OK, turn to Mark 1, Mark chapter
1. Mark 1, and we're going to pick
up in verse 21. The text will be 21 through 27,
but we're just going to read the first four verses, 21 through
24, to begin. Mark 1, 21. And they went into Capernaum,
and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue
and taught, and they were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught
them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. And there
was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he
cried out, saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. Now consider
that this is Israel, right? They're in Capernaum. It's in
Israel, and this is long after the Jews had returned from their
exile, and they were very religious now. They were religious people,
and the scribes would teach the people in the synagogues and
in the temple every Sabbath day the things of the law and Moses. And we see in our text many sorts
of persons were happy to be sitting in that religion and to be practicing
that religion and those religious services, and yet there wasn't
anything that was done for them. Nothing had changed in them. So what we see here is that it's
not enough for us to be astonished and amazed at the doctrine of
Christ and to love to hear the things of Christ or rather the
doctrines preached and taught, it's not enough to recognize
that Jesus is the Christ, the Holy One of God, but we must
be given life by the Lord Jesus Christ. We must have Him, by
His power and His authority, give us life where there is nothing
but death. Our title is Life-Giving Authority. Life-Giving Authority. We'll
have three divisions. The Authority of Christ, and
we'll see power displayed and then salvation by Christ. So let's look there again at
verses 21 and 22. And they went into Capernaum
and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue
and taught and they were astonished at his doctrine for he taught
them as one that had authority and not as the scribes. They're
hearing a man unlike any other. They've never heard anyone talk
like this man with such authority And, you know, none of the Gospels
capture what was actually said on this occasion. They don't
necessarily record it. Wherever this is spoken of, they
don't record exactly what our Lord said at that moment, but
we know what he taught, and we know the manner in which our
Lord spoke. He said things like, all power,
which is the same word as all authority, is given unto me in
heaven and in earth. No man talks like that except
the Lord. He has the authority and the
power and the spirit with which to speak in that manner. And
he demonstrates it over and over again throughout the Gospels.
We see the power and the authority that was given to our Lord here
as a man on the earth. Turn over to Mark 4. Mark 4,
and look there in verse 37. Mark 4, 37. They were entered into a boat,
and there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into
the ship, so that it was now full. And Christ was in the hinder
part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awoke him, and said
unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose,
and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there
was a great calm. And he said unto them, Why are
ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly, not because of the storm, but
because of what Christ did. And they said one to another,
What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey
him? So this is no ordinary man. This
is a man with authority and power over all things, even the very
creation himself. This is God who created the heavens
and the earth and all that in them is. In John 1, 3, we read,
all things were made by him and without him was not anything
made that was made. So the wind is his creation,
as are the waves, and he can tell them to do or what not to
do, to cease or to begin. And his authority extends over
all persons, you and me. He is sovereign Lord God above
all. He is God and we are His creation. John 1 10, He was in the world
and the world was made by Him and the world knew Him not. So
we don't see Him here today in the flesh. He's not here in the
flesh and we don't see Him in that way, but this is Lord and
He's our creator and our God, right? But they heard Him. These
people heard Christ speaking, and they were astonished at his
doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority. So they heard him, and they were
astonished, but it didn't profit them. It was just a natural fear,
a natural ear, is how they heard it. It only came to them in the
flesh. It didn't profit them. It wasn't
mixed with faith, so it didn't profit them. It shows us it's
not the outward things. We don't come to the Lord in
the flesh. We don't trust in the flesh.
We don't trust in how this natural ear hears. We're asking and seeking
the Lord, teach us in the heart by your spirit, Lord, give me
a heart, give me an ear of faith to hear what you're saying. Let
it sink down into this ear. Let it sink down into this hard
heart and find good ground that I may hear what you're saying,
that your word would profit me. because we can see how many heard
and it didn't profit them. Many people died in the wilderness
in Israel because it wasn't mixed with faith. They had no faith.
It didn't profit them. So just hearing things and just
being religious and just coming to church and hearing it doesn't
do us any profit. We need the grace and the mercy
and the power of God to come upon us so that we're enabled
to hear it. And His people are going to hear.
They shall hear. He will cause them to hear what
he's saying, and to believe on him, and to follow him. He said,
my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. And
I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish,
neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. So that's authority,
and that's power, unlike any other man that ever had. So it's
by His doing, His working. It's not by our weak will that
saves us. It's not by man's fickle will
and phony will and cheapness of our flesh. It's by the grace
and the power of Almighty God working this in us. And the Lord
has sent many witnesses to bear witness of Him. He bore witness
of himself, but not him alone. The Father bore witness of him,
saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. So
God himself bare witness that this is indeed the Christ. But
John the Baptist was also sent, another man like you and I. He
was sent to bear witness of him, and cried, saying, This is he
of whom I spake. He that cometh after me is preferred
before me, for he was before me. And the apostles were all
commissioned, and called to the Lord, and given the Spirit and
grace and power by measure according to His Spirit as He willed and
purposed to preach and to declare and to show signs that this is
indeed the Christ. This is indeed the Lord Jesus
Christ. In 1 Peter, I'm sorry, 1 John 1 verses 1 through 4,
John wrote, that which was from the beginning which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled of the word of life. For the life was
manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness." We bear
witness and show unto you that eternal life which was with the
Father and was manifested unto us, that eternal life being the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. It's not by our practices and
our religious doings and our workings. Eternal life is the
Lord Jesus Christ himself. That is eternal life. That which
we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also may
have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship is with the Father
and with his Son Jesus Christ. So that our fellowship isn't
simply in the fact that after services we talk and mingle with
other people that are professed believers, but our fellowship
is in the Lord Jesus Christ and that he has saved us. and broken
and canceled and delivered us from the power of sin and from
Satan and from the death and darkness that we're all in by
nature. And He brings us into fellowship
with Himself, adopting us as sons and daughters so that we
know Him and cry out to Him in the Spirit which He's given us,
Abba, Father, Lord, reveal Yourself to me and teach me and make me
one of Your own. And we delight then to be with
the people of God whom He has worked that same power in where
they also cry out, Abba, Father. We're sons and daughters, right?
I see it in the Moors. The Moors get together because
they're all sons and daughters of the same family. So you see
that integral fellowship there. In the same way, the believers,
it extends to all the believers, there's a love for one another
because of what Christ has done in us. He's made us of one blood,
of one spirit, one Lord, of one fellowship. So there's that unity
there. And John says, these things write
we unto you that your joy may be full. Remember, these guys
aren't playing games. His brother James had already
been killed. This is John writing this thing.
This is not just, hey, this is a little bit of power and some
fame that we got here. Let's continue this thing. No,
his brother was put to death. Stephen was put to death. Their
friends and people that they loved were being put to death.
Peter was almost put to death. And then all the other apostles
were put to death. So John was the only one that wasn't violently
killed the way the other apostles were. So this wasn't a game. These are men and women who gave
their very lives because they saw Christ. They saw what he
did. So in spite of all the nonsense
that you see in this world and how it tries to cover and smear
and obscure that which is true, Christ is the son of a living
God and he came with power and glory and work all manner of
good and wonders, displaying that He is indeed the Christ,
the Son of the living God, that we who look to Him, who have
no hope in ourselves, might have hope in what He's done in the
salvation that He Himself has provided. And now, brethren,
we're sent as His disciples, as His pastors, to go forth and
to bear witness of Christ, to continue to bear witness of Him.
How come you guys don't have all these powers and work these
wonders like they did back then? Christ said, Blessed is he that
hath not seen and yet believes. It's a demonstration of the power
of God that's still going forth. And even though we don't see
all these things that they saw frequently in the initial establishment
of the kingdom, yet God has called us and we believe by faith inexplicably
with all the world against us, yet we believe and continue in
our Savior, continue in the faith which was delivered to us in
this gospel. So that's why, because all power
and all authority has been given to this one in heaven and in
earth, to Christ himself. And what he judges, what he determines,
that's what is and shall be done. Any verdict he renders, whatever
is handed down from him, that's what is done, as he pleases.
God has given him that authority. The leper, full of leprosy, he
acknowledged it, saying, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make
me clean. He acknowledged it. This is Christ.
This is the Lord. You and me, we've got a disease,
and it's a sickness, and it's unto death. We're already, we
come forth spiritually dead. We're already dead, and we know
what the end is. Everyone we've ever known They
all come to the end, which is physical death. And we're all
going to die and stand before him who is alone the judge of
the living and the dead. And this one of whom I speak
has all authority and all power to heal our sickness. Matthew
8, 3, he healed that leopard who came to him and said, Lord,
if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. And Jesus put forth
his hand and touched him saying, I will. be thou clean, and immediately
his leprosy was cleansed. Has he laid that sickness upon
you so that you know what a leper you are? He lays it on his people
so that we know what sinners we are and the offense that we
are to holy God. Stinking and smelling in our
rotting flesh, and God says, all who come to me, I'll receive
them. all who trust me and believe
in me and look to me alone for salvation, I'll receive them. I'll receive them. Because he's
worked that in us. He's marked us out for that very
purpose. So he stirs up our heart, he
shows us what we are by nature, by his power, and works it in
us so that we know that we are dead men and women. We have no
salvation except in Christ. And O Lord, if thou wilt, thou
canst make me clean. And he receives everyone who
comes to him as Lord, trusting and looking to him alone for
salvation. The centurion, the lead rite, who had a servant
that he loved, he came to the Lord and said, Lord, heal my
servant. And the Lord said, all right,
I'll go with you. And he said, Lord, I'm not worthy that thou shouldest
come under my roof, but speak the word only and my servant
shall be healed. For I am a man under authority,
having soldiers under me. And I say unto this man, go,
and he goeth. And to another come, and he cometh.
And to my servant do this, and he doeth it." And what he's saying
is, Lord, you have authority over me. And if you just say,
go. I know that it's done as you
will. Whatever you will, Lord, I know
it's done. I trust you. I trust you. And
that's what he's working in the hearts of his people so that
you, even sitting here now, without moving a muscle, without getting
up and walking an aisle or coming to an altar, you who know your
sickness and your disease of sin, being bound in sin and Satan,
Christ has broken the power of Satan, and he says, come to me.
Come to him, believe him, look to him alone for salvation, for
he freely gives mercy and forgiveness to all who come to him seeking
mercy and forgiveness. He does that. You and I are sinners,
we've offended holy God and shall be judged by this one, the Lord
Jesus Christ, for our sins. Wouldn't it be a blessed thing
to come before him with that perfection, that offering for
sin that he himself provided for his people? It'd be a good
day for those of us who come to him with that offering, covered
in his blood, trusting in his righteousness, his holiness,
to just knowing that He's done everything necessary to put away
our sin. Yet many, many refuse Him, don't
want to hear it, don't believe the truth of Christ, and He says,
they're going to go to an awful place where the worm dieth not
and the fire is not quenched. Don't wait till that day to find
out the truth of our Savior, that He is the Christ. He is
the Holy One of God, the Son of the Living God. Listen, for
God sent not his son into the world to condemn the world, but
that the world through him might be saved. He has all authority,
all powers given to him in heaven and in earth, and he gives life
to as many as he pleases. And he's brought you all here
to hear this gospel being declared, to know that this is indeed the
Christ. I'm bearing witness that this
is Christ. We believe him, we trust him.
I pray the Lord will work it in your heart. For as the Father
hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life
in himself, so that he could say with all authority, As the
Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the
Son quickeneth whom he will. Do you hear his voice? Does he
show you your need of Christ? Does he show you that he himself
has the authority and the power to forgive? and to cleanse you
from all unrighteousness. Trust Him. Look to Him and Him
alone. And it says, you know, they heard
this, they heard how He spoke, and they were astonished at His
doctrine, for He taught them as one that had authority, but
it didn't profit them not being mixed with faith. It didn't profit
them. All right, next we read in Mark 1, 23 and 24, And there
was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he
cried out, saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God. And that speaks
volumes to us, doesn't it? Doesn't that say a lot? Here's
a man that has an unclean spirit, and he is happy to go to church
and sit there and do religious things without being bothered
or affected by it. He's happy. That's where he was.
He was there in the synagogue. He wasn't moved at all by it.
And that shows us, that tells us that religion, just religion,
is powerless. It's powerless. And yet, that's
what so much of religion does. It's all about creating an atmosphere
and doing things that put this mood in place. You know, they
have these grand buildings, and they are all inspiring. I mean,
they're amazing. the height, and the breadth,
and the depth of them, and the stained glass, and the statues,
and the stations, and the candles, and the incense all around, and
people in effeminate robes. It's like all this stuff that's
going on. It's to transcend you beyond
your human nature, and lift you up to the heavens, and it does
nothing. It's all vanity. It's all deadness. It's just a dead letter. It doesn't
do anything. for anyone. It doesn't save. So, religion didn't bother this
man, but Christ did. He was bothered when Christ came
into his presence. He was bothered very much so,
and you know, there's millions of people sitting in under religion,
doing religious things, and they're still under that dominion and
that power of Satan. We're taken captive by him at
his will, Paul said this in 2 Timothy 2.26. But when the gospel of
Jesus Christ is is preached, unclean spirits don't like that. In 1 John 3, 8, he that committeth
sin is of the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning.
For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might
destroy the works of the devil. And so Christ comes right on
the scene there, and he begins to do that, to overthrow, to
destroy the works of the devil and to overthrow his empire and
set up the kingdom of God in the hearts of his people. So,
you know, and it would seem that nothing even appeared different
about this guy, right? He's there amongst the other
people mixing it up, but Christ reveals what's in the heart.
And, you know, none of us knows, we can't judge, we don't know
where the man ceases and the evil spirit takes over. We don't
even necessarily know where it begins or stops, but until he
was provoked in hearing the truth, that's when the true heart is
revealed. It's in preaching that Christ
provides salvation for his people, that Christ has delivered his
people and given salvation to whomsoever he wills, and that
he does save his people, and it'll it'll root out and ferret
out that which is in our hearts by nature, that hatred against
the true and living God. He'll root that out and he'll
take that root of bitterness out and throw it away and in
its place for Christ. If you're his people, he'll establish
his kingdom. He'll deliver you and set you
free from the power of Satan and the love of sin. Unless we
think too highly of ourselves and forget where we once were
and what Christ has delivered us from, Peter reminds us in
2 Peter 2.19, for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he
brought into bondage. In Ephesians 2, 2, and 3, wherein
in time past he walked according to the course of this world,
according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit
that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among whom also
we all had our conversation in time past, he's putting himself
right in the group with the rest of us, in the lust of our flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and we're
by nature the children of wrath, even as others. So the Lord,
who has all authority and all power must do a work for this
man, because he can't do anything for himself. Verse 25, Mark 1
25, And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out
of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried
with a loud voice, he came out of him. And Luke 4 35 adds, And
hurt him not. So Christ delivered this man,
and set him free from his bondage. And every son and daughter of
Adam must have the same deliverance, must have the Lord come to us
and set us free, must cause us to hear this gospel and to believe
the gospel and to be delivered from our love of sin and this
world and Satan and all of his lies. All right, then we read
in Mark 1 27, And they were all amazed insomuch that they questioned
among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine
is this? For with authority commanded
he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. So don't
miss this point, brethren, that they were amazed at the things
that they heard. They were astonished at his doctrine there in Capernaum,
but it did them no good. No good. Didn't do them any good.
And that man with the unclean spirit, he recognized that this
is the Christ. This is the Holy One of God. He recognized it, but it did
him no good. He still had an unclean spirit. He was still but just bound in
sin and under the power of Satan. So the point being that, by nature,
men and women can love the doctrine of grace, right? They can love
the truths that we preach and declare, they can believe those
things, and they can teach those things, and they can mimic those
things. You know, you could teach a dog to do just any trick, you
know, with a clicker and some treats, but has God put it in
your heart? so that you know these things
by His Spirit, as He taught you in spirit and in truth that He
is salvation. He is eternal life, not the doctrines. Not just knowing these things
and studying these things out so that we can mouth them back
to other people, but Christ Himself is eternal life. That's where
we have life. It's not in the services, it's
not in the doctrines, it's not in what we're doing or not doing. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus
Christ. So it's Christ, you know, Christ
is the one that sets us free. So that's where, you know, even
saying and confessing that Jesus is Christ, a lot of people can
do that, but the Lord is the one that has to save us, that
has to deliver us. So if he's shown you what you
are by nature, if he's shown you that you're a sinner and
that you're powerless to save yourself, but he's shown you
your leprosy and your sickness within that you're dying and
that you have no hope, then there is good news for sinners because
Christ came to set his people free and to cancel the power
of sin. He has the authority to do it.
This is what the word says. And they in the synagogue, when
they heard, oh, before I get to that thing. So, you know,
Christ had just come, you know, from Nazareth, you know, where
he was, you know, preaching there and declaring the truth to them,
showing to them how the Lord comes to whom he will. He comes
to his people where they are, and he demonstrated that by showing
that the Lord healed a Gentile, Naaman, the Syrian, of leprosy. And yet there was many lepers
in Israel when he did that. And that the Lord sent the prophet
Elijah, I believe, Elijah or Elisha, to that Gentile widow,
and though there was many widows in Israel at that time, and they
hated that. They hated to hear that power
of God in choosing out his people, and they hated Christ for saying
that, and they drove him out of the synagogue, and they went
up to the brow where their city was built to throw him down.
But we see his power and his authority, because it says that
he, passing through them, in the midst of them, went his way.
They weren't able to destroy him. God and Christ has the power
to save. And when he determined it was
time to lay down his life, that's when he laid down his life. It says that he said, having
finished the work which God the Father sent him to do, that's
when he allowed those men to come and to take him by force
and bring him to be crucified. And he was hung on a tree, and
we read, when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father,
into thy hands I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. And the point is that Christ
has power and authority over life and over death. No man can
take it from him. He controls life and death in
his own life, and he controls life and death in our lives.
And He's able to break the love of sin that's in our hearts by
nature. You can trust Him for that. He
is able to do that. You know, we see the blackness
and the deadness in our own hearts and we think, how? How can I
be delivered from this? He's able. We see Him demonstrating
that over and over again and He does it in the hearts of his
people. Paul said to Timothy, this is
a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. So for you who
know what black-hearted sinners you are, Christ came to save
you. His power is sufficient. His
blood is sufficient. He is able to deliver us from
the power of sin and death. The testimony of scriptures for
you who don't yet believe, the testimony of scriptures is that
our hearts are corrupt, our thoughts are corrupt, our ways are corrupt,
all these things are corrupt. And he shows us over in the word
constantly. And regarding our hearts, he
said in Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10, the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord,
search the heart. I try the reins even to give
every man according to his ways and according to the fruit of
his doings. Someone will hear that and say, oh, good. Then
they'll look at my heart and they'll see what a good heart
I have at the bottom of everything and what good works I've done.
No, verse 9 says what's in our heart. When he tries it and he
looks in our heart, he sees that the heart is deceitful above
all things, desperately wicked, and who can know it? If you really
believe that you have a good heart and that you bear good
works, that God is going to look at and say, good, good job, good
works, then you're one of those deceived by your deceitful heart
and you believe a lie because it's not what is true. And regarding
our thoughts in Psalm 94 11, the Lord knoweth the thoughts
of man that they are vanity. And so many people have this
vain thought that everything's gonna work out in the end. And
if there's really a God, I just know, I somehow just have this
gut feeling that everything's gonna work out in the end. Vanity,
that's just vanity because it's not what his word declares. Regarding our ways, what does
the word of God say regarding our ways? Proverbs 14 12, There
is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are
the ways of death." That's the ways of man. So everything we
are by nature, our heart, our thoughts, our ways, they're all
corrupt, and they don't do us any good. We see that there in
the people who heard Christ. We see it there in the man with
the unclean spirit. They heard it, they saw it, they witnessed
it, and it did them no good. It profited them nothing. By
the deeds of the law, all our religion and our doings and what
we try to do, there shall no flesh be justified in the sight,
for by the law is the knowledge of sin." Right? The law was given
not so we can make ourselves righteous. You either are righteous
or you're not. And the law declares to us, it
shows us what we are. You who've tried to keep the
law of God and be righteous by the law, if you heard the law,
you heard it say, guilty. That's what the law says. Guilty.
I can't do this. If you've been given life in
your heart, if you've been given life to see and to know, the
law of God says guilty, guilty, guilty. That's what it says.
Submit to what the law is saying. Guilty. You can't save yourselves. But the word of God is precious
in that it reveals the preciousness of Christ to the sinner. It shows
us that even though I am guilty, and that I've failed over and
over again, and I've sinned against Him who is holy and righteous,
and Him who holds my very life in His hands, the Word of God
reveals to us that God has sent His Son to save you, sinner,
you who can't save yourself, and know it, who's been shown
what a sinner you are, God hath made Christ to be sin for us,
who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. He has provided that salvation. Christ himself is eternal life
for the sinner. This life begins in Christ, and
all who believe in him have his Spirit dwelling in them. John
1, 12, and 13, but as many as received him, to them gave he
power, that's the same word as the word authority, to them gave
he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe
on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will
of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. So, sinner,
look to the Lord, Jesus Christ, he's provided that salvation.
We see religion does us no good, but Christ is life, he is eternal
life. Look to him, trust him, that's
why he was provided. He was provided to all those
who have no hope, who have no confidence in their own works,
who see what they are by nature, that they are sinners, who have
offended holy God, that's why Christ was sent. And he has the
power and the authority to save his people, and he shall, he
does, he does that very thing. Alright, I pray the Lord will
bless it to our hearts and help us to look to Him and to Him
alone. Alright, we're going to have
Levi and Scott come up and just before handing out the bread
and the wine, Levi will pray and then hand these things out
and then we'll take the Lord's Supper together and then Joe
will come and close us in a song.