objects of His eternal love. His love has been set upon them
from eternity. They don't know who He is, but
He knows who they are. He knows who they are. And notice
He makes us fit for His service. Because He says these words,
I'll make you to become fishers of men. It's God who makes us
fit for His service, beloved. It's God who does this. The believer
in Christ is made fit for heaven in Christ. It is Christ who instructs
us and guides us as we grow in the grace and knowledge and truth
of Him. We become what? More and more dependent upon
Him, don't we? Are you more dependent upon God now than you've ever
been before? Yes, we are. Yes, we are. As each day passes,
we are more and more dependent upon Him. Has not your trust
in Him grown as you walk with Him? You trust Him more now than
you did when the Lord first saved you. You rest in Him more now
than when the Lord first saved you. Oh, yes. We don't lean on our own understanding
anymore. We don't lean on our strength. But when we do, when we lean
on our own understanding, and when we rest in our own strength,
we find ourselves in a world of trouble. Don't we? As believers. And we know this. We know this from the trials
that we've went through. Christ is our true rest. And
we look to Him and Him alone. Let's look at verses 21 to 28
in this chapter here. And we see that Jesus and His
disciples go into a synagogue in Capernaum. They went into
Capernaum and straight away 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
has authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in the
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 Jesus rebuked him, saying,
hold thy peace, and come out of him. And the unclean spirit, and when
the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice,
he came out of him. And they were all amazed, in
so much that they questioned among themselves, saying, what
thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For
with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and
they do obey him. And immediately his fame spread
abroad throughout the region, round about Galilee. Take note of verse 21, the scriptures
declare that they went to Capernaum. And again, this was all by God's
sovereign will and purpose. There was one in the synagogue
in Capernaum that day, who had an appointment, who had a divine appointment
with the Holy One of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And there
was a bunch of folks there too that were divinely appointed
to see what would occur. A divine meeting had been purposed
and planned by God the Father. And we see here that this appointment is between this
man with an unclean spirit and the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, and they went into Capernaum,
and straightaway 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. The Lord Jesus Christ and his
disciples went into the synagogue and Christ taught them. He taught
them the truth. He taught them the word. He taught
them from the scriptures that he was the blessed redeemer and that he was about his father's
business. Note in verse 37 and 39 of this chapter, it says,
and when they found him, they said unto him, all men seek for
thee. And he said unto them, let us
go into the next towns that I may preach there also. From therefore
came I forth. For therefore came I forth. The
reason he came is to be about his father's business, to preach
the gospel. to redeem His people from their
sins. And it says in verse 39, He preached
in the synagogues for all Galilee and cast out devils. He preached the gospel of God's
sovereign grace in Him, in Christ. He proclaimed the things concerning
Himself. He's the sinless, spotless Lamb
of God who was sent to die in the place of His people. Now
the Greek word for astonished there in verse 22, it means to
be struck with astonishment, admiration, to be amazed. They
were amazed, beloved. It's translated ten times in
the scripture as astonished and three times as amazed, the same
Greek word. Turn if you would to Acts chapter
13. All but one time is in reference
to our Lord Jesus Christ. All but one time is in reference
to our Lord Jesus Christ. And that one time is when Paul
and Silas are preaching on Cyprus and Elemaeus the sorcerer is
seeking to turn the deputy that Paul was speaking to about Christ
away from the faith. Acts 13 verses 4 to 12. So they being sent forth by the
Holy Spirit, by the Holy Ghost, God's preachers are sent forth
by the Holy Spirit of God. Departed into Seychelles, and
from thence they sailed to Cyprus. And when they were at Salamis,
they preached the Word of God in the synagogues of the Jews,
and they had also John to their minister. And when they had gone
through the Isle of Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false
prophet, a Jew, whose name was Argesus, which was with the deputy of
the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man who called for
Barnabas and Saul and desired to hear the word of God. But Elimaeus, the sorcerer, for
so is his name by interpretation, withstood them, seeking to turn
away the deputy from the faith. And Saul, who was called Paul,
filled with the Holy Ghost, set his eyes on him, and said, O
full of all separate and all mischief, thou child of the devil,
thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert
the right ways of the Lord? And now, behold, the hand of
the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing sun
for a season. And immediately there fell on
him a mist and a darkness, and he went about seeking some to
lead him by the hand. Then the deputy, when he saw
what was done, believed, being astonished at the doctrine of
the Lord. Same Greek word there. Astonished at what had happened. So the Jews in the synagogue
at Capernaum are astonished at the Lord's doctrine. They're
amazed at the Lord's doctrine. Because he taught them as one
that had authority. He didn't teach them as the scribes taught.
He taught them as is one who had authority. Now little did
they know that the one who, the very one who authored the Holy
Scriptures was there speaking to them right there. The very one who is worshipped
by Abraham, Isaac, Moses and all the saints in the Old Testament
is right there before them speaking to them. They didn't know that. The one who appeared before Joshua
and proclaimed that he was the captain of the Lord's host is
right there before them. The one whom David said, the
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, is right there before
them. The one who Isaiah saw high and
lifted up on the throne is right there before them, the Lord Jesus
Christ, God incarnate in the flesh. The one who delivered Israel
with a mighty hand out of Egypt is speaking to them. The one
who parted the Red Sea is speaking to them. And they're astonished at His
doctrine. They're astonished that He taught
with authority. Well, He taught with authority
because He has all authority, beloved. He has all authority. The One who's speaking to them
has all power and all authority in heaven and on earth. And the
One who's speaking to them is our Savior. If you're a believer,
that's our Savior speaking to them. And they were amazed at his preaching.
John Gill brings forth, they were amazed at the manner of
his preaching, which was with so much gracefulness, gravity,
and majesty, and it was attended with so much evidence and power.
They'd not heard this kind of preaching before. And note in verse 22, he didn't
teach as the scribes. It says, and they were astonished
at his doctrines for he taught them as one that had authority
and not as the scribes. The scribes would go about and
establish the authority of the rabbis. Several commentators
said they would constantly be speaking about other rabbis. They got their authority from
the rabbis. But Christ spoke with authority
to them. He didn't quote any man on earth.
He taught them from the Scriptures. And we know who the author of
the Scriptures is. God, the Holy Spirit. And His hearers had never observed
this in any teacher, and they were filled with wonder and amazement. Look at verse 23, we see that
there's a man in the synagogue with an unclean spirit. And there was in the synagogue
a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out. He cried out over in the parallel
passage and In Luke chapter 4 verse 33 we see that this man had a
spirit of an unclean devil. Scripture declares in the synagogue
there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil and cried
out with a loud voice. Gil brings forth that this is
the same spirit in religious people who gather amongst the
people of God. And Gil says they have no good design, they seek
to either disturb the preacher or divert the hearer that the
word may be unfruitful and unprofitable. Now we know that the scribes
and Pharisees did not know Christ. We know that. They did not acknowledge Him.
They did not acknowledge the truthfulness of His doctrine.
They hated Him without a cause. They hated Him without a cause.
They denounced our Savior. as a false prophet. But we see
in the next verses that the demons knew who He was. The demons know who He is. They know the truthfulness of
all He teaches. And we see before us in these next texts that they
bowed before Him. This unclean spirit bowed before
Him. in fear. Look at verses 23 and 24. There
was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried
out, and we know this is the unclean
spirit crying 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." Notice there's nothing left to
question who our Lord is. There's nothing left to question
with who our Lord is. Even the demons know who He is
and they tremble before Him. Let us consider this amazing
title of the Lord Jesus Christ here before us. He's called the
Holy One of God. The Holy One of God. And we see that this man with
an unclean spirit cried out. We know that cry came from the
evil spirit which had control of him and marked that well thousands
who saw Jesus daily going about the streets of Jerusalem later
in his ministry did not know who he was. And yet the devils
were compelled to give their unwilling testimony to who he
was. And the public acknowledged that
he is the Holy One of God. Oh, how blinded by sin we are
in our natural state. By reason of sin in our natural
state, we know not God and we do not seek God. We're just like the disciples
where they're going about our daily business when the Lord
calls us in by His grace. Not seeking the Lord, having
no understanding of who He is, but all when He calls us. Oh,
what a gracious and merciful call it is. And oh, how effectual
it is. And we leave everything and follow
the Lord, don't we? Oh, my. Man in his natural state does
not seek after God. We have no care for God and no
knowledge of God, but he seeks out his sheep. And in the time of love, he reveals
himself to them. And every child of God rejoices
over this. We rejoice that the Lord opened
our eyes, don't we? Because we were blind. We rejoice that he's opened our
ears to heaven, to hear his voice through the scripture. And we rejoice. We rejoice that
he's given us an interest in him. where we had no interest before. And it's all by the work of our
sovereign God, according to His eternal plan and purpose. So give God the glory and give
Him praise if you have an interest in Christ. If you have a saving
interest in Him, give Him all the glory and give Him all the
honor and praise. So we see the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior, Our Redeemer is called the Holy One. Only He could be called this.
He's the Holy One of God. He's the Holy One both in His
divine nature as the Son of God. He's the Holy One of Israel.
And He's the Holy One as the Son of Man. Both His natures. Born of the Virgin, without sin,
perfect, spotless, sinless. The Holy One of God. And think of this. The Holy One of God came to this
world to die for His people. we who
are the unholy ones in our natural state. And he did this because he loves
us. And he's loved us with an everlasting
love. The Holy One of God, the perfect,
sinless, spotless mediator, whom the Father sent. He sent
the Father into this world. God incarnated in the flesh.
The one true Messiah, who has come to save His people
from their sins, in this unclean spirit, knew who He was. He knew who He was. And take note in our text that
the evil spirit acknowledges also Christ's power. He not only
acknowledges who He is, the Holy One of God, but, beloved, He
acknowledges His power. So many in this world don't acknowledge
who Christ is and don't acknowledge His power, when every day it's
manifested around them. But look at this demon. He acknowledges
both who He is And he acknowledges power. Look, he says, art thou
come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the
Holy One of God. So marvel at the power. Marvel
at who Christ is. And marvel at how even the demons
tremble. James writes this. Thou believest
that there is one God, thou doest well. The devils also believe
and tremble. Now they don't believe in a saving
way like we do, but they know who he is. They have more sense than a natural
man, but they don't believe in a saving
way. But we believe in the saving.
We have a saving interest in Christ because we're born again
by the Holy Spirit of God because he's done a mighty work in us. So we see here the deity of Christ
declared before us in this text. Very clearly. We know that by the miracles
which Christ wrought, that his deity was manifested. We see
this in portions of scripture that he has all authority over
man, over demons, over all things visible and invisible. And we know that man and women
by their natural state, by our fallen Adam, that sin has dominion
over us. And we're under a taskmaster,
and that's Satan. He's a taskmaster over us in
our natural state. And the children of God, as well
as the whole race of men, are all born into this world, dead
in trespasses and sins. Slaves to our sins, under bondage
to our sins. That's what the scripture declares. Turn, if you would, to Titus
chapter 3. Titus chapter 3. And let's look at what Paul writes
about our natural state. And then he writes about after
we're born again, and it's wonderful. This little portion here is wonderful.
Titus chapter 3 verses 3 to 7. We'll see our natural state in
verse 3 and then we'll see the miracle wrought by God in verses
4 to 6. And then we'll see our state before God declared in
verse 7. It's wonderful in this little wee portion right here.
Titus chapter 3, verses 3 to 7. For we ourselves also were
sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts
and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating
one another. That's our natural state. Never forget the but God, say.
In Ephesians chapter two, there's a verse that says, but God, and
look what it says here. But after that the kindness and
love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy, he
saved us. He did it all. By the washing
of the regeneration, born again by the Holy Spirit, and renewing
of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Savior. And then look at our state. Look
at our state now. That being justified by His grace,
we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.
Packed into these little verses is our natural state, salvation
by grace alone, and then the state of the believer. It's wonderful. Dead in trespasses is the verse
three, but after the kindness and love of God our Savior toward
man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done.
That says you cannot save yourself, salvation, this verse brings
forth so much that salvation is by grace alone, through Christ
alone, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according
to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration. We're
born again, we're granted faith and repentance to believe on
the Lord Jesus Christ. In the renewing of the Holy Ghost,
it's all the work of God, which was shed on us abundantly, overflowingly. All spiritual blessings are in
Christ, right? Through Jesus Christ our Savior.
And then here's our state now, that being justified by his grace,
we're justified before God by the grace of God in Christ, clothed
in his perfect spotless righteousness. We should be made heirs according
to the hope of eternal life. And who's our hope in? Christ
and Him alone. Christ and Him alone. Now ponder
this, you who are born again. You are washed clean in the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. You were once in this state spoken
of by Paul in verse 3. That was our state. That was
our state. But the scripture is being fulfilled,
which, turn if you would to Isaiah chapter 49. The scripture is
being fulfilled that was declared in Isaiah 49, 24 and 26, about
the prey being taken away from the Mighty One. By the Mighty
One of Jacob, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One of
God. Remember, we were captive to sin, we were in bondage to
sin, we were slaves to our sin and to Satan. We were slaves.
in bondage. But beloved, we've been set free
in Christ. And look what these verses say.
This is a wonderful portion here too. It ties right in with Titus
there. Look at Isaiah 49 verses 24 to
25. Shall the prey be taken from
the mighty? Only by God's power. Only by God's power. Or the lawful
captive delivered? We were held captive by our sins.
The law had a claim on us, didn't it? Rightly had a claim upon
us. But thus saith the Lord, even
the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, set free, and
the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that
contended with thee, and I will save thy children, and I will
feed them that oppress thee with their own flesh. Vengeance is
mine, saith the Lord. They shall be drunken with their
own blood, as with sweet wine, and all flesh shall know that
I, the Lord, am thy Savior and thy Redeemer. Look at this, the
mighty one of Jacob. These verses speak of the Holy
One of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. And we were held captive by our
sins. And we've been delivered, beloved.
We've been set free. Let's go back to our text in
Mark chapter 1. The Mighty One of Jacob proclaimed
there in Isaiah 49, 26, is the very One whom the unclean spirit
is addressing. The Mighty One, the One who said,
I'm going to deliver the people, I'm going to set them free. The one who said, I'm the Savior
and Redeemer. We saw that in Isaiah 49, 26. The one who said,
I'm the mighty one of Jacob, is the very one who this demon
is addressing. Mark 1, 24, 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. So what confidence can the believer
glean from these verses? Knowing that no weapon that's
formed against us shall prosper. No temptation can take us. But
under it the Lord will make a way for us to escape. We know that,
that's what the scripture says. Because He who ever watches over
us, He who keeps us, He who watches over every single one of His
sheep, Through all the trials and troubles that we go through, is the Holy One of God. The Holy One of God. Let's read verses 25 and 26 now. And note the power of our Master's
words. We see that He has all power. As He commands the unclean spirit
to hold its peace and come out of the man. It says here, and
Jesus rebuked him saying, hold thy peace and come out of him.
When the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice,
he came out of him. Now hold thy peace there literally
means in the Greek to be muzzled. To be muzzled or gagged. It means
to stop the mouth, to make speechless, to reduce to silence. That's
what it means in the Greek. And look at the power manifested
by our Lord and Savior with a word. Because that, hold thy peace,
is one word in the Greek. With a word, the spirit's reduced
to silence. With one word from our mighty
Redeemer. And our Lord doesn't want acknowledgments
from such lips as they who are the vessels, because the vessels
of the Lord must be clean. We're washed in the precious
blood of Christ, aren't we? And note, note in verse 22, after
this had happened, the people there are amazed. Look at verse 22, and they were
astonished at his doctrine, for he taught them as one that had
authority and not as a scribe, but then look at verses Look
at verse 27, and they were all amazed in so much that they questioned
among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine
is this? For with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits,
and they do obey him. So he taught with authority,
and now in like manner he commands with authority. And we see what he commands comes
to pass, doesn't it? It comes to pass. Who's in charge? The Holy One of God. He's in
full control of this situation. Just like He's in full control
of every situation in our lives. Oh God, give us grace to rest
in that. Give us grace to rest in that. He commands and it comes
to pass. This miracle is done by the power
of God. This is none other than God incarnated
in flesh. And he's manifesting his authority
and power on full display right here. 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. One
commentator said, the unclean spirit came out of him against
his own will, as a loud cry shows, but he's powerless at the command
of the Holy One. The unclean spirit is absolutely
powerless at the command of the Holy One of God. If you ever hear someone say,
God's done everything he can do and now the rest is up to
you, that's a powerless God. We see here, in the scriptures,
plainly declared and plainly shown to us, that our God is
in full control. And the unclean spirit cannot
resist His command. He's God. That's my Savior, is He yours? Oh, what peace we can glean from
this portion of Scripture. And if He isn't your Savior,
I pray that He'd make it so. I pray He'd reveal Himself to
you. Because this is the God of the Bible. This is the God
of the Bible. He has all power. This is who
we come here each Sunday to worship and to hear proclaimed. God who has all power and all
authority, and it's on full display here. And look at verses 27 and
28, and they were amazed in so much that they questioned among
themselves, saying, what thing is this? What new doctrine is
this? For with authority commandeth
He even the unclean spirits, and they do obey Him. And immediately
His fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
Notice the words, they were amazed. They were amazed there means
in the Greek to be astonished, amazed, to be terrified, and
to be frightened. Their amazement was mixed with frightened terror. Oh, when God reveals to us who
he is, we are struck with fright and terror, aren't we, in our
natural state. But praise God, he applies the
balm of Gilead and the Holy Spirit reveals to his people who he
is. And we stand in awe and wonder. So their astonishment was... Their amazement was linked with
frightened terror. They were in awe of his power
over the unclean spirit. Weiss, the Greek scholar, brings
forth that the words amazed in verses 27 and verse 22 are graphic
in their description of the reaction of the synagogue crowd to the
impact of Jesus and the teaching and the miracle which he performed. It's very graphic in the astonishment
that they had for what he had done. And we see in verse 27 that they
were all amazed and so much that they questioned among themselves,
saying, what thing is this? What new doctrine is this? They questioned among themselves.
Mark is here describing that they had an animated, prolonged
discussion amongst themselves. They'd never
heard anyone speak like this. They'd never heard anyone speak
with such authority in teaching the Scriptures. And they never
saw anyone exercise such power over unclean spirit. Let's read the rest of verse
27, which brings forth that Jesus not only taught them with authority,
but commanded even the unclean spirits, and they had to obey
Him. Look at verse 27, and they were
all amazed in so much that they questioned among themselves,
saying, what thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For
with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and
they do obey him. Now, the words for authority
there, or the, yeah, the words for authority,
commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. The word for command there is
epitaso. Epitaso. It's a military term. The noun formed used in the military
sense of an orderly array. So he commanded, he commands
and everybody steps into place. An orderly array. In the single verb, For that
it's called Tasso, it's used in classical Greek and it means
to draw up an order of battle or array or marshal the troops. So what's being brought forth
here in our text is that our Lord and Savior has all the host
of Satan and Satan himself under his absolute power. And we know this to be true because
it's written that He has power over all things visible and invisible.
But we see it right here. It's on display for us here. He commands at will, and the
spirits must obey Him. Satan operates on a limited tether. He can only do what the Lord
allows, beloved. As one grace preacher said, He's
on a leash. Now we're no match for Him. Not one of us is any
match for Him at all. At all. He knows what makes us
tick and He knows how to make us fall. But He can only do what our Lord
commands and what our Lord allows. Because this verse here talks
about about the Lord having all authority, and for with authority
commandeth he even the unclean spirits." They snap right in
order. We have some men here who were
in the military. When your commander said, get into formation, what
happened? You were in formation, right?
Right away. Right away. The Holy One of God has all authority
and all power. Oh, this is our savior. Marvel that this is the one who
redeemed us with his own precious blood. What peace that can bring us.
That he who keeps us is the very one who commanded this unclean
spirit to hold your peace, and then boom, he couldn't say nothing. And he cast that demon out, and
he had to come out. That's the one who saved us,
beloved. That's the one who called us by his grace and his mercy. No one can resist his call. Thy
people shall be made willin' in the day of his power. And
we were made willin', praise be to God, weren't we? We who
believe. And our prayer is that the Lord
make his lost sheep willin'. Oh Lord, and we rejoice when
we hear that he has. We rejoice. Good news from a far country,
isn't it? The gospel is good news from a far country. Turn,
if you would, to Job chapter 1. We see here, in this portion
here, that Satan can only do what God allows. He can only do what God
allows. Job chapter 1. And I'll read our little portion
here again. And there was in the synagogue a
man with an unclean spirit, and 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 Jesus rebuked him, saying,
Hold thy peace, and come out of him. He muzzled him, gagged him, and said, come out
of him, and he had to come out of him. And when the unclear
spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, he came out
of him. Look at this in Job chapter 1. Look at verses 6 to 12. Now there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came
also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan,
whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the Lord
and said, I'm going to and fro in the earth and from walking
up and down in it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job? But there is none like him in
the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth God and
escheweth evil. Now how is a man who is a sinner
perfect and upright before God? Only in Christ. Only in Christ. Only clothed in His righteousness.
Look at that. Oh my. Then Satan answered the
Lord and said, Doth Jove fear God for naught? Hast thou, or
hast not thou made a hedge about him, and about his house, and
about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work
of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But
put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he
will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Now here's the limitation. Here's the one who has all power.
Only upon himself put not forth thine hand. He can only do what the Lord
allows. The Lord said you can take his substance
away, but don't lay a hand on him. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord. Now to the people in the synagogue,
they were astonished at the Lord's teaching. They were astonished and amazed
at the fact that the demons obeyed him. What can we glean from this
text as believers? Well, again, let us remind ourselves
that when things come up in our lives, whether they be expected
or unexpected, because both situations occur, don't they? Let us remember that the Holy
One of God is our Savior. The very One who's proclaimed
in this text. It's He who's redeemed us. It's He who's purchased us with
His precious blood. It's He who saved us. It's He who keeps us. Beloved, we are weak. And we
learn our weakness in trials and tribulations, don't we? We
learn our weakness in trials and tribulations. But what else
do we learn through those trials and tribulations? We learn that
He is strong. And we learn that we can do nothing
without Him. That's what we learn. And we
are constantly learning this, aren't we? Our weakness is constantly
being manifested, and His strength is constantly being manifested. And remember, you who are the
born-again, blood-washed saint of God, that He who is your God,
He who is your Savior, is the Holy One of God. The very One
who right here commanded the unclean spirit to come out of
the man. In whom the unclean spirit even
identified that He is the Holy One of God. That's our Savior. And we saw His deity on display. We saw the authority that He
has on display. We saw the power that He has
on display in this text today. So let us remember as we come
to the table, we're gonna partake in the Lord's Supper. And what
are we to do when we partake in the Lord's Supper? We're to
remember what our Lord's done for us, right? That's what we're
to do. Let us remember that the very
one who redeemed us, the very one who came to save us from
our sins, is the very one we've looked
at today, the Holy One of God. who has all power and all authority. Lord, give us grace to rest in
you. Give us grace to rest in you
more and more. Heavenly Father, we thank you again for your mercy
and goodness and grace given to we who are your people. And
Lord, we marvel as we look at the text today and we just see
your deity on display. Your power, Lord, your majesty.
that with one command, one word, you've muzzled the unclean spirit. And let us marvel that you have
all power over all things visible and invisible, and let us leave
here thinking and being in awe that you saved us. I know we
often cry to you, Lord, and say, me, me, but we know from the
scriptures it's all by your will and purpose. Praise your name, Lord, for saving
your people. May you be glorified, and may
you use the messages that are proclaimed for your glory and
honor and praise. In Jesus' name, amen.