseases are healed by Jesus. We're looking at that one particular case of Simon's mother-in-law. That would be Simon Peter. And we're told that she's ill with a high fever. Now keep in mind, Luke as a physician, This is basically a technical term for somebody who has a very high fever. And it would imply someone who is in great danger. Even today, someone who has a high fever and persists, the doctors get very worried because it's very troubling. And we know that you can only last with a very high fever so long before it does great damage. And so it's a cause for alarm in that day as it is today. But notice, all it takes is one word from Jesus, rebuking the fever and the mother-in-law is completely healed. Her healing is total and immediate. And we see this as the fact that she rises up immediately and begins to serve them. And it points to the fact that Jesus has power over disease, over illness. And really it's pointing out the broad scope. He has authority in the spiritual area. He has authority in the physical realm as well. And it's all to point to who Jesus is. To point to his greatness and his majesty, his divine nature. how He's not like anyone else who's ever lived on the earth. And I think some Christians lose sight of that. They see the miracles and say, well, we need to be doing the same things. You know, we need to be expecting the same sort of things to be happening in our churches. And I think of a man whose mother was nearly 80 when she died. She had lived a long, full life and died of the complications of old age. But he expected more. He expected her to be raised from again, the dad. And so he instructed his wife to bring a dress to the funeral because she's going to be raised and she'll want a different dress on. She'll want to have a party dress on. But how would that really be a witness to Christ? To His glory? You might understand in some nation that's never really been penetrated with the Gospel, that we might have healings and miracles taking place to attest to Christ, but we're in a land where you find Bibles in most of the hotel rooms. It's on TV. God doesn't need that to attest to Jesus Christ. And of course, his prayers were not answered. And it's more likely for a Christian that will undergo suffering than to be necessarily delivered, because Jesus is wanting work, a deeper work in us, than just take care of all our problems as they would arise. than improving our physical situation. He wants us to be developing a Christ-likeness of character. The second point is, having seen who Jesus is, that he has authority over physical illness, has the authority over the powers of evil, has the authority to teach God's Word, in a powerful manner, what should be our response? Well we see three responses here, two which were to imitate and one of which were to avoid. And so first we can see the response of the townspeople. What did the townspeople do? Well, we can see in succession several things. The first thing is they were amazed and they spoke about him. They spoke to the neighboring communities, the report went out. They could understand that there was somebody special here in their midst. It stands in contrast to Nazareth who rejected him, who wanted to put him to death. They understood something about his uniqueness. They may not have believed completely, but they knew something powerful was in their midst. And they wanted him there. They wanted him to stay there. They didn't want him to leave and go to other towns. They also want to bring others in contact with Jesus. And so they bring the sick and the demon-possessed to Jesus. They wait until the Sabbath day is over and then they flock to Simon's house with his sick. They saw the power and they wanted their friends and their relatives to be affected by that power, to be benefited by that power. And shouldn't we want the same thing? Shouldn't we want others to hear about Jesus? Shouldn't we want His power to be manifest in their lives as well? Well, the second response we need to take note of is that of the demons. And notice, it tells us, they knew He was the Christ. They understood exactly who He was. And you can see, as they're trying to cry out what they're saying, they cry out, He's the Holy One of God. He's the One who's come to destroy them and their power. He's the Son of God. And while the townspeople did not understand that, and the disciples at this point really didn't understand it, they knew that this Jesus of Nazareth was the Christ, was that long-awaited One, that Messiah promised by God. The demons understood this. But they were terrified. Because their understanding was not coupled with faith. It didn't have any hope. It didn't have any love of Christ, love of God with it. It was mere intellectual understanding of who Jesus was in a fearful, shuddering before Him as they yet knew He was the Christ. But they did not respond to Him with belief, with trust. And there are many today that would recognize Jesus. Recognize Him in all sorts of ways as a great teacher, as a noble example, even as They call Him the Son of God. But they're not trusting Him. They're not loving Him. They're not putting their faith in Him. And so they see Him without embracing Him. And that puts them in the same category as these demons, who see Jesus, who understand He's the Christ, but are bound. for the black darkness that's reserved for them, are bound to be cut off from all eternity, from God and from Christ. And so too, there are those who will see Jesus and will see Him as noble, see Him as great, maybe even see Him as the Messiah promised by God, but they're not trusting in Him. and are cut off from anything that's good. What a somber warning that is. That we can understand certain things. We can even understand great truths about Jesus, and yet not really believe, and not be saved. And the third response is that of Simon Peters of Mother-in-Law. As she's healed, she immediately raises up and begins to serve them. And what is she doing? Well, she's serving in the kingdom of God. Because at this point, Jesus is going about preaching the kingdom of God. Preaching the good news of the kingdom. And as she assists him, she's assisting in that work. Jesus and his disciples don't need to be concerned about their physical needs. You know, what they're going to eat that day. Because she helped prepare it. And so, they don't have to be distracted by those things, as she serves in the Kingdom. She's not burdened by this physical need. And likewise, we're all called to serve in the Kingdom of God in various ways. It may be by showing hospitality to people, by opening their home, by serving a meal. It might be by teaching. It might be acts of mercy. It may be in terms of reaching out to people, administering, giving. encouraging, praying for others. There are all sorts of ways. And each one of us has been called, just as Simon's mother-in-law, to serve, to be involved in the Kingdom, to have some role. And it'll be different, but to have what that role is that God has given to you. Each person is important in that kingdom building that's going on. And so we see these responses, a wrong response and a couple of right responses. Third thing we need to know as we look at this passage is Jesus' method and his message. because they're intimately tied to who he is. First, his method. As you look at verses 31, 35, and 39, his method is just to go to the Word of God. It's merely to speak. And things happen. The Word is central. In the synagogue, it was his preaching. And in demons, it was that word of rebuke. And in the fever, it was again a word of rebuke. Jesus didn't need to be a showman. He didn't need to resort to some sort of magic tricks, or waving a wand, or having a special incantation. Simply by speaking the Word. The Word of God. And today churches lose sight of that. They desire worship that's entertaining, that's showy, a personality up front that draws people in, to make it exciting, to have gimmicks, rather than focusing in on the Word of God. far from the method that we see of Jesus. So that's his method, calling people to the Word. His message is the good news of the Kingdom of God, verse 43. He understands this is his priority, this is what he's come to do, is to bring good news. of the Gospel, of the Kingdom of God to people. That's what they need, is that spiritual good news. Yeah, there are many who are sick, and there are many more around Capernaum, and the longer he stayed there, the more people would come from more outlying areas to be healed. But that wasn't his primary mission. And when he died on the cross, there were many more lepers in Israel and beyond, and many more sick. that could have been healed. But he cries out, it's finished. He's done the work he's done. He's healed all the lepers he needed to heal at that time. Because his message is concerning the good news of the kingdom. That good news centered on the cross and his death for sinners. And that's what's important. And over the years, Christians and churches have gotten away from that message. To emphasize how Jesus wants to help you in your situation. He wants to enrich your life. Make your marriage better. And all the rest. And those things are good. And it's good when family relations are improved. It's good when your life goes smoothly. It's good when you get an advance in your job and get a promotion. But that's not what Jesus has come to do. He came to earth to die on a cross so that we could have peace with God. And that's the most important thing. That's the gospel that people need to hear. that we need to be speaking, that the churches need to be preaching. And so, as we think about this passage, how it applies to us, we need to understand the majesty, the greatness, the power of God, as it's seen in Jesus Christ, His authority, in His teaching, over the forces of evil, over diseases. He's the one that has authority in these areas and we'll see more areas as well. He has authority. And how do we respond? Well, we respond by trusting in Him, by believing Him, trusting Him for our salvation and for our lives, for the direction of our lives. We're to serve Him. And we're to proclaim Him. We're to want others to be drawn to Him. So we trust, we serve, and we proclaim. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we are drawn to this remarkable passage of Scripture that sets before us Jesus Christ and His authority. is later on able to say all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him. And we see some examples of that authority in his teaching, in his power over the forces of evil, in his power over physical disease. Thank you for that. Thank you for who he is and his willingness to come to earth. to defeat the powers of evil, to defeat sin, to defeat death. And what that means, that we can have new life in Him. We can have eternal life, as we trust, and then as we would serve, and as we would proclaim. Help us to do that daily, to be trusting in Christ, to be serving this kingdom, to be looking at ways in which we could serve, and then to speak to others about Jesus. It's in His name we pray. Amen.