Mark 1:21-28 One Little Word Shall Fell Him

Recap: Temptations were a defeat of Satan,So continues to proclaim, gather, and demonstrate his authority and power..Today: Jesus demonstrates his authoritative teaching and we see the first example of his defeat of spiritual forces publicly, having conquered Satan in his temptations as victorious in the way that Israel never was he now demonstrates it to the people.Read Mark 1:21-28 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. [22] And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. [23] And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, [24] “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” [25] But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” [26] And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. [27] And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” [28] And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (ESV)Prayer of IlluminationA. As we move into the main body more and more of Mark, let’s pause and remember an important reading principle.One things to do is ask, are there repeat key words helping me see the main idea? In OT Hebrew narrative and in the gospels you do get new sections signalled with a who, what , and when. (your bibles do most the heavy lifting with paragraphing and paragraph titles. If you took all that out you would use new pleace, time marker, and whosecond you get Repeat words: What did you notice as we read: probably the word Immediately (this is action-packed and signals that this all fits together. Because Mark uses Action to teach not so many words you need to compare what comes before and what comes after, which we said were temptations, the summary first teaching ‘preaching the gospel, and the call FOLLOW me, leave all behind the authoritative call.” AND then IMMEDIATELY next, Mark expands on that this week with these key words: authority/command, teaching/taught, unclean, unclean, unclean; Unclean spiritual opposition, and you get a couple contrasts: silence vs. loud voice.You get Jesus’ first opposition which will happen repeatedly: Jesus vs. the Scribes. He is NOT like them but how?So we start to see Jesus’ Teachings + Power over evil, against the unclean, is more powerful and effective than the Scribes (and eventually the Pharisees). Whereas one has external ceremonialism, Jesus is directly authoritative and able to make holy and clean what the flesh, the law, and the land of Israel, the temple has been unable to truly do.#1 Christ is our Authoritative Teacher vv. 21-22#2 The Unclean Challenge to the Word vv. 23-26#3 Be Astonished at your Freedom! Vv. 27-28First, (v.21-22– Christ is our authoritative, Sovereign Teacher (Prophet, T – truth); Not derivative, This authority to teach will slowly extend to show the authority to forgive sins…21 And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. [22] And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.B. Jesus is on the northwest shore of the sea of galilee in the north of Israel. Remember that as we move all around the sea of galilee up on to mountain tops around the sea.C. Mark keeps things moving “they” “immediately” …temptation, proclaim the gospel, gather four disciples, they go into Capernaum in the north by the sea of Galilee.a. When? On the Sabbath day, Saturday into a Synagogue and Jesus was teaching.i. There would have been the singing of psalms, various prayers, and depending on who you ask two to three lengthy scripture readings and Jesus gets up and begins to teach on Isaiah, or Ezekiel….ii. So first, there is a normal Synagogue service that in many ways Jesus blesses (and protestants emulate mores so than the temple), Paul & Peter do as they continue to participate in synagogue worship well into the book of Acts….But then things get different. Verse 22: they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.D. This is Authoritative teaching vs. man-made Traditiona. We encounter this contrast in the sermon on the mount “you have heard it said” you have your collection of rabbinical quotes and you don’t ever speak or take a stance for yourself you appeal to secondary human authority [my “quote heavy papers].b. Jesus is Different: Truly truly, I Jesus Christ the Son of God, the word may Flesh “say unto you.” - ever notice this…He is a prophet who does say all the time “thus sayeth the Lord” quiet often simply truly, truly I say unto you…that is what his listeners are starting to notice…c. Jesus both in who he is as the Son of God and Jesus anointed as messiah in the flesh indwelt by the Holy Spirit speaks differently.i. It is like this the Synagogue was like a Spiritual hospital that had lost its to be anachronistic, belief in “sola scriptura.”ii. I think they simultaneously saw Jesus’ mastery of scripture, his proclamation of the word as a good prophet does…But then the hints past it this teacher is himself the Word of God. HE speaks of the kingdom, or repentance & faith, HE gives the assurances of the promises of God because he speaks on behalf of God.iii. [In God’s providence this was today,] Q. 24. How doth Christ execute the office of a prophet? A. Christ executes the office of a prophet, in revealing to us, by his word and Spirit, the will of God for our salvation.1. He is not speculating, he is not quoting as the scribes do theories, he speaks and it is true.iv. If this man says – though you are a sinner, you are forgiven, then it is true.v. If this man says God is like the Father in the prodigal son, it is true.vi. When Jesus says from Isaiah 61:1-3, The Messiah is anointed “to bring good news to the poor... to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives... to comfort all who mourn; to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit.”vii. It. Is. True.Imagine the opposite what this synagogue had been sitting under for so long…d. [Illustration] If you go to the hospital and the doctor says, well I took some x-rays and I looked it up and one doctor says it may be severe cancer, another doctor says, its benign and don’t bother them with any more tests, another says that X-rays themselves are unreliable…And I sent a picture of it to a buddy who reads x-rays well he’s not a doctor, but he says we should start treatment….i. That is not an assuring and authoritative doctor.ii. I enjoy quoting, John Calvin, Matthew Henry, and people like J.C. Ryle. Douglad O’Donnell for this series, But I hope that what I’m really quoting is them when they particularly capture the strength, vitality, and authority of the WORD of God and Christ himself FOR US….Not the dead letter and certainly not they themselves as the source of wisdom…iii. We need the certainty of the word of God when comes to matters of life and death; right and wrong; paradise & hell; knowing God as our Father and our spiritual joys and benefits, our assurance as his people…iv. We mustn’t depend on quoting spiritual gurus, but the very words of God are sufficient, authoritative, and clear for life & godliness…Jesus had that and what is more Jesus IS that. [Pause………..]The content of Jesus’ teaching was already summarized for us in verses 14-15: Jesus said, 1) the Kingdom of God IS here, 2) you must repent & believe in me, and (for his disciples he is going to increasingly say, 3) I AM going to the cross to deal with sin so you may be forgiven sons and daughters of God. That is the plan, Follow me.E. The second problem, Israel is in spiritual trouble. The land of Israel under covenant blessings is supposed to be the holy dwelling place of God, God dwells in the Holy temple; he lives with his Holy & ritually clean people.F. Question –Are unclean things, particularly wicked demons, supposed to be able to walk into a Holy Service in Israel?a. And if they do, is their spiritual authority to deal with the problem when they do?Transition: Jesus teaching disturbs the people, shakes them from spiritual apathy, and what is more his presence provokes Satan to—like goliath shout at the Israelites; Jesus is now being called out by Satan’s forces—look in v.23-26#2 (v.23-26) The Unclean Challenge to the WordVerse 23, IMMEDIATELY: Key word, right remember this keeps the action going, and it also means “immediately after we have learned and been impressed with the authority of Jesus’ teaching, his word, his voice….G. Immediately, there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, [another voice].· [Tell the story of being called out “say my name one more time and I’ll punch you---unpleasantries---your face.]o Well, I froze for a second, my pastor said…Keep reading…And by the power of former SWAT officer deacons the conversation was moved to the Lobby and the Police…How that story ends is for another day.· Well, it was awkward, everyone froze, there were tears…· Why? In the midst of worship—an unclean man has cried out in challenge …—verse 24—“What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.”· Note, This is a man. Likely an Israelite.o He is unclean because he is possessed by an unclean spirit, a demono Consider this the opposite of the Holy Spirit….consider this the opposite of the symbolism of baptism which represents what? Cleansing? Cleansing from sin and placing the Holy Name of God on his people.§ Every Israelite ought to be Holy & Clean, bearing the name of YHWH on them as a covenant people who have the word of God.§ Psalm 19:8–9 Say, the precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes; [9] the fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. (ESV)§ And yet here is someone influenced not by the Spirit of God and the Word of God, but the throne of his heart is captive by an impure Spirit.o Jesus’ words provokes this man, provokes the unclean spirit IN a way the scribes and pharisees hadn’t but they ought to have…§ Some interpreters even take the man to at least feel HE is speaking for the congregation. The synagogue. Everyone is “astonished” by Jesus’ authoritative call to repent, to believe, and the need for cleansing. And so this main whose heart is dominated by darkness and uncleanness cries out the challenge§ Look in your bible at verse 24, You have come to destroy me—No—US us who? All the synagogue? Or Satan and his demons?· Jesus is most certainly dangerous to Evil, to spiritual darkness frequently causes discomfort in people trapped in their sin & shame…· And also yes, Jesus is a discomforting challenge to all those around this man. Who marched into the synagogue? Or who had been allowed to be there the whole time, undisturbed until Jesus was threatening a complete defeat of sin, darkness, and and everything unclean…A. This man needs Jesus. He needs the Spirit of God to expel the unclean spirit, by the pure Word of God spoken by Christ to Him. Verse 24 saying, I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” The divine Son of God.B. The demons have a superior knowledge in the gospels. Jesus is the Holy one of God, and later in mark, the Son of God, and the Son of the Most High God….C. The demon knew this, there is no redemption for him only a challenge that is FEARFUL. “Have you come to destroy me.”D. A couple things herea. First the demon cannot be redeemed…But the man can he is a Man with an unclean Spirit and for this man…b. It is not enough for him to merely Know WHO Jesus is, he knew who Jesus was….c. It is not enough for him to understand that he was unclean…We feel our uncleanness all the time, we feel our sin and misery, even as believers, we so often feel our sin. We are sorrowful for it…· The bad news is necessary but it is not enough…· Every week in our service we try to include both a reading of the law, or provide a scriptural confession of sin, or a prayer that confesses sin…But that is insufficient if you think it is the scripture or part of the service where we just feel bad and guilty for sin…· We must remember WHO we are confessing to Our Father in Heaven, In the name of Christ Jesus…· We confess knowing we have an assurance of Pardon. That is the good news the authoritative word of Jesus – forgiven – cleansed – justified.David in Psalm 51 says, Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spiritwithin me….Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.How will a heart be made clean, by Christ1 John 1:7, the blood of Jesus, cleanses us from all sin. (ESV)This man is unclean in his heart…Before Jesus heals any physical ailments, any disease, he first establishes that he has the power to deal with the Spiritual, the heart, because he is Divine.And Jesus rebukes the man for crying out, and tells the Spirit to come out! Look in verse 25E. Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” [26] And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him.Jesus commands, and it is done.· But note the Fear, have you come to destroy me?· To understand this let us remember our spiritual rock paper, scissors the OT ceremonial law teaches about clean vs. unclean, holy vs. profane.· The old testament rituals and laws were meant to make a spiritual reality visible. Physical reminders of spiritual realities.Gordon Wenham in his book on Leviticus summarizes helpfully what is going on with this Unclean Spriit encountering the Holy one of Israel with the cry are you going to destroy me. Now? Pulled from Keith Mathison’s article on Ligonier Ministries[1]“The terms “holy,” “clean,” “unclean,” and related words are very common throughout the book. He provides a very helpful summary of the meaning and relationship between these terms in Leviticus:Everything that is not holy is common. Common things divide into two groups, the clean and the unclean. Clean things become holy, when they are sanctified. But unclean objects cannot be sanctified. Clean things can be made unclean, if they are polluted. Finally, holy items may be defiled and become common, even polluted, and therefore unclean. . . . cleanness is a state intermediate between holiness and uncleanness. Cleanness is the normal condition of most things and persons. Sanctification can elevate the clean into the holy, while pollution degrades the clean into the unclean. The unclean and the holy are two states which must never come in contact with each other (pp. 19-20).”· This is an unclean (an evil spirit) what happens? Would Christ be made unclean and profane by contact with him?· Maybe if he was simply a human priest who was made ceremonially clean, ceremonially holy by the blood of some animals….· But Jesus is not ceremonially clean he is in his ESSENCE, his BEING the thrice Holy God, impeccable, unable to sin, unable to be defiled, he already went three rounds with Satan in the wilderness and defeated him.· He already as a HOLY Lord, identified himself as the clean and Holy Priest in the waters of baptism, and he announces the Kingdom of God is here, and the FIRE of the Holy Spirit will be poured out in his people.Do you believe this is your relationship to sin?Satan flees before Christ? He 1 Peter sees he flees before you when you resist him with the authoritative promises of God. Forgiven. Cleansed. Holy.· Do you view yourself as merely ceremonially and performatively clean, like its all an act…· If you think you are merely ceremonially (religiously) clean… You have to stay clean, apart from a Holy Savior you will always live in fear that you will become polluted and unworthy….· But are you merely ceremonially clean? OR are you both Objectively Sanctified, “Holified”- and being sanctified, being increasingly holified by the Holy Spirit himself poured out by Christ the Holy one of God…. In which case, you are holy, you have the righteousness of Christ, the believer shall not live in fear of the unclean and profane, nor be afraid to approach our Holy God.· We are summoned every week into the holy presence of God as those who are united to Christ, who has conquered death, defilement, and unclean, wicked, spiritual darkness for you.· The coming kingdom of God is being inaugurated by the Holy Priest, the Prophet who speaks authoritatively, and Christ will on the other side of the Cross receive his crown and having crushed sin and death sin.· And now it is simply by a WORD by the WORD of our savior that He defeats this demon, it is loud & decisive.Christ has defeated Evil and as the Holy Anointed Messiah – he can by his speech make Clean & Holy what is Unclean & Unholy, profane. – He declares clean by an “authoritive word” “come out”Let us close with this question: How will you respond to Jesus?Verse 27 And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” [28] And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee. (ESV)Briefly #3 (v. 27-28) How do we respond?Are you astonished with Christ? [It’s hard sometimes because we are so familiar.]· Do you still hear the word as authoritative, living & active?· Do you believe there is a spiritual reality, true spiritual light, and true spiritual darkness. That you are children of the day, and that Satan truly does desire to trap people in the bondage of sin and darkness?o We can recognize that Jesus’ life probably represented a “surge” of satan’s activity…See the screwtape letters for the fact that Satan is perfectly willing to sit back and let materialism and human sin do the job for him.o Its not that everything must be blamed on Demons. There is your own sinful flesh, “the devil made me do it” cannot be an excuse…But certainly we must affirm all three options: This fallen world, our sinfulness, and Satan’s activity· Do you must have a savior who is good, true, beautiful and HOLY able to cleanse and forgive you?· Do you believe Jesus has conquered evil, sin, and death? That he has in fact in a very real way “destroyed satan” “bound satan”o This should lead you to pray for those people most hopeless and seemingly out of reach of salvation. Even if you feel that person is you this morning.· Do you believe you are not just forgiven, but unashamed, clean, and Holy…o We are no longer named by being unclean, we are no longer under the guilt & power of sin, we are no longer named but it…the lepers, the ritually unclean in the OT had to cry out “unclean, unclean” and bear that mark…But not us, we are Sons & Daughters of Christo 1 Corinthians 6:11 says, you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.· This is where we live in the tension: We are objectively clean, Holy, and forgiven in Christ….yet this side of heaven we are still waging war against sin, the flesh, and the devil, increasingly putting sin to death and putting on the mind of Christ, being renewed after the image of Christ.Let us close with this great hope as we leave Mark’s gospel with the fame of Christ spreading everywhere…His day is over…J.C. Ryle says, “Let us not only know Christ but love him, from a sense of actual benefit received from him. Let us not only believe that he is the Son of God and the Saviour of the world, but rejoice in him, and cleave to him with purpose of heart…the blessed Saviour not only gives mercy and forgiveness—he gives renewing grace besides…He cleanses [us] by his Spirit, when he washed them in his precious blood.”PrayerBenediction[1] https://learn.ligonier.org/articles/the-book-of-leviticus This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit jamesensley.substack.com