All of us are under authority. Whether we know it or not, whether we like it or not, whether we submit to it or rebel to it, we're all under authority. And that shows up in many ways in our lives. And we, as individuals, have many different relationships with authority, do we not? Some of us, our relationship with authority is primarily and predominantly rebellion. It's rejection of authority. If someone tells you to do something and they do it with any authority, your first bent is no. I know that's only our tiny children, right, that do that, not us. Some of you pick and choose your authority. Aren't we want to do this? The authority of that speed limit sign is one thing when we're by ourselves in the car, it's another thing when we see the cop a quarter mile ahead with a radar. Whose authority will win at that point? Does your foot come off the gas at that point? You see, if you're truly in rebellion to the idea of speed limits, you won't slow down for the policeman, you'll just take your ticket because you disagree with the authority. We have authority exercised in our governments from local level all the way up to the national level. Some of that authority is abused. Some of that authority is exercised in the wrong way. Some of that authority is gathered where it's not given to those individuals to have. But authority is what is sought nonetheless at every turn. And you and I, if we're professing believers in Jesus Christ, are under authority. Even with all the commands we're given and all the understanding of our life in front of us, we are ones who are submitted to authority. And the scriptures give us that authority at the level of the family, at the level of the church, at the level of government, and at the level of our own personal life. And so the question this morning is, what is your relationship to authority? Not just the authority, but all authority. And I would propose to you that your relationship with the authority dictates how you respond to all authority. Now, Jesus is one that comes on the scene with authority. He possesses it. It's not granted to him. The Constitution of the United States of America doesn't grant him authority. The bylaws of a club or an organization don't grant him authority. He is authority. By nature of his being, when he speaks and acts, he does it with authority. And he does this as the God-man, as the incarnate one that we're being introduced to in the Gospel of Luke. And much of what we learn in the Gospel of Luke is his demonstration of that authority. Demonstration in his teaching, demonstration in his works, demonstration on the cross, demonstration in the resurrection, and all the effects of his life and death and resurrection. And we're in this opening section of the Gospel of Luke, the opening section of Jesus's ministry. And if you remember, we started in this section, just take a look back at your scriptures. We're not going to go through it all, but we want to see the stream that's going through here. And remember, we started with this understanding that Jesus is the Son of God. We saw that in his baptism where the father from heaven speaks and says that this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And then we have the genealogy of Jesus that leads us to Adam, the son of God, to show us he is the son of Yahweh. He is the true son of God, capital S, capital G, but he has also come incarnate as fully God and fully man, and he is a son of Adam, and he will be the obedient. son of Adam that we will see. And then in his temptation, Satan tries to take him to the woodshed and claiming that you say that you are the son of God and what Satan is trying to get him to do is act in such a way that would prove that he is not the true son of God. And Jesus rises above that by quoting scripture and staying obedient to the authority and command and power and provision of his father. Then we see him coming in, officially beginning his ministry, picking up again that description, and we see Luke presenting him coming into Nazareth, his hometown, and being rejected there. And what he says there is that he is also the son of God, but he is also the messianic servant of Isaiah, quoting Isaiah 61 and saying, today, That powerful word in the gospel of Luke, today is the day that this is fulfilled in your hearing. Now remember, we've talked about this idea of today already, and it'll carry us through at major events. The salvation, the proclamation of the angels, today a child is born. And to people like Zacchaeus, today is the day that I'm coming to your house. Today is the day that salvation comes. To the thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. So he brings this this introductory teaching Luke does from Nazareth. Remember, we talked about this last week, that from the other gospel writers, that episode in Nazareth happens later on in the life of Jesus, but Luke front-loads it for us so that we see his rejection at Nazareth and more reception in other places immediately after that. But remember, in that time in Nazareth, they're rejecting him, and some of that rejection is that they initially receive Jesus as he's a homeboy, he's from our hometown, we must have a secret in with this Jesus, and Jesus tells them no, and their rejection turns. And one of the things that they want is they want him to do the same things that he's done in Capernaum. And so Luke inverts this so that we now today are introduced to what happens in Capernaum. So that brings us up to speed of where we are in our passage. And remember that last week we started this section in Nazareth and the rest of chapter four is all this one section of Jesus' teaching, it's his word. Now there's casting out of demons and there's healing, but all of that comes by his word. And what we're to see today, and I'm drawing, all of this into, before we read our passage, so that you can be on the lookout for the words that are introduced today that shape it all. And as we read, I want you to be on the lookout for the words authority. And in the LSB, it is message. In yours, it might be word. And also to watch for the words rebuked or rebuking. This ties everything together for us today. So what we are going to see today is we are going to see Jesus now working in the same way that he says Isaiah 61 will be fulfilled. that he is freeing captives, that he is proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor, that he is setting out on this mission, giving us a clear demonstration of what he said his ministry would be like when he said Isaiah 61 was fulfilled in their hearing. So for us today, we want to understand a couple of things. We want to understand Jesus' authority and where we stand with it. And we also want to ask ourselves, what does that promote for us? Where does that, where does Jesus's authority and our submission to it push us in our life? What things should we be pushed toward and what things should we pushed away from? And I think we'll see all of this as we see Jesus's mission unfolding before us. Stand if you will and turn to, if you're not already there, Luke chapter four, beginning in verse 31, And we'll move toward the end of the chapter today. And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath. And they were amazed at his teaching, for his message, his word, was with authority. And in the synagogue there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, let us alone. What do we have to do with you, Jesus the Nazarene? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked it saying, be quiet and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, it came out of him without doing him any harm. And amazement came upon all, came upon them all. And they were talking with one another saying, what is this message, this word? For with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirit and they come out. And the report about him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district. Then he stood up and left the synagogue and entered Simon's home. Now Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever and they asked him to help her. And standing over her, he rebuked the fever and it left her. Immediately she stood up and began waiting on them. And while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and laying his hands on each one of them, he was healing them. And demons were also coming out of many, shouting and saying, you are the son of God, but rebuking them. He was not allowing them to speak because they knew him to be the Christ. When day came, Jesus left and went to a secluded place, and the crowds were eagerly seeking for him and came to him and tried to keep him from going away from them. But he said to them, I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. So he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. The grass withers and the flower falls. You may be seated. Well, in these verses, we observe Jesus engaging in four acts demonstrating his messianic authority. We observe Jesus engaging in four acts, demonstrating his messianic authority. Now, I hope you saw that the idea of authority drives us here. The word authority appears, his execution of that authority by rebuking, having the power to rebuke and the demons fleeing and the sickness fleeing. The authority of Jesus is what's on display here. Now, his teaching and his word are what the overarching principle is driving everything. We are seeing his word in action. He is teaching, but it is word, it's his message through which the authority is transferred in sight of all the people who are watching him. So his authority is what's before us as he demonstrates this authority that he possesses to have the ministry that he claims that God, the Father, his Father has sent him on. So the first that we see demonstrating his messianic authority is Jesus teaches with authority. Look at verse 31. Now, verses 31 and 32 could be a summary statement, but I think it really sets us up for what's going on in the following verses, 33 through 36. So in verse 31, and he came down to Capernaum. Now, the reason he comes down to Capernaum, even though Capernaum is northeast, is because Capernaum is like 1,200 or so feet above sea level. Nazareth is 1,200 feet above sea level. Capernaum is almost 700 feet below sea level. So it's technically correct to say he's coming down into Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And this starts off this section of ministry in Galilee between now and and the turning point in this book at verse 50 of chapter nine. And we are going to see 13 different miracles in Galilee, where Jesus is exercising miracles, demonstrating his messianic authority. So he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath. So this is what he does. He comes into town and he teaches. This is what he does. Remember, he must be found in his father's house. Remember when his parents were looking for him? This is where I must be. I must be here. And he's teaching. And they, that is everyone who heard him, were amazed at his teaching, for his message, his word, his logos, was with authority. Now, in this day... The Jewish rabbis, when they taught, they were constantly citing the authority of another rabbi. That's just what they did. Their expertise and their fame came from how many other rabbis they could quote. In fact, one rabbi at the time said that he doesn't know if he's ever thought it, he's ever spoken his own thought anywhere. He's just constantly teaching what other rabbis have taught. And the more they know, and the more they can quote, the higher their star raises within the rabbinic world. Now, Jesus teaches on his own authority. He doesn't quote other rabbis. He just teaches. He teaches from his own knowledge about himself revealed in the scriptures. And the scripture says they were amazed at his teaching. And the reason they were amazed is because of the authority with which he taught. Now, the amazement here doesn't tell us that all these people are coming to him in faith. Some of them inevitably are, but it doesn't mean that. It just means that they're stunned at the authority that he's expressing as he teaches in the synagogues. Now, this is kind of strange to us, isn't it? Because for us, in our day, when we tell people about Jesus, it's either this haphazard, yeah, I know about him, it's good for you and not for me, but there's no amazement. Or there's a broken heart that the Spirit of God is drawing toward himself, and there is less than amazement, there is just an overwhelming knowledge of their own sin, waiting to have the gospel presented to them so they can be relieved of that. Or there is just hatred right out of the bat. But these people, remember, this is the messianic age. People are waiting. People are waiting for a messiah. There are people all over the place rising up, claiming to be messiahs, false messiahs, but they're claiming to be the messiah. They're expecting this, but this one, this one teaches in a different way. This one teaches with authority, and it amazes them. Now remember, so far in Luke's presentation of this, all he's doing is teaching, and they're amazed. We kind of expect amazement when demons are cast out or people are healed of sickness or other miracles are done. This is purely by his teaching. Now where does that instruct us? When we are taking the word into our own heart, into our own mind, when we're teaching our families, when we're teaching in our church, when we're teaching in our schools, when we're preaching the gospel, we're leading Bible studies, we're telling other people about Jesus, whose word are we using? We're using the word of Christ when we gather to worship. We're told in the epistles that the word of Christ dwells richly among us when we sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs and admonish one another with these truths. So we want to be a people that is amazed at the teaching of Jesus. We want to be like the people here, but we come with spirit-filled, saved understanding of the Word of God, and it should always overwhelm us, it should always amaze us. Listen, let me tell you, if you're one who is studying your Bible and you're never amazed, You never see someone go, I never saw that before. Or the Spirit of God never convicts you of a sin, or brings you into a closer relationship with Jesus Christ as you study. If you never fall more in love with Him, then there's something wrong with your wanter here. Now, maybe that wrongness is that you don't yet know Christ and you think you do, but there's something wrong here. If you know Christ and you're interacting with the Word at such a low, lackadaisical level, I just... Man, be like the people who listen to Jesus teach. You don't teach what says His authority, but what do you teach? His authority. Every time you open up your mouth with the Word of God, you are teaching the authority of God to someone else. and they're responsible for how they respond to that authority. So this could be just a summary statement. We have two other summary statements in our passage this morning, but I think it leads us right into the second point because his authority is established in his teaching. So while he's teaching, he's teaching in the synagogue, we see his second act demonstrating his messianic authority, and that's that Jesus cast out demons with authority. Look at verse 33. The authority is what ties this passage together. The authority that he's teaching in verse 32, the authority that the people see with his word in verse 36. Verse 32, or verse 33, I'm sorry. And in the synagogue, there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon. Now that's a pretty vivid description of this demon, isn't it? It's the most vivid description that we have. But there's a reason that we have this demon described like this, the spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice. Now picture where he is, this is in the synagogue. So this is while Jesus is teaching, presumably, it would be like right now, if somebody walks in here or stands up and with a loud voice, start screaming at the top of their lungs. So this isn't just a, this is a major development and it guides what's happening. The way this happens, Jesus controls it for his own glory. This unclean, this spirit of an unclean demon cries out with a loud voice, verse 34, let us alone. What do we have to do with you, Jesus, the Nazarene? Now, your version may say something like ho or ha instead of let us alone. And it could be that, it could be just this exclamation, but it also could be a form of a verb that is carrying the idea of leave us alone, let us be. And I think that's more likely than what the form of the verb is. So let us be. And notice he says this, this demon speaks in the plural when he says let us alone. Then he has this phrase, what do we have to do with you? So this is a kind of weird little idiom. You can see it probably in, I know you can in the LSB, but probably in your notes, your textual notes in your Bible. It literally translates to what to us and to you. It's the same kind of phrase that Jesus uses in John chapter two when his mother comes to him and they're running out of wine at the wedding at Canaan, and he says, woman, What is this to me? What is this to us? Or what is this me to you? What does this have to do with me? It's the same Hebrew idiom. So it's translated correctly here for us. What do we have to do with you? Now, This may be an unclean demon, but this unclean demon knows that something's about to happen bad. This unclean demon knows that there's about to be a dust up here and the demons, plural, are gonna be on the short end of this stick. Because you notice, he says, what do we, let us alone, what do we have to do with you, Jesus the Nazarene? And then he says, have you come to destroy us? And then he says, I know who you are. So he's using singular and plural. What's he doing here? Is he playing like the Brits who those from Northern Britain, they often use come see us when they're talking about themselves or give us this or tell us this. And they're only using it in the singular. Is that what's happening here? Or is he talking about the demon and the man that he's possessing? Well, I think because of his understanding of what's about to happen, if you come to destroy us, this demon is confessing for all the demonic spirits. There's something major happening here. There's something major where Jesus is coming on the scene and Luke is bringing to us this first encounter and that he is the master of that unseen world. This is the beginning of him stripping the powers away from the principalities and powers. This is the beginning of his work that will take place on the cross and just put to death all of the demonic world. Now remember, we're talking about an already not yet kind of kingdom that's coming, right? So when Jesus comes, there is a victory over the demonic powers that happens on the cross. and he is showing that being in progress every time he casts out a demon. We're gonna learn more about this in chapter 11. You remember this passage that we're going to see a little later where Jesus is accused of casting out demons by Beelzebul, remember? And he basically says, that's a little ridiculous, that's a house divided. If I cast out demons by Beelzebul, then that means he is casting out his own people. Why would he do that? But if I cast out demons by the finger of God, do you remember what he says? Then the kingdom of God has come. So what Jesus is doing here is beginning that proclamation of the kingdom of God, which we see at the end of our text. So this is the beginning of his establishment, that he is the one who brings the kingdom. It is his kingdom that he is bringing. So look back at verse 34. The demon says, leave us alone. We don't have anything to do with you. Why? Jesus, the Nazarene, have you come to destroy us? He knows that that's what's coming. Why? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. So of course a demon who is an evil spirit is going to know there's going to be trouble when he runs up against the Holy One of God. There is going to be a victor in this clash and it is not going to be the evil one because this is the Holy One of God. Now in this passage, we're seeing Jesus described as the Holy One, and a few verses also we'll see him described by demons as the Son of God. So these are the same way of, different ways of referring to the same person, Jesus the Messiah. And he knows what's going to happen. He foresees the clash, and he verbally says the name, the Holy One of God. And Jesus immediately, look what he says in verse 35, rebuked it, the demon, saying, be quiet and come out of him. Now, the demon could very well be naming Jesus as the Holy One of God, because in that time, if you could name the name of an evil spirit or a spirit, you would control that spirit. I don't know for sure if that's what it is. It could be merely that he doesn't want to hear a profession of who he is from an evil spirit. He is demonstrating who he is by his teaching and by his preaching. And so he shuts that demon up and silences him. And it's not as gentle really as it sounds when he says, be quiet. He's saying shut up and come out of him. And what does the demon do? He obeys. Because Jesus speaks his word with authority. So this demon realizes that there is trouble brewing when the Holy One of God shows up. The Holy One of God shows up and has a confrontation with the spirit of an unclean demon. So Jesus rebukes it, be quiet, come out of him. And the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people. It came out of him without doing him any harm. So the person is fine. So yes, Jesus casts out a demon, but how does he do it? By the word that he speaks. And it's his word, it's his teaching, it's his logos that has that authority, because he comes as the one who is the creator of all principalities and powers, as we'll see in a few minutes when we close in Colossians. So we have this demonstration that Jesus cast out demons with authority. Now we might need to ask ourselves very quickly, what does this mean for us today? Do we still have demons that need to be cast out? Do we still have demons that can possess you and I as believers? And I would say a demon cannot possess a believer. And why would I say that? Because the Holy Spirit possesses us. And every believer has the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation. And if the Holy Spirit is in us, then an evil spirit cannot be. In that demonstration in Luke chapter 11, where he says, if I cast out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come. He goes on to say, listen, there is a master of a house, but if somebody more powerful comes in and subdues that master and takes all of his weapons away, then that master now possesses the house. And if it's not done with the power of overwhelming and disarming the person, the spirit who had that house, then the spirit can float around in the Netherlands and then come back and find the house all swept clean. But now he just brings a bunch of his friends to live in there and the person is even twice as bad off as they were before. But that's not the way Jesus leaves a believer, is it? Jesus doesn't leave a believer with a house swept. Jesus leaves a believer with the spirit dwelling. And so a believer cannot be indwelt by an evil spirit, by a demon. But there is demonic activity still going on, even though at the cross, Jesus disarms the principalities and powers. They're disarmed, but they're still active, fighting against him. They're the proverbial snake, like we talked about last week, or the week before, with their head cut off. And so we, Paul tells us in Ephesians 6, our battle is in prayer. It's not against other men and women. It's not against flesh and blood. It's against the principalities and the powers. And we don't enter battle with them. We pray. Why do we pray? Because we're praying to the one who's already disarmed them. So yes, there are times that we are being attacked by Satan and his agents, but we have the gospel and we have the presence of the Holy Spirit. Yes, there are non-believers who are indwelt with evil spirits, but God is in charge of all of that, and all of them have been disarmed where they do not have any power without God granting it to them. So we are a people who understands that this casting out of demons for Jesus is this demonstration of his authority. And this is the God we worship. This is the Christ who saved us. This is the Jesus who we're falling more in love with every day as we learn his word. And as we fall more in love with him, we're more obedient to him, which demonstrates our submission to him and his person and his work and his character. Well, after we've seen these first two acts demonstrating the messianic authority, this teaching, and he's casting out demons, we have one of our summary statements, which is strong, appears a lot in the gospels, and we will see it in Luke. And I forgot to put the verse on there, but it's verse 37 is the first one we see today. Reports of Jesus's teaching and work spreading throughout the district. That's the summary statement. Look at verse 37. And the report about him was spreading into every place in the surrounding district. So he's working and people are talking. The people who are amazed are telling their friends. The people who are amazed at his teaching, the people who witness his miracles, they go and tell other people and his fame is spreading. And we see this consistently that his fame in the district and in all the little cities and towns and out of the way places is continuing to spread, and this will continue. We see this even in chapter five, verse 15, but the news about him was spreading even farther, and large crowds were gathering to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. So this idea of his fame spreading is what's going to heighten the opposition to him. So these summary statements are helpful for us. We also see the third demonstration of his messianic authority. Jesus rebukes fever and heals the sick with authority. Look at verse 38. Then he stood up and left the synagogue. So we're on the same day. He stood up and left the synagogue and entered Simon's home. Now, we haven't been introduced to Simon yet, but this is preparing us for the calling of the first disciples, meeting Simon Peter in the next chapter, who we'll see next week. Right now, it's just a simple statement. He entered Simon's home. Now, Simon's mother-in-law was suffering from a high fever, and they asked him to help. and standing over her, he rebuked the fever. This is the only time a fever or a sickness is said with Jesus working that he rebukes it. He rebuked the fever and it left her. Immediately she stood up and began waiting on them. Now notice the difference in this scenario. In one, he's in the synagogue, people are there, the demon cries out with a loud voice, the evil demon, and he deals with that demon very specifically and very publicly. And then he leaves there and he comes into just a house, just a regular house, and there's someone that's sick there. And they ask him to help. And so he rebukes the fever. Now I want you to think about yourself when you've had a fever. Once your fever breaks, are you immediately healed? Are you immediately better? We call that what? The turning point, right? The fever broke, we start to feel better, but our strength is still gone. We might still not be able to eat right. We still need to keep taking liquids in. We don't have the strength to just jump back into what we're doing, but Jesus, he has authority. And his healing is complete. So when he rebukes the fever, and you can see it right there in your verse, in verse 39, he rebuked the fever and it left her. as if the fever was another demon, but it's not. It's a completely different setting. This is a fever. Now, as we progress through the Gospels, we are going to have to ask ourselves at times, is sickness the product of demonic activity? Is sickness the product of demonic activity? And the answer is, sometimes. Right? I mean, sometimes sickness can be the action of a demonic activity, but throughout Luke's gospel, he makes a difference. When we see sickness, when we see people being healed of sickness, that's different than when the demons are cast out. So most of what we're seeing is sickness. It is a byproduct of sin, right? Whether it's our own personal sin or whether it is sin in the nature of Adam, sin entering into the world. Death is a product of sin. Sickness is a product of sin. Sometimes we're sick and it's a product of our own sin. But Jesus heals the sick and casts out the demons. And sometimes those words are switched around a little bit that make us question, but we need to keep in our mind that most of the time when Jesus enters in and there are sick people, he's healing them, and they're going away without their sickness. And this happens quickly because the next word is, we have described what happens to Simon's mother-in-law, and what is it? Immediately. Without any delay, she stands up in verse 39 and began waiting on them, began serving them. Now, think about what could happen here. What would you do? If it was you and you were healed immediately, you might've gone to grab another glass of tea and said, man, can we talk about this? Did you see what he just did? I mean, just a few minutes ago, my fever, I was just burning up, and now all of a sudden it's all gone. We'd wanna talk about it. We might even just grab our glass of tea and go out in the yard and tell some other people about what's going on. But what the mother-in-law does is immediately begin serving them. waiting on them. Now, this is a very subtle introduction to a theme that we're going to see throughout Luke, and that is table fellowship. The first thing that she wants to do is get up and serve Jesus. Now, I don't wanna press this too far, but when Jesus has an encounter with us, isn't the first response for us to serve him? When Jesus forgives our sins and brings us into his kingdom, brings us in as his children, the first response should just naturally be a thankful serving of Jesus. And so we see this demonstrated here. And it's going to be, this word is used to talk about table fellowship that we will see later on in Luke in four or five different passages. So just have this in your mind. In this early introduction to Jesus's ministry, Luke brings to us healing from fever that results in an automatic full healing so that the person healed gets up and serves Jesus. Like I said, I don't wanna press this too far. Boy, do we need reminded that serving Jesus and serving others is one of the things that marks us. If we are one of those people who are constantly wanting other people to serve us, haven't we kind of missed the point of the gospel? We're the ones who have been served. We were dead in our trespasses and sin, and now we're forgiven. We were headed to hell, and now we're headed to eternal fellowship with Jesus Christ. And Jesus tells us that he sends us on a mission. And if we're gonna be obedient to that mission, we're serving him in that mission he's demonstrating for us right here. And we're gonna see it even more. Let's just move into this next section because it will help us see this demonstration of ministry that he gives. He rebukes fever and heals the sick with authority. Continuing on in verse 40. And while the sun was setting, now remember, what day is this happening? On the Sabbath. So these are people who are faithful and they're waiting till the sun sets so that they can actually move around and carry burdens. And while the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him. So the word is out. Remember, there's fame in Jesus now. So people are like, we need to get our people here. We need to get people who are sick. And laying his hands on each one of them, He was healing them. Isn't this glorious? On each one of them. Now, Jesus is one with authority. Couldn't He have all had them come in and say, sit down? And He says, in the name of the Father, I heal you all, go back. Couldn't He have said that? Could He have healed them without them even bringing them to Him? He could have done all that. But what He did was individually show them compassion. individually laying hands on them. This has already been a long day, and it's probably a long day in a series of long days, and yet he shows individual compassion to heal the people that are brought forward to him. And it's very, Luke is very clear to tell us, laying his hands on each one of them, he was healing them, continuing to do this healing. Who knows how long it went on? Who knows how long it went? Verse 42 says, when day came. So is he doing this all night long? This is a compassionate Lord that we serve, that shows individual care for people who are in need. And if He sends us out on a mission to reflect His glory, This should be us. Individual care for each other, individual care for people who are in need. And listen, sometimes it's time-consuming, isn't it? Sometimes it costs our pocketbook. Sometimes it costs our calendar. It throws our calendar into complete disarray. But if we're going to serve in the same way that Jesus served, then we're going to be serving individually, long-suffering, and giving people our individual attention. Jesus shows this compassion and see it's a completely opposite of the demonstration in the synagogue And yet it is the full representation of the compassion of our Lord Jesus Christ But it goes on in verse 40 and laying his hands on each one of them he was healing them and And demons, verse 41, also were coming out of many, shouting and saying, you are the son of God. So here we see that some of them are sick and possessed by a demon. Inevitably, the demon causing the sickness. So sometimes this happens, and in his healing, these demons are being thrown out, they're being cast out. And as they are, they name him as well. You are the son of God, but what does Jesus do? Again, he rebukes them. He is the one who exercises authority with his word, rebukes them, and he was not allowing them to speak because they knew him to be the Christ. Now, what purpose this serves in Luke, it could be several different purposes. We know in some of the other Gospels, it's just not yet his time. I mean, John makes this clear, right? It's not yet his time, and then all of a sudden, at one point in the Gospel, it's now his time. and he heads full force to Jerusalem. So it could be that it's not, he doesn't want that out there about him yet because he's about to tell us he's got to keep going. And he doesn't want to be caught up in here. That seems to be one of the primary reasons. But it's also off the lips of demons giving profession of who Jesus is. And he doesn't want that. He wants this off the lips of people who believe him. Now, do demons believe him? Do they believe in Him? Do they believe with faith in, excuse me, in who Jesus is? They do not believe with faith who Jesus is. And this is the warning to us right in this passage, isn't it? You and I can sit in this room and have great words to say about Jesus and not be united to Him by faith. The demons have great words to say. I mean, the people in Nazareth, they rejected Him. brought forth that claiming for himself to be the promised Messiah, which should have brought joy to the hearts of every faithful Jewish person. And they rejected him, tried to stone him, take him off the hill outside of the town and throw him off the edge of the hill. But the demons see him and they know who he is. They know intensively who he is. One knows they're about to be destroyed. The other probably naming his name to try to control him. And that can be the same thing for those who claim Christ but have never entered into a relationship. Now we've talked about several things this morning where you could be cold in your heart. And there are times that we are cold in our hearts. There are times that we feel like our prayers are hitting a ceiling. We read the word of God and it's not clear to us. We can't focus on it. We're under attack by Satan. Maybe we're embracing our own sin in such a way that all spiritual clarity is gone because that sin is separating us and our relationship from God. There are times that that happens. But there are also times that people are revealed to be people who do not know Christ. The more Christ is preached, Because you can only talk about Christ in knowledgeable ways for so long before the demands of the Holy One, the demands of the Holy One of God, the One who is the Son of God, the One who has all authority, begin to rub you in the wrong way and rebellion starts to seep out. So I don't say this to threaten you this morning, I say this to warn you. This isn't a threat to make sure your works are stronger. It's a warning to make sure your faith is real and producing real spiritual fruit because the demons know who Jesus is and they're going to be destroyed. So Jesus rebukes fever and heals the sick with authority. The fourth act demonstrating his messianic authority, well, I guess I'll catch up with my outline here, right? He silences the demons, what we just talked about. He not only casts them out, but he silences them. You are the son of God, verse 41, but rebuking them, he was not allowing them to speak because they knew him to be the Christ. So these are the demonstrations of the power of God. These are the demonstrations are the authority of God. And notice something that we skipped over a little bit, the authority in verse 36, for with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits and they come out. This is not one just claiming fake authority. This is one claiming authority and demonstrating it with the power of one who is full of authority. And this authority has been granted to him by God the Father. And when we know and have an understanding of our view of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit all being fully God, this doesn't surprise us at all. What's surprising to the people in Jesus's life is that a human being would possess that authority, teach with that authority, heal with that authority, cast out demons with that authority. Well, this section closes with another summary statement. Though the crowds try to detain him, Jesus moves on to other cities in Judea to preach the good news of the kingdom because this is his purpose. Look at verse 42. When day came, we don't know whether he slept between these healings and the demons being cast out. We don't know whether he slept or not, but day came and Jesus left and went to a secluded place. Now, as every commentator in the world notes, it is surprising that Luke doesn't tell us that he went away to pray. Prayer is very prominent in Luke's gospel, and he doesn't say that for us here. And I think the reason he doesn't is because this summary statement has a primary purpose. And yes, Jesus went away, but the reason we know that Jesus went away to a secluded place is because people were trying to not have him go there. Look at what it says. And the crowds were eagerly seeking for him and came to him and tried to keep him from going away from them. Now, why would they be doing that? We don't want you to go other places, you just stay here. We know grandma's gonna get sick sometime soon, you need to be here. We need to see these works of power all the time. And they're trying to get him to stay. That's where we see another conflict coming with the people in Jesus and Jesus is on his own mission. Remember, this whole section is describing the mission that God has placed his son on. So they try to keep him from going away from them, but he said to them, I must. Now remember what we've already learned about must. In the second chapter, when we saw that Mary and Joseph were looking for Jesus, what did he say? I must be in my father's house. It is necessary for me. And this nine times occurs in the Gospel of Luke, this little Greek word that means it is necessary, must. always talking about Jesus on his mission. He must be about the will of the Father. And this is the second time we see that. I must, verse 30, look at your text, I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose. He must proclaim the good news We're seeing more themes be brought to us that we need to keep our eyes out for throughout Luke. He must be about the business of proclaiming the good news. Now, this is something I found very interesting. You may think it's just geeky, but I think it's important for Luke. This verb, this one verb here, uengilizo, I must proclaim, I must proclaim, I must proclaim, it occurs in Luke. Ten times in Luke, only one time in Matthew, and no times in Mark and Matthew. The noun for good news for gospel does not occur in the Gospel of Luke. The noun. The noun does occur in Mark and Luke 12 times. Now that doesn't mean that the gospel is not important in Luke, but what's it mean? The preaching of the gospel is what Luke wants us to see. The preaching of the gospel, it's not just the good news, it is the preaching of the good news that occurs so many times in the gospel of Luke, and it's not its primary importance. Preaching is important in the other gospels. What I'm talking about is just the way the language is used. It's the preaching of the gospel that is before us here. And this is what Jesus says his mission is. I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God. Another powerful theme. And I'm drawing out these ideas of the themes that are before us because I don't wanna preach on each of these themes. I want you to be watching for them as Luke develops them in your reading. I want you to see how they're used and what we learn about these different things. And the kingdom, the kingdom and the kingdom of God, kingdom of God 33 times in the gospel. The word kingdom occurs 41 times in the gospel. Now, 41 times in 24 chapters, that means it's a prominent theme for us. So as you're reading and you're studying, take notes about what you see about the kingdom. Here's how one author, Alan J. Thompson, who has a very good exegetical commentary on the Greek Testament, He summarizes it this way. I'm not gonna give you all the verse numbers. I'm gonna take all, every one of these claims that he makes have verse numbers in parentheses that I'm not gonna, you'll lose track of the quote if I read them. In Luke's gospel, the kingdom is both present and future, both God's and Jesus's. and granted by both the Father and the Son to the disciples who are the poor or the humble who receive Jesus and therefore enter the kingdom. God's saving rule. Let me read that again. In Luke's gospel, the kingdom is both present and future, both God's and Jesus's, and granted by both the Father and the Son to Jesus's disciples who are the poor or the humble who receive Jesus and therefore enter the kingdom, God's saving rule. So that little idea of God saving rule is helpful for us to understand. We're not talking about an earthly kingdom because we're talking about a spiritual kingdom here that will have physical manifestations, but it is the rule and reign of Jesus himself. Jesus is the kingdom and he is the authority over the kingdom. He's the creator of his kingdom. And so this idea of the kingdom of God will drive us forward, both in Jesus's mission, our response to Jesus, and how our mission is affected by that idea of the kingdom of God. And this isn't a surprise to any of us. We've seen this so much. I'm not going to repeat all the places we could go, but all the way through Isaiah, we saw references to a king and a kingdom, right? And we saw those being prophesied as being fulfilled in Jesus and fully realized in the new heaven and new earth. And it was nothing that was out of bounds for a faithful Jew, because Psalm 2 told us the same thing. Psalm 110 tells us the same thing. Daniel 7 tells us the same thing, that there will be an eternal king on David's throne with all the power granted by God the Father. Remember Daniel 7, where one like a son of man comes to the ancient of days, and he's granted a rule and authority and an eternal power. So it's not new to us, even from the Old Testament. And Jesus is the manifestation of that. And Jesus says, I must be about this. Now look at the last verse. So he kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea. You may say, well, I thought we were in Capernaum. We are. Sometimes Judea is used for the place Judea. Other times the word Judea is used for any place that Jews lived. And that's what we're talking about here. So he's saying, I must be about other places here. And I must be about the preaching of the good news of the kingdom. And we're gonna see him doing that through the entire gospel. Now, one of the things we need to come to grips with is, are we in the kingdom? Have we been brought, as Paul tells us, from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear son? Have we been there? Have you entered into that kingdom by faith in Jesus and repenting of your sins? We've already seen this set up to us in these first four chapters of Luke, that John the Baptist comes preaching a baptism of repentance. It is required for us to repent or there is no salvation. That repentance is granted to us in our regeneration, but have you done that? Have you repented of your sins and trusted in Christ so that you are now a receiver of the kingdom of God that Jesus comes proclaiming? Because if you haven't, today is the day of your salvation. Today is the day that you must set aside your own glory and your own desires and your own will and set aside your own sin to turn to Christ and in repentance and faith and trust in him for eternal life. Because then everything that's said about the kingdom will be given to you as well. as we go through the gospel of Luke. And I urge you today to do that. But if not, what if we're believers here already? If this is Jesus's mission, Yes, he's healing. Yes, he's casting out demons. He's doing all of that to demonstrate his authority as the one true Messiah, as the promised Messiah of the Old Testament. But if it's his mission to proclaim, to preach, to shout forth the good news of the kingdom of God, the good news of the coming of Jesus and his life and his death and his resurrection and his ascension, and that that offer is to anyone who will repent or believe. Because he is the one who comes proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor, remember Isaiah 61, and setting captives free of their sin. And he's giving physical examples of how he has the power to do that here. So what is our mission? Our mission, and listen, I don't mean to simplify this. We can take many passages out of the gospel and say, here's a good application for you, preach the gospel. But Jesus goes to great extents to explain to us his mission here, that he must be about preaching, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God. And he has sent us on that same mission. So I don't want to guilt you here. Isn't this the most inspirational thing you can think of, is the authority and power of Jesus Christ? That all authority and power has been given to Him, so therefore we go? Why would we go if we didn't serve a God who is ruler of His own kingdom? Why would we go if we did not serve a God who forgives sins in His Son? Why would we go if we did not have a message that should astonish and amaze the entire world around us? Why would we do that? Our role is to go and preach. Our role is to teach and to preach and to demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ because we have nothing else to stand on, do we? It is Christ and Christ alone that we have to stand on. So go. Go and do what glorifies God. Go and do what Jesus was about, preaching the kingdom of God. Father, we are grateful for your The truth of your word, the strength of your word, we're grateful, Lord, that we see the authority of Jesus Christ and his power. We're grateful, Lord, that you have redeemed us and you have granted us this same kingdom and all the rights available to those in your kingdom, that we are seated in the heavenly places with Christ, that we now are walking in the world preaching about the king of his own kingdom who has set us free from the power of darkness, who has put to public shame the principalities and the powers when he died on the cross and rose again. Make us, Father, understand that this power, that we are under the authority of Christ, and that authority is to obey his word and to preach his word so that he might be glorified and we might be sanctified. And when you do that, Father, for your glory in our day today, because this is what we must be about. In Jesus' name, amen.