If you have your Bibles, then let's turn to Luke chapter 4. We're going to begin where we left off last week. Chapter 4, we will read verses 31 through 37. This, of course, is after he has left Nazareth as those people there rejected him. This, of course, being Christ. And after leaving Nazareth, in verse 31, we are told he 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, into the surrounding region." God placed the sun in the sky, we might say, and that sun powers all of life on the earth, every bit of it, all the 8 billion people and countless trees, flowers, animals, insects, birds, that sun powers it all. Without it, life would not exist. Earthly judges have the authority to change the life of a criminal who stands before them with merely a word. Their word holds great authority. The Son holds great power. And I want to speak to you today about the power and authority of Christ, which far exceeds both of them. The power and authority of Christ comes shining through these scriptures today. And I hope to be able to share with you something about what it means that Jesus spoke with such authority and worked with such power while he was here in the earth. Because you see, he continues to do so today. Christ is every bit as powerful as He was when He was here. His Word is with every bit of authority that it was with when He was here on the earth. Jesus has been rejected in His hometown of Nazareth, and He comes to Capernaum, this city in Galilee, and He puts on display the power and authority that he possesses. The power and authority of Christ is incomparable to anything else in the world. And having been rejected now at Nazareth, Jesus comes to Capernaum, again, this city in Galilee. There's significance in this. There's great significance in Jesus coming to Capernaum. It ought not to be read merely as, and this is what Jesus did after leaving Nazareth. There is something to that, but there's more to it than that that I would like to draw out before we go any further today. There's significance here for us first. His movement, his relocation, we might say, to Capernaum is a fulfillment of prophecy in the Old Testament. And that's not insignificant. That is meaningful. We are told in the Scriptures that Jesus was going to come to Capernaum, and we're told long before He did that He would. Matthew records it this way, leaving Nazareth, he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, those two tribes of Israel, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled. The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people dwelling in darkness, have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. And it says, Matthew does from that time, Jesus began to preach saying, repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. That is important for us to acknowledge and to see. Matthew quoting from Isaiah chapter 9, when he said the same thing, that those in darkness have seen great light, and that they would. Isaiah prophesying 750 years before Jesus came, said this is what the Messiah will do. He will come to Capernaum. And Jesus, the Son of God, rejected in Nazareth, now makes his way to Capernaum, prophesied 750 years before he did, and that is not insignificant for us to note. Isaiah said he would. The Old Testament said he would. Jesus fulfilled over 300 specific and individual prophecies from the Old Testament. It's incredible. It's unmistakable, in a sense. In one way, we think Jesus should have been immediately recognizable to the prophets, or excuse me, to the priests of his day that were acquainted with the Old Testament. pieced together his birth in Bethlehem, and some people have said, well, Jesus of Nazareth was a good teacher, was very intelligent, he was really well-versed in the Old Testament, and he arranged his life meticulously to follow the patterns of the prophecies, and to that I say, including his birth? Somehow he arranged that? Somehow he arranged for his birth in Bethlehem, that insignificant town of Judah. And yet here he was, born there of a virgin. Again, a prophecy of the Old Testament. Goes to Egypt, and so I guess at two years old, supposedly, he's supposed to be arranging all of these things in his own life as a human being, because he came here as a man. 300 prophecies of the Old Testament. You couldn't make that happen if you tried. But with Jesus, it is the truth. All of these prophecies came true in Christ's life. It lends credibility. Not that God owes us an explanation, but it lends credibility to this story, does it not? Do we not look at the Scriptures in a different light when we can say 300 prophecies fulfilled in the life of Jesus of Nazareth? How do you explain that away? You can't, in an intellectual, honest investigation of the facts. But not only is it significant because it fulfilled prophecy, I think it is significant because it is a judgment on the people of Nazareth. And we spoke about this a little bit last week. His relocation to Capernaum is a judgment against the people of Nazareth. Jesus, listen, Jesus never compelled a single person to follow him, did he? You cannot find a single example in the New Testament where Jesus compelled against the will of the follower to follow Him. Not a single instance can be found. He had those follow Him, and He received those who followed them of their own will, followed them for Himself, the people of Nazareth, angered at his preaching, angered at his quotation of Isaiah, angered at his proclamation that I am the Messiah, angered at him for the preaching that he gave, angered because he called them to repentance, angered by him, put him out, they drive him to a cliff, They would have thrown him off had they had their way, but Jesus, we are just told very simply, the last verses of our last message last week, He left. He just left them. And Jesus coming to Capernaum is a judgment against Nazareth. And He demonstrates here in Capernaum His power and His authority. And we want to get to that as our primary thought today, but I don't want us to miss the judgment that has just been laid against Nazareth. As we said last week, there is no evidence that Jesus ever once again set foot in Nazareth after His departure from there. The people there rejected him. You know, some people might say today, I see no judgment from Christ in my life. I see no judgment. I see no punishment. But listen, the judgment against Nazareth, what was it? Did God, did Jesus call down fire and brimstone upon Nazareth as they would have thrown him off the cliff had they had their way? Did he pronounce curses upon them? Did he bring plagues to their city? No, in fact, Nazareth, life in Nazareth, no doubt, it went on just as it had gone on days before and weeks and years before. And yet, what was the judgment then? The judgment against Nazareth was this, Jesus left. His departure was the judgment. His absence is the judgment against them. And you might say, I see no evidence in my life that God is judging me. I'm doing fine, you might say. Life seems to be going pretty well. I have friends. I have enough money to provide for my needs. I have a job. I have a family. I have a car. I have a home. I have hobbies. I have things I enjoy. You might be thinking, I see no evidence of God's judgment in my life. I say to you the same thing. The judgment of God is his absence from your life. You might say, God has not struck me down with a lightning bolt. He's not in any way prevented me from pursuing the things I desire to do. And you might think that that is reason to believe that God is not judging you. But I say to you this, His absence from your life and your heart. That is his judgment. Look, the worst thing that God can do to you and to me and to anyone is to remove his presence from their life. That's the worst thing he can do. He, Job experienced sickness and he lost all of his children to death. His wife just didn't follow with him as she says to him, just curse God and die. He lost his influence, he lost everything, but he never lost the presence of God. And I'll tell you that a lot of people live in great luxury here in the world. and experience the worst possible judgment of God and that is His absence because of their rejection. Your rebellion and God's ensuing removal from you is the judgment that is upon your life. And I will say this, if your rebellion continues until you take your final breath in this world, the judgment of God's absence will follow you in your eternity. And forever his absence will be felt and known. Look, it's one thing. It's one thing to spend your entire life here in spiritual darkness while there is still yet hope of finding light. It's one thing to experience that absence of God while there is time, while there is opportunity to find the light of Christ. It's one thing to spend this life in darkness, and that is horrible, and it is unnecessary, and it is the worst possible lie. You will find that to be true. Solomon said it this way, vanity of vanities, all is vanity under the sun here. There's no meaning and purpose in what I do. That is where you're going to find absolutely every pursuit that you seek in this life. Money, power, fame, leisure, pleasure, all of these hedonistic things in this life that you might seek after, they're going to leave you an empty, dry husk that has found no hope and no fulfillment in life. And I will tell you this, that is horrible as that is, if you're still living and breathing the air of this world into your lungs, then you still have an opportunity to find Christ and to have the judgment of his absence removed with the blessing of his presence. And it's one thing to live life here for an extended period of time absent God, but it's going to be altogether a different thing to spend your eternity in a darkness that will never, ever be pushed back by even the tiniest beam of light or hope. The judgment of Christ against Nazareth was not an earthquake. It was not a tornado that he called to destroy their city and to disrupt their lives, because he doesn't compel people against their will. He tells them the truth, which is all that he did in that synagogue in Nazareth. Today, this scripture is fulfilled in your hearing. I am the one you've been waiting on. And they drive him to a cliff and they would have thrown him over, they rebel against him, and so Jesus judges them by leaving. So his relocation to Capernaum, a fulfillment of prophecy, an additional confirmation of the fact of his messiahship, his position as the son of God promised to the world from God the Father in Genesis chapter 315 and all the way the rest through the 4,000 years of Old Testament history to this moment in time. I say to you, do not be like the people of Nazareth. Do not reject the light that He desires to bring to you, both now and forever. Now, I would like to look at verses 31, the second half of that, and verse 32, where it speaks of His teaching with authority. He was teaching them on the Sabbath, it says, and they were astonished at His teaching, for His word possessed authority. And Matthew chapter 7 says something very similar, and he says, but Matthew calls out, he taught with authority, and he adds, not like the scribes. It wasn't like the scribes, the regular teachers of the day, the men who were trained and were professionals at the law. Jesus taught and people listened and it struck them because it wasn't like the scribes. But here again, we find Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. You know the only people in Capernaum that were impressed by Jesus' words and power and authority on this day? Do you know the only people that were impressed by it? The people that were at the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Now, many others in the city are gonna hear about it after the fact, but they're gonna hear it secondhand. And you ever had anything in your life, maybe like a beautiful sunset, and you try to describe it. All the colors and just the way the light reflected off of maybe the mountain, if you were in the mountains, or the ocean, if you were by the sea. And you try to describe it and you're just, boy, you just, you had to be there. We've all experienced times in our life where we tell the people, when you try to explain it to them, you say, well, you just had to be there. Because words just can't do it justice, at least your words can't. And I think that that was similar to what anybody that would have heard someone bear testimony of what happened in the synagogue on this Sabbath day. It would have been something of the same, I believe. But those people that were there and present, they were touched and impacted by the power and authority of Christ. Do you want to know why a lot of people miss the power and authority of Christ? Because they don't go to church on Sunday. It's no more complicated than that, I think. Or at least it certainly contributes. And sadly, I know that you can go to church on Sunday many, many times and still not experience the power and authority of Christ. But I say to you that there are many who miss it simply because they're not present. People often miss Christ's powerful teaching simply because they miss church on Sunday and seldom, if ever, spend time reading scripture in their daily lives. The man, as I said again, who did not come to the synagogue on this day, he missed Jesus' life-changing teaching and demonstration of power. He missed it. He didn't experience it for himself. He missed it. Well, the man who misses church on Sunday often misses it as well. You might say, I've never been astonished at Jesus' teaching. Maybe that's your thought now. It's never struck me, it's never astonished me, and I say to you, if that's true, then I would say that you might not have ever truly been present when he's teaching, when he's demonstrating his power and authority. Maybe you were physically present, But mentally and spiritually, you were somewhere else. Looking to get through the church service so that you could go on your way somewhere else, never attending to the fact that Jesus' words could change your heart and your life and bring light and life to you. Instead, you're mentally present somewhere else Hebrews, we read this in verses 24 and 25 of chapter 10. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day approaching or drawing near. And that word day is capitalized letter D. the day that is coming, the day that God has put a stake in the ground, when the last second of time will tick off of any clock and time will be declared no more. That moment, that day is coming, and so you need to tune in to the teaching of Christ. And if you do, I believe you too will be astonished at what He has to say and what He will do. What again was astonishing about it exactly? Well, Matthew shed greater light on it for us when he said it wasn't like the scribes. He possessed authority. He spoke with authority, an authority clearly that far surpassed the dry second-hand interpretations that the people normally heard in the synagogue on the Sabbath day at this time. There is a world of difference between teaching from a second-hand knowledge about second-hand issues than teaching from a first-hand knowledge on topics of first importance. These scribes that are often taught on these days, they didn't possess, they didn't hold, their words rung hollow in the ears of the people. It didn't reach them in their hearts. It may have even been academically accurate, well-constructed. They may have put in hours and hours of research in the Old Testament law to come and stand there or sit as was their habit and the people stood and they would teach and they would meticulously just strain at a gnat and swallow a camel and And it may have been well done in the eyes of the educated among the religious power-hungry people of the day, but they simply did not possess the authority that Jesus Christ possessed when He spoke to the people, when He spoke He grabbed people's hearts, and that's what preaching ought to do. It ought to grab people's hearts because the Spirit of God is identifying with the truth of His Word and is changing people's lives. He's changing their minds, changing their thoughts. Instead, what so many people heard Sabbath day after Sabbath day after Sabbath day was some scribe standing up there and straining at little things rather than speaking with power and authority, not speaking of a God they knew themselves, but a God they'd merely read about, a God that they had had academically dissected and then divided themselves up into all kinds of different cliques and divisions and what we might say denominations today. Well, I'm of Hillel and I'm of Shammai. I'm of this one. I'm of that one. Paul even said, to the Christians in the New Testament. Look, you people say you're of Apollos and you're of Paul, and Paul says, who are we and what are we but useful tools in God's hands. And on Saturday after Saturday at this time, Sabbath after Sabbath, these people heard one scribe after another get up there and preach or teach and it was dry, and it did not grab them, and there was no authority in the words, but Jesus, just a few words from him, it grabbed their attention. Has Jesus Christ ever grabbed your attention? Have his words ever pulled you into him? Or have you dismissed him? The scribe's teaching method was frequently a matter of quoting some other teacher. And you do some research on this. This was frequently what they did. They would quote some other teacher. They would argue points of the law from an academic lens and not the lens of life that most people lived. The scribes would frequently quote rabbis, again like Hillel or Shimei, who are famous for their debates on ritual purity or the Sabbath observance. Rabbi Gamaliel was often cited on marriage and festival observances. They would debate interpretations from the schools of Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Ishmael about proper methods of biblical interpretation. Much time was spent discussing things like detailed rules about the Sabbath-keeping, exactly how far can we walk, what is that rule again? Complex dietary regulations and food preparation were debated and elaborately dissected and considered by the scribes as they would teach in the synagogue, precise tithing requirements were debated hotly, and people would discuss these things and say, well, Rabbi so-and-so said this, and Rabbi so-and-so says that, and they would get up there, and you know what they would be doing? They would be answering questions nobody's asking. Jesus preached, and his word was with power. and authority. His words were with authority. His actions, his deeds were with great power. You might say this, the scribes were speaking to one another when they taught. They weren't speaking to the people. And I think sometimes preachers can be guilty of that. Preachers speaking to one another in their sermons. rather than the word of God to the people there's to be speaking to. Jesus came. He spoke directly to the people. He taught directly things that impacted their hearts and their lives, the things that mattered. I'm not saying, by the way, that we should be completely disinterested in the observance of the commandments of God. I am not saying that. But I'll tell you this. If if that's the focus and and not Christ, you're going to become a scribe. Jesus all but ignored their petty arguments that consumed so much of their time in the pulpits and synagogues of his day. Hebrews chapter 4, verse 12 and 13. This is what troubles me about people's idea and thought about Scripture. This is what troubles me when people try to dismiss it or they I don't know how to say what I'm trying to say. When they don't delight in the Word of God, when they think, oh boy, another Bible study, how boring. This is what troubles me, is because we're told in Scripture that the Word of God is living and active. That's what the Hebrew writer says, it's alive. It's sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and spirit, joints and marrow, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Did you hear that? Discerning the thoughts and the intentions of the heart. Do you know when you read the Scripture, it's not so much you're reading the Scripture, the Scripture is reading you? That's what's really going on when you open yourself up to the Word of God, and you examine your heart next to what God's Word says, and it ought to grab you. It has the authority to grab you. Its Word is the authority under which we try to cover all of our beliefs, and our doctrine, and our practices, and what we say is important. It is alive. It is powerful. Now, Jesus' word, his authoritative word is confronted with this demonic spirit, this demon in verses 33 through 35. I don't want to spend much time on this particular section of our passage today, but we do see that this man was in the synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he recognized Jesus, didn't he? He recognized, you holy one, holy one of God. Jesus authoritatively then declares and says to the spirit, to the demon, go out of him. And he did. And of course, that work amazed the people. It astonished them. And it should have. And even this demon recognizes Jesus. And what does he do? He acknowledges his power over him. Have you come to destroy us? In another scripture, another gospel, I think this is before the time. I do think, I do think Satan and his followers know that they're doomed. I think they do. I think they hate God so much that it doesn't matter to them. They continue to try to ruin as much as they can about God's plan here in the world, and specifically your heart. He would long to ruin you. He knows he's ruined. He longs to ruin you and ruin me and ruin all that is good in the world and ruin all that is hopeful, all that is meaningful, all that is pure, all that is lovely, all that is joyful, all that is peaceful, all that is just, all that is holy, all that is good. He wants to destroy it. and he wants to destroy you along with it all. But Jesus, commanding this demon to come out of him. And by the way, James 2.19 kind of talks at an angle about this exchange. You know, some people say, I believe in God. I believe there's a God. Well, good. James says that the demons believe and they tremble. Believing that there is a God is not the same thing at all than believing God. It's not the same. God is a person that must be known and found and loved and treasured and offered praise and humility. And Jesus demonstrates His divine power, and He calls that demon out of this man, and He leaves in an instant, having done him no harm. And in verse 36, 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. The amazement of these people should be noted by us all. Their recognition of Jesus' authority and power over demons. Psalm 33 verse 9, speaking of God, He spoke and it came to be. He commanded and it stood firm. His word alone in the beginning God created. And God said, and God said, and God said, and there was, and there was, and there was. When I was 11 years old, God saved my soul. He convicted me of sin. God said, you are a sinner. And I realized I was a sinner. God then said, you are forgiven. I didn't hear those audible words. I felt the reality of it in my heart. And he said, and it is. God said, let there be light. And there is light. My father-in-law used to say often when preaching, he enjoyed thinking of the Hebrew. Light be, light was. That's the Hebrew. That's all there is. Light be, light was. What God commands happens. These witnesses on this day in the synagogue were all amazed, recognizing the power of Christ. Colossians 2.15, He, that is Christ, disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them. You know that word in the Greek, amaze, there's something in it. In its meaning and in the word itself, it speaks of an overwhelming, being overwhelmed by something. And look, listen, true encounters with Christ because of His power and authority, true encounters with Christ are never casual. They're not casual. It is incredible to me to think that a person could have an encounter with God and be unchanged by the experience. That does not make sense to me. More importantly, I don't think it makes sense in the light of Scripture. But I don't think it makes sense in the light of human reasoning either. telling me you have an encounter with the one who said light be and there was light, the one who set the sun on nothing and the earth on nothing and holds it all in the palm of his hand somehow. We think we can have an encounter with this being and be unchanged. You know, listen, hang with me for a little while. I think this is important to cover. There was A tragic shift in American Christianity in the early 1900s. Seeds were planted before then, but it began to grow, and the fruit of that poisonous seed began to blossom in the early 1900s. This idea, this rise of what has been called liberal theology and modernism, where many began teaching that salvation was merely a matter of moral reform or intellectual agreement with Scripture. The idea, though directly contradicted by what the Bible teaches, this idea that someone could have a genuine encounter with God and yet remain unchanged inwardly, to have no evidence, no mark, no testimony. 2 Corinthians 5.17 kind of sets this in the light that we ought to look at this idea. If anyone is in Christ, If anyone is in Christ, Paul says, he's a new creation. Did you hear that? Well, who is the only creator? God. I can't create life in myself. I can't create in the sense of bringing something out of nothing. I can't do it and no one else can either. Only God can do that. But in those early 1900s, men began to believe that salvation was merely a matter of intellectual agreement, of repeating a verse, repeating a prayer. being baptized, whatever that it might be, and it began to be believed more and more that salvation was not something that changed the heart. Because when you don't require change, what else do you remove as necessity? Power. Isn't power defined as the ability to change, to work? to do, to change something from one condition to another. Well, if all there is is repeating a scripture, I don't need any power to do that. Look, if your salvation lies on something that you alone could do, I'm concerned for you. It's no wonder in those early 1900s, to me, it's no wonder that by the early 2000s, many were rejecting this extreme Arminianism, theologically as it's termed, that Arminius, who first, so again, it wasn't in the 1900s these seeds began to be sown, had been sown for a long, long time, but in the United States, in America, they started to come to fruit in those early 1900s, and it dominated a large portion of that century in our nation. And it's no wonder to me that in the early 2000s many were rejecting that extreme Arminian view of man's ability to simply choose salvation and they no longer needed the power and authority of Christ because they just had a recipe. The emptiness of salvation being nothing more than a prayer or scripture repeated after some preacher had been going on for so long by the 2000s that the cracks were becoming easily seen. the cracks in Christianity were identifiable. Of the many who professed a new life in Christ, few seemed to actually possess a new life in Christ. Perhaps they added some Christian cliches to their vocabulary. Maybe they made church attendance a habit in their lives and in their communities. They professed Christ, but inwardly they did not know him at all. We know these kinds of people exist, not because I have an opinion about it, but because Matthew chapter 7 tells us and declares without any equivocation that there are people like this who are going to stand before Jesus and say, didn't we do all these wonderful things in your name? And he's going to say, I never knew you. And if I don't know you, you can't know my power and authority. So we have that rejection. that I believe. This is all, by the way, you can take or leave this, but I felt it was important to share those. Much of the 1900s, just Much of Christianity in America is just overwhelmed by this concept that you simply check the box. I think it was 1923 that the first Sunday school literature came out. I think that was the year that was the first time they put a checkbox on the Sunday school literature and said, I accept Jesus Christ as my personal Savior. Check the box. You're saved. Well, how about that? Who needs the power of God anymore? Well, this began to be rejected for obvious reasons and for good reason. And that rejection of the Arminian view that ruled so much of the 1900s has been a benefit to those who hold to Calvinism. The Calvinist rightly points out the emptiness of a, quote, decision for Christ that does not lead to a changed heart, that does not require the power of God, that does not look anything like what Jesus proves and shows here in Luke. It doesn't require any of that, but we must be careful what many Among the Calvinists refused to acknowledge, or fail to at least, is what we mentioned earlier. Jesus never forced anyone to follow him. He just left Nazareth, didn't he? Everywhere in Scripture, there is the tension between God's sovereignty and our free will and moral responsibility before Him. And there's good reason for that tension. Both exist. But what happened in the 1900s is men began to rebel against, to be honest with you, if you go back in history in the 17 and 1800s, you realize that the vast majority of Baptists in the United States were Calvinists in those days. And then, so what do we have? We have this constant swinging back and forth. and back and forth, but listen, the destroyer of our souls doesn't care which side of the argument you land on. He doesn't care which scribe you happen to follow on Sunday. He just doesn't want you to know Jesus. The people of Nazareth rejected Christ, so he left them. They chose, and so did he. Verse 37, as we come towards our close today, the beginning of Jesus' public ministry is marked by a growing reputation. Reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. This year of Christ's ministry is often referred to as the year of popularity. His ministry lasted some three and a half years, and this first year, known as the year of popularity, the reports about him, they went abroad. In Luke chapter five, we read that great crowds gathered to hear him. You know, the power. authority of Christ when he speaks and when he works, lives are changed, and people will notice. When God changes a single person, they tell others about it. They ought to. Do you remember in Acts when the apostles were arrested, brought before the Sanhedrin for preaching Christ, and the Sanhedrin said, In fact, it was Gamaliel who advised the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin wanted to imprison them, put them to death. They wanted to beat them. They wanted to make an example of them. And Gamaliel said, you just better leave them alone. If what they're doing is of God, who are you to stand in front of it? If it isn't of God, then it's going to come to nothing. And Gamaliel gave great advice that day. And the Sanhedrin brought the apostles back to them and said, we're going to let you go, but don't you dare preach in Jesus' name ever again. If you do, it will, I'm coarse paraphrasing, if you do, it's gonna go very poorly for you. What would you have done? I'll tell you, these men, these followers of Christ, because of the power and authority of Christ himself, they said this to those Sanhedrin, those rulers of their day. Verse 20 of chapter four in Acts, we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard. We can, we must. The power and authority of Christ is such that it compels us to tell others about Him, to tell them about the peace that we have with Him. 1 Thessalonians 1 verse 8, For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and in Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. Paul is saying, you've been telling us about the power and authority of Christ in your testimony and in your witness. Psalm 107 verse 2, Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble. You know, as I, again, we work our way, we're almost done, if you hold on with me just a little while longer, there's only one explanation for the growth of Christianity. The power and authority of Christ. That's the only explanation. When you think about it, you and I, some 2,000 years removed from the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 2,000 years of Christian history that has gone on to shape the world and the Western thought, which, by the way, is under terrible assault by the enemy today. in every westernized country in the world. Islam and all kinds of other things are assaulting the western mind that has been shaped by the scriptures and by the Bible. But your life and mine, having been shaped largely by the word of God, we often take it for granted and assume that it only makes sense that Christianity has had the impact in the world that it has had. But I ask you very briefly to go back 2,000 years with me and understand where it started, and understand that the only way that it has come to where it is, and had the historical impact that it has had, is because of the power and authority of Christ. Consider, again, the unlikely nature of Christianity, Christianity's rise, and consider their early leaders. Most were simple fishermen from Galilee. None were members of the religious elite or Sanhedrin. They lacked any formal religious education or training. They possessed no significant wealth or social standing. Nothing about them was impressive to the world. Yet, these, as we might call them, unqualified followers of Christ, turned the world upside down. Turned history upside down. They had no army. They had no political power. they had no wealthy benefactors. They faced constant persecution. Most died, or at least we could say many died for their faith, and all but John of the apostles died a martyr's death, and of course Judas who took his own life. The only explanation for the success of the early Christian church was the power and authority of Christ working through them, and that is the only explanation for any church's success any Christian's success in spiritual matters is the power and authority of Christ. It's not our eloquence. It's not our money. It's not our position. It's not our nation. It's not our heritage. It's not our doctrine per se. It's the presence and the power and the authority of Christ. That's what prospers a person and a people. And of course Christ is going to bring things that we must attend to and obey and observe and believe and not compromise on and have an important place in our hearts to understand that our doctrine is true and it is right. But do not exalt that above Christ himself. That's what Hillel and Shimei and so many other Jewish leaders and preachers and teachers of the day did. more concerned about how far you're supposed to walk on a Sunday than whether or not they had walked to Christ. The power and authority of Christ is unmatched. Jesus demonstrates it here, and I ask, and his power and authority in our own lives is irreplaceable. Irreplaceable. There's a whole sermon, by the way, in this interaction with this man with the unclean spirit that we don't have time to look into. I'm going to ask you if there's something in you that Christ needs to cast out. Are you acknowledging the authoritative Word of Christ in your life, or have you grown numb to it? Are you spreading the reports of Jesus throughout your community like these people did? Hebrews chapter three, verses seven and eight, as the Holy Spirit says, today, if you hear his voice, And when you hear his voice that comes with power and authority, continuing on with Hebrews, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the day of rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness. Don't harden your heart. Don't be those in the town of Nazareth marching Jesus to a cliff to throw him off. You'll find you don't have the ability to do that first. And second, you'll find him judge you by leaving. The worst thing that can happen to you. the power and authority of Christ, something that we've but begun to scratch the surface of. But I pray that something has been said that will be of help to you and an honor to God.