Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. We'll begin our
reading in verse 30. Actually, we'll begin our reading
in verse 31. Jesus, after passing through
the riotous synagogue, he went his way and he came to Capernaum,
a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, for his word was with power. And in the synagogue there
was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried
with a loud voice, 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 Jesus rebuked
him, saying, Hold thy peace. come out of him. And when the
devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and hurt him
not. And they were all amazed and
spake among themselves, saying, What word is this? For with authority
and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they came out. And the fame of him went out
into every place of the country round about. The title of my
message this morning is The Remedy for an Unclean Spirit. The Remedy
for an Unclean Spirit. Now before I begin this, I want
you to know my purpose. The purpose of this message is
not to explain demonic possession. I am not here to give you any
input as to the demoniac here or in any other place. I know
very little, because the Scriptures reveal very little, about such
spiritual things as demonic possession. So that's not my point. My point
is to take this passage of Scripture and show you the comparison between
an unclean spirit and the natural man. The comparison between an
unclean spirit and our nature. And then, by God's grace, I will
show you the remedy of such. The remedy is always the word
of Jesus Christ, the power of Christ. So that's my intent this
morning, is to show you the gospel. That's it. So this man, we come to this
scripture, Jesus having now been thrown out of the synagogue of
Nazareth because of his message, and we'll go back to see that
message in just a minute, but he comes to Capernaum and he's
preaching in the synagogue, and there was a man there with an
unclean devil. He was a man possessed, controlled,
and tormented by a wicked, demonic spirit. This man was under the
demonic power of another being. This man was powerless. He was
helpless to free himself. But I tell you this, by nature,
no man is willing to free himself from such demonic possessions.
We'll see this in just a minute. But I want you to notice, first
of all, where this demonic man, this man possessed of the devil,
I want you to notice where he's at. That's important. It's important. And in the synagogue
there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil. This man
was in the synagogue. Now, we would assume to find
such possessed evil spirits in drug dens, in houses of prostitution. We would expect to find unclean
spirits in all sorts of evil places and places where drunkards
are and drug addicts. Now, that's something we'd think
about. Nightclubs, bars, all kinds of
wicked places where sin is welcome. I mean, it's open. Matter of
fact, they encourage it in those places. And this is where you
would expect to see an unclean spirit, right? Isn't that what
you think? First thing came to my mind. Well, that's where it
seems to be. But notice where this unclean
man was. He was in church. This unclean
spirit was in church. He was in the synagogue. Listen, this is the most common
place for Satan and unclean spirits. Go to Job. Job was one of the
first books, not chronologically in our Bibles, but as far as
time, it was one of the first books written in our Bible. Was the first book. But if you
look in Job, in chapter 1 and verse 6, now there was a day. when the sons of God came to
present themselves before the Lord. What are we doing now?
Are not the sons of God coming to present ourselves before the
Lord, to worship Him? This they had a day set aside.
They had a day set aside when they all came to worship God.
And listen, and Satan came also among them. I tell you, this is the most
common place where devils are found. where the Word of God
is being preached. Now you think that's strange,
but that's what the Scripture reveals. This man was in the
synagogue. I tell you according to Scripture
that the most wicked men of the day in the Lord Jesus Christ's
day were not in the opium dens, they were rather in the synagogue.
Matter of fact, in this chapter, we've been studying this chapter,
and you know what happened in the previous time when the Lord
was in Nazareth. They wanted to kill Him. These were the most religious
men of the day. And when Jesus preached to them,
they did not want to hear His message. They wanted to throw
Him off of the brow of the city. The most wicked men in Jesus'
day were not publicans, harlots, or drunkards. They were the religious,
self-righteous rulers, the Pharisees. These men These men were those who served
God with their lips, but their hearts are far from Him. These devilish men are those
who are supposed to merit God's salvation by an unholy mixture
of works and grace. Is that you? Is that you? Are you such a self-righteous
man? Do you suppose to merit God's favor by your works? By
some mixture of God's grace and your goodness? Then I tell you,
you're the most devilish man there is. I tell you, these religious rulers,
they were not outwardly immoral. But I tell you, they were the
most wicked the Lord Jesus Christ said they were. He said many
harlots and publicans are going to the kingdom of God for you
will. Why? Because this gospel is for sinners.
This gospel is for harlots, for publicans, for sinners. It's
not for the self-righteous. Jesus said, I came not to call
the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Sinners. These surely were the most wicked
because they were the most deceptive. On the outside, they seemed good.
On the outside, they seemed moral. But on the inside, they were
dead. Jesus said, You are like whitewashed
tombs, beautiful on the outside. Have you seen some of those big
cemeteries with all those big tombs? And man, they've got beautiful
architecture and they're all pretty on the outside. You know
what's on the inside? Dead men. He said, that's exactly
what self-righteous men are. On the outside, beautiful. On
the inside, they're dead. Dead. Jesus was preaching in this synagogue,
and you know what they were, when He was preaching, listen
to what they said, and they were astonished at His doctrine. They
were astonished at his doctrine. So, we have a man in the synagogue,
and he's full of possessed spirits, and Jesus is preaching a doctrine.
Now, doctrine, what does that mean? It just means teaching. Teaching. I laugh and chuckle when somebody
says, well, we don't teach doctrine here. What? Then what do you
do? Just shut up? You don't say anything
at all? Because doctrine is just teaching. You don't teach at
all? Well, I tell you, I wouldn't
go there. No sense in that. But Jesus had a doctrine. What
was His doctrine? What was He teaching in this
synagogue? I tell you, it was the same message
He taught in Nazareth. It was the same message that
He has preached from the beginning of His ministry to the end of
this ministry. And here it is, salvation, salvation
is of the Lord. That's the message. You want
to know the whole of this book. Here it is. Salvation is of the
Lord. That's it. Hold the book. Salvation is not by fleshly kinship,
nor is salvation by the will of the flesh, nor is salvation
by the will of man. Salvation is by the will of God. That's it. There's a message.
In John chapter 1 and verse 12, it says, He came unto His own,
His own kin, and they received Him not. But as many as received
Him, to them gave He the right or the power to be called the
sons of God. Who are the sons of God? Well,
those who receive Him. That's so. But how are you sons
of God? not by the flesh, they which
were born, not by the blood, not by the flesh, nor by the
will of the flesh, nor by the will of man, but by the will
of God. How's a man born again? How's
a man born again? Not by his own will, by the will
of God. If you're born again, it's not because you willed it
so, it's because God willed it so. You got that? That's what
the Scriptures are playing to teach. And this is what Jesus
was teaching. He said, there were many widows in Israel in
the days of Elijah, but to none of them was sent but that Gentile
woman. There were many lepers in Israel, but none of them were
cleansed but Naaman, that Syrian. What is He saying? He's saying
salvation is of the Lord. God said this. You'd be wise to listen. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I will have compassion on whom? On whom I will have compassion. And whom He will, He hardens. Jesus did not come, listen, to
die for all men without exception. He did not come to die for all
men without exception. Now listen, He did come to die
for all men without distinction. That's good news. I like that.
The Jews thought they were it. They thought their race distinguished
them from everyone else. Well, because I'm a Jew, I guess
I'm just going into heaven, not just so. No, Jesus said, that
doesn't have anything to do with it. Your race, your family, your
creed, your will, your decisions have nothing to do with salvation. Salvation is of the Lord. That's
it. Nothing distinguishes you. Isn't
that what we think? By nature we think that. Well,
I'm distinguished. You know that song that I despise
most? The little children's song that
used to have that purple dinosaur singing. You're special. You're special. Everybody's special. We like to distinguish ourselves
and think ourselves special. Listen, we're not special. We're sinners. You lump up my whole life and
you put it together. And you know what you got? A
mass of sin. That's it. That's all I am. If
there's any hope for me, if there's any hope for this sinner, it
is in God, not in myself. If I am to be saved, God Himself
must save me. I cannot by any means save myself. This is the message of Christ.
This is the doctrine of Christ. Jesus came to save all men without
distinction, not all men without exception. The song of the redeemed
in heaven is, Thou art worthy to take the book, the book of
salvation, the book of providence, the book of election, and open
the seals thereof, for Thou hast redeemed us to God out of every
kindred, tongue, people, and nation. Jesus came to die for
His people. When He came into the world,
the angels said, Thou shalt call His name Jesus, for He shall
save, who? His people from their sins. His people. Isaiah chapter 53. You want to look at it with me? Isaiah chapter 53. I won't read
it to you. Isaiah chapter 53. God, before Jesus came, actually
tells us who He came for. Look at verse 8. He was taken from prison and
from judgment. Who shall declare His generation?
For He was cut off out of the land of the living. Why was He
taken? Why was He crucified? Why did
He die? God tells us, for the transgression
of My people was He stricken. My people. My people. Look at verse... Look at verse 12. Therefore I
will divide him a portion with the great. He shall divide the
spoiled with the strong, because he hath poured out his soul unto
death. He was numbered with the transgressors. He bared the sin of who? Everyone? No, many. Many, but
not everyone. He made intercession for the
transgressors. So Jesus Christ came into this
world to be stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted for what?
For my people, which are many. The many transgressors. In John chapter 10 and verse
15, He said, I laid down my life. For who? The sheep. The sheep. And His sheep hear His voice
and they follow Him. And He gives to them eternal
life and no man can pluck them out of His hand. My Father which
gave them Me is greater than all, and no man could pluck them
out of My Father's hand. I and My Father are one. You
don't see the surety of this. This is why they said He spake
with authority. He spake with power. Because
His words were definite. They were sure words. They were
not questionable. They were not if, then, maybe,
perhaps. He spoke plainly and He said,
I have come to save My people. This is it. This is the gospel
message. His doctrine was not one of presumption
or speculation or chance. His doctrine was of power and
authority. The gospel we preach is not one
of chance or luck. When I preach this gospel, I
know this, God will save His people from their sins. This
is not perhaps. I'll tell you what, if salvation
were left up to me and you, I would not do this. I wouldn't do it. There'd be no reason. But I know
this, salvation's of the Lord, and salvation comes by the hand
of God alone. He saves whom He will. This gospel we preach is not
perhaps, but is a sure gospel. I remember this story. A Methodist woman came to a gospel
preacher one day and And she said, I know there's a difference
between our religion and yours. And he said, oh, really? What
is it? And she said, well, it's election. That's what it is.
You believe in election. You believe in predestination.
And we believe in will. We believe that man has a free
will. I know the difference, but I don't understand this election.
I don't understand what that means. And the preacher, he said,
well, let me just ask you a question. Does God save by accident or
on purpose? And she immediately spat out,
on purpose. We said, you got election. You
got it. That's it. God saves on purpose. Romans 8, 28, for all things
work together for good to them that love God. Who are those
that love God? Them that are called according
to His purpose. Purpose. If you want to know
anything about salvation, you've got to know something about purpose.
Whose purpose is it? God's purpose. And if God ever
saves you, guess what? It's going to be on purpose. God saved me on purpose. He sure
did. Saved you on purpose. If you
saved at all, He saves you on purpose. That's election. That
means that God purposed to save you from eternity. He sent Christ
into the world to die for your sins. And at the appointed time,
the Spirit of God comes and blows on your heart and you believe.
That was all on purpose. That's the gospel. That's the
message that Christ preached. God saves on purpose. Did he
go to that widow woman by accident out there in the middle of the
desert? Did Elijah go out there by accident? No, God sent him
out there. Did Naaman just happen to come
along and find this stuff out about the prophet in Israel and
have his leprosy cleansed? No, God purposed it. God purposed
it. And if you're ever saved, God
will purpose it. You got that? That's the gospel. I'm here not
to offer the gospel. I'm here to just declare it.
I don't make an offer. It's just not a car dealership.
You want to make an offer, you have to go down the road somewhere
to a car dealer. He'll make you an offer. I don't make offers.
I just tell you what God says. That's all I am, is a messenger.
Just tell you what God said. Now, what does man say to this? I tell you he says exactly what
the unclean spirit said. Look at what the man with the
unclean spirit said. Let's look at him for a minute. And the man cried with a loud
voice. The man with the unclean spirit saying, let us alone. Let me alone. This devil desired to be left
alone. that Christ would leave and not
preach that doctrine in his ears again. I tell you, as I told you at
the beginning, my determination, I'm determined this morning not
to talk about demon possession because I know very little about
it. But I want to do this. I want you to see the comparison
between the unclean spirit and the natural man. Man by nature
and this unclean spirit have so much in common. And the first
thing is that what the unclean spirit says is what every man
by nature says to this gospel, to Christ. Leave me alone. I don't want to hear it. leave
me alone. What have I to do with this? Man by nature hear of sin, judgment,
and hell. They hear of God's holiness, God's sovereignty, Christ's blood,
righteousness, And to all this, what did they say? Leave me alone. I don't want to hear what you
have to say, preacher. I don't care of Christ and his
salvation and I have no need of such foolishness. I got other
things to deal with. I've got other things that are
more important to me. The fool hath said in his heart,
Know God. Isn't that what, I believe it
was, that Roman ruler, that Roman governor there, Felix, he said,
come back at a more convenient time. Isn't that what you say? Not now. Oh, I've got so much
going on. I've got too much to deal with
now. Don't bring this. Make it when it comes more convenient,
then you can come back with it. Otherwise, just leave me alone. I don't want to hear it. Leave me alone to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season. Tell me not of destruction before
the time. Even so, man in his heart says
this by nature, leave me alone. My heart's desire is that God
never answer that prayer. That God won't leave you alone. If God ever leaves you alone,
you'll have no hope. None. None. If you say to God, leave me alone,
and He does, there'll be no hope for you. I tell you this, God
answers that prayer for all He hates. You know that? For Jacob
have I loved, but Esau have I hated." Now this is not a vengeful hatred,
but rather it is just leaving a man alone. He let Esau alone. Esau, he said,
I despise the birthright. I care nothing for Christ. Leave
me alone. And you know what God did? He
left him alone. Left him alone. I tell you, if God saves you, it will be in opposition to your
natural will. It will be in opposition to your
natural will. For you to be willing in the
day of His power, God must by His power create in you a new
heart, a willing heart, a new nature. He must raise you from the dead. That's what salvation is. Natural
man says, leave me alone. What changed this natural man?
God created in me a new heart. In that part of the covenant,
God says, I'll take you from among the heathen. And I'll give
you a new what? Heart. A new heart. I want you to mark my words.
If God sends you to hell, it won't be against your will. Matter of fact, it'll be right
in line with what you want. You said, leave me alone. You
know what hell is? When God leaves you alone. And you face justice, the justice
of God, alone. That's what hell is. You'll face
the justice of God alone. Second of all, the evil spirit
knew something. Look at this. He said, What are
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. In the Old Testament, many times
the Messiah was referred to as the Holy One. The Holy One. In
Daniel chapter 9, it says 70 weeks are determined to finish
the transgression, to make an end of sin. to anoint the Holy
One. In Psalm 16, in verse 10, it
says, For thou shalt not leave my soul in hell, neither shalt
thou suffer thy Holy One to seek corruption. See, this devil knew
something. This devil knew something about Jesus. He obviously knew something by
the incarnation of Christ. When those angels came down,
I know this, the host of hell saw it. All the demonic hosts,
they saw that when they sang, glory to God in the highest,
peace on earth, goodwill toward man. I know they saw it when
he was baptized, when the Spirit of God descended on him like
a dove, and the voice of God spake, this is my beloved son.
So there's reason why this devil knew something. And this was God's anointed king
and judge. He knew that. But I tell you, in comparison to man, he may
have known more. But could his knowledge save
him? No. No. The demons, the demonic
hosts, are in chains of darkness. They are fallen angels that are
reserved, Peter said, in chains of darkness unto judgment. There was no hope for this man,
this demonic spirit, because he had all this knowledge. And
listen, I'm going to compare that to humans, to your nature. I don't care what you know. Your
knowledge cannot save you. You can read this book. You can
study this book. You can actually go over there
and get a degree. Two or three blocks over that way, you can
go and get a degree in a seminary. You can become a doctor of theology.
You can teach others theology. But I tell you this, it's not
what you know, it's who you know. Has He revealed Himself to you? Knowledge is not salvation. You know what salvation is? Revelation. The Son of God must reveal Himself
to you, or you'll never know Him. But one thing that differed between
this demonic spirit and this man was this. Christ didn't come
to save angels, He came to save sinners. That's a big difference, isn't
it? This man by nature said, leave me alone, just as the demonic
spirit said. This man may have had some knowledge
of Jesus, just like this demonic spirit had. But I'll tell you
that, none of that could save him. The only hope for this man
was that Jesus Christ should deliver him. The only hope for
you is that Christ should deliver you. Jesus came to save men, sinful
men. Like this man possessed of the
unclean spirit, even so are all of God's elect by nature unclean. And the only way for you to be
delivered of your nature is the same way this man was delivered
of this spirit, by the Word of Christ. Look at what he said
in verse 35, And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace,
and come out of him. This man said, Leave me alone.
I have nothing to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth. I care
not for your doctrine. We, by nature, do not want or
desire to hear of Christ. Yet, in spite of our nature,
Christ came to us. against every fiber of my will
and being, Christ came in and said, I'll save that one. That is the experience of grace
to everyone that is saved. It is our experience that salvation
is of the hand of God and not of our own will or making. It
is all of God. His same Lord, who bound these
devils in chains, His same Lord, who will judge and destroy the
wicked men, He also knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation."
Wasn't that so, that in Noah's time He destroyed the world,
yet He saved Noah? Does God know how to save sinners?
You bet He does. Scripture says, is my arm shortened
that I cannot save? Is there a sinner too far gone
that I cannot reach? By no means, God. He can reach
the worst of sinners. He can. Even so, this poor wretched man
possessed in body and nature of an unclean spirit, Christ
said to that, come out of him. He rebuked him. Behold, hear the power of Jesus'
word, that at His rebuke devils are silenced. And at His word,
He cast out the devil in this man. This morning, Brother Scott preached
from Blind Bartimaeus. Every miracle, every miracle
recorded in Scripture Every casting out of devils is meant for this
one purpose. To show you that Jesus Christ
has power to save. That at His word, salvation comes. The ability of Christ to supply
to the uttermost every need of human nature is the very cornerstone
of Christianity. Christ in one word is this, Christ
is all. Christ is all. He has all authority, all power
in heaven and earth to give eternal life to as many as the Father
gave Him. Satan's poison courses through
our veins of our fallen nature. Jesus Christ then is the only
cure. You remember when they say we're
bitten by those serpents, Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness. Jesus said, even so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. And when I am lifted up, I will
draw all men unto Me. Sinner, look. Look to Christ and live. Look to Christ and live. There
is eternal life and spiritual life and healing for a look,
to believe, to trust in Christ. But the only way anyone is ever
going to trust in Christ is at the Lord's rebuke. He must first
rebuke before He heals. He must convince a man of sin that there is nothing in him
acceptable to God. Are you convinced of that? I
surely am convinced of that. That's not just something I have
in my head. That is something I know to be the very core of
my being. That in me is no righteousness
at all. I know that. In my flesh dwelleth
no good thing. He rebukes And you know what
the first instance of the rebuke is? The same thing happened to
this fellow when that demon was cast out. The devil had thrown
him in the midst. You know what begins to happen
when your sin comes in and you're convicted? You begin to be thrown. You start to feel the sword hanging
over your head, the judgment of God hanging over your head.
And you begin to be convinced. Like David said in that psalm
I read, he said, my bones begin to wax old within me for my roaring
day and night. Until when? Until we confess
our sins. This is what it is to be saved
is that God comes and He convicts the sinner and the sinner's got
nowhere to go. The sinner's got nowhere to go.
Where are you going to go? Where are you going to go? To whom will you go? This man
was thrown in the midst. Notice that he was thrown only
one place, in the middle, where Jesus was. You know, I remember in the Lord's
grace, He hedged me in. I could not turn to the right
or to the left. I tried. And every way I tried
only incurred more pain, more guilt, more shame. And you know
what that led me to? It led me right in the midst
of the feet of Christ. That's where it leads every sinner.
Every sinner God saves lead him right to the feet of Christ and
he bows down to Christ. and confesses His sin. This is the experience of grace
that every one of God brings by the power of Jesus Christ
when He gives Him a new heart and a new nature. And this new
heart and this new spirit, this righteous nature is Christ
in us. We once said, leave me alone. But now we say, leave me not
alone. You know what? I don't want to
be left alone. The greatest fear that I have
is that He would leave me. That's someone who's had grace
in their hearts. The only comfort for my soul
is that He said, I will never, no never, no never leave thee
nor forsake thee. That's my comfort. That's my
assurance. Is that His blood has cleansed
me of all my sin and I stand before God complete. Complete. You know, you're looking at a
complete man. No, I don't see it either. I
don't look in the mirror. I don't see it either. But it's
there. It's there because God made it. See, I'm saved because
God saved me. You're saved because God saved
you. You know when God saves a man?
It's forever. See, because God saved me before
I was born. I didn't know anything about
it until He saved me in time. And you know what? He will save
me yet future. You that believe, is it not so
with you? Have you not been thrown into the midst of His feet and
found Him to be all? I have. This is the grace of
God. And this Spirit now cries within
our hearts. We know not only Christ in our
heads, but we've experienced His power and His Spirit bears
witness with our spirits that we are the Son of God. Do you
have His Holy Spirit living in you? Then that Spirit testifies with
your spirit. And what is the testimony? We
cry in our hearts, Abba, Father! Father! We cry, Father! That's it! You know what I cry? Father, forgive me. Father, have
mercy for the blood of Christ. And we desire to be only found
in Him. Now look at this heart of Paul
in closing. This is my heart. This is the
heart of everyone who's been cleansed. Everyone who's been
saved. Philippians chapter 3, in verse
8. Now you should be honest with
yourself. You should be honest. When I
read this, is this your heart? Verse 8, Yea, doubtless, I count
all things but loss. For the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I suffer the loss of all
things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ,
and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is
of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ."
Righteousness which is of God by faith. Do you count all things lost
to know Christ and His salvation? Do you desire to be found in
Him with none of your own righteousness? And that righteousness which
we have, how is that made? By the faith of Christ. He made
my righteousness, and now by faith I receive what He's given. Is there any boasting then in
our faith? No, faith is a gift of God, not
of works, lest any man should boast. So even if you have faith,
you know this, faith is a gift of God. So again, what's the
doctrine of Christ? Salvations of the Lord. We were
as the unclean spirit saying, leave me alone. What have I to
do with thee? I don't want to hear of your
judgment. I don't want to hear of your rebuke. And you know
what? Against our will, God said, get out of it! What could we
do but believe? Isn't that your experience? You
know, I couldn't do anything else but believe. Everything goes against my faith
in Christ. But you know what? I can't help
it. I will believe. because He gave it to me. And
praise God He did it, because I know now it's done. It's done. May God give you such faith.
May God not leave you alone. I pray this. God would bless
this message to your heart. Let's stand and be dismissed
in prayer.