The Authority of Jesus Christ
Notes
Transcript
Doxology:
This is my Bible. It is God’s Holy Word. It is a lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and I will hide its words within my heart, that I might not sin against God. Amen!
Scripture Reference: Mark 1:21-28.
Our Journey through the Gospels has now led us to the book of Mark. Mark 1: 21-28 is where we will be today, and we are going to be looking at a very important characteristic of Jesus in this text.
Whether we realize it or not, our world today is not so different from the world Jesus lived in. Yes, times have changed and things look differently than they did back then, but there are also many similarities between us and them. One of those similarities is that we are asking the same question today that they did at this time: “Who is this man named Jesus?”
Some have already settled this matter in their hearts, but there are many who are still asking the question. They have inclinations as to what they think, but they are not sure, not just yet. They are still undecided as to who this man named Jesus is.
Now, throughout the Gospels, we have already discussed this question in great detail, but the topic is truly inexhaustible, and the further we go, we are going to start seeing the proof of those claims. This is one of those texts. It focuses on the authority of Jesus.
As we dive into this topic of Jesus’ authority, we want to see two things:
The Scope of His Authority
The Source of His Authority
21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.
22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out,
24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be quiet, and come out of him!”
26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.
27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
28 And immediately His fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.
***Prayer over Service***
Context
Context
21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.
We see here that Jesus goes back to the synagogue. If you remember, the last time we saw Jesus in the synagogue, things didn’t go so well. It started out pretty well, but it ended badly.
Jesus spoke on the coming Messiah and then told everyone that He was the Messiah. They tried to kill Him. But here He is, once again, teaching in the synagogue.
22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
It tells us here that the people are astonished at His teaching. Why? Because he “taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
The last time He told them that He was the Messiah. This time, He shows them that He is the Messiah.
He shows them through the authority that He exercises.
Content
Content
The Scope of His Authority
The Scope of His Authority
Jesus is preaching in the synagogue. It would seem according to the text that this demon has either been here the whole time or comes in while Jesus is teaching. I personally believe that this demon possessed man was here the whole time and something in Jesus’s teaching triggered the outburst. Regardless, there is an outburst.
Jesus quietens the demon and casts him out of the young man and it says in Mark 1.27
27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
Jesus exercises authority even over the demons. Wow!!!
This is wild. Nothing like this had ever been seen by them. There were exorcisms during that day, but that involved a priest using sacred objects, chanting special prayers, and going through many rituals. Sometimes it worked, but many times it didn’t. Jesus did none of that. He simply commanded the demon to leave and it was so. They were astonished.
But this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Jesus’s authority. Jesus actually had authority over many things:
Authority over Nature
39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace, be still!” And the wind ceased and there was a great calm.
40 But He said to them, “Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?”
41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, “Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!”
18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.
19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.
20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”
Almost every time Jesus exercised His authority over nature, it was welcomed. It was a great show of power and authority and it always astonished those who were present at the time. Though they could not explain these miracles, they did not see any harm in them, so they were always accepted.
Authority Over Infirmities
29 Jesus departed from there, skirted the Sea of Galilee, and went up on the mountain and sat down there.
30 Then great multitudes came to Him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, maimed, and many others; and they laid them down at Jesus’ feet, and He healed them.
31 So the multitude marveled when they saw the mute speaking, the maimed made whole, the lame walking, and the blind seeing; and they glorified the God of Israel.
Jesus exercised His authority over infirmities time and time again. The people loved it. They loved to see all the amazing miracles that Jesus could perform. It was amazing to watch Him work.
Almost any time Jesus exercised His authority over infirmities, it was welcomed. It was a great help to everyone. Those who were sick no longer needed to beg. Those who gave to them, as well as those who catered to them, no longer had to do so. It was great help to everyone involved. The only time Jesus was questioned in healing others was when He did it on the Sabbath, and even then, the miracle wasn’t the problem, it was when He performed it that was the problem.
Authority Over Everything
18 And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.
Right now, as we speak, there is nothing in existence, in Heaven or on Earth, that does not fall under the authority of Jesus Christ. Nothing. He is over it all.
Authority Over Sin
44 Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head.
45 You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in.
46 You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil.
47 Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little.”
48 Then He said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 And those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
Here is where things get twisted. As long as Jesus was walking on water, calming a storm, or healing someone with some type of infirmity, things were pretty well accepted. But now, Jesus is getting to the heart of the matter, and calling things as they are. Now, instead of just healing a person, He is stating that their sins are forgiven.
It was when Jesus exercised His authority over spiritual matters that things took a turn for the worse. The religious leaders of the day could not accept this. Even though all of His other miracles were otherworldly and unexplainable outside of God, this was simply taking things too far.
No man has the authority to forgive sin. “Only God can do that.” That was their viewpoint. Now if we are being fair, they were not wrong. Their fault was not with their belief of God. Their fault was with their belief of Jesus. Only God could forgive sin, but Jesus was God....in the flesh so He had every divine right to do so by His own nature.
We will talk more about this in a moment, but first let’s look at one other spiritual matter that Jesus exercised His authority over.
Authority Over Scripture
21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught.
22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.
It does not say specifically that He taught them from Scripture, but we can deduce such from the context clues of the passage.
He was in the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So He’s in church on worship day and we know from a previous example of when He was in the synagogue on the Sabbath that He did teach from Isaiah.
So He’s teaching Scripture to the people and they are astonished at His teaching. Why? Because He taught not as the Scribes, but as one having authority.
Why did the Scribes not teach with authority? It’s a great question.
They are living in a time of spiritual silence. As we open the NT, they are at the end of what is known as the 400 years of silence. God has not moved in about 430 years. There have been no prophets, no miracles, no signs from heaven.
They have also been under foreign rule for the majority of this time. As we open the NT, they are under Roman rule. Before them, it was Alexander the Great and the Greeks who were in power. Before them another nation. Any time you are under foreign oppression, religious teachings are subject to change. The rulers will enforce the teachings of their own beliefs, the worship of their own gods, and strictly prohibit in most cases the teaching and worship of any other deity.
When you put all of this together, you have a religious system who want to serve God, but are unsure of exactly what that looks like. They want to be steadfast, but they are also limited in their knowledge of God’s Word (somewhat due to their own spiritual condition but also due to its teaching being watered down by other cultures). They teach the plainly stated topics of Scripture, like the “Thou Shalt Not” commandments with ease, but anything that is quiet unclear or confusing is tip-toed around so as not to overstep their authority by mis-speaking or mis-quoting the Word of God.
In one sense, we can appreciate this mentality. As a leader, I can attest that I never want to teach something incorrectly. I never want to mis-speak or mis-represent God. I take the call to preaching the Word of God very seriously and I would rather say “I don’t know” than I would to say that I know and then be wrong and lead someone astray.
On the other hand, the way this system sought to reconcile their ignorance of God’s Word was unacceptable. When they didn’t have clear instruction from God, they made up man-made rules based on logic and reason that the people were to follow. They then lifted these man-made rules to the same level as God’s anointed Word, and held people to those standards as if God Himself had spoken it. This was not ok.
Let us never be guilty of doing the same thing. God’s Word is on another level, naturally. None of our man-made rules, traditions, or even “Robert’s Rule of Orders” should ever trump what the Word of God has said, or be lifted to the same level of authority as God’s Word is. If we make this mistake, then we are no better than the religious men of Jesus’ day.
Authority over what, over the Scripture. In other words, He is not playing it safe. He is teaching with the authority of the Word and teaching it without reserve. He is expounding the truths of Scripture and doing so with absolute assurance and conviction.
This is a big deal. Why? Because those recognized as spiritual leaders within the religious system could not speak with the same steadfast conviction and assurance that Jesus spoke with. If you remember, when Jesus was only 12 years old, He astonished the religious leaders with His knowledge and understanding of the Word of God. Furthermore, Jesus had not been trained as these men had been. These religious leaders had spent the majority of their lives reading, studying, and learning the Word of God and still were not on the same level as Jesus. This confounded them. How was this possible?
Jesus was so familiar with the Word of God, that every time they tried to trick Him, He was able to use the Word of God to prove them wrong. They sent their brightest, most intellectual minds at Jesus, and still had no luck.
The second and most influential reason why this a big deal, is that the Word of God is spiritual. The Jews rightly viewed the Scriptures as the literal Word of God. This is no mere Book. It is the living, breathing Word of God. It was the governing authority over every aspect of their lives. Everything they did was based upon their understanding of Scripture. It was their life.
But here’s Jesus and He is teaching with conviction and truth on topics others could only speculate on. To be able to do so was more than just having superior intellect, it was to have a closer relationship with God and greater understanding of God. Surely this could not be so. He was a carpenter from Nazareth. How was this possible? Who is this man named Jesus and how is He speaking with such power and authority?
Naturally for me, the next question becomes, “What was it that set Jesus apart? What was it about Him that made Him different?
What was The Source of His Authority?
The Source of His Authority
The Source of His Authority
There are obviously some things missing from this account of Jesus. We do not know what part of Scripture He taught from or what He said. As far as we know, Jesus did not directly speak to this demon-possessed man. Whatever He said caused this demonic spirit to act out and make a scene.
Astonishingly, what this demon has to say is very profound. Mark 1: 24 says:
24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
So again, what was the source of Jesus’s authority to where even the demons took notice of Him?
To answer this question, we first listen to what the demon said. Have you ever imagined that you would take advice from a demon before? As I studied for this sermon, I almost titled it, “When Absolute Evil Speaks Absolute Truth.”
Demons are evil....make no doubt about that. They are powerful, evil beings. If we are being honest, we do not know completely the scope of their power or their abilities. We are only given a limited view of the spiritual realm through Scripture, but that view allows us to see enough to know that demons exist, they are powerful, and they operate in opposition to God.
akathartos - Foul, Unclean: ceremonially & Morally
Nonetheless, there is one credit we must give them. Every time we see a demon in the presence of God in Scripture, they accurately state who He is. They always acknowledge Him.
6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him.
7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, “What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me.”
19 You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
The demons know full well who Jesus is. Demons are spiritual beings. They live in the real world, so to speak. They dwell in the realm that has always been and always will be: The realm of God. They have seen Him in glory, long before He took on flesh and came to Earth as a man. They have seen Him clothed in pure holiness and pure righteousness. They are the direct opposite of God. They are everything that He is not.
Seeing Jesus for who He truly is causes this demon to cry out the way he did:
24 saying, “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
Also notice the plural pronouns used all throughout this demon’s address: “Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did you come to destroy us...”
It is possible that this man is possessed by more than one demon. Or he could have been simply talking on behalf of demons everywhere. Either way, this demon plainly states that he knows full well what Jesus is capable of. “Did you come to destroy us?” he said.
See, demons are strong, but God is stronger. This demon, or no other in Scripture for that matter, ever offers to challenge Jesus. They know better. They know who He is. They know what power resides within Him. And who is He?
The demon says, “I know who you are - The Holy One of God.”
The source of Jesus authority is found within His very existence. He is God. He is God in the flesh. The demons acknowledge this very fact, but the people seem to miss this all together.
Notice in this text that this demon says these things out loud, after which Jesus tells him to be quiet. He then casts the demon out of this young man. After all of this has taken place, we see in vs. 27 that the people are asking these questions:
27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him.”
The demon just settled this matter only moments ago. He declared before them all exactly who Jesus was, and they missed it. My prayer is that you will not. Don’t miss the startling truth of who Jesus is today. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last. He is that which was, that which is, and that which is to come. He is God in the flesh.
It was not a new doctrine that made this possible. It was not a different version of the God’s Word that made this possible. It was who He was that made this possible. He is Jesus the Christ.
If we can come to agree with what this demon said, that Jesus is, “The Holy One of God”, then we can now make sense of the rest of this passage.
It now makes sense why He is able to speak from the Word of God with authority, without reserve, and with absolute conviction. He can speak this way of the Word of God because He is the Word of God. He is the One who spoke it in the first place. He knows the full meaning of each and every word that is written, because it came from Him.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
When it says that the Scripture is given by inspiration of God, it literally means that it was breathed out by God. In other words, God spoke this word into man’s heart, and from there it was written down for others to read.
It is not the words “Holy Bible” on the front of the book that makes this book different, no more than the word “Church” on the front of this building makes it different. It is what’s inside the book that makes it different and it is what’s inside this building that makes it different. There are a lot of buildings today with the word “Church” over the door that are full of dead people inside, and there are a lot of books with spiritual words on the front of them today that are not infused with life. But not this book and not this church. Amen!
We will continue to hold this book above all others because of the life that dwells within it, and we will continue to uphold Christ as the Head of this Church because He is the rightful leader of it. All we do is to bring honor and glory to His name. If we do that, then life will remain within the body.
Now let me be very clear about something before I close. I am not asking you to be like this demon. I am asking you to be better than this demon.
Have you stopped and considered how a demon can know who Christ is and acknowledge who Christ is, but still be a demon?
Listen very closely. Saying the right words is not enough. You can claim who Jesus is and still not make it heaven.
Knowing the truth is not enough. You can know who Jesus is and still not make it heaven.
To truly believe in Christ is to submit to His authority. This is what the demon was unwilling to do. This is what I am encouraging you to do today.
The Book of 1 John is one of my favorite books in Scripture. John starts this book by letting his readers know that Jesus is real to him.
1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—
2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—
3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
To John, Jesus is no fictional character in some story book. He walked with Jesus and talked with Jesus. He touched Him with his own hands. He listened to His teachings with his own ears. He leaned in close and hugged Jesus tight. To John, Jesus was as real as it gets.
13 These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
Throughout the rest of this book, John outlines 4 tests that an individual is to take. These tests are designed to confirm or deny one’s relationship with Christ.
The test of Repentance
The Test of Obedience
Commitment
Commitment
1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
