So Lord, we thank you for your mercy and grace in our lives. We thank you so much for your son, our Savior, our Lord, our King, and we thank you so much for everything that he's done. Lord, give us wisdom as we look into your word tonight, and specifically the works of Jesus Christ. I pray that we would all be just encouraged by what we see, by what we read, by what we understand. Lord, I pray for a young lady tonight named Sam. She is struggling right now. And without going into a lot of detail, Lord, as somebody asked me to pray for her, we all pray right now for her. Pray for her. You just do a mighty work in her life. If she knows you, draw her close to you, and if she doesn't, then may today be the day of salvation. Lord, I pray that for each and every one of us. May we all know you and just be thankful for everything you did to accomplish what you did on the cross so that we can know you. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. You guys, I remind you, just if you will, think about a young lady named Sam, and she's really struggling right now, okay? All right, you guys, here we are, the works of Jesus Christ. We're gonna be going through some excerpts from the Gospels. So the introduction is also excellent. Look here, you guys, it says, against the backdrop of fulfilled prophecy, angelic announcements and divine affirmation, the promised Jewish Messiah now takes center stage. His public ministry would last a mere three years, yet clearly no single life has influenced the course of human history and so completely transformed the lives of his followers. Folks, has your life been transformed ever since coming to know Christ? Yes? Is there any question? Exactly, and that's what it should be. If a person truly gets saved, gets to know Christ, then their lives will be transformed. Jesus Christ was known as a man mighty in deed and word. According to Luke 24, 19, he astounded his generation, baffling especially those who had watched him grow from boyhood into the profound teacher and dynamic miracle worker that he had become. Then we have a set of verses here from Matthew chapter 13. Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things? So obviously even his most extreme critics were asking, where did this guy come from? Right? They could not even compete, even on the smallest level with our Lord's wisdom and His knowledge of the Scriptures. Well, to answer these questions, the following two lessons, that is lesson 12 and 13, like a series of snapshots will trace the works and words of Jesus Christ through the Gospels. It's a great study. Folks, listen, I doubt, probably unless you've gone through this course right here, you've probably never worked your way through like a harmony of the Gospels through Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John by looking at his works and then his words. And it's an incredible study. Look at the next sentence, it says, his miraculous powers and wisdom, what he did and what he said will reveal who he was. When John the Baptist asked Jesus if he was the Messiah, the expected one, Jesus responded by telling him to observe his deeds in words. Now go ahead and let's look at Matthew 11, three through five, and I would just expand it. Let's look at Matthew 11, two through six. two through six, and if I have a chance to change this book again in the future, then I will expand it out to these verses. It says this, now when John, while in prison, heard of the works of Christ, here it is, he sent word by his disciples, now verse three, and said to him, are you the expected one, or shall we look for someone else? Verse 4, Jesus answered and said to them, go and report to John what you hear and see. The blind receive sight, and the lame walk. The lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear. The dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them. And blessed is he who does not take offense at me. I remember that question came in last week. Hey, why did John the Baptist ask that question? That's a great question. But here we have John the Baptist asking if he's the expected one. He says, hey, take a look at my words and my deeds and you be the judge, right? So Jesus was a miracle worker. Miracles, that's your next blank, are supernatural events. and I would underline this next sentence, they contradict nature's laws and cannot be duplicated scientifically because they originate in another realm. Believing in miracles is not far-fetched when one understands that the creator of the universe is not limited by physical laws which govern us, for he made them and presently sustains them in perfect order. In the Bible, miracles are called... So just real quick, is it difficult for God to do a miracle? Not at all. Just like it is, is it difficult for Him to create a baby or to see a baby born or anything to provide $100 that I need out of nowhere, right? No, these are all very simple things that He does. Now look at this, so miracles are called, number one, wonders, because all who saw them were amazed. Were they? They were amazed. Number two, miraculous powers. They were called miraculous powers because of their supernatural source. Their supernatural source. Yeah, they came from God. And number three, they were called signs because they point beyond the miracle to This is important. Authenticate the miracle worker. Folks, we don't have time to look into this. But next time you go through God's word, all right? I did a study on this years ago. And if you ever want this study, let me know. I mapped out, marked out every single miracle in the Bible, the location, what the miracle was, and who did it. Do you know what I found out? You go through every single miracle in the Bible. And I did like two or three times just to make sure I got them all. That means I read through the whole Bible and had that list next to me. And so I have an exhaustive list of the miracles. And we see the fact that all kinds of miracles, there's nothing there, they're all over the Bible, all kinds of miracles. But then we see about who did them. So God does miracles. whenever God wants to do miracles. They're all over the Bible. No rhyme or reason. You can't find anything. But when He does miracles through the hands of a person, then we have only three time periods. Moses and Joshua, Elijah and Elisha, and Jesus and the apostles. It's the only time that they come through the hands of somebody else. Now, do we pray for miracles today? Absolutely. Can God do miracles today? Absolutely. We pray for that. but I don't believe he's using people like that. Now again, he says in the end times that's gonna change, right? That's gonna be different. People will be able to do these things, and a lot of them are gonna be false miracles, so you gotta really be careful, right? Just like Pharaoh's magicians, remember, they copycatted God too, and they only got to a certain point, and they couldn't duplicate them any longer. All right, so anyway, that was my study a long time ago, but it's been very helpful. the works of Jesus Christ, the miracles he performed were divine signs given to prove that he was so much more than a carpenter's son. They revealed to his generation and also to ours, right, that Jesus is the God-man, the promised, what? Redeemer, who would deliver our race from sin's devastation and Satan's bondage. Are the sin devastate? Are we held in bondage to Satan and sin? Remember, Jesus said this, if you commit sin, you are a what? A slave of sin. That's right. Chapter number one. So we're going to be looking at His works tonight, okay? His works. So chapter number one is command over the soul. And we see that best in the wilderness temptations. Let's go ahead and turn to back to Matthew chapter 4. We're going to read verses 1 through 11. And here's what it says, then Jesus was led up by the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, if you are the son of God, I command that these stones become bread, verse four. But he answered and said, it is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Then the devil took him into the holy city and had him stand on the pinnacle of the temple. And he said to him, if you are the son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you. And on their hands, they will bear you up so that you will not strike your foot against the stone. Jesus said to him, on the other hand, it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Verse 8. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain. and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these things I will give you if you fall down and worship me. And Jesus said to him, go, Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God and serve him only. Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and began to minister to him." All right. So here it says, the temptation to Jesus Christ took place directly after his baptism and prior to the beginning of his public ministry. The Holy Spirit of God, the third person, the Trinity, led Jesus into the wilderness. Folks, is it a sin to be tempted? No. Where's the sin lying? us engaging in that sin, right? Partaking in that sin, that's right. So don't be confused. There's a difference between being tempted, like Jesus was even tempted, but he didn't give into that sin, all right? Satan's ambition was to sabotage God's plan to redeem humanity by tempting the Redeemer to sin. But God, who tempts no one to evil, intended to prove that Christ was sinless and entirely submissive to his will. James 1.13. And the testing focused on three distinct areas. Let's look at those. Number one, temptation to self-assertion. Temptation to self-assertion. And this is what Satan said to Jesus. He said, if you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. Now the word if is probably better translated since, all right? So Satan wasn't calling that into question, wondering. So probably best to say, since you are the Son of God, Well, the devil knew very well whom he was tempting. He appealed to Christ's hunger by urging him to use his divine power to produce bread from rock. The objective was to goad Christ into meeting His own need independently and apart from the Father's direction. It was God's will that He be tempted in this way. However, Jesus being fully God was also the perfect man. While on earth, He modeled for all of us the right way to live before God, that is with dependent What? Submission upon the Father's word and will. So Jesus was simply obeying His heavenly Father and doing what God wanted Him to do. So is that true about us too? Absolutely. Jesus responded to the devil by doing what? Quoting from the Old Testament, again, that's all that he had at that point. That was all the scripture that was revealed. Feeding the soul is more important than feeding the stomach. So he quotes Deuteronomy 8.3. Now let's go on to number two, the second temptation. This is a temptation to manipulate God. He said this, if or since you are the son of God, throw yourself down. Right, he knew who Jesus Christ was. Satan would have served Christ before he fell as Lucifer, right? He would have known all too well who this was. Here in this temptation, Satan quoted Scripture, but he distorted its meaning. He subtly challenged Christ's confidence in God, enticing him to selfishly force the father to prove his love by saving him from physical harm. And Jesus responded to this temptation to independence by correctly quoting scripture. You shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Deuteronomy 6.16. So this time he quoted Deuteronomy 6. He would not coerce God into proving his goodness, kindness, or care for him. Unlike Adam and Eve who believed Satan's lie that God was somehow withholding something good from them, Jesus acted in perfect what? Faith. You can say obedience too. Listen, you guys. Let me ask you this, so what does this episode teach us about Satan and spiritual warfare? Is that not a good question? What does this episode right here teach us about Satan? I would say this, that he's the master deceiver, master manipulator, absolutely. And he'll even appear, according to 2 Corinthians 11, as an angel of light. He'll even share scripture with you, but he's going to twist it. And unless you know, here's what we learn about spiritual warfare, unless you know this He will tie you into a theological pretzel, right? He will. So what is that, where are we left? I mean, what does that leave for us? We need to do what? Spend our time getting to know this book. Because other than that, he can quote scripture, and he's probably really good at it. Well, actually, we know he is. But we need to do what Jesus did and know it better and apply it correctly. All right, number three, temptation to illegitimate gain. He said this, all these things will I give you, he's talking about the kingdoms of the world, if you fall down and worship me. The third temptation unveils what the devil has craved since the dawn of time, to be like the Most High, to seize his praise and honor, to usurp his glory and majesty, to be worshiped by the Son of God, for this he would surrender all the kingdoms over which he ruled. But I love this. But what does it profit a man to gain what? The whole world and lose or forfeit his soul, right? Mark 8, 36. Jesus, again, quoted Deuteronomy or the word of God. And he said this, God alone is to be worshiped and served. There's a number of verses there that you can look up. Hey, God and God alone, amen? It's only Him. It's only Him. Look at Luke 4.13. Satan is like that. He waits for just the right moment. Right? Although Satan continued to dog the ministry of Christ, he failed to accomplish his purpose. He had successfully seduced Adam and Eve who fell when they were tempted, but Jesus is unique in that he faced temptation head on and yet did not sin. His obedient dependence upon the Father remains steadfast. For this reason, while the trial of Christ in the wilderness was not a true miracle in the biblical sense, His victory over temptation was clearly one of his mighty deeds. The perfect man had complete mastery over his own, what? Soul. And I underline this next sentence, displaying a beautiful blend of deity and humanity. The Son of God was tempted in all things as we are, and yet, without sin. Now let me ask you this, how important to the gospel is it that Jesus Christ was without sin? How important to the gospel? Absolutely crucial. If Christ's sin just one time he would have to die for his own sin. And he would not be able to take on our sins, right? And basically provide God with a just appeasement for what we've done, right? A propitiation for what we've done. So it is absolutely vital to the gospel. And you cannot believe that Jesus sinned and still be a Christian. I really don't think that. All right, because you've got a distorted view of what the gospel is. Number two, command over disease. So healing the paralyzed man. So after the days of temptation in the wilderness, Jesus began preaching in the heavily populated region along the shores of the Sea of Galilee in northern, it says Palestine, I miss that one in your books. Cross it out and write what it should say, Israel. I apologize, that one slipped through my fingers somehow. All right. The ministry of John the Baptist had ended abruptly when he was murdered by King Herod for fearlessly denouncing Herod's incestuous marriage to Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. There it is. But even before the death of John, the ministry of Jesus had become increasingly prominent. Let's read from Matthew chapter 4 verses 23 through 25. And Jesus was going about in all Galilee teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom and healing every kind of disease and every kind of sickness among the people. And I underline that too in my book. And the news about him went out into all Syria, and they brought to him all who were ill, taken with various diseases and pains, demoniacs, epileptics, paralytics, and he healed them. And great multitudes followed him from Galilee and Decapolis, Decapolis, and Jerusalem and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan. All right. So news of his ministry spread like wildfire through the region, so much so that, according to Mark 1.45, Jesus could no longer publicly enter a city, but stayed out in unpopulated areas. And they were coming to him from everywhere. Now folks, if you've been here for our Life of Christ sermon series, you've heard me preach through these sermons. So we actually, Lord willing, this fall, I'm planning, at least right now, to go through the Sermon on the Mount. But that's already a year plus into his ministry. And so there's a lot of ground that we've covered. I think we were like 70 some sermons already into the Life of Christ series before we even get to this. But these are great verses. I wanna just remind you, if you haven't heard those, then go back and listen to those if you have any questions. It said this, of the multitudes attracted to Jesus, some were only onlookers, but many became his disciples. ones who were learners or followers. I would say this, and you can write this in there as just a definition of a disciple. A disciple is a learning follower or, I've heard it said like this, or a following learner. And that's really what the word means. That's all it means. A learning follower or a following learner. But it's an important word. You guys know how many times the word Christian is used in the Bible? Twice. Did somebody say three times? Okay, I'll double check that. You guys look at that and correct me if I'm wrong, but as far as I know, it's twice. Every time else they're called believers, they're called followers, they're called disciples, they're called brethren, right? What I'm saying by that is it's too easy to be called a Christian, at least in this country, right? And people have filled it, backfilled it with all kinds of meaning that was never intended. So I think it's more accurate to say, hey, I'm a disciple of Jesus Christ. So one who are learners and followers. So of these, Jesus would later choose 12 to be called, you guys know the word to this, apostles or sent ones, with unique authority to act as his representatives. These were 12 men who left all families, communities, livelihoods to be constantly at the side of Jesus. All right, let's look again at Luke 6, verses 13 through 16. He called his disciples to him and chose 12 of them, whom he named as apostles. Simon, whom he also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, and James, and John, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, James, excuse me, the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called a zealot. Judas, the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who also became a traitor. Now let's read Mark 2, one through 12. Let's go to Mark. Let's spend a little bit of time in Mark tonight. Mark 2, one through 12. Are you guys ready for this? This is the paralytic when he was healed. When he had come back to Capernaum, several days afterward, it was heard that he was at home. And many were gathered together so that there was no longer room, not even near the door. And he was speaking the word to them. Don't you love the fact that he preached what? The Bible, right? So key. Verse 3. excuse me, they let down the pallet on which the paralytic was lying. And Jesus, seeing their face, said to the paralytic, son, your sins are forgiven. But some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, why does this man speak this way? He is blaspheming. Who can forgive sins but God alone? Verse eight. Immediately, Jesus, aware in His spirit that they were reasoning that way within themselves, said to them, why are you reasoning about these things in your hearts? Which is easier to say to the paralytic, your sins are forgiven, or to say, get up and pick up your pallet and walk? But, verse 10, here it is, so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins, He said to the paralytic, I say to you, get up, pick up your pallet, and go home. And he got up and immediately picked up the pallet and went out in the sight of everyone so that they were all amazed and were glorifying God saying, we have never seen anything like this. Isn't that a great account, you guys? Love that account. So here it is, he forgave sin. So we're gonna walk through this account just by looking at the things that he did, really, okay? So they came bringing him a paralytic. according to verse three here. Christ was teaching in the city of Capernaum on Galilee's north shore when a paralytic was brought to him for healing. Unable to move and powerless to change his desperate condition, the man was focused solely on his, what? His physical need. I dare say if any of us were a paralytic, we'd probably be thinking the same thing, right? So I can completely sympathize with that. But this is what Jesus said in verse 5. My son, your sins are forgiven. Rather than dealing directly with the man's paralysis, Jesus forgave his sins. By drawing attention to his spiritual condition, the Son of God refocused, I would say, recalibrated the man's thinking on his eternal destiny rather than his temporary physical affliction or condition. Moreover, by forgiving the man's sins, Jesus affirmed his deity, a claim that the scribes clearly understood. No, it gets better as it goes along, right? He said this, they reasoned in their hearts, who can forgive sins but God alone? The Jewish scribes reacted immediately to Christ's bold statement, interpreting it as what? blasphemy, and guess what? It would have been blasphemy if Jesus were not truly God. For no man or woman or pope has authority to forgive sins, correct? Forgiveness is the sole, you can underline this too, is the sole prerogative of God since all sin is fundamentally an offense against the creator himself. When we sin, and you sin horribly against your wife, men, or wives against your husbands, or parents against their children, who are we sinning against most? Who should we ask forgiveness from first and foremost? All sin is fundamentally against Him. It's His law, correct? And then as soon as I realize that, oh, my sin has affected someone else, I need to go to however wide that circle was whom I sinned against and confess to all those who saw it, who heard it, who were affected by it, correct? There's a number of good verses there, Psalm 32, 5, 51, 4, Isaiah 43, 25. So awareness, spirit, that they were reasoning that way within themselves, only God can read someone's mind, right? Or know what's in their hearts. Again, here's another indication of Christ's deity. Only God sees into the hearts of men. So ladies, when you tell your husband that you know what he's thinking, don't do that. Because you really don't. You can assume you think you know what he's thinking, right? Or men, you can do the same thing with your kids and exasperate them. Don't do it, right? I remember a professor telling us very clearly, men, never tell somebody that you know what they're thinking. And he was right. Only God can do that. So here it is, he healed the sinner. There's your next blank. So, he said this, rise, take up your pallet and go home. The Son of Man, an Old Testament expression referring to Messiah, don't have time to go into that, but great Old Testament study there, was a favorite title Jesus used for himself to further reveal that he was indeed God and to confirm that he had the power both to, here it is, heal and forgive sins. excuse me, to further reveal that He was indeed God and to confirm that He had the power both to heal and forgive sins, Jesus healed the man of his paralysis in the presence of them all. And again, there's for another reference to Christ forgiving sins as found in Luke 7. The result was amazement and worship. And then again, other accounts that reveal Christ's miraculous power to heal the blind, right? Continually healing people, their sicknesses and disease, the deaf, the mute, the leprous, the paralyzed. That's just a small sampling of the multitude of verses that God's word gives us about what Christ did. So, chapter number three. Command over nature, calming the wind in the sea. Let's look on to Mark 4, 35 through 41, short account here. He said this, on that day, when evening came, he said to them, let us go over to the other side. Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in the boat, just as he was, and other boats were with him. Verse 37, and there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking over the boat so much that the boat was already filling up. Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep on the cushion, and they woke him and said to him, teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, hush, be still. And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. And he said to them, why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? They became very much afraid and said to one another, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? Another great account. So here it is, he governed the elements. Or you can say weather, right? And there arose a fierce gale of wind, 437. It says this, on one evening after preaching to the crowds on Galilee's western shore, Jesus and his disciples began a trip to the other side of the lake. They encountered a storm which quickly grew to a tempest of abnormal intensity. Mark's gospel described the wind similar to a cyclone. while Matthew's gospel, recording the same events, said that the waves were like an earthquake or seismos at sea. What did Jesus do? They woke him. Lord, don't you care about us that we're perishing? And he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, hush, be still. The quiet authority of Christ over the raging elements contrasted with his exhausted slumber only moments before is a beautiful picture of the balance between the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ. So here we see his humanity right next door to his divinity, right? Exactly was, he was the God-man. His human frame was so deep in sleep that even a gale failed to arouse him. His divinity was unveiled with the simple words, hush and be still. The wind and waves calmed. Over time, about a half an hour later, what does it say? at once. So here it is, he inspired awe from his disciples. And they ask this in verse 41, who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him? After calming the wind and the sea with a rebuke, Jesus then calmed the terrified hearts of his disciples with another rebuke. He said, how is it that you have no faith? Fear of the wind and waves had clouded their awareness that the Son of God was with them. he had called the world into existence. Clearly the whole realm of, you could say, nature or creation is under his authority. Typical of all the miraculous works, the response of his followers to his powerful revelation of Jesus was fear and adoration. Again, they had never seen anything like this, really. So, and again, for more information, more studies, it says Christ also revealed his power over nature when he walked on water. When he turned water into wine, that was his first miracle. When he fed the 5,000 and directed his disciples to a miraculous catch of fish twice, right? So, we're going on, you guys, we need to keep moving on. Chapter four is command over demons. Let's turn to Mark chapter five, verses one through 20. that came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gerasenes. When he got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. And he had his dwelling among the tombs, and no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain. Verse four, because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. Constantly, night and day, he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains and gashing himself with stones. Seeing, kind of sounds like modern day people, right? Modern day Seattle. Sorry, couldn't help myself. Seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before him. Verse seven. And shouting with a loud voice, he said, what business do we have with each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore you by God, do not torment me. For he had been saying to him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit. And he was asking him, what is your name? And he said to him, my name is Legion, for we are many. And he began to implore him earnestly not to send them out of the country. Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. Verse 12, the demons implored him, saying, send us into the swine so that we may enter them. Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about 2,000 of them, and they were drowned in the sea. Their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. They came to Jesus and observed the man who had been demon possessed sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had the legion. And they became frightened. Those who had seen it described to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. And they began to implore him to leave their region. Isn't that interesting? That was their response. As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed was imploring him that he might accompany him. And he did not let him. But he said to him, go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord had done for you and how he had mercy on you. And he went away and began to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed. So here's your, basically your forerunner to the apostles when they would go out and other people would go out, right? And Jesus knew what he was doing. He was really priming the evangelism fields. And no doubt people got saved during that time. But I just, as I was just reading this here, just the implications, even the evangelistic implications, and they begin to implore him to leave their region. They had no idea what they were doing. They were passing up the son of God, right? And they should have looked at this miracle and talked to him and asked him all kinds of questions. What in the world? We've never seen, we tried to bind this guy and here it is. He was afraid of you, he came to you and you cast out demons. They left, pigs ran over a cliff and now he's in his right mind. But sometimes that goes to show you that, you know what, God gives an opportunity. People reject and what happens? They don't know if it's the last opportunity. So a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. Sorry, he commanded the demons, that's the point. So a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met him. Directly after calming the storm, Jesus and disciples sailed to Galilee's mountainous eastern shore where they were approached by a demon-possessed man. The wretched man had been banished from society and left to scavenge, scavenge out a loathsome existence, excuse me, from among the tombs of the dead. Wild and naked, he had so terrified the community with his unrestrained fits of rage that people were afraid to pass by. Clearly, his miserable existence in the tombs only mirrored the state of his godless soul. Dead in sin, enslaved by Satan, engulfed in darkness, this man had fallen far from the divine image he was created to reflect. Was this guy helpless? Absolutely he was helpless. He was demon possessed, right? No doubt he probably wanted to live with the people, but he was driven by these demons. So demon possession is not a physical disorder or a psychological imbalance. So what do we do with people like this today? we lock them up, right? I know it's something called different than like an insane asylum. I don't even know what the politically correct term is today. But they would lock them up, and they still do that today. And I bet a vast majority of these people, really, that are locked up underneath these psychological imbalances or whatever they do, they drug them. I bet a lot of them probably are demon-possessed. They really are. That's what we do in our society with them, at least. So it is neither a myth nor mere religious explanation for behavior associated with the insane. Rather, the Bible teaches that it is a frightening reality whereby a fallen angel or demon or demons, as we know right here, right, inhabits a human body to control and use for its own evil and opposing both the purpose of God and the welfare of man. Demons can inflict illness and often drive their victims to violence, isolation, self-inflicted injury, and even suicide. There's a number of verses there. Certainly not exhaustive, but there's enough to get you started. It is not surprising. that Satan should have such power over men for the world is his domain. Satan's offer to give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world points to the reality that in a certain sense, they are his to give. He is called the ruler of this world and notice this, the small g God of this world who has blinded the minds of the unbelieving. Don't forget that he is simply a small g God, right? He's not like our God. The Bible warns that he prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour, and that the whole world lies in his power. All right, there's a number of really good verses there. So he came when he was demon possessed and he said this, what do I have to do with you, Jesus, the son of the most high God? Now how did this guy know this? How did he know who Jesus was? Who knew who Jesus was? Clearly the demons did. The same phrase is used earlier in Mark's gospel and indicates that the demons did not want Jesus Christ to meddle in their business or hinder their work. The demons not only correctly identified Jesus as deity, son of the most high God, but also knew that he was holy and without sin. They even say so in those other references. So Jesus commanded that they come out of the man. He says, you unclean spirits. Degraded by demons tormenting him, the man was helpless to overcome the evil on his own. He could only wail and gash himself with stones. Here enters the Savior, the champion of the story, who delivered the man with the, what? Words of his mouth. Just as God spoke the universe into existence with his powerful words, so Jesus, a living word, simply what? Told the demon to leave. You guys, I'm just starting in our family devotions back in Genesis, chapters one and two, and just read through the creation again with my family. And I loved it. God spoke this day into existence. He spoke that day into existence. And it was just his speaking. And I love the fact, too, at the end of the book, when he comes back after the 1,000 years, he releases Satan from that 1,000 years, and he comes back and he slays Satan and all his armies that he's heaped together, deceived to fight against God, and what does he say? He slays them with the word of his mouth, the breath of his mouth, however it's specifically said there. But here it is. That's where God's power is. He simply has to speak. The demons identified themselves as legion, referring to the largest military unit of Rome, up to 6,000 soldiers. So even though many demons inhabited this man, they were powerless against the Son of God, submitted to his unquestionable authority, and even begged him for permission to be left alone and remain in the same area, okay? And then you could look at Mark 134, where Jesus did not permit the demons to speak on another occasion, okay? Other cross-references there. Because of the Savior's intervention, the demons failed to accomplish their full work of bringing the man to death. It did not take them long, however, to kill the swine they inhabited. So John 8, 44. So, and Jesus also restored this man's sanity. He restored this man's sanity. They came and observed the man sitting down, clothed and in his right mind. No longer distant, no longer needing shackles, the man Jesus healed was now at peace. And in his right mind, the demon's treatment of the man had resulted in the most severe bondage. The Savior made him whole. Demons inflicted injury and death. God mercifully restored harmony and life. Yeah, amen, brother. And he went away and began to proclaim what great things Jesus had done for him. And everyone marveled. No doubt they recognized this guy. No doubt everyone heard about the crazy man down by the tombs, and we don't go there, kids. You stay away. We travel in packs. We go around that area, right? If my twin brother was here, I'd make a joke right about now. You guys kind of know what I'm thinking. So this is this guy, he's the first evangelist. The power of Jesus amazed people throughout the three years of his ministry that he did. And Luke 4.36 says, they began discussing with one another saying, what is this message? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits and they come out. Amen. The Bible does not reveal a universe controlled by equally powerful forces of good and evil. That's the yin and the yang, right? That's what that symbol is, the yin and the yang. One's black, one's light. There's the reverse of each other. I don't know exactly how to describe that. You guys don't know what I'm talking about. But that's what that refers to. You know, half good, half evil. But that's not what our universe is full. Rather, a universe ordered and controlled by God, what? Alone. When the light confronts the darkness, it always overcomes the darkness. Now this account is retold also in Matthew 8 and Luke 8. For further accounts of Christ's authority over demons, you guys can look at a number of other references there. Chapter 5, command over death, raising the widow's son. Let's look at Luke 7, 11 through 16. So let's flip over a book, Luke 7. Okay, verses 11 through 16. Soon afterwards, he went to a city called, oh man, Nain, and his disciples were going along with him, accompanied by a large crowd. Now as he approached the gate of the city, a dead man was being carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a sizable crowd from the city was with her. Verse 13, when the Lord saw her, he felt compassion for her and said to her, do not weep. He came up and touched the coffin, and the bearers came to a halt, and he said, young man, I say to you, arise. Verse 15, the dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. Fear gripped them all, and they began glorifying God, saying, a great prophet has arisen among us, and God has visited his people that he has. Remember, Emmanuel means what? God with us." So here He was moved with what? It says Jesus was moved with compassion. Is our God compassionate? Amen He is. Amen. So He had compassion on her and said to her, do not weep. The narrative opens with two large crowds meeting before the gates of Nain. Jesus, with his pursuing multitude, about to enter the city in a funeral procession, just leaving the city, grieved to see death ravage both the dead and the living. The prince of life was moved with compassion. It was the mother to whom Jesus spoke, a broken mother, robbed now of both husband and son, a destitute woman left with no one to care for her. Here's what Jesus did. Jesus confronted death. He said, young man, I say to you, arise. The young man was not sick, not close to death. This guy was He was gone. He was past opportunity, past hope of help. Jesus commanded one who physically could not hear, yet the man heard, for Jesus has spoken beyond the dead body to his eternal living soul. That's exactly right, which only God can do. Jesus Christ defied death and raised the man to life by the power of his word. He said this, all he said was this, arise. Only the word of God can restore life to the dead, amen? What did God do when he created Adam out of dust? What does it say there in Genesis chapter one? He breathed life into him, right? So here it is, he breathed life into this man, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. This most tender expression of kindness toward the woman upon whom he had shown compassion is a glimpse into the heart of Jesus Christ. You can say into the heart of God, and it beautifully reveals the combined attributes of both the goodness and the power of the God-man. who among the many sympathetic onlookers would not have yearned to give the woman back her son, but they could not for they lacked the power to do so. Jesus, however, is both good and powerful. He provided for the mother's deepest need by overcoming her greatest enemy, which is also, by the way, our greatest enemy. Correct? What greater enemy do we have? And that's it, that's the end, right? It's death. So he evoked fear. And this is what verse 16 says, fear gripped them all and they began glorifying God. What does the Bible say about fear? Fear is the beginning of all wisdom. It's exactly right. Just reading through the Psalms right now in my own personal Bible reading, You guys, I can't tell you how many times the Bible talks about fearing God. Blessed is a man who fears the Lord and God's watchful, careful eyes over those who fear him. I mean, there's just so many things. So Jesus performed many miracles privately. But the widow's son he raised to life in full view before a very large crowd. It was his self-revelation as the God-man. He wanted the powerless to witness his commanding authority. He wanted those enslaved by fear and death to understand that there was hope for resurrection. They were afraid, that's your blank, when they saw it, and their fear led to, what? Worship and praise. Led to worship and praise. You guys, do you understand that God created us for worship and praise? That's what He's created us for. It's a glorious thing. Here it is, to glorify God is to, look at this, honor God in His proper position as Lord over all. Would you guys agree with that? It was for this purpose that man, excuse me, not the man, but man was created, and therefore it is the fitting response of man toward God. It reveals a humble heart for those who fear God and glorify Him, embrace their own frailty and imperfection. They have magnified God in their minds and bow to his authority. Conversely, the proud man has no fear of God. He gives no thought of God or to his eternal destiny. Having placed himself on the throne of his own heart, he will bow to no one. Such a person brings no honor, no glory to God. Remember, God gives grace to those who are but opposes the proud. And this is what they said. They say, a great prophet has risen among us. God has visited his people. The crowd that witnessed the resurrection of the widow's son reported the miracle throughout the entire region, we're told. Many acknowledged Jesus as a great prophet, but the remnant of God's people who had been waiting for Messiah recognized that the expected one had come. Now there are two other resurrections recorded in the Gospels, are those of Jairus' daughter in Mark 5 and Lazarus in John 11. All right guys, here we are. Jesus conquered all that man fears and all that is beyond his ability to control. Furthermore, he possesses absolute authority over all realms. He remains sinless in the face of great temptation. Think through what we just learned tonight. Was unhindered by the forces of nature and overcame the devastation of disease, the power of demons, and the sting of death. The clear purpose for these divine signs is to reveal the true identity of Jesus Christ as God, the prophesied Messiah and Redeemer of man. And that's really what the whole purpose of these signs are. So John 20, 30 through 31. I mean, you guys love how John finishes his gospel just right here. He says, many other signs, but therefore Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book. But these have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name. Amen. Amen. All right, here's the question, you guys. So some of the questions that you might want to ask after your lesson is, what is a sign? Again, we talked about that. In what three areas did Satan tempt Christ? We saw those. How did Christ show command over his soul? In what single way does this account show Christ to be unique among all humanity? What was the difference between the focus of Jesus and that of the paralytic, right? What was Christ's response to the paralytic? Did he immediately heal him? Know the answer to that? Number seven is a really good one. Why did the scribes react to Jesus as forgiving the man's sin? Why did they react that way, right? We know that. What hindered the faith of the disciples while they were in the boat with Jesus during the great storm at sea? Number nine, what is demon possession? That's also really important, you guys, because there's so much misinformation, so much bad teaching, so much emphasis on demons and Satan, and so where we get off, right? We develop these whole ministries that are deliverance ministries that I would highly, highly warn you about, all right, and point you back to Scripture and good teaching. Okay, number 10, what is Satan's present relationship to the world? Number 11, how did Jesus display his authority over demons? Number 12, what was the difference in the life of the demon-possessed man after he met Jesus? Completely calm, right, in his right mind, clothed, right? Number 13, what is the characteristic of a person who glorifies God and one who does not? And number 14, what do miracles reveal about Jesus Christ? What do miracles reveal about Jesus Christ, you guys? That he was the God-man, right? He was the Messiah, the promised one, the Christ who was to come. All right, you guys, so let me give you guys some resources that I think would be helpful. So looking at this lesson that we did tonight, how many of you guys have seen this book, The One Perfect Life? I know David, David's seen everything I have. David's our book guy, by the way, so if you guys have questions about books, go to David. So One Perfect Life, so this is really one of the, so for my Life of Christ sermon series, one of the hardest things, and I knew this at the very beginning, would be to to figure out how Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John all fit together. And that is called a harmony of the Gospels. And they've been written for hundreds of years. So there's dozens and dozens of them out there. And the one that I typically use are one... Oh man, what's the name of it? It's not... The Life of Christ in Stereo, that's one. This is another one that I'll go to. There's one by Robert L. Thomas, who's like my Greek professor. He was actually a New Testament introduction. Nothing introduction about that one, though. But this one is John MacArthur's One Perfect Life, and he weaves all four gospels together into one perfect story. Very, very excellent book, so I'd highly recommend that. Next one, let's see if I can go that way. This one is called, they're all by John MacArthur tonight, I apologize, but I was looking on my bookshelf of all the things that I have on just Jesus, right, to see what I wanted to deal with. And these are the ones that I can clearly, wholeheartedly endorse. This one is called The Deity of Christ. So if you just want one volume on, If you're wondering about who this guy is, OK, and this is this is the deity Christ. So what this book does is it takes all the commentaries that John MacArthur has written and it takes those best portions of where it talks about Christ deity in the word of God and it puts them all together and in a systematic way. So good book there. And then one more. And it's this one, that Jesus you can't ignore. What you must learn from the bold confrontations of Christ. Well, guess what? Jesus was a compassionate, the compassionate God-man, correct? But wait until next week when we get to the words of Jesus. Are there hard sayings from Jesus? There are, there are, and so you, can we just like, can we like cherry pick out the easy ones and just build a theology and say, this is the Jesus I believe in? What's wrong with that? It's the Jesus I believe in, it's a made up Jesus, right? You know, my God wouldn't send anybody to hell. Well, your God doesn't exist. It's a figment of your own imagination, your own making. And so this helps to dispel, you know what? There are some hard things and some very serious things, and so we need to understand that. So Jesus actually spoke more about hell than he ever did about heaven. Do you guys realize that? He did. So he was trying to warn people. He didn't want people to go there.