The Start of Miracles

Introduction

So far in the book of Mark we have seen John the Baptist prepare the way for Jesus in the wilderness and Jesus prepare himself for the ministry he was about to begin. After these scenes take place in the wilderness near the sea of Galilee he begins preaching and while doing so he walks along the sea and calls his first disciples. This was a crazy and radical call that he gave them but they met it with a crazy and radical response, they jumped off of their boats and began to follow him. We learned through this that Jesus is calling each one of us and desires that same immediate response. Tonight we will look at what grounds Jesus tells us to follow him on, the grounds of his authority.

After Jesus called his first followers they immediately followed him and all went to the town of Capernaum. This was a town right on the banks of the sea of Galilee. On the Sabbath they went into the Synagogue which would be comparable to us saying “on Sunday we went to church”. While there we see him teach and we see the first miracle in the book of Mark. While here on earth Jesus did many miracles and Marks gospel tells us about more of them than any other gospel. Through this paragraph it is seen though that what Mark is conveying to us is the authority of Jesus. Jesus is all powerful and is over everything. He came and taught in a special way and he acted in a special way. This is because he has authority over everything.

Authority can be defined as: the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. When thinking about the use of this term biblically and looking into the original language what we are talking about is his power. we will see how his teaching has power and how he demonstrates this power with a demon possessed man.

This paragraph shows us the power of Jesus and the reality of spiritual warfare. This demon that is in the man tries to take over Jesus but even though he knows him he does not know the real power that he holds.

Mark 1:21–28 ESV

And they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes. And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, “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.” But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. 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.” And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.

Our focus through this paragraph is going to be on the authority of Jesus. Through his teaching Jesus shows this authority and he displays it later in the run in with the demon. We see that his authority is so great that the demon has no choice but to listen to him. In the book of Matthew right before we see Jesus ascend into heaven we see him say these words; Matthew 28.18

Matthew 28:18 ESV

And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.

Jesus has all authority in the physical as well as the spiritual. He has authority to save and condemn. How will you respond to his authority? Will you hopelessly run from it? Or, will you desperately run to it? his authority can also be described in his sovereignty which is the fact that he is over all. It is by his sovereignty that we are saved and we continue to live. How will you respond?

Pray

Teaching with authority

The teaching of Jesus carried authority. Not just any authority, an authority that astonished the people. It would be a dream come true to hear Jesus teach. The power that he has as he taught would be something that would be truly amazing. Why would Mark be highlighting the fact that Jesus’s teaching held authority though? It’s because of the message. Jesus taught the way to salvation and that is the final decisive action on our souls at death, salvation or judgment. In salvation Jesus is the only way and what he says goes, his words in regards to salvation are the final authority. The Bible itself carries authority because it is the word of God, Jesus’s teaching carried authority because it is the word of God.

In Jesus’s teaching he teaches faith and repentance. So many in the world today try to live by some other code or think there is some other way to get to heaven.

A while back I watched a movie about the end of the world and I am not going to share what movie because it turned out to be pretty bad and I wish I would not have watched it. In that movie though one of the guys does something good then gets beamed up into heaven and they start to think that all they have to do is offset all the bad they have done with good and they can go to heaven.

This sounds like a crazy thought but much of the world holds to a belief system like this. This is completely wrong and if you believe in this you are headed to hell, even if you end up doing more good than bad which is not likely. Through Adam all have sinned and even the tiniest sin goes against God on the cosmic level because of just how holy he is. how perfect he is.

This is why Jesus came. He came so that we might be forgiven of all of our sin. What we are reading in Mark is the story of how he made that possible. Through his authority he has the power to save anyone and that is made possible through his death on the cross. There is no being good enough, there is only one way to heaven. That is through heeding the authoritative teaching of Jesus and doing what he says, repent and believe. This is what Jesus taught and this is what we must obey first and foremost.

knowledge alone does not save

An interesting thing that we want to take away from this story also is that knowledge alone does not save. You can know all day that faith and repentance is how you accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers in the gospel but unless you truly put your faith in him and repent you will not be saved. Knowledge is good but it does not save.

Notice how the demon knows exactly who Jesus is here in the story. He calls him exactly by name, maybe even better than we would have been able to. This demon knows Jesus, but that does not save. Even knowing the Bible well does not save. In the story of the temptation that we see in Mathew and Luke we get a more detailed account of what the devil says. When Satan tempts Jesus he uses scripture. Think about that, the devil knows the Bible better than you do. That does not matter though because knowing all that it says does not save. Faith in Jesus is what saves.

Authority on display

The mention of his teaching with authority bookends this paragraph. It starts it off and it ends it. What solidifies it in the middle is this miracle of Jesus casting a demon out of a man. I think mark put it in the middle for a reason. He is not only wanting us to see Jesus had authority in what he taught but in everything. What this part in the middle is, is a display of this authority in the physical and the spiritual realms. This drives home the point even deeper that Jesus has complete authority.

Run-ins with demon possessed people is very prevalent in Jesus’s time and this is probably because of his presence on earth. Through this occurence we can get a better understanding of the authority of Jesus as well as understand the mind of the demon. The first thing that I notice here is the fear in the demon, he has an instant recognition of who Jesus is and the power he has. He ask what are you doing here, are you going to destroy us? The demon was afraid because of what we talked about before, he knew who Jesus was. The second thing is actually a little surprising to me but what the demon is doing by calling Jesus the Holy One of God is that he is trying to exercise power over Jesus. This is crazy because it is hopeless but the demon knew he was all out of options. The final main thing that I notice and that we can learn from tonight is when Jesus commands the demon to come out of the man. He just tells him to and the demon does it. Jesus does not hit the demon out or pull it out, he does not do some ritual or anything like that, he simply speaks. At the authority of Jesus even the demons must listen and obey.

Jesus puts his power on display and Mark captures it in such a way that emphasizes his authority. The words from the demon possessed man here can resemble the words of anyone that is condemned. The demon is afraid and if you have not put your faith in Jesus you should be afraid to. There is a perfect holy God out there that hates sin and you are a unforgiven sinner. His perfection along with his power makes him perfectly able and perfectly just to punish you to the full extent for all eternity for your sin. It is only through his mercy that forgiveness is possible and by his authority he offers it.

Conclusion

As we close I want to once again recall Matthew 28.18 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” He has complete authority over everything What does this mean for you? For me it means that I worship the one that is over all and need to fully listen to and submit to all that he commands. For you it might mean that you need to submit to his authority by putting your faith in him. In our world people do not tend to like authority but Jesus is the perfect authority. Through his words and deeds in this passage here in Mark he displays that he is over everything.

I want to finish tonight with a time of reflection so if you would close your eyes so that you can block out all of the distractions. Have you ever thought about the authority of Jesus? Have you ever thought about what it means for your life? Maybe tonight you have never actually thought about how you get to heaven and you are starting to think about it now. The world offers so many opinions on how to get to heaven and they are all wrong. Jesus is the only way and it is through faith in him and repenting of your sins that you are able to go to heaven.

We need salvation because of sin, in the beginning there was no sin but Adam brought sin into the world and we are all now born into it. Jesus came so that we may be free from this and saved from the power of sin. He did this through dying on the cross for our sins, paying the debt that we could never afford. On the third day he rose conquering sin and the grave making a way for salvation. this salvation is found through faith and repentance. This is the story of the gospel. This is the way to salvation.

With your eyes still closed I want you to think about the gospel and it’s significance. Maybe you have put your faith in Jesus and repented of your sins and are a Christian, think about how you were before, think about the significance of your salvation. Maybe tonight you have never put your faith in Jesus, I want you to think about how serious your sin is in the eyes of God. Think about this for just a short moment then I will conclude.

Jesus came with all power and authority and is offering salvation to you. how will you respond?