Let us turn in our Bibles today
to the first chapter of Mark. We looked at the verses last
time. that tell us of the Lord Jesus
calling for men to follow him, Peter, Andrew, James, and John,
and telling them that he would make them to become fishers of
men. They did follow him, and he did
make them to become fishers of men. We saw that in Acts chapter
2 on the day of Pentecost when Peter and the 11 stood up and
preached the gospel. They cast out the gospel net. 3,000 souls were brought in that
day and baptized. Now two of these men, Peter and
John, had a house in Capernaum. Capernaum was a town or city
on the shore of the Lake of Galilee. And over the next three years,
two and a half or three years, this city, Capernaum, would witness
many, many mighty works of the Lord Jesus Christ. Today, we're
going to be looking at verses 21 through 28. Let's read the
scripture. And they went into Capernaum,
and straightway on the Sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue
and taught. And they were astonished at his
doctrine, for he taught them as one that had authority and
not as the scribes. And there was in their synagogue
a man which had 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. I have three subjects or three
topics that I want to speak to us about today from these verses
that we've just read. The first, I want us to see and
by God's grace to be impressed with this, the fervent the fervent
activity of the Lord Jesus Christ. You notice in verse 21 the word
straightway. And they went into Capernaum
and straightway. This is one of Mark's favorite
words. He's already used it three times
in this chapter. If you look back to verse 10,
When the Lord was baptized, the scripture says, and straightway
coming out of the water, he saw the heavens open and the spirit
like a dove descending upon him. And then in verse 18, and straightway,
these first two disciples, Andrew and Peter, straightway, they
forsook their nets. And then in verse 20, the other
two, and straightway the Lord Jesus called them." Now, Mark
will use this word 37 more times in his gospel. The Greek word,
37 more times, it is translated straightway most of the time,
sometimes immediately, and a few times as soon as, or for with. all giving the idea, these English
words and the Greek word, all giving us the idea of action,
of action, immediately, immediately, straightway. When we read of
Him coming into this world in the Psalm and also in Hebrews
chapter 10, where it speaks of Him speaking, the Father having
prepared Him a body. He came into this world with
these words, I delight to do thy will, O God. I delight to
do thy will, O God. You know, the first recorded
words of the Lord Jesus Christ in the scriptures, in the gospels,
are recorded in the gospel of Luke when he was 12 years of
age. You know, he'd gone up to Jerusalem
with Joseph and Mary, and they left, and he remained. And they
returned seeking for him. And he said these words. These
are his first recorded words as the God-man in this world.
How is it that you sought me? Mary said, we've been seeking
for you. How is it, he said, how is it
that you sought me? Wist you not that I must be about
my father's business? Wist you not that I must be about
my father's business? And just as soon as the Lord
enters upon his public ministry, by being baptized and the Spirit
of God coming upon him as he did and remaining upon him, then
immediately we read, he begins to do the will of the Father. The first Sabbath, as I said
a few minutes ago, Andrew and Peter, they had a house in Capernaum. And so they came to Capernaum
and the first Sabbath, this is what the scripture here tells
us, the first Sabbath in Capernaum immediately. You know, sometimes
people move to a new town and it may be two or three months
before they ever go to worship the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the first Sabbath that he was in Capernaum, he was in the place
that God had ordained for the Jews to come together to worship
Him, and that was a synagogue. He was there immediately, the
scripture says. Now before this, when He had
returned to Nazareth, Luke tells us this. Nazareth was also in
Galilee, as was Capernaum, but He went back to Nazareth first,
and we read there, as His custom was, As his custom was, he went
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Now, as a child, as a young
boy, as a teenager, we know the scripture says he was subject
to Mary and Joseph. He was subject unto them. And
no question in my mind, but part, part of him being subject, being
in the house, of Mary and Joseph was, he learned that on the Sabbath
day, we go to the synagogue. We go to worship the Lord, to
read the scriptures, to hear the word of God. Someone in our
congregation told me this just recently. He said, you know,
my family, they know where I will be on Sunday morning. They don't
have to ask. They don't have to think about
it. They know, unless I'm providentially hindered in some way, where I'm
going to be on Sunday morning. I'm going to be in the house
of the Lord with God's people to worship Him. Now in the synagogue,
as practice was in that day, when someone came in, if it were
a service like we were having here, then opportunity would
be given to men in the congregation if they had a word to say. If
they had a message, a testimony, or a word to speak, they would
be given the opportunity. I want you to turn with me to
Acts chapter 13 and see this. This is the first Sabbath that
the Apostle Paul and Silas were in a synagogue in Antioch of
Pisidia. In Acts chapter 13 and verse 14. It says, But when they departed
from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the
synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. They came into
the synagogue and they didn't cause any commotion. They came
in and they sat down. And after the reading of the
law and the prophets, that is the Old Testament, the rulers
of the synagogue sent unto them saying, you men and brethren,
if you have any word of exhortation for the people say on. Then Paul
stood up and beckoning with his hand said, men of Israel and
you that fear God give audience. We know he began to preach the
message that he preached that day and he concluded that word
if you look down to verse 38. What a wonderful conclusion to
the message. After he had spoken of Christ
and how the scriptures prophesied of his coming and how he was
the Messiah who fulfilled the prophecies, be it known unto
you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins. Could there be a better message Could I ever hear a better message
than a message that tells me about the forgiveness of sins? My sin against God, my coming
short of the glory of God, could there ever be a better message
that I could hear than the message of forgiveness of sins through
this man? Not just any man, and not through
a creed, or through a system of theology, or not through a
particular denominational church, but know through this man, this
person is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. And all
that believe, all that believe, notice verse 39, and by him all
that believe are justified from all things, from which you could
not be justified by the law of Moses." Hear this synagogue of
people who had the law and no doubt were trying to keep the
law the best they could and never could do it. Man, fallen man,
cannot keep God's holy law. But through this man is preached
unto you the forgiveness of sins, and all that believe are justified,
declared righteous. That's what that word justify
means, isn't it? Declared righteous, just as if
you had never sinned through this message, this man. Now go back with me to Mark. What did Paul teach when he was
given the opportunity to speak in that synagogue? What did he
teach? Well, the same thing that the
Lord Jesus Christ taught. That's what he taught. He taught
the word of God, the written word of God, because we read
of Paul that his manner was he reasoned with them from out of
the scriptures. Paul didn't go into a synagogue
and A preacher who's called of God, he doesn't go into a congregation
and stand up and preach the latest edition of the news, something
we've seen on television or the news and tell people how bad
things are and try to give an update on the political situation
and all of that. No, no. A man who's called of
God will do one thing, and that is he will reason with people
out of the Scriptures, the Word of God. God has chosen to use
His Word, His written Word, in calling out His people. The Lord
Jesus Christ in the synagogue that day preached unto them,
taught them out of the Scriptures. But the point I want to emphasize
is the fervent, the fervency of the Lord Jesus Christ in doing
the will of God. In John chapter nine in verse
four, he said to his disciples, I must, I must work the works
of him that sent me while it is day. The night cometh when
no man shall work. Lord Jesus Christ, the fervency
in his obeying the Father's will and doing the work which the
Father gave him to do. What are some practical lessons
for you and I from this thought? Well, first of all, it should
be our custom, as it was our Lord's custom, to be faithful
in worshiping him, in attending upon the scriptures. He that
saith, this is what John wrote in 1 John, he that saith he abideth
in him, ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. And let us remember the word
from the book of Ecclesiastes, whatsoever thy hand findeth to
do. Whatever God's put in your way
providentially for you to do in serving the Lord. If it's
just being, and I shouldn't say it like that, just being faithful.
It's not just being faithful, it's being faithful. That's so
important, isn't it? It really is. Whatsoever thy
hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. For there is no
work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither
thou goest. If we're going to work and serve
the Lord, it's going to be while we're in this world, right? Even
though the scripture does speak that in heaven we will continue
to serve him. The second subject I want to
speak about is the holy presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. The
holy presence, just his very being, the holiness of his being. And I see this because there
was in a man, now notice this, there was in a man, I don't know
how many men there were in the synagogue that day, but there
was one man there and in him, There was an unclean spirit. And the very presence, the Lord
Jesus Christ just coming in into this building and this man in
this building with this unclean spirit, just the presence of
the Lord Jesus Christ, His holy presence provoked this unclean
spirit to cry out saying, let us along. What have we to do
with thee? Now the Lord was teaching, the
scripture says he was teaching, but do you see just his presence
there? You know there's a verse in the
Song of Solomon which says, thy name or thy person is as ointment
poured forth. just as a precious ointment that
has a beautiful odor is poured out and it just fills the whole
room. Some of you burn candles and
they put off such a beautiful fragrance, they just permeate
and fill the whole room, maybe the whole house. What I'm saying
this morning is just the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, His
holy presence caused this unclean spirit to cry out as he did,
saying, Let us along. What have we to do with thee? Now Mark, I want you to notice
this. Look at the scripture. Mark says that there was an unclean
spirit in this man. Notice that in verse 23, and
there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. An, singular, right? There was a man with an unclean
spirit. He wasn't like the demoniac of
Gadara. The Lord Jesus Christ would meet
this man later on as we go through the Gospels. And he was possessed
with a legion of demons. But no, Mark tells us here that
this man had one unclean spirit, an unclean spirit. But I want
you to notice how he spoke. How he spoke. Let us alone. Let us alone. You see that? That's plural.
Mark tells us he had one spirit, one unclean spirit, but when
this unclean spirit cries out, he says, let us alone. What have we to do with thee? You say, well, what does that
mean? What does that tell us? It tells
me that all the fallen, unclean spirits in this world, they are
all in league together. They all work together with the
prince of the power of the air at their head, which we know
is Satan himself. In 1 John, John tells us, for
this purpose was the Son of God manifested. that he might destroy
the works of the devil. The works of the devil, death,
death. When he tempted Adam and Eve,
and Adam and Eve succumbed to the temptation, disobeyed God,
what did it produce? It produced death. The Lord Jesus
Christ has come. For this purpose, the Son of
God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil. Now, this unclean spirit confessed
to the Lord, what have we to do with thee?
I know who thou art, the Holy One of God. When he said that,
the Lord commanded him, hold thy peace and come out of him. The Lord Jesus Christ would not
allow this demon spirit to confess him as the Holy One of God. He commanded him immediately,
hold thy peace and come out of him. Look with me in Acts chapter
16. A point I'll get to in just a
moment. In Acts chapter 16 and beginning
in verse 16, Paul and Silas are come to Philippi. And in the
city of Philippi, there was a young damsel, young girl who had an
unclean spirit. Notice it says in verse 16, it
came to pass as we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with
a spirit of divination met us, which brought her master's much
gain by soothsaying. The same followed Paul and us
and cried saying, these men are the servants of the most high
God, which show unto us the way of salvation. Now, what she said
was true. That's what she said was true. She followed them. These men,
Paul and these are servants of the Most High God. They were. They show unto us the way of
salvation. They did. But notice how Paul
dealt with this in verse 18, and this did she many days, but
Paul being grieved. Now, why was he grieved? What
she was saying was the truth. He didn't have to hire a PR company
to promote him and buy time on the radio and television ads
and tell people, my, the apostle Paul's come to down. No, this
girl was doing that. She followed them day by day. These men are servants of the
Most High God. They show unto us the way of
salvation. Paul was grieved. Why was he
grieved? Because he recognized that she
was possessed with an unclean spirit, a demon spirit, and in
no way, no way, Did he want to be associated with the demons
or with the devil? He was God's servant. He was
doing God's work preaching the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And yes, she was promoting them,
but he knew that she was a servant of Satan. Now back in our text,
the Lord Jesus Christ, when this Unclean spirit cried out and
confessed him to be the holy one of God what he said was true The Lord Jesus Christ that hold
that peace No way he's going to be associated with the demons
with the devil and all of the things that the devil is allowed
to do later When he cast out devils, the Pharisees, the religious
people said, well, he's casting out demons, yeah, but he's doing
it by the power of Beelzebub. He's doing it by the power of
the prince of the air, the fallen angel, that is Satan. The Lord
Jesus Christ at that time, he said, listen, if Satan's kingdom
be divided, how will it stand? How can it stand? If Satan cast
out Satan, no, that's not going to happen. And the Lord Jesus
Christ here in this instance would not allow this demon to
confess him as he was doing. The Lord would not be associated
in any way with the work of the devil. He came to do the work
of God. Now my third subject is the Holy
One of God, the Holy One of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The devil,
this demon spirit, he knew who Jesus was or is, and the question
is, do we? That's the question, do we? Do
we know who he is? I want you to look back to Isaiah
chapter 54. The devil knew who he was. We know who thou art, the holy
one of God. I want us to look at this one
verse in Isaiah chapter 54 and verse 5. and see these three truths in
this one scripture that tells us about this Holy One of God. Notice in verse five of Isaiah
54, for thy maker is thine husband, the Lord of hosts is his name,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole
earth, shall he be called. Three truths about this holy
one of God in this verse of scripture that I want to mention to us.
First of all, he is God of the whole earth. He's God of the whole earth.
In other words, he's the one and he's the only one, the true
and living God. And his name is the Lord of Hosts. That's what the verse tells us.
He is the Lord of Hosts. Now when you see the word Lord
in capitals, each letter upper class, you recognize immediately
that's a translation of the name Jehovah. Jehovah. When the Lord revealed himself
to Moses at the burning bush, remember Moses was being sent
to bring Israel out of Egypt, and he asked the Lord, he said,
they're surely going to ask me, what's your name? What shall
I tell them? You tell them, I am that I am. That's a translation. of that word Jehovah, I am. Doesn't say I was, I will be,
no, no. I am, always. This tells us of his eternality,
it tells us of his self-existence, and it is especially the name
of God that is associated with his covenants, with his covenants. We know the demon spirit. We
know who thou art, thou holy one of God. First thing we know
about him is he is the Lord. He is the God of the whole earth. And that's the reason when the
Lord Jesus Christ, and you see this especially in the Gospel
of John, when he confessed himself to be, I am. I am. the light of the world. I am
the bread which came down from heaven that giveth life unto
the world. I am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall go in and out and be saved. I am the resurrection, the truth,
and the I am the good shepherd which giveth his life for the
sheep. And the Jews, when he said, for what good work would
you stone me? They said, oh no, no, no. Not
for any good work, but because you, being a man, confess yourself
to be God. How did he do that? By simply
saying, I am. I am the resurrection and the
life. We know who thou art, the Holy
One of God. He is the Son of God who was
manifested in the flesh, the God of the whole earth. Now notice
the second thing. He is the bridegroom. He is the
bridegroom or husband of the church. For thy maker is thine
husband, in Ephesians Chapter 5, the Apostle Paul writing to
believing men and women, exhorted men, husbands, love your wives
even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Husbands, love your wives. I
don't know about any other husband here this morning but myself,
but I've had to confess Many times unto the Lord forgive me,
for I certainly have not loved my wife like Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. I want to, I should, but he loved
his wife. And you know, Paul goes on in
that passage of scripture. And he quotes from the second
chapter of Genesis when the Lord God made Eve and brought her
to Adam. And he said, for this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his
wife, and they too shall be one flesh. And then Paul said this,
this is a great mystery. It's a great mystery how that
We are joined to Christ, how that he is our maker and our
husband. If you think of it like this,
before the foundation of the world, there was an engagement
and we were his people. Those who make up his church
were given unto him to be his bride. But his bride played the
harlot treacherously against her would-be husband, and sinned
and fell in our father Adam. What shall the husband do? Shall
he just put her away? Shall he just forget about her?
Should I just create a new universe, a new world, populate it with
a new people? Oh, no. Christ loved His church
and gave Himself for it. And when she was fallen into
sin, He redeemed her. And how did He redeem her? Not
with silver or gold, but with His precious blood as of a lamb
slain. from the foundation of the world. So he's not only her maker, our
maker, our husband, but he's also our Redeemer. The Lord of
hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. I pray that the Lord bless this
word to all of us here this morning, and I trust that that you enjoy,
or God blesses you in hearing these messages as he blesses
me in preparing these messages from the Gospel of Mark. Do you know who he is?