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Once again, it is a great privilege to come before you and open up God's word to you. Will you take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter four? We're going to be looking at verses 31 through 37 as we continue to make our way verse by verse through this gospel, and here we are looking at what I've entitled "The Unfathomable Authority and Power of Jesus."

Let me read the text to you, beginning with verse 31 of Luke four.

"And He came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;

"and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority.

"In the synagogue, there was a man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice,

"'Let us alone! What business do we have with each other, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are - the Holy One of God!'

"But Jesus rebuked him, saying, 'Be quiet and come out of him!' And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm.

"And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, 'What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.'

"And the report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district."

It is interesting to note that roughly half of the population of the United States believes in evil spirits, believes in Satan; and to be sure they have been popularized in the Hollywood horror films that tend to glamorize evil. Which, by the way, means that you should never watch them. Most people are indifferent towards them, even though they believe in them. Many even believe that the UFOs that we are now seeing are the result of satanic influence - demons. Our Vice President JD Vance made this public statement about UFOs. He says, "I don't think they're aliens, I think they're demons." He may well be right, and as Christians, we know that we are not alone in this universe. We understand that biblically. There exist two different opposing kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God, and there is the kingdom of Satan. Satan, we are told in Scripture, is the prince and the power of the air. He commands a vast army of demonic spirits. In fact, Jesus said in John 12:31 that Satan is the "ruler of this world," but he said he will be cast out, though it's temporary. He is the ruler of this world. In Greek, the "cosmos," which means an orderly system. And that's where we see Satan and demons working in orderly systems. Their dominion is over the prevailing philosophies and false religions and systems of entertainment and government, in courts, our educational system, and so forth. And now you have AI. Guess who's going to run that predominantly. You have the fake news media, you have the internet, social media, TikTok. I mean, you look at these things, and occasionally when I see something on them, I'm not on any of it, but every now and then I'm aware of it, and somebody will show me something, and I mean, you lose brain cells if you watch it very much, but most of it are lies.

 There exists a vast spiritual realm inhabited by holy angels, as well as demons, and they are constantly at war with each other in an unseen world. Holy angels are ministering spirits that God has dispatched to minister to his saints. I have no doubt that there are angelic beings here among us, all around us; who knows what they are doing right now to protect us. We don't know. Satan, along with his minions, will manifest himself in supernatural ways to thwart the purposes of God and deceive his people. Paul warns that in latter times in First Timothy 4:1, "some will fall away by heeding deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons." Aand certainly Satan embodies deception and falsehood. In fact, in John 8:44 Jesus says that that Satan was a "murderer from the beginning, and speaks lies from his own nature as the father of lies." And in First Peter 5:8, we read that he, "prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." And Paul reminds us in Second Corinthians 4:4 that Satan is the "god" - small g - "of this world, and he has blinded the minds of the unbelieving, so that they may not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God."

Old Testament scripture records numerous examples of Satan and his demonic horde perpetrating evil. We could see it all the way in the beginning, right? In Genesis 3, when Satan tempted Eve in the garden. Demons indwelt men and married the daughters of men in Genesis 6 and soon thereafter, you have the worldwide flood. You read about Satan accusing Job. We can see in the Old Testament that he was operative through Pharaoh in Egypt. We go to Jude nine in the New Testament, we learn that he disputed with Michael over the body of Moses, which is a sermon all in itself. Satan moved David to number Israel in First Chronicles 21. He lied to Ahab in First Kings 22. He influenced the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14. He inspired Haman to undertake his genocidal mission against the Jewish people, remember, in the Esther chapters three through nine. He influenced the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28. He accused the high priest in Zechariah three. There are numerous examples of lying spirits, harmful spirits in the Old Testament record.

Remember, demons tormented Saul in First Samuel, and then you have the demon that was the prince of Greece and the demon that was the prince of Persia, and in Daniel nine you read about that this celestial battle between Michael, the chief holy angel, and the demonic rulers of Persia and Greece; and undoubtedly this continues today. Undoubtedly, there are demonic forces that heavily influence, if not indwell, the leaders of the nations of this world.

We see similar examples in the New Testament record. By the way, I'm just giving you a few samples here. We know that Satan attempted to eliminate Jesus when he was born, as he worked through Herod. We see Satan in the temptation of Christ; we see examples of him, like in Luke 13, where there was a woman who had a sickness caused by a spirit that she had for 18 years. We know in Luke 22 that Satan wanted to sift Peter, as Jesus said. We see the defection and possession of Judas Iscariot in Luke 22. We see how he influenced the lie of Ananias; and we see numerous accounts of Jesus casting out demons.

The apostles also were given power to cast out demons. Even the 70 disciples that Jesus sent out reported how they had power over the demons that they submitted to them. You read about that in Luke 10. We know in First Thessalonians two that Satan hindered Paul, and we can read in First Corinthians or Second Corinthians 12, how he inflicted Paul with the thorn in the flesh. Second Peter two and verse four, we read that, "God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment." We read more about that in Jude six. Some demons we know are going to be released for a short time, consistent with Revelation chapter nine; the release of the four angels who are now bound at the river Euphrates. That region it says that they might kill a third of mankind, that is the sixth trumpet judgment. We know that they will perform false signs and wonders, especially in the last half of the week of the tribulation, last three and a half years, according to Revelation 16, and on it goes.

Now there are many other examples of the kingdom of darkness, and it should be no surprise, therefore, that Satan wants to confuse even believers about this whole issue of spiritual warfare and demons. By the way, this is all kind of introductory to what I want to share with you, as we look closely at what happened there in the synagogue with Jesus. But many professing Christians erroneously believe that demons can actually inhabit believers - Christians; not merely influence them, which certainly they can, but actually dwell in them, and this has given rise to a plethora of ridiculous claims, and how that you need to have certain rituals to rebuke Satan, to bind Satan, and exorcisms, all kinds of false teaching, and it's given rise to deliverance ministries. I mean, stop and think about it. Who needs to be born again, and who needs to walk by the Spirit if the real problem is just a demon? You know, let's just go after the demons; so, it's all a twisted type of a thing.

Demons are responsible, according to these people, for all manner of wickedness in people's lives, including believers. He's the one that causes difficulties and addictions, generational alcoholism, for example. I've talked with people over the years in counseling who were told on a number of occasions that they had a demon of pornography, or a demon of drugs, a demon of depression, a demon of obesity, and it goes on and on and on; and so people are taught to rebuke Satan, to renounce Satan, to cast him out, to bind Satan. Boy, if that really worked, why don't we just bind him once and for all, and be done with it, right? The binding doesn't work very well, evidently.

Contrary to that, James four and verse seven says, "Submit therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will..."  what? "Flee from you." Submit to God, resist him, and he'll flee from you, because, according to First John 4:4, "Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world." And Paul tells us in Colossians 1:13 that Christ, "has rescued us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son." And we read in Second Corinthians 6:15, and following the apostle Paul says, "What harmony has Christ with Belial?" In other words, Satan. He goes on to say, "For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.'" So, nowhere in scripture do we see a cohabitation between Satan and demons and the indwelling Spirit of God.

There are so many deliverance ministries out there, some of them I just checked this week, because I haven't looked into this for a while, but they have online training. Everybody's got online training now. One encourages interested people to quote, "Download our deliverance ministry guide: Seven Keys to Becoming a Successful Deliverance Minister." It says, "If you want to be fully trained in our approach to deliverance ministry, you should consider this premium bundle of our top two training products." You knew that was coming, didn't you? Plus, "the opportunity to earn a certificate of completion, gain instant access after your order. This package, with a savings of 15% off the component prices, includes, number one: deliverance ministry boot camps, our flagship resource that was updated in 2022. Secondly, children's deliverance ministry training, and thirdly, an online test to earn a certificate of completion after you finish the boot camp. Get started for a one-time investment of $546."

You know, this is so sad, because there are naive and ignorant people who really want some answers, who are really looking to help, and they're being snookered by these charlatans. So let's examine this, this historical narrative about the authority and the power Jesus had over the spirit world, and I will give you some other concepts to help you understand this issue, Lord willing.

Now, bear in mind up until now, in the Gospel of Luke, Luke has focused his gospel on Christ's messianic credentials - that he is who he claims to be. But now, beginning in verse 31 and going through chapter five, we see a shift in his emphasis. He's now going to demonstrate Jesus' authority and power over, frankly, all things, and this, of course, is so important. He must prove his authority and power to deliver the souls of men from the domain of darkness that is ruled by Satan. Jesus has the authority; he has the power over all things physical and spiritual. We see all through scripture that he has power over nature, he has power over disease, over deformities, over injuries, over death, over false teachers, false religions, satanic demonic deception, over sin, Satan, and death, right?

As I was thinking about this, my mind went to Charles Wesley's great song that we sing,

"He breaks the power of canceled sin, He sets the prisoner free,

His blood can make the foulest clean, his blood availed for me.

Hear him, ye deaf, his praise ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ

Ye blind behold your Savior come and leap ye lame for joy."

There is the authority and the power of our Savior and King. So I want you to look first of all at his authority and his power in preaching. Notice verse 31,

"And he came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath;

"and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority."

Now this is most significant, because what they were used to were having teachers, primarily rabbis, quoting other rabbis as the authority, but here Jesus is his own authority. He spoke the word of God. Now I want to pause here for a moment, because this is so important. This must be our priority. In fact, Peter tells us in First Peter 4:11, "Whoever speaks, is to do so as one who is speaking the utterances of God." Not the utterances of your own opinion, not I say "I sayeth 4:5" but the oracles of God. "Whoever serves is to do so as one who is serving by the strength which God supplies; so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ." And down through scripture we have seen how God has raised up many great warrior preachers who understand the scriptures, who expound the scriptures with a holy boldness, sober-minded men with a fervent zeal for the glory of God, and an unyielding commitment to the authority and sufficiency of scripture, along with a deep burden for the salvation of souls, and with a longing for heaven and a contempt for this world. They only speak the oracles of God, and they devote their life to meditating upon those sacred realities for the purpose of knowing Christ and being able to shepherd God's people in a way that is honoring to Him. This will prevent the flock from being, according to Ephesians 4:14, "tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming." And I fear that too many preachers have been seduced by the vanities and the allurements of this world, and they preach the the endless inventions of man rather than the oracles of God.

Now, mind you, when the word of God is preached, the unsaved, and there may be some within the sound of my voice here now, the unsaved are going to be offended, they're going to be confused, and they're going to be bored out of their mind. But those who have been made alive in Christ are going to be fascinated, they're going to be blessed, they're going to be encouraged and exhorted. Bear in mind, dear friends, that the word of God will either harden or soften hearts, and that's what God will do with his word. Our responsibility is to follow our Lord's example and preach with authority the oracles of God, not our own authority, but the authority that comes from Scripture. And then it's the work of the Spirit, not of the preacher, to do what he will with respect to hardening or softening hearts.

Now Matthew actually records the primary themes of Jesus' preaching as he began his Galilean ministry. In fact, in Matthew 11:1 we read there that after he gave some instructions to his 12 disciples, the text says that he departed, and it says, "to teach and to preach in their cities." And what did he teach and he preach? Well in Matthew 4:17, Jesus began to preach and say, "'Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'" nd later in Luke four and verse 43, you might recall how the crowds are searching for him, and they tried to keep him from going away from them, and he said, "'I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, for I was sent for this purpose.'" So the text says he "kept on preaching in the synagogues of Judea." There, by the way, is a generic term for the entire nation of Israel, including Galilee, not merely the southern part.

So notice again, verse 32, "...and they were amazed at His teaching, for His message was with authority." Beloved, imagine the power of Jesus' words, if that's even possible to imagine; how clear they were, how compelling. You know, saints who know and love Christ crave biblical expositional preaching and teaching. You all wouldn't be here if you didn't crave that.

My mind goes to examples of this. You will recall in the Old Testament the story of revival that occurred amongst the Jewish remnant that returned to Jerusalem after 70 years of Babylonian captivity. Remember, they were under the leadership of Nehemiah. What is really fascinating is to see how God brought revival among the people through the exposition of the word of God through a scribe named Ezra, and we read in Ezra 7:10 that he, "...had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel." nd Nehemiah then goes on to describe a six hour sermon. You complain about my sermons, I mean, this is a six hour sermon where all the people stood for Ezra's exposition, according to Nehemiah 8:8 as he quote, "...read from the book, from the law of God, translating to give the sense so that they understood the reading."

Now, while some of the people of the remnant spoke Aramaic during their exile, and may have needed help in that translation, by and large, the idea that is being conveyed here is that they were translating to give the sense of that, so that they understood the reading, that idea is one of exposition; and no doubt there were other teachers that went amongst them to discuss these things, so it wasn't like they just stood there and heard a sermon for all that time. I might also add that the Hebrew root for the word "translating" means "to make distinct or to declare." Aand so what literally happened is Ezra explained or exposited the text of scripture to the people, so they could understand it; and the response, according to verse nine, was to be expected. It says, "For all the people were weeping when they heard the words of the law." Beloved, herein is the power of the word of God.

We must also emulate Jesus, as we see the example when he approached the confused men, remember, on the road to Emmaus, Luke 24:27 it says that he began, "...with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the scriptures." My, I wish I had a recording of that. And once again, the response is as you would expect. They reflected on what happened, and they said to one another, "'Were not our hearts burning within us while He was speaking to us on the road, while He was explaining the Scriptures to us?'"

And in similar fashion when Jesus later appeared to his disciples after his resurrection in Luke 24:45 we read that, "He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures." And so now armed with the great truths of the word of God, and later then, empowered by the indwelling Spirit, they absolutely set the world on fire, and that fire continues to blaze today.

So, first, we see his authority and power in preaching. Secondly, his authority and power over demons. Verse 33, "In the synagogue there was a man possessed..." the term literally means "indwelt," "...by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 'Let us alone!  What business do we have with each otherr, Jesus of Nazareth? Have You come to destroy us? I know who You are, the Holy One of God!'"

First of all, I find it fascinating that demons can see what depraved human beings typically will not see, that Jesus is indeed the Holy One of God. Now, obviously, Jesus' words - what he was teaching - ignited a rage in this demonic spirit that possessed this man in the synagogue. And I might add that worship centers were among the favorite places for them to inhabit, and they continue to do that today, especially in pulpits. Demon possession, as we look at the New Testament, was very common in the Lord's ministry here on earth, and it's as though his arrival terrified them. They knew what was eventually going to happen to them. It's also interesting as we look at the New Testament record, the supernatural phenomena of demon possession seemed to wane as time went on, especially during the ministry of the apostles; but we also know that during the pre-kingdom judgments of the tribulation, their activity is going to explode. I mentioned that a little bit earlier. Some of the demons that are bound in the Euphrates River area are going to be released from the pit in Revelation nine.

Now, there are 16 times in the New Testament where individuals are described as being demon possessed, and that literally means they're indwelt by, they're controlled by, and they're tormented by, indwelling demons; and while there can be physical symptoms associated with this, that isn't always the case. Sometimes demonic possession will manifest itself in unusual and often inexplicable behavior, as we witness in the New Testament record. However, more often than not, they are going to appear in individuals who appear normal, who appear kind, some of them even with great theological acumen, probably like this man in the synagogue. It doesn't say, but it implies that nobody in the synagogue realized that this guy was demon-possessed; you know just one of the group.

It's also interesting to note, as you look at the New Testament narratives, we see that the demons tend to to speak in a very rational manner with the voice of the of their human host; although they would do so with great fear whenever they talked with Jesus, like we see in the text this morning. In fact, another example in Acts 16, we read how a slave girl, you will recall, was possessed by a spirit of divination, and she was following Paul and his companions and crying out that they were servants of the Most High God, and proclaiming salvation, and so forth. I've seen this before. In fact, I experienced this - I seldom give examples personally, but this one was so vivid - when I was at Moody Bible Institute in the early 70s, there was a group called the Process Church of the Final Judgment. It was an apocalyptic religious group active in the 60s, and it gained kind of international notoriety for its dark robes. They wore these dark robes with these hoods with these big points, and you could barely see their face. They had German Shepherds with them a lot of times. Their theology was a blending of psychoanalysis with the worship of Christ, Satan, Jehovah, and Lucifer. So it was quite an occultic group. In the early 70s they had established a very prominent chapter in a house there on Wells Street in Chicago, which was Old Town Chicago, if any of you remember any of that, which wasn't that far from the Moody Bible Institute. I mean it was a place where all the hippies hung out and you would smell incense and hear all of the, you know, Led Zeppelin and smell marijuana. I mean, it was a fascinating place, and members of that group would sell their magazines and hold midnight meditations and quote Sabbath assembly services, and all those things were frequently associated with occultic practices. The Chicago chapter became a focal point of public fascination and counter-cultural intrigue.

Well, one night I decided to go to Old Town with some of my friends, and I could see them on the corner, these people, and I was kind of intrigued with them. I didn't at the time even know who they were, and I remember a man and a woman. I couldn't tell that until they got up close, but I was walking with some friends, they stopped, they were looking at something, and I was kind of standing there by myself. Mind you, there's there's lots of people all around, and they approached me, and all of a sudden the guy stopped, and he put his hands and grabbed the lady and said, "He's a Christian, he's a Christian." And they turned and ran to the corner and said something to them, and the others looked, and they took off. And I'm standing there, this, this, this dumb kid, you know, just out of high school at Moody Bible Institute in downtown Chicago, I didn't really know what happened, but it was so vivid to me, I can still remember what I wore. So somehow there was something about me that terrified these people.

You know, I was reminded then, as I am today, of what Paul said in Galatians 2:20 says, "'I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Now, demons have no fear of unbelievers. For example, you remember the demonic encounter with the wannabe exorcists that we read about in Acts 19, beginning at verse 15. It says,

"And the evil spirit answered and said to them, 'I recognize Jesus, and I know about Paul, but who are you?'

"And the man, in whom was the evil spirit, leaped on them and subdued all of them, and overpowered them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded."

What a fascinating story. Now, sometimes we read about violent, bizarre behaviors with these people. You will recall the superhuman strength of the of the Gerezine demoniac that we read about in Mark 5. Remember, they would put chains on him and shackles, and he would break them, and he was constantly screaming, running around the tombs there in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones, and when Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to leave, the demon identified himself as Legion. Remember that story? Because evidently there were a whole lot more than just one that was in this guy, and the demons, you will recall, requested permission to enter into a nearby herd of swine, and so Jesus granted that; they didn't want to go to the pit yet. All of the swine ran off down a steep bank and drowned in the sea. When you go to Israel, you can see where that happened, it's fascinating.

And in Mark nine, you will remember there was a boy that was possessed by a mute spirit, and that spirit would slam him to the ground and cause him to foam at the mouth and grind his teeth, and when Jesus appeared, the spirit threw him into convulsions. So, sometimes you see these things. There are numerous other examples. In fact, I was talking with one of the men that we have supported down over through the years, Elijah Arak, that you will remember, he's one of the pastors in South Sudan that I trained years ago in Kenya, and have mentored down through the years. He was telling me in some correspondence just recently, and let me just read this to you, he said, "My early experiences serving in South Sudan..." well, I'll leave out some of these, he says..."While the region is deeply faithful, it is also an active spiritual battleground. During my time here, I have witnessed and experienced spiritual oppression and demonic activity. In our area, the spiritual darkness often manifests through the heavy influence of local occult practices and extreme hostility toward the spread of the gospel. On multiple occasions, in and around Juba and the rural villages, our team felt an overwhelming, palpable oppression. We witnessed situations of deep spiritual torment and bondage that can only be described as demonic strongholds." He went on to describe, he says, "...the stories of sinister shape shifters mimicking the voices of loved ones to lure individuals into the wilderness, aligned closely with the regional oral traditions of the South Sudanese people and various communities across South Sudan. These tales of malevolent spirits share striking similarities to localized folklore regarding shapeshifting entities that utilize auditory trickery to ambush their victims."

The men up there are over there, when I taught them, they told stories about this, that there would be times where their shaman, as it's sometimes pronounced, would be able to somehow turn into something different, and the people would hear the voice of a departed loved one, not too far from them, and they would see them, and they would go to them, and then suddenly that would be a wild animal that would kill them, and they would tell stories about this. He went on to add...by the way, that this testimony is consistent with many other tribes of people around the world. The Navajos, for example, describe this same type of thing. Finally he says, "While the spiritual forces at work are formidable, I have also seen the power of prayer actively breaking these chains. These experiences have deeply humbled me and shown me just how vital intercessory prayer is for those on the front lines. Please continue to pray for our safety, our endurance, and the spiritual breakthrough of the people here. Thank you for standing with me in this mission."

So, just a few examples, a lot of this you're aware of, but I want you to understand that more often than not, demons are disguised. The apostle Paul warned about how they can be appealing, they can be attractive, and masquerade as people that are outwardly religious in order to deceive the gullible and the undiscerning, rather than spotting something that's terrifying, that people would obviously abhor and resist. I mean, sometimes you see the terrorizing stuff with gangs, in prisons, and so forth.

But Satan and his minions typically ply their trade in orderly systems, especially places of worship. In fact describing false apostles, deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of Christ, Paul says this in Second Corinthians 11, beginning in verse 13, "For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light."

There have been several occasions over the years where here at Calvary Bible Church we have had to deal with men and women who are heavily influenced by demons. I could share stories that you probably wouldn't believe. Most of the time the wicked we encounter are just simply hypocrites, people are being ruled by their flesh; but truth and time walk hand in hand. You begin to see certain things manifest themselves. In fact, Paul said in First Timothy 5:24, "The sins of some men are quite evident, going before them to judgment; for others their sins follow after." And of course, as these things surface, we have to deal with them on an individual basis.

But sadly, many times Christians are unwittingly influenced by demons, they bought into certain demonic lies or certain things they think about themselves. In fact, the New Testament reveals how people will attach themselves to churches who are influenced by demons. For example, they produce false worship in First Corinthians 10:20-21; they produce false doctrine and immorality in First Timothy 4:1-3, and they promote the spread of the leaven of jealousy, divisiveness, and pride. You read that, for example, in James three verse 14. Listen to this,

"But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant, and so lie against the truth.

"This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

"For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing."

Now, we certainly see demonic influence in false teachers. We're familiar with that, and might I say that many times these false teachers are just - they're just crooks, they're con artists, they don't believe anything they're preaching, they're conscious that they're teaching deception - but many others are unwitting. They just don't know any better. They've been taught some stupid stuff, and they buy it. And either way, we're warned about them. For example, Jesus warned on the Sermon on the Mount, in Matthew 7:15, "'Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but are inwardly ravenous wolves.'" And in the Olivet Discourse, the Lord noted that they would be especially active in the end times before the Lord returns. Matthew 24:24 Jesus says, "'For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect.'"

You know, when I look at AI, and I mean, even these drone shows that they're showing now. I mean, it looks supernatural, doesn't it? So I can see how Satan can use these things, but well, this was a real problem in the first century, and I might add that it's only gotten worse, and we're told that it would. Paul warned Timothy in Second Timothy 3:13 that, "...evil men and imposters will proceed from bad to worse, deceiving and being deceived." You will recall at the Jerusalem Council, there was a caution against false teachers claiming to have been sent by the Jerusalem church, Acts 15:24, "We have heard that some of our number to whom we gave no instruction have disturbed you with their words, unsettling your souls." First Thessalonians, we read the same thing. Somebody came up with a letter telling the folks that they're in the day of the Lord, and so forth, and said that it was from Paul, and it wasn't. And for this reason, as we read earlier in our scripture reading, First John 4:1, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God because many false prophets have gone out into the world."

So, again, back to the text, in the synagogue, there's this man possessed by the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice. By the way, that phrase in the original means that he's screaming in terror. Don't you know that everybody was terrified. What is going on here? He's screaming in terror. "'Let us alone! What business do we have with each other?'" That was actually an idiom that we see other places. It's essentially saying, "Why are you attacking us?" And certainly, that's what was going on in Jesus' preaching. Why are you attacking us, Jesus of Nazareth, "'Have You come to destroy us?" I know who You are, the Holy One of God!'" Beloved, every false religion is demon controlled, demon influenced, but they prefer to operate in secret; but suddenly this guy possessed by this demon is in the presence of their sovereign creator, the Holy One of God. He's hearing him expose all of his lies, and it was more than the demon could handle. The demon understood, certainly, as they all do, First John 3:8, "The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil." And we know, at the end of the millennium, after one final attempt to thwart the purposes of God and destroy his people, as you read about in Revelation 20, Satan and his vile minions will be cast into the lake of fire.

Verse 10 of that text says, "And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever." Folks, this is what that demon feared. That's what they all feared, and that's what they fear even to this day. You know, we sing about this in that great hymn of Martin Luther, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." I love that particular stanza that says

"The prince of darkness grim, we trembled not for him,

his rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure,

one little word shall fell him."

Well, back to our text, Jesus rebuked him, saying, "'Be quiet...'" Interesting, the original language it means be muzzled; it carries the idea of fitting a device over the snout or over the mouth of an animal to prevent it from even opening its mouth. Now that is power. Be quiet, be muzzled, "'...and come out of him!' And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst of the people, he came out of him without doing him any harm." There we see a bit of the compassion of Jesus for this man. I want to make another important note. On no occasion do we see in the New Testament record when Jesus cast a demon out of a person. On no occasion do we see that individual repenting of their sins and trusting in Jesus as their Lord and Savior, or anything about their sins being forgiven. Now, some of them may have - we don't know that, but the purpose for him doing these things was to demonstrate his power and his authority over the demons, and oh folks, I don't know how I can underscore this more vividly, but I mean, what unfathomable authority and power this is, our Lord and Savior. He muzzled a demon. You know, he muzzled demons whenever they affirmed his true identity. It's really fascinating, like, shut up, done, they can't talk anymore. You see, he had no need of their testimony. Oh, child of God, this is this is our omnipotent King.

And their reaction was like those in Matthew nine. You remember it says, "A mute demon-possessed man was brought to Him. And after the demon was cast out, the mute man spoke; and the crowds were amazed, and were saying, 'Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.'" And that's what was going on here in the synagogue.

Verse 36, "And amazement came upon them all, and they began talking with one another, saying, "'What is this message? For with authority and power He commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.' The report about Him was spreading into every locality in the surrounding district." Oh dear friends, aren't you thankful that we have been delivered from the domain of darkness and transferred into the kingdom of his dear Son. We don't have to fear these things. Aren't you thankful that demons cannot spatially indwell a believer? There is no such thing as a cohabitation between Satan and any demon in the innermost being of a believer, where the Holy Spirit dwells. We are the temple of the Holy Spirit. Again, Second Corinthians six verse 15 and following,

"What harmony has Christ with Belial, or what is a believer in common with an unbeliever?

"Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said,

"'I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.'"

And aren't you thankful that we have overcome the evil one, according to First John two verse 13? And the indwelling spirit is greater than Satan, as we have read. And aren't you thankful, according to what Paul said in Romans 16:20 the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet?

Well, I know some of you might ask, well, how do we deliver people from demonic possession today? And I've been around some of them before, and the answer is they are delivered through saving faith in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is the power of God unto salvation. However, there will be those who are exceptionally wicked, that God is probably judicially sealed in their unbelief; I've encountered them before. I've had them spit in my face, I've had them swing at me, I've had them curse at me, threaten me physically. And some of the most terrifying ones that I've encountered is where they will growl at me with a voice that is not human; and when you encounter those kind of people, you need to step away from them, step away from that evil, protect that which is sacred, so it cannot be desecrated any further. That's why Jesus said in Matthew seven six, "Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet and turn and tear you to pieces."

Beloved, let's rejoice in the unfathomable authority and power of Jesus. And in closing, I want to read to you an old hymn that came to my mind, and I had to search for it, because I don't believe we've ever sung it here. It was written by Isaac Watts, and I remembered the title, "Christ's Victory Over Satan." Have we ever sung that?  I don't think we have, but I want to close with these great lyrics:

Hosanna to our conquering King, the Prince of Darkness flies,

his troops rush headlong down to hell like lightning from the skies.

There, bound and chains, the lions roar and fright the rescued sheep,

but heavy bars confined their power and malice to the deep.

Hosanna to our conquering King! All hail incarnate love,

Ten thousand songs and glories wait to crown Thy head above

Thy victories, and Thy deathless fame through the wide world shall run,

and everlasting ages sing the triumphs Thou hast won.

Amen and amen. Let's pray together.

Father, thank you for the glorious truths of your word. I pray that your Spirit will make our hearts accessible to each one, and I pray that we will live in light of the authority and the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom we have been forever united. Thank you that we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, that he dwells within us, that it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us. So, Lord, take these great truths, encourage our hearts with them. Lord, if there be one here today that knows nothing of what it means to bow the knee of their heart to the Lord Jesus, repent of their sins, and cry out for his undeserved mercy, won't you make them miserable until they do just that? Won't you grant them saving faith through the regenerating power of your spirit? We ask this for the glory of Christ. Thank you. We give you praise in Jesus' name. Amen.