We will not give up now, and
we do, this truth to triumph through the war. The face of darkness will repent, Oh say does that star spangled
banner yet wave to be true with those who are
near. When conflict may break through, when sorrow might overflow,
nobody can break me through, not through the violence here. Luther was also one of the translators
of the Scriptures, and God used him to preserve His Word, to
make it available to common man. We're indebted to men like that. Mark chapter 1. Now you'll see
why we sung that song. Nearly half of this chapter speaks
of Christ casting out devils. And I want us to see, I hope,
how He casts them out of us. How He has and does. Alright,
verse 22. Let's look at it again. They
were astonished at our Lord's doctrine, His teaching, what
He said and how He said it. For He taught them as one that
had authority, not like the prophets. And He does. That's why He taught
them that way, because He does have authority. Look back just
one page at Matthew, the last Well, the next third to last
verse in Matthew's Gospel, verse 18, Matthew 28, 18, our Lord,
some of His last words were this. He came and spake unto them,
saying, All power is given unto me. That's why I'm told, is he
having authority? He does. How much authority? How much power? You hear people
say, our God is powerful. He has power. Well, that's really
a bad way to put it. Because in Him we'd be able to
move and have our way, but He gives power sometimes. We derive
a little bit of power or whatever ability we have from Him. He
has all authority. Listen to this. It says, By Him
were all things created that are in heaven and in earth, visible
and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities,
that is, angels, devils, powers, all things were created by Him
and for Him, and He is the fore, that is, above all things, and
by Him all things consist. He upholds all things by the
word of His power. He said, and all things have
breath and life because He says so. Yes, He taught us all that
in the Bible. No man spake like this man. All
right, now look at the next verse. It says in verse 23, there was
in their synagogue, he was teaching in the synagogue, and there was
in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And the man cried out. And this
was both the man and this unclean spirit speaking. Verse 24, saying,
Let us alone, let alone, leave us alone. What have we to do with thee? We don't want anything 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, this was a man who was actually possessed
with a demon. It's clear that he was actually
demon possessed. Yet, and I want you to notice,
look at it again. It says in verse 23, he was in
their synagogue. I don't think I've ever really
noticed that before. He wasn't out in the tombs like one man
who was running around naked, you know. That man out in the
tombs was obvious he was crazy, wild, devil-possessed. This man
was insane. Demon possession, evil spirits,
are not always so obvious. Not always so wild and monstrous
as Hollywood makes them to be, with spinning heads and horns
and tails. As a matter of fact, no demon
in all of Scripture had a horn or a tail. You don't always know
them so well. They come dressed in sheep's
clothing, the Scripture says. Smooth words and fair speeches
quite often. I've been blessed that most of
what we see today in religion is about the spirit, the unclean
spirit. Look at Mark chapter 5. Over just a few pages is another
account of a man, I just mentioned him, dwelling among the tombs. And this man, if you just take
away a few words, You would think this man was one of these charismatic,
Pentecostal spirit healers, that's the way he was out. Look at verse
2, it says, this man met him, a man with an unclean spirit. Down in verse 6 and 7, when he
saw Jesus, far off he ran, and where did he go? And he cried with a loud voice,
saying the same thing to the other man. What have I to do
with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High? Thy fury be by
God, that thou torment me not. He cried with a loud voice. But when the Lord, now this man
was running and jumping and crying and carrying on and ran down
front. When Jesus ran down front, fell
down in front of him and cried. Carrying on, jumping and all
that. Notice when the Lord took this
spirit away from the man. When He removed the unclean spirit. Look at verse 15. When they came
back after the Lord Save this fellow, verse 15, they see him
that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting, not
running, jumping, screaming, carrying on, sitting, quiet,
clothed, and he's not talking like a bloomin' idiot, or acting
like an idiot. He did that when he was possessed.
And now he's seated, clothed in his right mind. He's sitting
calmly, listening to the Lord speak, because you can't hear
what the Lord's saying when you're shouting and running and jumping
and carrying on. And he was in his right mind.
All right, back to the text now, Mark chapter 1. Well, how does
this apply to us? Well, you may not have been charismatic
or Pentecostal, but some of you were in religion. Were you not? And yet you were without Christ. You didn't know the true God,
and you didn't know the true Christ. Did you? No, you did
not. You didn't know Him. You knew
who Jesus of Nazareth is. Like this fella, I know who you
are. You're Jesus of Nazareth. You're the Holy One of God. He
knew that much. Yet the man said, I don't want
anything to do with you. Perhaps you may have heard something
of the true Christ when you first heard of Him, and you really
didn't want anything to do with that. Is that right? Some of you are nodding in agreement.
Well, you were no less possessed of the demons and unclean spirits
than this man. You know that. It says in Colossians 1 that
Christ, God, had delivered us. He's talking about every single
believer. In Colossians 1, 13, He had delivered
us from the power of darkness. Every one of us, know it or not,
before Christ came and gave us life, gave us eyes and regenerated
us. that the Holy Spirit we were
possessed, but that is under the influence of an unclean spirit. That's right. Listen to this. In 2 Timothy, he says, Now the
servant of the Lord must conscribe with a gentle aptitude to patience,
instructing those that, sorry, let me read it, instructing those
that oppose themselves If God, for repentance, will give them
repentance through the... Where does repentance come from?
Through the knowledge of the truth. When a true God, a true
Christ is preached to you. The truth that is free. Free
from what? This unclean spirit of religion. Read on. It says
that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil,
who are taken captive by him. So everyone, whether we were
in the gutter of sin, literally in the gutter, or in the pew
in the synagogue, if the Holy Spirit does as well
there than an unclean spirit does, and it takes the same power,
it took the same power, the same word of authority from the same
one, cast out this whatever unclean spirit in you, whether it be
religion or whatever. Same power. So we can be religious
and yet deep in the possessed we can be very moral, very self-righteous,
and what that makes a person is generally loud and proud. I know many of you do too, you've
run into. All right, go on. Verse 25. This
is our Lord rebuking this spirit, casting him out. Verse 25. The
Lord rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. Now, an unclean spirit. When
you saw that, what did you think? You thought, what I thought.
You thought, this must be something. especially wicked or unclean
or foul or, you know, just filthy people, there's even the Holy
Spirit. Every other spirit's unclean.
You understand? You got the Holy Spirit, and
it doesn't matter what else it is, it's unclean. It's not the
Holy Spirit. Don't let that throw you. But it can be very moral. But
the unclean, it's not the Holy Spirit, can be more than a person. Well, here's how you may know
them. I want you to turn with me to Job chapter 40. The book
of Job is right before Psalms. The book of Job chapter 40. You may know these unclean spirits
because, as I said, Like this fellow, they're always loud and
proud. They're seen and heard. They
like to be seen and heard. And that's especially in religion. Now, I was around a bunch of
wild dudes, you know, fireflies, you know. I was around a bunch
of those on my early days. And they're loud and frank, you
know. like to get quiet and sober, but no more so than religious
people. And no more body quiet as loud
and proud as religious people are spouting their themselves
and their religion, but they're loud and proud like to be seen
and heard. Now, this is what the Lord does.
When the Lord works on somebody, When the Lord begins to deal
with somebody, to bring out this unclean spirit, whether it be
religion or whatever, He begins to shut them there. Look at Job chapter 40 verses
1 through 5. The Lord answered Job and said,
Shall he that contenders with the Almighty instruct him? He
that reproveth God, let him answer. Job had a lot to say. Now the
Lord said something to him. The Lord said, You've got something
to say to me. The Lord approved him, rebuked
him, and all of his friends later on went, Where were you when
I did this, when I did that? Can you do this to me? Job, verse
3, Job answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile, that
is, unclean. You remember Isaiah? When Isaiah
called the Lord in chapter 6, holy, I lifted up. Holy, holy,
holy, that's all he heard the angel say. What did Job say? I'm a man of unclean lips. I've written lists of people
who are complaining. Every day, everybody's saying,
I'm complaining. Me too. I just need to shut up. Look
at Job. He said, I invite, what shall
I answer thee? I'm going to lay my hand on them.
I, once have I spoken, but I won't do it again. If he tries to,
I'm just going to shut up. Is that how you felt when you
began to hear the gospel? Did you? I know it's true, some
of you, because I saw the change take place. A fool's voice. Listen to this. Ecclesiastes 5.3 says, A fool's
voice is numb. It's the pain of a fool by a
multitude of words. But when the Lord begins to work
on someone, he shuts them out. He begins to stop their mouth,
like the scripture says, that every mouth shall be shut, and
all the world will come guilty before God. He tells us to be
still. But you might know that I'm not.
Be still. I just met a fellow and his wife,
and uh... I have a number of these folks,
but no one else in here does. But anyway, this man and his
wife are full of words, full of words, full of questions,
just many questions, many words. But I believe, perhaps, the Lord
is dealing with these people. They continue to come and sit
and listen to Brother Martin preach. And it's going to be
interesting. If you really would, the next
time we go there, to see how little they have to say. That's
going to be interesting. That'll be a telltale sign that
the Lord is doing work in their heart. They won't have so much
to say. Over in 1 Kings, and you may
want to turn to this, this is one of my favorite stories. 1
Kings chapter 10 is the story of the Queen of Sheba. I love
this story. She came to, she heard about
Solomon, who was the greatest lion's man on earth at the time. And she came It says in verse
1, to prove him with hard questions. She was acquainted, she said.
She was somebody. She had her little kingdom. She-body. Where's that? I don't know. But
she was sweet, she said. She was somebody. She knew something. Yeah, I'm going to start to come
in. I was ready to stop her. I can guarantee you that. She
had a little throne. She had a little kingdom. She
had a little palace. The Lord was much more certain
that she was going to come. Prove Him. Test Him. It was hard because
she had some things, you know, that she wanted. A lot of people,
you've run into people like this, have you not? get into a debate
with you and ask you, they're really not, when they ask you
questions, they're really not wanting to learn, they just want
to tell you what they know. Have you run into people like
that? They just want to tell you what
they know. It's especially true with me, that whenever someone
hears I'm a preacher, oh, they've just got to tell me how religious
they are. And I just rather not hear it,
because I don't introduce myself as that. Anyway, they find out
eventually. But anyway, the Queen of Sheba
came to prove Solomon with hard questions, but afterward, after
she, the scripture says, after she saw his wisdom, Solomon told
her everything was on her mind and even more, verse 3. He told
her all her questions and answered everything. There wasn't anything
hidden from him. And when the Queen of Sheba,
verse 4, saw Solomon's wisdom and what he had done, what he
had accomplished. And it goes on to say, and what
a picture this is of Christ. Finally, when she saw him, when
he went, his ascent by which he went up into the house of
the Lord. I wish we could just tear right into this. This is
a beautiful picture of Christ. Glorious. Anyway, when she saw
Solomon, And then he answered everything and more, probably
presenting her with some questions. She had no clue. How can God be just and justified?
Anyway, and then he ascended up onto that throne with all
of his tendons and with all of his glory and his merit and his
dignity and sat down on a little powerful throne on the earth
at the time and said, after that there was no more spirit in the
air. He had nothing more to say. Just
bowed his head. Well, there's a greater than
song. The Lord Jesus Christ. Who is wisdom? He doesn't have
wisdom. He is wisdom. He's made of wisdom. All right. Go back to the text in Mark now.
And so that's what the Lord does when He first casts out whatever
spirit it is other than the Holy Spirit. He shuts them out. Casts them
out. Leave in a quiet spirit and pray
to Christ. There aren't many of them. Well,
it says here, now look what happened, verse 26. When the unclean spirit,
when the Lord cast him out, just by word, how did he cast him
out? By word, didn't he? What was it that cast out the
unclean spirit? The word of Christ. What is it that casts out? casts
away our sin. What is it that regenerates? What is it that calls us from
darkness into light? What is it that calls us from
death unto life? What is it? It's the Word of
God, the Gospel, which we've written to Christ, the Word. All right? And verse 26 says,
When the unclean spirit had torn him, or that is, there was a
wrestling match, Whenever there's a change of
masters, there's a struggle. You see? He tore him, it said,
and cried with a loud voice, and he came out. Look over at
Romans 7 very quickly. Now, how does this apply to us?
This is not just a miracle. These things are written for
our learning. These things are a type of how God's things ever
seem. The same One saved every one
of His people in the same way. Yes, if we don't have the Holy
Spirit, we have another spirit. And it takes the same Word of
power, the same One, to come to us and cast out this unclean
spirit and create in us a new creature, a new spirit. Romans
7. Now, every believer is beset,
not only have we been delivered, but we're still beset behind
and before with unclean spirit. Though not possessed, our Lord
said, sins do not have dominion over you, you're not under the
law, you're under the law. Now, that's wrong. from the one who cast them out.
He said, stand still and I'll have you. Though possessed, though we feel
like we're possessed at times, though we feel like we're ruled
and captive, yet we're not. We are haunted, though, even
to the point where at times we succumb to these things, these
temptations, and fall into the nets and traps and spares. We
would not. Everyone in here is honest, who
is honest with himself admittedly. Look at Romans 7, verse 21. Paul is an apostle, and he writes
this, I find then a law, that is, a principle, that when I
would do good, when I want to do good, evil is present. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man, the new creature. I delight in the word of God.
I delight in the gospel of God after the inward man, the new
creature. If he were not there, he wouldn't
delight in the gospel. If the new creature was not there,
if the Holy Spirit were not there, he wouldn't have anything to
do with God. There was a time when I had no interest whatsoever
in God's word, the gospel, God's people, going to church or the
dirty work. But when God Almighty sends the
Word, the Word of Power, through the preaching of the Gospel, and arrests us to set us free,
do you remember that Psalm? Apprehends us, sets us free from
this captor. and puts His Spirit within us
and creates a new creature in Christ Jesus in us, then we love
the gospel. We love the things of God. We
love the people of God and the sound of it. But that doesn't
mean there's not a struggle anymore. As a matter of fact, the struggle
is harder than it ever was. There wasn't a struggle before.
When there's just one person living alone, there's no fighting.
Huh? There's no fight. But when you
get somebody else living with you, there's a struggle. Paul
says that this inward man is in me, verse 23, but I see another
law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing
me into captivity to the law of sin. Paul himself said often, we're
not. He wrote Timothy and said that
you may deliver the amount. But yet Paul said that time can
we feel like we're held captive by sin and Satan himself. But this is written for our comfort.
This isn't random. This is God's way. Now, he had
his struggle to where he fell back and killed cats. That gives
me some hope. What was Paul's hope of the end?
Read on, he said, O wretched man that I am, verse 24, who? Not what, not what can I do? to deliver myself. I need to
pray harder. I need to do this. I need to
do that. I need to join this, join that,
read this, read that, quit this, quit that, start this, start
that. This was much deeper than smoking cigarettes. Much deeper. This is the principle. He, he dealt with him all the
time. It just made, you know, it happened. What was Paul's hope? The same
as the man possessed. He said, Who shall deliver me? Not what. Who shall deliver me
from the body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. So then, with the mind, I must
desecrate the law of God, a new man, a new creature. But with
the flesh, oh, sometimes I seem to serve sin. But there's a natural
and natural contradiction. Don't stop there. Read the next
one. There's no confirmation that there is Christ. Because
Christ faced our adversary for us through his human action. We have to go back to the text,
man. And we, you know, believers cry constantly. unto the same
Holy One of Israel, like this man, thou Holy One of Israel,
don't we? Believers cry out, cry loud like
this demon-possessed man, sword saved me, or I perish. Like old Peter, you know, he
meant well, and he wanted to walk on water, but men can't
walk on water. He wanted to go without sinning,
but men can't go without sinning. Peter did it just fine for a
little while, but he started to go up and down, and the waves
were going over his head, and he realized, I can't walk on
water, can I? He cried out, Lord, save me or
I'll die. He reached down. Pulled him out. And we cry constantly on the
same holy water. Listen to David. Is this not
your favorite song? Listen to this. Created in me
a clean heart, O God. Renew the right spirit within
me, constant spirit, consistent spirit. Your Father who art in
heaven, hallowed be thy name. Amen. That means faithful spirit
within me. Cast me not away from your presence.
Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of
thy salvation. Uphold me by thy free spirit,
or your free spirit. Is that not your heart's cry?
Well, what happened? When the Lord gave the command,
what happened? Huh? Do you remember back in
Mark 1 where he said, come and the disciples came? Well, the
Lord said, come out, leave. What happened? He came out of
that unclean spirit. Up for this cause, they said,
what is this? What thing is this? They'd never,
in another place we'll see in Mark's Gospel it says, they were
amazed because they'd never seen it on this fashion. They'd never
seen it like this. They'd never seen it like this. What kind of doctrine is this,
they said? What kind of new doctrine is this? That's not new doctrine.
It's as old as God, but it's new to you when you first hear
it. I'll tell you what this doctrine is. It's sovereign. Sovereign
power. What kind of new doctrine is
this? Who is this strange God, they said, about whom Paul was
preaching at Mars here? What is this strange new doctrine? Well, it's strange to you, but
it's not new. It's called, he's called the
sponsoring one, the Lord Rainer. You haven't heard that before,
have you? No, he doesn't. He's Rainer.
David said that many years ago. And you're very scared. Moses
said it. It's called Sovereign of Mercy, Sovereign of Grace,
Sovereign of Power. Yes, with authority, they said,
with authority, command the thief, even the unclean spirit, and
they do obey Him. Yes, they do. Everything does.
And you do too. For it's God that worketh in
us both the will and the do of His good pleasure. And if it's
not God, you won't will it and you won't do it. It is God who
is kept by the power of God. If God doesn't keep it, we won't
be kept. Praise God. This is why we, it's what we
talk about all the time. This is why. It's with our hope
and our help. Verse 28. It says, Immediately
his fame spread abroad. Jesus got famous. Jesus got famous. Like that. Excellent. He fainted. Why? Because he healed. That
was it. All through the scriptures you'll
see that people said, believed only in one, because they saw
the miracle. And they followed him. Why? Because they had the
spirit. But he didn't commit himself
to that. And in the end, when it was all
over, there was just a handful of disciples that he had personally
called out and saved their lives. The rest of them were killed.
And that changed today. Well, now the Lord had just called
Simon and his brother Andrew and James and John. Simon is
Peter, you know, before the Lord changed his name. Simon, Andrew, John, and James,
fishing sellers, but they all knew one another. They were rivals. They had rival businesses. They
probably got together and drank together and all that, and cried
off and all that, but they didn't. They were rivals for those businesses.
They weren't friends. Well, the Lord called them out
and joined them together. And I think just heard the Lord
preach with authority. Now here's, this is it. This
is the way the Lord changed. He came calling them. They weren't
interested in Him. He called them by His name. They
followed Him. They heard Him preach. They followed
Him. Where did they see Him? Where
did they first see Him? In Sinai. You hear that? In the synagogue. Where'd you
first see His power? You weren't sitting on the side
of the hill and saw some apparition or some shooting star. No, you
saw it in the synagogue. Or that is, you saw it in the
church house when a man stood up and preached Christ's goodness.
You saw His glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth, full of power. You heard it before. They did
too. They did too. He called them
to come, what they, where they go, to hear Him preach. You know, where they go to hear
Him preach, before they heard the preach of the Father, not
like a stranger. The Lord has sent you somewhere to hear a
fellow do not like a stranger, to dress like one of them, or
preach like one of them. Now, they'd just heard him, and
now, I bet they thought, when they heard him preach with authority,
and they felt his sovereign power over them, and irresistibly drawn
by his spirit and his grace, and they saw some of his power
and his glory, I bet they thought, at this time, they were leaving
the synagogue, all our troubles are over now. They left the boats and they
were with the Lord and they don't even have to work anymore. Everything
is going to be all right. Well, they no sooner got home
than, look at this, troubles started. Peter's wife, uh, Peter's
wife's mother, first, uh, uh, Fourth with, when they were gone
out of the synagogue, that is, immediately when they went home,
they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew. James and John
was with them. Simon's wife and mother lay sick
to the feet of him. Now, she was grieved sick, grieved
sick. I believe, unto death, sick to
the feet, you know, back then. teeth and thighs they didn't
have anything they died like flies just teeth and she was
she was sick and uh but you know right before
this they thought everything's gonna be all right they know
sooner or got home there's a trouble tonight see what i'm saying You
see what the Lord says here. Well, verse 30, Simon's wife's
mother lay sick with fever, and they, anonymous, that is immediately,
they tell him of her. I don't know, I believe Peter
went into, they came into the room where Edward was, where
Ned Shanklin was, where his mother-in-law was. Peter went back there and
complied with his son-in-law. He went back there, and the Lord
decided, Well, here's the words, which
from God's people are not only beset with demons, but quite often sick, mad sick,
nine hundred thousand. and even of the dead. Yes, they
are. And this so-called spirit-filled
religious world talks about all this stuff about God not wanting
you to be sick. That's just a lie of Satan himself. Don't you believe it? For a minute, he has apostles.
Read, you know, you've read these things. We've looked at them
together. You want to look at this, Psalm 73, if you don't
want to turn, I'll read it for you. Psalm 73, you know this
psalm. God's people are not only beset
with demons, but cloud sick, mad sick, and even die hungry. God doesn't always heal us from
our physical sickness. I mean, at least in this lifetime. Without him, he doesn't even
exist. Forever. Forever. David, David was a man
in full trouble. On the run, full of troubles
within. Without, he had enemies within.
And that David, a man of God's own heart, was full of troubles,
a man of sorrow, complained of grief and trouble, and afflicted
from his youth of it. He knew troubles and sorrows.
He knew it. He knew what it was to weep and
wet his bed from tears. That's what he said to one of
his uncles. Cry all night long to the truth, cry to the truth.
He's the one that said weeping and doing good. David at one time lost sight
of what the true lessons of God are, like we do. He looked around
him and saw people rich and prosperous, the wicked, the world out there,
not in trouble, like he was. And he said in this psalm, Maybe
I'm a religious companion. What good does it do to me? I
have nothing to trouble. Look at the world out there.
Look at the religious world out there. You don't see them suffering
the things that God gives you. You don't even see the sicknesses.
Isn't that interesting? I keep waiting
for these well-known fellows to get sick or something. I don't
believe they're going to. Well, that's another one of demonic
deception. David and everybody he knew,
every believer who had nothing to trouble, and he lost sight
of what the true blessings of God are. The true blessings of
God are not temporal, physical blessings of health and wealth, but eternal blessings, spiritual
blessings, spiritual health, spiritual riches. Solomon, his
son, wrote a great deal about this. He said, there are them
that make themselves rich, and they have nothing. But there
are them that have nothing. Listen to David in Psalm 73,
verses 3 through 10. David said, I was envious of
the foolish. When I saw the prophetary of
the wicked, there are no bands in their death. Their strength
is burned. They're not in trouble as other
men. They're not plagued like other men. Talking about himself
and all his men, those who were in death and distress and miscommunication. It says that they're pride. Therefore,
because they don't have any trouble, because they have no changes,
He said in another place, they're full of pride. And so even God
in the Spirit said to Elijah, you will have trouble too. Pride comes to them, violence.
First thing, they're corrupt, they speak wickedly. concerning
the presence, that is, against the devil, which seek laws of
it, set their mouth against the heavens, that is, say whatever
comes to their mind, their tongue, walk through the earth, that
means they keep wagging on it, talking, talking, talking, talking.
But God's people, verse 10, return hither, that is, come where they
became, to God. And the waters of the soul are
blown out, nothing but trouble, God's people. Verse 17, David said, I was envious
and it was painful, but when I went into the sanctuary, Ben,
I understood their end. I think it was Solomon that said,
the end of the matter is more important than the beginning. Wait until the
last chapter. Don't get too upset in the middle of the focus. Go
ahead and read the last chapter. We can go ahead and read the
last chapter. They're in, I saw they're in in David 6. And where'd
you see it? In a sanctuary when he heard
the word, when he heard the gospel. Verse 18, Surely God set them
in slippery places and cast them down into destruction. They're
going to be brought unto desolation in a moment when Christ comes.
And verse 20, he said, I must have been dreaming. Verse 22, My heart, then my heart
was grieved, and he finally came to himself. See, he was grieved,
pricked. Verse 22, I was so foolish and
ignorant. I was thinking like a beast. I don't remember. He said, continually with pity. Oh, my eyes. In another place, David said
this, it is good for me that I may afflict you, that I might
learn thy sake. All right, what do we learn? Go back to Mark 1. What do we
learn through this? We learn we have here no continuous
city. That's how we learn. The wing being winged from there.
No lasting joy, no real lasting joy here, no real lasting happiness
in anything or anyone. The whole book of Ecclesiastes
is about that. He says, enjoy it, but consider
it for what it is. You may have a good time, you
may have a long time, good, bad, whatever it is, think about it.
It's not going to last. You're not going to get, you're
not going to have, you're not going to be overcome completely
by this. It's going to be strong, you're going to forget about
it, it's going to be over, you're not going to remember it, you're
not going to remember it. You're in trouble. And the happiness, it's
going to be gone forever. And I'm going to give you a job
that you know a man won't be able to take. everlasting joy
with me. So he's weaned us, and our only
joy, we realize, we learn, is our only joy and rest that we
can experience, really, here, is when we have our affections
set on things of life. If our affections are set on
anything or anyone down here, you'll notice it. Our affection
will turn to nothing but sorrow. If our affection is set on things
above, it can't go to nothing. And as fate goes, he says, think
on things above. Think on things down here. You
quickly lose your joy, don't you? Lose your peace, lose your
contentment, lose your composure, lose your faith. Set your... think on things about where Christ
sits. Set your mind on the one who's
sitting on the throne, the ladder's still high, rain and wood, everything
in his hand, working all things together, after the counsel is
on the wheel, for your good. Now, restore the joy. Mark 1, now it says, Anon, they
tell him of her. That is, immediately, right away,
they told him, Lord, help. They told me I'm a pervert. Now,
here's the lesson. There's nothing too small to
tell the Lord about. A fever? A fever? No, nothing too small.
And everything, you give thanks. And everything, you give thanks.
Everything that you request be done. And nothing should be put
off. When the Lord lays someone or
something on your heart, someone crosses your mind, but not, tell
him, or him, or him, or him, no, take it to the Lord. That one should be put off for
another time. Suddenly, if someone comes to mind, inquire the Lord,
tell him, ask him, beseech him. In verse 31, I quit. I was going
to go on, but I wanted to quit. Now, I told him, and he came. Here's salvation, here's healing. He came, he took her by the hand,
lifted her up, and immediately his fever left
her. And what a picture this is, huh?
We get feverish, don't we? Don't we? We get just feverish
with sin, with temptation, with worry, with anxiety. We get just
feverish. What's it going to take? The
Lord Himself come and lay hold of us. How does He do this? Right there. This is the power of the Lord,
this is the apprehending hand of Christ Himself, laying hold
of you, lifting you up out of your fever, out of your sorrow,
out of your debts of woe and despair and trouble and sin. He's lifting you up and He's
really God. What was the result of this? It said that she ministered unto
them. Yes, him. It was in gratitude
to the Lord. It was the Lord that she was
grateful to. They were all there. And to show her gratitude for
what the Lord has done for her and for me. And we will see in
the next message this morning. Here's what you think about the
people of New York City. Here's the question. What do
you think we have in our city? The whole town. The whole town
came to be a patch. That's what I said. They were
all like, whoops. I know what Peter's wife looks
like. I know. I know. But Peter's mother-in-law,
don't worry about it. This is good. This is good. It's all going to be over. It's going to be good. It's the
least we can do. And the fever left her, too.
She was running around there, and the man said, feverish lady.
What a little bitch. Don't have enough money. And it'll be all right. Okay, let's stand. Our Lord, thank You for Your
Word. It is our only source of Wisdom, comfort, and health,
and strength. It is your power, and I will
thank you for it. And we ask that you would use
it now, that you would plant it, not let it be taken away by the fowls of
the air, or the enemies of the land. Let it fall on them heart
prepared. Let it grow Let us grow in grace
and knowledge of our sovereign, saving, keeping, calling, regenerating
Lord. In His name we begin. In His name. Thank you very much. I don't know. you Okay. Thank you very much. and and and