You have your Bible open to Mark chapter 1. This is great. I am so excited about Mark 1, 21 to 28. I could say that about every sermon I preach. I feel like every time I study the word for these days and I'm in the text and I'm in the word, I'm more excited about this week than I was about last week. And every week that seems to happen. But Mark 1, I want to talk about the authority of Jesus Christ over the demons. Mark 1, beginning in verse 21. They, that is Jesus and the disciples, went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and began to teach. They were amazed at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one having authority and not as their scribes. Just then there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit and he cried out saying, what business do we have with each other? Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy one of God. And Jesus rebuked him saying, be quiet and come out of him. throwing him into convulsions. The unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out of him. They were all amazed so that they debated among themselves saying, what is this? A new teaching with authority. He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him. Immediately, the news about him spread everywhere into all the surrounding district of Galilee. Father, we come to the word that is breathed out by you, profitable for teaching, reproof, correction and training in righteousness. We pray, Holy Spirit, that you would Open the eyes of our heart that we might behold wonderful things from your word. May we glory and triumph in the sovereign power and in the majestic authority of the Lord Jesus Christ tonight. In his name we pray. Amen. There is a verse in the New Testament that I probably pray more than any other verse when I prepare to preach. And that is 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 5. And the Apostle Paul is writing to the Thessalonians. He loves this church. He has such an affection for them, like a nursing mother would for a child, like a father would exhorting his own son. And Paul says to the Thessalonians in chapter 1 verse 5, our gospel did not come to you in word only, but it came to you in three things. It came to you in power, it came to you in the Holy Spirit, and it came to you in full or with full conviction. I pray that. I pray that the word would go forth with power, that the word would go forth with the attendance of the Holy Spirit, that the word would go forth with full conviction, complete assurance with conviction of the truth of the Bible. I pray that because I don't have authority in myself, but you know what? Tonight, we're going to look at Jesus Christ, because Jesus perfectly embodies 1 Thessalonians 1.5. The perfect fullness of preaching with power, preaching with the Holy Spirit, and preaching with full conviction was perfectly manifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. Another word for that? He preached with authority. He preached with authority. Now, we're going to read tonight that in Mark chapter 1, this is contrasted with the teaching of the scribes of that day. And I'm going to describe what a scribe is later. But the scholars of that day often were known for their second hand quotations. Rabbi Hillel says this. Rabbi Gamaliel says this. Rabbi Eliezer says this. And they derived their authority based upon what other people said. It was often From my research, it was petty, it was legalistic, it was boring, it was secondhand. It was teaching that came forth with no joy. It came forth with no life from these rabbis, from these scribes. It came with no passion, with no urgency, with no vitality, with no fire. We need fire. We need passion. We need authority. Jesus embodies that perfectly. And when we read tonight about Jesus having authority, you see it right there in the middle of verse 22, Jesus was teaching them as one having authority. And then in the middle of verse 27, the crowds are saying, this is a new teaching with authority. What are we to think of when we read the word authority? Well, the Greek word has the idea of power. But it's not just any old power. It's the power of one whose will and command must be obeyed and submitted to. It's not so much the authority or power that Jeff has. It's the authority and power that God has because it is God's will and it is God's command that must be obeyed and submitted to. I think of it like this. In the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon said, no man has authority to restrain the wind or authority over the days of his flesh in Ecclesiastes 8.8. In Jeremiah 5, he was scathingly rebuking the false teachers of the day, saying that they are speaking by their own authority. Habakkuk 1, verse 7, speaking of the wicked Babylonians that would come, said that their authority originates from themselves. Contrast that with the authority of Jesus. Just a little sampling from the Bible. In Matthew 9, 7, Jesus has authority to forgive sins. In Mark 1, 27, we're going to see tonight He has authority over the demons. In Luke 12, verse 5, Jesus has authority to cast sinners into hell. In John 10, 18, Jesus has authority to lay down His life and He has authority to raise His life from the dead. In John 17, verse 2, Jesus said, I have authority over all flesh and I have the authority to give eternal life to those whom the Father has given. In John 19 verse 11, Jesus was interacting with Pontius Pilate and Jesus said, I have authority over you, Pontius Pilate. He was the Roman governor. In Matthew 28 verse 18, Jesus said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. In Ephesians 1 verse 21, the apostle Paul said that the resurrected Jesus is seated far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. Jesus has authority in 1 Thessalonians 4 verse 2 to command his church. We read in Titus chapter 2 that Jesus gives his authority to preachers to preach and speak with all authority. And then I love the end of the book of Jude, verse 25, to our only God is given all glory, majesty, dominion and authority before all time and now and forever. Jesus has authority. He has all authority. And it is not a derived authority. It is inherent. He has it from within himself. And the point of our text tonight is the authority of Jesus. It's kind of like the beginning of the account and the end of the account frame. It's like bookends authority and authority in verses 22 and 27. Mark one is going to bring the authority of Jesus to center stage for the rest of the chapter. Every paragraph that we are going to look at through the rest of chapter one and even into chapter two is going to bring us eyeball to eyeball with the authority of Christ, the power and the authority of Christ. So let's lift our eyes and look at our authoritative, glorious, majestic Christ together. In verses 22, He taught as one who has authority. In 27, the crowds affirm that His teaching is with authority. So I want to show you the authority of Jesus in two ways tonight. Number one, the authority Christ had when He taught. And then number two in your outline, I want to show you Christ's authority when He expelled the demon. He taught the truth and he expelled the demon. And both of them reveal, both of them show the great power and authority of Jesus. Let's begin, number one, in your outline, with Christ's authority when he taught the truth. Now, look with me at verse 21. Let's kind of begin the account in this narrative. Often the beginning verses kind of set the stage. They kind of tell us where we are and what's going on and what the setting is. Verse 21, they went into Capernaum. They went into Capernaum and immediately on the Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and he began to teach. Jesus is a preacher. He's a teacher. He's a giver of truth. He is a herald of the gospel. He will say in the gospel of Mark, he will say in the gospel of Luke, I came for this purpose to preach the gospel. And what Jesus does all through his ministry is he is going to teach the truth of the gospel because he knows that man's greatest need is the gospel. It's like what we read a few weeks ago in Mark 1 verse 15. The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. You must repent, that is, turn away from your sin and turn to God and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. He taught about God, the character of God, the holiness of God. He taught about the reality of sin and the evils of sin and depravity of sin. He taught about the imminency of judgment and the severity of judgment. He taught about the hope and the eternal life and the forgiveness. and the comfort and the assurance that is found in him. Jesus taught about repentance, turning away from sin. He taught about faith, clinging to Christ. He taught about bearing fruit and walking in a way that is obeying him and following his word. The gospel message, Jesus preached and taught the gospel. He did it, verse 21, in the city of Capernaum. Matthew 9 calls it his own city. Mark two verse one calls it. He came home. to the city of Capernaum. This is like the headquarters of Jesus because it was the largest city on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee because it was kind of at a crossroads of major trade routes at that time. Capernaum had a customs tax office. The city of Capernaum had a Roman garrison because of a potential area of crime because there was so much action and commerce and travel through the area. Yes, soldiers would be stationed here in great numbers. It was a center point. It was a hub. It was a checkpoint. It was a perfect place for the Messiah to get the word all through the known world at that time. You know, it'd kind of be like saying, let's move the headquarters of the Messiah's ministry from a rural farm community to like New York JFK so that everybody from around the world is going to pass through and they will come into contact with the gospel. Verse 21, he enters the synagogue on the Sabbath and he teaches. Now you know about synagogues. You have Jewish friends who probably go to synagogue. Where did they come from? What's the idea of a synagogue and where did it start? Well, the idea of synagogue and the gathering of the synagogue originated in the exile after Nebuchadnezzar came and exiled the Jews in 586 BC. And when the Jews were in Babylon, they would meet together for prayer and study of the Torah. And that was called the gathering. That was called the assembly. And that's what the word synagogue means. In the New Testament time, synagogues were found all over the Greco-Roman world, in particular in Galilee as well. And all you'd need would be 10 men to have a gathering for a synagogue. Synagogues were for a number of purposes. One would be for the teaching of the law. One would be for the schooling of children during the week. And then the third reason for the synagogue would be kind of a courtroom for minor cases that could come up from time to time. Well, it's the Sabbath day. Verse 21, Jesus enters Capernaum and he begins to teach, but the peoples are amazed at his teaching. Verse 22, why? Because his teaching is different. His teaching is not like the scribes of the day, not like the scholars, not like the experts. When you hear the word scribe in the gospel, don't think only of somebody who's just copying from one manuscript to the next. Biblically in the gospels, a scribe was a scholar. He was the trained student and interpret like the PhD guy. He's the guy who has the training. He is the expert in the law, in the interpretation and the application, not just of the written law, but especially of the many Jewish traditions that they had. Jesus, you don't teach like them. You're different than them. And while Jesus is teaching in the synagogue, verse 23, just then there was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit. What fascinates me is this whole encounter is prompted by the teaching and preaching of the truth. You see, one writer said this, what terrified the demon? What is it that terrified the demon? It was the truth of the gospel. He knew that with the arrival of Jesus was the arrival of the embodied divine truth. The demons knew that they had developed a very untrue false system of religion that was highly successful in Israel, and it held people captive to their own damnation. And these demons disguised themselves as angels of light. They are not true, but now they fear because the truth has come. And when the truth goes forth, The demonic realm trembles. There's a lot in our day. A little footnote here, and we'll get to point two here in a minute. You know, people say, well, if I think somebody's demon possessed, should I try to cast out the demon? We'll get there a little bit later on. in our time together this evening talking about that. But the answer is no. The answer is you give the truth. You give the gospel. You proclaim the truth to that individual. You proclaim the gospel. That is what causes the demonic realm to tremble. And one effect of Jesus' teaching was the clear demonstration of His authority. Satan hates the truth. And he fears the authority of God. And now we're going to meet a man who has a demon in him. And this man is going to cry out in shrieks and cries because the truth is going forth. Because the truth is going forth. Maybe I could put it like this. Satan is agitated when the word of God is declared. He's agitated. It's like he can't sit still when the truth is being declared. Jesus is in the synagogue. There's people there. It's a very densely populated area and he's preaching the truth. His authority, second of all, is found in your outline when he expelled the demon. Now, If you look in your Bible at verse 23, maybe you have the word just then or immediately. There was a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit and he cried out. I mean, you talk about a disruption during the worship service. Maybe a cell phone goes off. Maybe there's a light flickering. Maybe there's a Bible that's dropped on the ground or a baby that's crying and you think, ah, distractions. Talk about a distraction. Here is a disruption in worship. While Jesus is teaching, while he's giving this sermon with authority, just then a man with an unclean spirit is there, which is really fascinating. Notice the language. It's an unclean spirit. He shouldn't have been in the synagogue. He was an unclean man. He was unclean. He shouldn't have even been there. He was ritually unclean. It probably, on the devil's part, was a deliberate provocation. Deliberate provocation. Well, Jesus is focusing on teaching and preaching, but he's interrupted. He's interrupted. Now, in your outline, you have a number of words. And I want to walk through these briefly with you. This is so fascinating. There's so much here. Look at verse 23. Just then there was a man of the synagogue with an unclean spirit. And the man cried out saying, what business do we have with each other? Jesus of Nazareth, have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. The Holy one of God is a demon. also called an unclean spirit. But did you notice the demonic confession of Jesus? I mean, the demons have better confession than some evangelical Christians in our day. Look in your outline. Number one, they get the identity of Jesus. I know who you are, he says, but before then, what business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? You're from Nazareth. We know who you are. We know where you're from. We know your identity. Second, notice their affirmation. You are the Holy One of God. This is Old Testament language for God. The demons are affirming the full deity of Jesus in the synagogue, the full deity of Jesus. Full affirmation that Jesus is divine. Third, look at, they acknowledge the judgment of Jesus. Have you, verse 24, come to destroy us? Other gospel accounts add before the time. They know that their judgment is coming. They know that their day when they will be cast in the lake of fire is coming. They know that it's coming and they fear that day. And they said, Jesus, have you come now to destroy us? Not just the demon who's taken up residence in the person. I think the demon is speaking. for the whole collective demonic realm as a whole. Have you come here to destroy all the demonic kingdom now? They fear the judgment. Fourth, look at their confession. The demon understands the fear of Jesus. Have you come to destroy us? I know, I know who you are. What business do we have with each other? The demon knows he has no authority over Jesus. He fears Jesus. He knows that their destruction is coming. And then fifth, the confession includes a submission. Because the demon is going to hear the command of Jesus and the demon will obey. The demon must obey. You see, the demon will try to control the man. The demon will try to destroy the man. The demon will try to disrupt worship. The demon will try to resist Jesus Christ. But really, when it all is over, the demons must obey Christ. They must. That's the spirit. The unclean spirit. Second, your outline, the silencing. Jesus rebuked him. Now, if you read the parallel in Luke's gospel, the main theme there is the word rebuke. Jesus has authority to rebuke. Here, the main theme is authority. There, in a related way, the main theme is rebuke. Jesus, right here, verse 25, he rebuked the demon saying, be quiet and come out of him. What a powerful, powerful command that the demon was so powerless before the sovereign word of Jesus. We sang it, one little word shall fell him. Interestingly, in the Greek, it is one word. Be muzzled. Be silenced. Or the way Martin Luther put it in his German translation, shut up! Demon, shut up! What power, what authority Jesus has to silence the demon. Third in your outline, look at the sovereignty. Throwing him into convulsions. It's almost like you have a final effort, a final burst of demonic rage, where the demon is going to throw the man into, I have in my translation, convulsions, 26. The Greek verb means the demon had him torn. ripping him, tearing him, stretching him. We have convulsing him. The demon demonstrated this degraded, vicious nature. What a destructive spirit. But look at what happens in verse 26. The unclean spirit cried out with a loud voice and came out. Jesus commanded the spirit obeyed. Jesus commanded with his authority and the demon obeyed. I want you to think with me about the power of Jesus to heal, to deliver. Look in your outline. Jesus has the authority to heal verbally. I mean, he just says to the demon possessed man with the unclean spirit, be quiet, come out of him. Verbal word. Jesus heals sovereignly. Sovereign. He has all ultimate supreme power. It cannot be resisted. Third, Jesus healed and delivered totally. This is so great. The man will be totally delivered. Wow. Fourth, Jesus has the authority to heal publicly. publicly. I mean, it wasn't just in a quiet corner somewhere or behind closed doors in a bedroom. This is in the public assembly of the synagogue on the Sabbath while there's people there. Jesus heals fifth and he delivers impartially. You know, he didn't say, I don't have time for you. You're unclean. You shouldn't even be here anyway. You're dirty. I'll meet you afterward outside. No, he didn't. He didn't say that Jesus was impartial. This man was an outcast. He was dangerous. He was ritually unclean and defiled. And yet Jesus was impartial. And then next Jesus healed and delivered undeniably. There's just no way to deny it. He, he fully and totally delivered the man. So. In verse 26, the demon comes out of the man. You know, he was rolling around in the dust of despair just a moment ago with convulsions, but now he is freed and he'll rise to joy. He will rise up in wholeness. He'll have peace. You know what this tells me? There is hope. for the worst of centers. There is hope for the worst of the worst. I mean, what could be worse than this guy inhabited by a demon and the demon understands who Jesus is and the demon is shrieking and crying and screaming through the man and in even controlling the man. And yet even this one under the sway of the devil. can be healed. What power and what authority our Savior has. There's not anyone too bad, too far, too sinful, too unclean, too defiled to get saved. God has the authority. Christ has the authority to heal and to save even the worst of the worst. Well, look at what happens. I mean, this is amazing. This is amazing. Verse 27, now the crowds in that synagogue are all amazed. You could only imagine. They've never seen anything like this before. First of all, they were amazed at his teaching. Now they're amazed because he, by a spoken word, has power over the demonic kingdom. Verse 27, the people say, what is this? A new teaching, here's the key phrase, with authority. We hear teachings all the time. But this one has authority. This teaching of Jesus laid hold of men and the people were alarmed. They were gripped. They were pierced. But I wonder, how many were amazed at the teaching of Jesus? And they had curiosity, but they did not have saving faith in the Messiah. You know, it's one thing to hear about Jesus and observe Jesus and look at the man Jesus and see the power and the miracles of Jesus and say, Whoa, what a great savior. And yet to, to be wondering at how great he is, but not clinging to the person of who he is. What a tragedy that is to be curious. but not humbled to be interested, but not believing. Many were curious. They were amazed and they said, what is this? He commands verse 27, even the unclean spirit and they obey him. This is amazing. So verse 28, immediately the news about him spread everywhere. everywhere into all the surrounding district. Luke 4 37 adds this news spread to all the regions, all the regions. I mean, you could only imagine how quick this news spread. You won't believe what I heard. You won't believe what happened on the Sabbath. Do you want to know what happened when I was a synagogue last week? You'll never believe it. And the news spread. But I want you to see something. We see the authority of Jesus. We see the power of Jesus. But you cannot miss this. Jesus is not only a Savior for crowds of people here and crowds of people there. One of the interesting themes that Mark is going to do through the Gospel is while Jesus is in a crowd, he's going to zoom the camera, as it were, on individuals to show that Jesus is not only for the big masses, but he's even for the individuals. He's for particular people. He's for the unclean. He's for the dirty. He's for the defiled. He's for the helpless. And so often Mark is going to turn the spotlight from the crowd now onto one person, maybe the least likely person. Maybe like the worst of the worst. And they will encounter Jesus and Jesus will heal them, forgive them, free them, liberate them, save them. I love that because Jesus is not only a man for the crowds, for the statistics. He's not just a man for the large gatherings. He's a savior of the individually lost. He's a Savior for the individuals who are hurting. He's a Savior for the individuals who are helpless. He's a Savior for the individuals who are dying, who are on the fringe of society. Jesus can be your Savior. He's willing to save you. He's willing to wash you. He's willing to heal you. He's willing to cleanse you. He's willing to redeem you. He's willing to adopt you into His family. What a great God. What a great account. What an authoritative Savior. What an authoritative God. Now, as we draw this to a close, in your outline, I put together a couple of ways that we can view Jesus. What are some ways that we can see the glory and the authority of Jesus? Look at number one in your outline. Jesus is not afraid. Now, I don't know about you, But if I was teaching and some demon possessed person began screaming, that might be a little bit of a temptation to run away. But Jesus was fearless, fearless, courageous. He was not afraid. What a manly savior. Second, Jesus was not defiled. When I read the gospels and Jesus heals, or he redeems, or he delivers, or he touches, what is so remarkable to me is Jesus is not defiled by their illness. His purity cleanses them from their illness. Jesus is not defiled when coming into contact with the unclean world. Rather, he heals. He heals. Third, Jesus is not ambiguous. He's not ambiguous. People know who he is. People know exactly who he is. He is teaching with authority. No doubt he was teaching the gospel in the synagogue. No doubt he's teaching about God and about himself as Messiah and the way to eternal life through faith in him and the need to repent and the need to believe upon him. There is no ambiguity in Jesus. And then fourth, Jesus, he is not ordinary. He's not ordinary. He's not common. He's not like all the other teachers around. There's something different about him. He's different. He's a man of passion. He's a man of the spirit. He's a man of authority. He's a man of power. What a savior, what a God of authority. Jesus does have all authority, and maybe as we draw this to a close, let's see if we can apply this by turning together to 1 John 3. Very quickly, to close, 1 John 3. John is writing toward the end of his life to believers, and he's reminding the believers that this Jesus has all authority, and he came into the world. Appropriate for us, December, Christmas time, 1st John chapter 3. Look at verse 8. The one who practices sin is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. But now look at what John says in the middle of verse 8. The Son of God appeared. That's the incarnation. Jesus came into the world. He appeared for this purpose. Why? To destroy. the works of the devil. Notice the purpose of Christ, the purpose. He came to destroy sin. He came to destroy Satan and the works of the devil. Notice, second of all, the power of Christ. He can destroy the deeds of the devil. I mean, what power? You and I would be helpless before the power of these demonic forces. But in Jesus, he has all power. In fact, he did it at Calvary for you. He did it at Calvary. He destroyed the power of the devil and he destroyed all of the works of the devil once and for all at Calvary on your behalf. When he died for you and when he was raised for you. And then third, look at the protection of Christ, the protection. He destroys the deeds, the works of the devil. He guards you. He keeps you. He will hold you in his hand so that the evil one will not touch you. First John five will say. And because of all of that, let us prize Christ, prize him, love him, worship him. adore him, bow before him for he and he alone is savior and he alone is lord and he alone is the one who has authority over all the demonic realm all glory be to our savior let's pray father thank you for your word and the power of your word thank you that we can study him And as we pray to you now, as we gather together as a family of believers, would you please meet with us? Would you encourage us? Would you edify us? Would you strengthen us? So that we would grow so that we would love you more so that we would submit to you and obey you with joyful hearts in Christ's name. Amen.