Mark chapter one. And we're going
to read from verse 16. And this is speaking about the
Lord Jesus Christ, and Mark says, Now as he walked by the Sea of
Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother casting a net into
the sea, for they were fishers. And the Lord said unto them,
Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of
men. And straightway they forsook
their nets and followed him. And when he had gone a little
farther, thence he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John
his brother, who also were in the ship, mending their nets. And straightway he called them,
and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants,
and went after him. And they went into Capernaum,
and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue
and taught. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority, and
not as the scribes. And there was in there And there
was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he
cried out, saying, Let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked
him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when
the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice,
he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch
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. Amen, may
God bless to us this reading from his word. Now we're picking up a little
bit on the narrative that we had last week. And I'll just
remark, we didn't read it together, but in verse 14, we're told there
that after John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee. So here we are once again thinking
about the early days of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
Mark, it seems, is suggesting that there is a connection between
the imprisonment of John and the beginning of the closing
down of John's ministry, and the beginning or the start of
the ministry of the Saviour, the Lord Jesus. And I was thinking
a little bit about John and really just reflecting on the fact that
the Lord's ministry only really began when John was no longer
able to have any engagement with the Lord Jesus. or indeed to
see anything of the things that began to flow from the Lord's
ministry. As we go on in the first chapter
of Mark, perhaps if the Lord wills on another occasion, and
see the great quantity of miracles and healings that the Lord performed,
we'll discover that John was probably largely unaware of these
things. And sometimes the Lord's people
don't live to see the fruit of their labours. Sometimes they
don't get to see the things that have been accomplished because
of their particular service or their involvement in a situation. perhaps things that they have
worked for, perhaps things that they have prayed for, perhaps
things that they have longed for over many years, and they
don't get to see the fruition of that work or the accomplishment
of the things for which they have served. But as I thought
about that and reflected on the ministry of John the Baptist,
I remembered that John's own testimony was that he was honoured
to serve. that he did not need to see those
things which he had spoken of come to their fullness, their
fulfilment. It was sufficient for him to
have worked in the Lord's service. It was sufficient honour for
that man to have fulfilled the role that was given him to do. And is that not the case for
us all? Why should we have the benefit
necessarily of seeing those things for which we work, at least in
our own lifetime? In John chapter 3 and verse 30,
we discover that John the Baptist there, he testifies that the
Lord Jesus Christ must increase, but I must decrease. And that's exactly what happened.
As John's ministry decreased and came abruptly to a conclusion
with his arrest and subsequent execution by Herod, so we find
that his influence and his role in the life and society of Israel
at that time decreased certainly. But it was the Lord Jesus Christ
who was increasing, and rightly so. John could say, my joy therefore
is fulfilled. You see, John's joy was not in
necessarily seeing the great accomplishments of the Saviour,
but rather his joy was in knowing that the Lord had found him worthy
to serve. And that's something that we
should remember. Let me just give you a brief
example. We labour occasionally at the rescue mission and some
might say, you know, for all the years that you've done that
work, for all the times that you've been there, for all the
conversations that you've had, for all the sermons that have
been preached. Have you ever seen anything coming
out of that? And yet that's not our call.
That's not our responsibility. Our responsibility is to serve. Our responsibility is to lift
up the Lord Jesus Christ. And it is His work. and he will
bring to pass all things that are for his purpose. My joy,
therefore, is fulfilled." My joy is fulfilled in hearing the
voice of the Saviour. You know, that's what John the
Baptist was allowed to hear. He heard the voice of Jesus.
He had spoken all his life, all his ministry. He had anticipated
from being a young man that role of pointing and preparing the
way for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now the Lord
Jesus Christ had come out of Galilee And he had come to John
there beyond the Jordan, and he had been baptized. And that
voice from heaven declared that this was the beloved son. in
whom the Father's pleasure dwelt, and upon whom the Holy Spirit
rested. And John could say, my joy is
fulfilled, my joy is complete, because he had heard the voice
of God. He had heard the voice of his
Saviour. He had heard the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He had spoken to the one to whom
he had looked and for whom he had waited. The voice of God And for you and for me, to hear
Christ speak to our souls is surely the fulfilment of all
joy. And some people might think that
they want to see the church enlarged. They want to see the gospel being
successful. They want to see a powerful display
of spiritual activity in our society. They want to see the
people of this world coming under conviction and being converted
to the Lord Jesus Christ. But rather let it suffice. to
know that the Lord has honoured us with the sound of his voice. That the Lord has graciously
brought us under the preaching of the gospel. Because it's in
the gospel that we hear the voice of Christ. And if we have heard
Christ speak in the gospel, then we can say with John the Baptist,
my joy therefore is fulfilled. And my ministry may indeed be
at an end, and Herod may indeed have me in his prison. And the
Lord Jesus Christ may now only be beginning his ministry, but
my joy is fulfilled. The message of the Gospel that
the Lord Jesus Christ preached, we read also in the 15th verse
of chapter 1. And last week we read there,
the time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand, repent ye
and believe the gospel. This is the gospel message of
the Lord Jesus Christ. When Mark calls this in verse
one of the chapter, the gospel of Jesus Christ, the son of God,
then this is the gospel that the Lord Jesus Christ calls us
to believe. He says in his message, in his
preaching, repent and believe the gospel. Could there be a
simpler message than that? Could there be a message less
demanding than that? Why is it that we make the gospel
so hard? Why is it that we find ourselves
making God's free gift into a drama? Do you feel the weight of sin
in your soul? Do you know something of the
wickedness of your heart? Then repent of that sin and that
wickedness. Repent was the word the Lord
Jesus Christ used. He said, repent. And if we feel
our unworthiness before God, this is the call, this is the
requirement, repent. And the very fact that we feel
that sin, the very fact that we are conscious of that sin,
gives us that warrant to enter into this command of the Lord
Jesus Christ, to repent of our sins. Do you believe Christ? Do you believe the gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ? Or would you say with some that
Christ is a liar? Would you say with some that
Christ is false and fake and untrue? That there was nothing
divine in Him? That there was nothing special
in Him? That there was nothing that He
was able to do that has any repercussions or ramifications now in your
day or for your life or for your heart? Then take that position. And you will not repent and believe
the gospel. But if you feel your need of
him, then the call is clear, straightforward and simple. Repent and believe the gospel. Take him at his word. This isn't
about you. It's about the Son of God. It's
about his glory. It's about his accomplishments.
It's about what he has done for the salvation of his people.
And he says to those who feel their way of sin, repent and
believe the gospel for he shall be king in his kingdom and he
shall bring to pass all the glories of his accomplishments. In Mark 1 15, the Saviour came
saying, the time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at
hand. The very fact that we are here
this evening, the very fact that we are listening to the gospel,
the very fact that the Lord Jesus Christ is being lifted up in
our hearing at this moment. Here we are, the 12th of August,
This is us, we're gathered around the scriptures. It's 2020. Here
we are in this country, and we are listening to the gospel preached,
a gospel message that has been declared for thousands of years. And the Lord Jesus Christ says
to us still, The time is fulfilled. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel. Friends, the kingdom of God is
at hand because the gospel is being preached in your hearing
this night. Do you hear Christ's voice? John
the Baptist could say that he had heard the voice of the bridegroom. That was the fullness of his
joy was to hear the bridegroom's voice. Do you hear Christ's voice
in the gospel? Then take him at his word. Repent ye and believe. This evening, it's my plan, it's
my purpose to talk about this voice, this voice of the Lord
Jesus Christ, and particularly to make reference to it as a
voice of authority. And this is, it would appear,
Mark's purpose in the way in which he presents these verses
before us in this passage this evening. It sounds as if, it
looks as if Mark would have us discern the authority that comes
with the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ and the authority
of Jesus Christ. So that's the title of our service
this evening or our sermon this evening, The Authority of Christ. But before I do that, I want
just to have a brief excursus and to show you a little picture
that I have. I hope you can see this. I'm able to do this because the
technology allows me to do it. Some of you have said that you
enjoy seeing the little maps and I thought that it would be
appropriate to show this one again. Let me just draw your
attention to a couple of things. This is a map of Israel at the
time of the Lord Jesus. and it shows something of the
journey of the Lord that is recorded for us in these opening verses
of Mark's Gospel. You can see there are a number
of places spoken about, so the sort of regions within Israel. So if Israel is pretty much the
top to the bottom there, down the side of the Mediterranean
Sea or the coastal area in the Mediterranean Sea, it becomes
mountainous and deserts to the right there, sort of where it
says Decapolis and Pariah. And a couple of things there
that we can notice from that map, we can see Galilee at the
top. So that was where the Lord was raised and that was where
he spent most of his ministry in Galilee. And then those are
other areas within within Israel there down through Samaria into
Judea. And there you can see Jerusalem
in the middle of the Judea region there. And then that borders
on the Dead Sea at the bottom. And then we can see back to the
top again where Galilee is mentioned that there's a couple of towns.
There's Nazareth there. There's Cana of Galilee. There were a couple of Cana's,
so sometimes it's called Cana of Galilee to distinguish it
from the other Cana. And Capernaum, and that's there
on the border of the Sea of Galilee. And that of course is where the
disciples did their fishing. We've already had a number of
mentions, the fact that the Lord, in the passage that we read this
evening, was walking by the Sea of Galilee when he met his disciples. Well, that is where he was. But
I just wanted to point out a couple of things to you, which perhaps
you might find interesting. The number one there, the long
arrow in the middle, There's a little one just underneath
where it says Nazareth. That shows us where the Lord
Jesus came from in order to be baptised by John the Baptist. He had come out of, we're told
he'd come out of Galilee, and he came to where John was baptising
in the wilderness, what's called beyond Jordan. And that seems
to be down where the tip of that arrow is number one. So Jesus had come all the way
from Galilee right down, and you can see the River Jordan
connecting the Sea of Galilee down to the Dead Sea there, all
the way down there, and that was where he had been baptised
by John in the River Jordan, just there above the Dead Sea. And so that journey was probably
about 70 miles. And Jesus would have walked that.
He would have walked that distance in order to meet John and to
be baptised by John. So I was thinking how I might
sort of just mention that 70 miles. And I reckon it's pretty
much, Mitch and Avery, if you're listening, pretty much if you
had walked from San Culi to Shoto, That was what the Lord walked
in order to be baptised. So he walked all that distance
in order to meet with John and to be baptised. And then after
he had been baptised and we're told he was driven by the Spirit,
and there's a little 2 beside the bottom arrow there, and he
went into the Judean desert, and it was in that desert, that
wilderness there, that he was tempted of the devil for 40 days
and 40 nights. And then just after that, there's
another long arrow back up to Galilee again with a little three
against it, and that shows us that the Lord went back into
Galilee after he had had those 40 days and 40 nights, And it
would seem that it was shortly after this that he went to a
wedding in Cana of Galilee. And there he was, and he was
with a couple of his disciples there. So we'll make reference
to that in a moment or two. But he went to this wedding in
Cana of Galilee. John speaks to us about that
in his Gospel. and then back to Nazareth and
then we discover that he goes up, arrow number five, to Galilee. And that's where we're picking
up the narrative or our story today. So we'll be speaking about
Capernaum, that's where the synagogue was that he preached in, and
there's the Sea of Galilee. So he's a long way from Jerusalem.
and he's a long way from where he had been baptised by John. So that's just a little picture
there to give us a little view of the context, the geography,
if you like, of this period in the Lord's life. There we are. That lake that we spoke of there,
or the sea, the Sea of Galilee, this really was the place where
the Lord spent much of most of his ministry. We do hear of him,
of course, in Samaria. There was the lady that he met
at Samaria, and that was because he was traveling between Galilee
and Jerusalem. He traveled back and forward
to Jerusalem for the various feasts several times throughout
his ministry. And of course, it was in Jerusalem
that he ultimately was taken and crucified. But you can see
the length of Israel there and the difference between Galilee
up at the top. And that's where he was from,
that's where he had been raised. And in verse 16, where we started
our reading this evening, We find him meeting with these disciples
at the Sea of Galilee. In the New Testament we will
also find the Sea of Galilee called the Sea of Tiberias or
indeed Lake Gennesareth. And the Sea of Galilee, Sea of
Tiberias, and the Lake of Gennesareth are all names for the same sea. And it was a very important sea. It was very important to the
local economy of Galilee. and it had been important for
many years as a source of food and probably for that reason
it had numerous names and even parts of it were called different
things just to distinguish it from those that are for those
who lived and worked around about it. Now the Lord encounters his
disciples here, and in verse 16 we read, Now as he walked
by the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew his brother
casting a net into the sea, for they were fishers. And we shouldn't
think that this was the first time that Jesus had ever met
Peter and Andrew because that would not be the case. He knew
these men before and while we just encountered them first at
the Sea of Galilee here in Mark's Gospel, we know from other passages
and other parallel accounts that he knew both of these men. He knew them from John the Baptist
because at least Andrew, had been a disciple and a follower
of John the Baptist, and it would appear that Peter perhaps had
been also. And you remember that when Andrew
was introduced to the Lord Jesus, he went back and spoke to Peter
and said, we found him, we found the one that we've been looking
for. And Peter and Andrew and indeed
John and probably James as well, if we can assume that Andrew
and the other disciple that was with him was John, just a young
man John at that time, but John the brother of James. These men
were all familiar with Jesus. They had all heard John the Baptist
speaking of him. They had likely been there when
the Lord Jesus Christ had been baptised. And it is also likely
that they had all four of them and perhaps one or two others,
been present at the wedding in Cana of Galilee, where we're
told that the first miracle was performed in Galilee. So there was a familiarity between
all of these men. But Mark records this incident
as the formal calling of these men to be disciples of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I mention that because I
think that it's part of Mark's purpose for us to recognise this
authority that was vested in the Lord Jesus Christ and this
voice of authority with which he spoke. Now we've certainly
heard that voice of authority before, because when we heard
the Lord Jesus Christ preaching, we're told that he came into
Galilee, he began his ministry, verse 15, and he said, The kingdom of God is at hand,
repent ye and believe the gospel. Now that's certainly a phrase
or a sentence, a message that is conveyed with a sense of authority. you speak the word repent and
believe the gospel as an injunction, as an instruction, as a direction,
as a command, then it is a command that comes with authority. And
certainly it is that we've heard the authority in Jesus' voice
in the very first things that he is saying here in his public
ministry. But now we're going to see the
application of that authority in the lives of men and women. And Mark seems here in this short
passage that we have read together from 16 through to 28 to give
us three examples in which this authority of the Lord Jesus is
revealed and explained. There was the authority in the
call to the disciples to follow him. There was the authority
in the message that he preached in the synagogue on the Sabbath
day when he entered into the synagogue and We're told there
that he taught with authority in verse 22. And then there is
the authority in his disposition of this man who was possessed
of the unclean spirit. So what I want to do is take
each of these three examples that Mark gives us in these verses
that we have before us this evening and just think about the authority
that is revealed in each of these cases. So let's just look at
verse 16 again briefly. So Mark chapter 1 verse 16. Now
as he walked by the Sea of Galilee, and he was doing that purposefully,
he was going there to meet with Peter and Andrew and James and
John, it just wasn't that he happened to be out for a stroll,
there's purpose here. As he walked by the Sea of Galilee,
he saw Simon and Andrew, his brother, casting a net into the
sea. They may have been fishing, but
more likely they were cleaning their nets at this time, for
they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come
ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men.
And straightway they forsook their nets and followed him. And when he had gone a little
farther thence, he saw James the son of Zebedee, and John
his brother, who also were in the ship, mending their nets. And straightway he called them,
and they left their father Zebedee in the ship with the hired servants,
and went after him. This is quite an extraordinary
incident. Here are four men within the
space of a very short distance because we discover, in fact,
that, well, there's more to this story than Mark is giving us
here in these short verses. Matthew and Luke both speak more
of the circumstances of this incident. If you want to read
it later it's in Matthew chapter 4 and verse 18 to 22 and Luke
chapter 5 verse 1 to 11. But Luke tells us that there
was a crowd of people here when the Lord Jesus Christ was walking
by Galilee. It seems that everywhere that
Jesus went, every time he spoke, every time he engaged with people,
his words, his demeanour, his attitude, it attracted a crowd
of people. And there was at least an awareness
here that here was a man who was able to say things and do
things that were quite extraordinary. And because of the press, Luke
tells us that the Lord Jesus Christ had met with Peter and
with Andrew and he had asked Peter to allow him to go into
Peter's boat and to push it off from the side of the sand a little
bit that he might stand there and preach to the people because
of the press. And there's a beautiful picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ standing preaching in a boat on the water
to a crowd of people standing on the beach. And this is the
scene that we have before us. And a little while after that,
the Lord says to Peter, put out your boats and put your nets
into the water and take the draft of fishes. And Peter said, Lord,
we fished all night and we haven't caught anything, which is why
I think they were probably cleaning their nets rather than fishing.
They had already been fishing and now they were back at the
land. But Sid, we hadn't caught anything.
And the miracle took place again where they caught such a huge
lot of fish that their nets began to break and they had to shout
for John and James to bring another boat out to help them to get
the fish to the shore. And that was what I meant last
week when I said that there was in Mark's account of these things
a terseness, a sparing use of words, even an abruptness, that
Mark tells us in just a couple of verses that the main point
of the thing where some of the other gospel writers will add
a little bit more or fill a little bit more out in the way of detail.
Not that Mark doesn't give us peculiar pieces of information
uniquely in his own account, as we also remarked last week. But what we can tell from this
situation is that there were a number of things took place
on this occasion. There was preaching. The gospel
was set forth and there was the performance of a very applicable
miracle in the gathering in of a huge quantity of fish. So when we talk here about the
fact that this was the calling of Peter and Andrew and James
and John to be fishers of men, This is not a calling to conversion. It was a calling to service,
a calling to the discipleship, which would ultimately lead to
the apostleship, and the formative role that these men would play
in the establishment of the New Testament church upon the Lord's
crucifixion. resurrection and ascension into
heaven. But there are similarities to
conversion here and it doesn't matter whether it was conversion
or calling to service in a sense because the point that Mark is
making is the authority that there is in the voice of the
Lord Jesus. Note that these were just ordinary
men. Indeed, they were poor men, it
would seem. Perhaps they were businessmen
of a sort. They were fishermen. It wasn't
that they had any great training or any great sophistication. They were working men, labouring
men. Men who knew what it was to be
disappointed, even in their job. Can you imagine being a fisherman,
endeavouring to run a business and provide food and finance
for your family, and fishing all night and catching nothing?
It is a lovely picture of the way that the Lord Jesus uses
mean people, weak individuals, men and women who are in every
way ordinary and perhaps without being in any way rude or unfavourable
to say that they are, as far as the world is concerned, inconsequential. But once the Lord takes that
individual, He makes them into whatsoever He will, and He employs
them according to His purpose. And it's a wonderful privilege
to be used of the Lord. Indeed, to be willing to be used
of the Lord, to go before the Lord as we hear that call to
service. and to follow him in his direction
and in his word. There was authority in Christ's
voice and there was power in the words that he spoke. In Matthew
chapter 4 and verse 19 we read, and 20, we read these words. And he saith unto them, that
is Peter and Andrew and James and John, follow me and I will
make you fishers of men. and they straightway left their
nets and followed him. And that's just what Mark is
telling us here also. They heard the voice of the Lord
Jesus and they were obedient to it. They heard the voice of
Christ and they followed. What does Mark say? This is the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. What was the gospel of Christ?
Repent and believe the gospel. What were the words of Christ?
Follow thou me. And when we hear the voice of
Christ in the Gospel, when we hear that voice calling us to
service, calling us to follow, calling us to be His people,
then it becomes us and behoves us to be obedient to that voice,
for there is authority in that voice. And if an individual,
in hearing the gospel preached, allows that gospel to drift over
their heads and have no influence or no consequence, then we say
that that individual has no sense of that inward call of power. And that is the case. But when
you hear that word, when that voice of authority comes with
power, when we are called to leave all behind, and to trust
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's no weighing up options.
There's no trying to balance what the best way forward is.
There's no weighing up the different priorities and thinking, what
way will I choose? They left their nets straightway,
all that they had, all that they possessed. With the clothes that
they had on their back and the shoes on their feet, if they
had any, they followed the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ commissioned
them to a life's work. And there's a lovely picture
there for us too. You see, when the Lord calls
his people to himself, he calls us to follow him forever. He calls us to follow him all
the days of our life. And that is a beautiful thing,
for here we have the Lord calling a sinful man and a sinful woman
into that experience of grace, into that pursuit of Him, to
follow in His footsteps, to labour at His behest, to serve Him according
to His will and His purpose. And sometimes that service will
be costly. The Lord called four men here
on this occasion by the side of the Sea of Galilee. James
was one of them. And James would be dead in a
little more than three years because Herod would slay him
with the sword. Peter and John would be beaten
by the scribes and the Pharisees. They would be beaten with rods.
They would go on to live a life of service to the Lord Jesus
Christ, to be imprisoned, to be beaten and battered on numerous
occasions, but to follow their Saviour. I don't know whether
I can imagine another scenario quite like this. Here was the
Lord Jesus Christ, there on the shores of Lake Galilee, the Sea
of Galilee, and here are these men. with their boats, with their
nets, with their relatives, with this crowd of people perhaps
that are there, with this huge catch of fish. And the Lord Jesus
Christ says to them, Peter, or his name was Simon at that time,
follow me and I will make you a fisher of men. Andrew, James
and John. And I love the personal dimension
of this, but he calls these men to his service. He calls these
men to follow after him. And if we hear the voice of the
Lord Jesus Christ in the gospel, and that voice comes to us with
power, if that voice comes to us as a voice of authority, it
is our privilege and it is our pleasure to leave behind our
nets, to leave behind our world, and to follow the Lord Jesus
Christ. Fishers of men is a beautiful
phrase, is it not? They had made their livelihood
catching fish. Hard work, laborious work, frustrating
work, no doubt. Unsociable hours. They had fished
all night and they'd caught nothing. But this would not be an easier
life that they were called to enter into. This would not be
a more profitable life as far as the values or the possessions
of this world was concerned. It would be a life of dedication
and commitment. It would be a life of hardship.
It would be a life of disappointment in many ways. But it would be
a life following Christ. It would be a life where they
would be disheartened, no doubt, challenged many times. perhaps
feel often inadequate and fearful, anxious about the situation that
they were in, wondering whether or not they had made the right
decision in following after the Lord. But it was a life in which
they were honoured to serve. Jesus said, I will make you fishers
of men. This was his work. It was his
authority and it was his power that was on display. It's lovely
to see the force of that little phrase. It wasn't that he was
saying that it was a mere possibility. No, the apostles would carry
this message to the ends of the earth. Go ye into all the world
and preach the gospel. And they would go fishing for
men with a new net. They didn't need the net from
the shore at Galilee because now they had the gospel and it
was the gospel net. It was declaring the truth by
which the Lord's elect are caught and snagged and snared in that
message of salvation and that gospel declaration of truth and
brought to the Saviour. And then Mark gives us another
example. Another example of Christ's voice
and the message of authority. Look with me at verse 21 in our
passage. So Mark chapter 1 verse 21. And they, that is, the Lord and
these four men, went into Capernaum. Now we noticed where Capernaum
was, we saw the Sea of Galilee there and Capernaum is just on
the shore of the Sea of Galilee. And they went into Capernaum
and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue
and taught. and they were astonished at his
doctrine for he taught them as one that had authority and not
as the scribes. Here we find the Lord Jesus Christ
now preaching with authority in Capernaum. And it's interesting,
I think, that we just pause for a moment and think about this
town of Capernaum. It was condemned by the Lord
because of all the miracles that he did there and the unbelief
in general of the population. You'll remember with me that
Jesus was born in Bethlehem. and he was raised, and it would
appear, spent much of his 30 years in Nazareth. But interestingly,
Capernaum is called his own city, and you'll find that in Matthew
chapter nine, verse one. And the implication there is
that it was Capernaum where the Lord did many if not most of
his miracles, certainly in Galilee, and it was in Capernaum that
he preached and spoke most of his parables. So he centred his
ministry around the homes and perhaps even where he had occasion
to dwell with different people in this city of Capernaum. And here he goes into Capernaum
on this occasion and Mark tells us that he immediately goes to
the synagogue on the Sabbath day and there he teaches in the
synagogue. And of course the wonderful thing
about the Lord standing up and teaching or preaching in the
synagogue is that he had something worth hearing. He had a message
that was worth hearing. And he spoke that message. He
spoke that message in the hearing of the congregation. And that
congregation that day heard something worth hearing. And what the people
heard astonished them. They were astonished at the doctrine
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What were they astonished at?
They were astonished at the Gospel, because this is the Gospel of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God. This is his message, and he spoke
with authority. When he entered into the synagogue,
when he stood up to speak, the people heard something new. They heard something fresh. They
heard something liberating, something that they had never heard before. Now what was it that was so wonderful? This gospel that Jesus preached
was the same message that he had preached just a few days
before. The gospel hadn't changed in
the time that it took Jesus to come into Galilee preaching the
gospel of the kingdom of God, saying the time is fulfilled
and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the
gospel. It hadn't changed in those few
days. It hadn't evolved or morphed into something different. This
is the gospel of the kingdom of God. And it is the message
which is now at hand. It is the message of repentance.
and faith that leads to salvation. It is the message of repentance
for sin and faith in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because these two things are
synonymous. We cannot have a gospel without Christ and we cannot
have the message of Christ coming into the world which isn't essentially
in and of itself good news to sinners. because it is the message
of salvation through the work of a substitute, the accomplishment
of something that we never could achieve by ourselves, earn or
buy or secure of our own ability. This is the message of grace.
This is the message of the Lord Jesus Christ coming into this
world, going to the cross on behalf of his people, taking
upon himself the sins of his people, bearing their sins in
his body on the cross to pay the debt outstanding to the holy
justice of God. This is the gospel. This is the
work of Christ. and he fulfilled it and accomplished
it in its entirety. And so when he says the kingdom
of God is at hand, he is speaking of his own kingship. He is speaking
about the establishment of a kingdom of individuals, of men and women,
spiritual men and women, born again into the faith of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He's speaking about forgiveness
of sins and he's speaking about things that mattered to needy,
hungry souls. And that's why these people in
the synagogue on that Sabbath day scratched their heads and
wondered in amazement because They were astonished at his doctrine,
astonished at the authority that was in his message. What must
it have been like to hear the Gospel preached from the lips
of the Lord Jesus Christ himself? I don't know what the inside
of that synagogue looked like. I don't know what a service in
the synagogue might have been like. But to have seen the Lord
stand, to have been there on that day and seen Him stand and
heard from His lips those words of gospel truth proceeding. What must that have been like?
What a privilege. These people ordinarily, they
went to the synagogue Sabbath day by Sabbath day, every Sabbath
day of their lives to hear the law. preached, to hear the traditions
of men and the traditions of the elders declared in their
hearing, to talk about the history of Israel, to talk about Moses,
to talk about the prophets, to picture the allegories of the
Old Testament which they failed to discern in their true meaning,
being Bewitched, as it were, with the stories and failing
to see the reality and the truth behind them. Why? Because they
were blind to the vital doctrine of gospel truth, of justification
by grace, of God's mercy and peace, of redemption by the Anointed
One, the Messiah. Oh, they waited for the Messiah.
They longed for the Messiah, but they did not discern the
Messiah. They did not recognize him when
he stood in their midst and he declared the gospel to him. 2 Corinthians chapter 3, verse
14, the verses following said, because their minds were blinded. For until this day remaineth
the same veil untaken away in the reading of the Old Testament,
which veil is done away in Christ. But even unto this day when Moses
is read, the veil is upon their heart. Notice when the Lord stood
up and spoke with authority that he contradicted the errors of
the scribes. These men who used to come with
their doctorates and their wisdom and their qualifications and
their history and their teaching and their education, And they
could not lead the people into the experience of spiritual life
with God. They could not bring the people
into a knowledge of the truth. They taught by rote. They preached by recitation. But the Lord spoke words that
were vital and true. He spoke from the heart to the
hearts of men. He spoke to the condition of
sinners. He spoke with his own message,
the gospel of Jesus Christ. He spoke from himself. Like John
had spoken from himself, pointing to the Lord Jesus Christ as one
sent from God, as an anointed prophet from God. And herein we see part of this
role that the Lord Jesus Christ takes. We've already thought
about the kingship of Christ because he says the kingdom of
God is at hand. Repent ye and believe the gospel.
The Lord Jesus Christ was coming declaring a new kingdom had been
established, a spiritual kingdom of which he was king. And now
we see this word of authority declaring this prophetic role
of the Lord. So he was a prophet as well. And soon we will see how the
Lord Jesus Christ went before his father, carrying his own
blood as a priest representing the people for whom he died.
And therein these three roles of the Lord Jesus Christ in his
ministry, his covenantal ministry, is revealed. He was prophet,
he was priest, and he was king. He came with a message of authority
from God. He came as an independent man,
teaching men. And when the gospel is preached
properly, it is preached with authority. When the gospel is
declared rightly, it is declared with power. Not because it's
a message that comes with the backing of a Bible college diploma,
or with some historical confession of faith, or some textbook learning,
but because it comes with the power of God, the Holy Spirit
behind it, to effect change, to address the needs of men and
women. It comes with a spiritual unction. It comes with an anointing. It
comes with a fervor. It's a message that enters the
mind, it touches the heart and it reaches the soul of God's
elect. And so it was with the Lord Jesus
Christ. This was a message which came
with authority and men and women took note when the Lord Jesus
Christ spoke. And the final example that we
are given here in this passage this evening is that Mark speaks
again of Christ's divine authority with respect to this man with
the unclean spirit. So there was the authority in
his call by which we see the effectual inspirational and convincing
call of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the minds and hearts of
individuals. Follow me and I will make you
fishers of men. There was the authority in his
message by which those in the synagogue that day were presented
with an illuminating message that was both astonishing and
distinctive. It came particularly to them
there that day with the power of the Lord Jesus Christ in that
prophetic capacity. And then we see the authority
of the Lord Jesus Christ in disposing of this evil spirit. And in verses 23 through verse
28, we won't read them again at the moment, but we find that
this man with an unclean spirit cries out in the middle of this
service in the synagogue and that the spirit that was within
him was rebuked by the Lord Jesus Christ. I must confess, I had
a little smile when I was preparing this message this evening, or
for this evening, and I remembered the visit that we had in the
chat room last week. And, well, we're not the first
to have our service interrupted by unclean spirits. The Lord
Jesus Christ had his service interrupted in exactly the same
way. One of the commentators on this
passage, John Gill, says this. He said, such spirits sometimes
are where religious persons meet. But with no good design do they
come. They come either to disturb the
preacher or to divert the hearer, that the word may be unfruitful
and unprofitable. And that's true. I think Dr. Gill had perhaps been disturbed
by such spirits also. But you know, we don't have to
fight that battle. All we have to say is what the
Archangel Michael said on a similar occasion, the Lord rebuke thee. And that's exactly what happened
on this occasion here in the synagogue in Capernaum. Here
was a man with an unclean spirit who cried out, Now I don't know
actually whether we think about it as being the man who cried
out or the devil who cried out or simply the devil employing
the man's lips and voice. But what I do know is that that
devil, that unclean spirit was distressed at being in the presence
of the Lord Jesus Christ. and it was fearful of the outcome
of the presence of Christ there in the synagogue with it that
day. In Mark 1, verse 24, the unclean
spirit is quoted as 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. That's an amazing statement.
Just think about that for a moment. Let us alone. I'm going to repeat
it. 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. In its entirety,
it's an amazing incident. What a confrontation. The eternal
God in the person of Jesus Christ confronted there in the synagogue
with this man possessed with an unclean spirit, and the unclean
spirit declares through the lips of this man, I know thee who
thou art, the Holy One of God. All the other people in the synagogue
that day, they didn't know who the Lord Jesus Christ was. but
this unclean spirit discerned and detected that he was in the
presence of God himself. You are the Holy One of God,
the Anointed One of God. You are the Messiah. That is
effectively what the unclean spirit is saying. You see, the
devils recognised Christ when others did not. They recognized
that this was the Holy One of God. They acknowledged His power
to destroy them. They acknowledged His right to
dispose of them as He would. And Jesus rebukes the unclean
spirit to silence. He tells it to hold thy peace. And I think he tells him to be
silent, even although here is this unclean spirit declaring
before all the people there, you're the Messiah. You're the
Holy One of God. And the Lord Jesus Christ says,
I don't need your testimony. I don't need you to be witnessing
for me. You can just be quiet. You can
shut your mouth. You can hold your peace and come
out of him. It's a beautiful picture here
of the authority and the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord needed no acknowledgement from that quarter. but he exercised
his power to deliver and to save this poor creature, this poor
man from the possession of this unclean spirit, to bring as it
were into his kingdom, to bring as it were under his kingship,
to displace that power that was in the man with a greater power
that was liberating, that was gracious, that was pleasing,
that was merciful, that was full of grace, the Lord Jesus Christ
himself. There is true liberty. The rule
of Christ is liberty for the child of God. The unclean spirit
threw the man to the ground. He cried loudly, showing, I suggest,
that he did not want to leave this man, but was compelled to
do so under command of a greater power and authority than his
own. And we're told that the people
were all amazed and they admitted to the authority of the Lord
Jesus Christ, both in the message that he preached and his rule
and power over these demons. They had never heard a message
like it and they had never seen a sight like it. So here he is in Capernaum and he performs such an amazing
miracle and he preaches such an amazing gospel. And we are
told in some parallel passages that he did the same in the synagogues,
in the towns and in the cities all around Galilee. Matthew 4,
verse 23, for example, says that Jesus went preaching the gospel
of the kingdom and healing all manner of sickness and all manner
of disease among the people. And that's why we learn there
in verse 28 that immediately his fame spread abroad throughout
all the region round about Galilee. I think Mark has succeeded in
drawing our attention to the authority in the voice of the
Lord Jesus. All we have before us in this
passage testifies to the divinity of Christ, the Godhead of Christ,
the anointed role of Christ, the prophetic ministry and the
kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this shows us, right up to
this present time, that the one whom we follow The one whom we
believe, the one in whom we trust is openly, evidently, authoritatively
the Son of God. He calls and sinners follow. Such is the authority in his
voice. He preaches. and hearts are opened
and moved with astonishment. He speaks and men go free. and devils tremble. The kingdom
of Satan is upended. He enters the strong man's house
and he lays it waste and he takes that which is in the strong man's
possession and he liberates it and he puts it under his own
kingship. Friends, brothers and sisters
in Christ, we all by nature are as bound up in self and sin as
this man was in the synagogue. And we may be religious. We may
even be in the house of worship. but as possessed of a spirit
opposed to God and rebellious against grace as ever we were. You know, religious practice
and religious activity will never save an individual until the
power of the gospel of Jesus Christ comes in to an individual's
heart and they repent and believe the gospel. It takes the Lord
to come to us. It takes the Lord to call us. It takes the Lord to free us
and to reign over us. How grateful we are to our Saviour
that he has come to us in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. How grateful we are that he has
authority in this message, in this word, and power to do for
us what we could not do for ourselves. that he has done, that he has
accomplished by the shedding of his blood for the remission
of sins, in opening up that way of access and entering into the
very presence of God with his own blood as a representative
to bring us into the experience of reconciliation and grace and
peace with God. May our knowledge of that authority,
may our knowledge of that power, may our knowledge of the gospel
of Jesus Christ and our repentance and belief in him elicit from
us a spirit of thankfulness and a spirit of worship from sinners
saved by grace. Amen. May the Lord bless these
thoughts to us and encourage our hearts in them.