The Authority of the King

Mark 1:21-28

If you brought your bibles turn with me over to the gospel of Mark chapter one. The Gospel of Mark chapter one and in a moment we are going to read verse 21-28 of the gospel of Mark chapter one.

     We are continuing our study this morning in the Gospel of Mark. Last week we looked at the call of the King on the very first disciples, and we talked about what it teaches us about the call of Christ on our lives.

Today we are going to look at the Authority of the King over the evil that exists in the world. This is going to be an ongoing theme in the next few chapters of Mark.

Mark wants to prove to us, his readers, the hearers of the gospel, that Jesus has the authority over the evil that exists in our world so that we may know He has the authority to rescue us from it.

     I don’t know if you are aware of it or not, but we live in a world saturated by evil, just a short survey of the last 30 days proves it.

For example, on Thursday, there were 5 police officers shot in Pennsylvania. They were ambushed and three of them were killed the other two remain in critical condition.

On Wednesday of last week, Sep. 10th, we had the assassination of Charlie Kirk on the campus of Utah Valley University.

On August 27th, at 8:30 in the morning there was a mass shooting at Annunciation Catholic Church in Minneapolis.

A former student now turned transgender opened fire outside the church killing a 10 year old and an 8 year old, leaving dozens of others in critical condition.

On August 22nd, Iryna Zarutska a 23‑year‑old Ukrainian refugee, from Kyiv was fatally stabbed in an unprovoked attack on a light‑rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina.

According to surveillance footage, the attacker got up and stabbed her three times, including once in the neck, and then walked away.

Meanwhile four other people sat there and watched her die, doing nothing to help her.

Interestingly, all of these cases share one thing in common; mental illness is being blamed for what happened.

But the real problem is sickness and disease of sin that prevails in the heart of man. This is a spiritual problem. We live in a world that has forgotten about God and we see the results of it everyday.

 Those are just 4 examples of hundreds of stories that I could have talked about this morning. Serial killings, school shootings, gang violence are an everyday occurrence in our society.

 It’s nothing new, according to a FBI uniform crime report from two decades ago in the United States a theft takes place every 4 seconds. A burglary every 15 seconds. A car is stolen every 27 seconds. An assault takes place every 34 seconds. A rape every 5 minutes and a murder every 33 minutes.

     We live in a society saturated by evil and the only answer to it is the authority of Christ in our lives, and our surrender to Him. Satan is the prince of the power of the air and he is trying to dominate this world.

But he is not the dominate force of the world. That authority belongs to Jesus Christ, and the power of God is the only thing greater than the power of sin and darkness that surrounds us.

     That is the point Mark wants to make in this passage. He wants to show us that Jesus has the authority over the evil in the world. And that is what I want to talk to you about today.

Mark 1:21–28 KJV 1900

And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.

(Pray)

In our passage this morning, Jesus begins His ministry in Galilee, and He does it In Capernaum.

Capernaum should be a place we all become familiar with because it will serve as a hub for the ministry of Christ going forward.

In our passage Jesus goes into a synagogue in Capernaum, on the Sabbath and begins to teach. And you see two very different responses to Him.

First, the people who heard Him teach were “amazed.” They say, “Where did this man get such learning. He doesn’t teach like the scribes, He teaches with authority.”

The Second response comes from the demons. They are terrified of Him. They say, “we know who you are, you are the Holy One of God.”

But why was there such a difference in their response? Well, it is really pretty simple; the people of the synagogue didn’t know who Jesus was, but the demons did.

The people recognized the authority of His teaching, the demons recognized His authority over the world.

That is the point Mark wants to make in this passage; notice he uses the word authority two times, because he wants to emphasize the authority of Jesus.

It was an authority everyone could recognized because it was an authority that was decisive. He wasn’t appealing to an authority outside Himself for the things He said and did.

He spoke and acted with the authority of His Father. It was an authority with a sense of integrity. Jesus wasn’t seeking human approval.

It was an authority with a sense of Power. To see Him and hear Him was to be met with the power of God.

Jesus commanded and things happened. We pray for one another to be healed, Jesus could commanded it because of the divine authority He possessed.

It was an authority that spoke with a total absence of fear. In fact even His enemies recognized it.

For example, Mark 12:13–14 “Then they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Him in order to trap Him in a statement. They came and said to Him, “Teacher, we know that You are truthful and defer to no one; for You are not partial to any, but teach the way of God in truth.”

Now, they were trying to trap Him and deceive Him but even in their deception they recognize something amazing about Him.

The point is; Mark is trying to emphasize the authority of Jesus, but why? Because the authority of Jesus speaks of His identity.

The authority of Jesus on full display speaks of who He really is and that is the most important issue we face.

The world we live in knows about Jesus, but they don’t know Jesus, because they don’t recognize His authority.

Mark wants us to know, He has the authority.

He wants us to know; He is the Son of God, He is the Savior of the world, He is the one who would die on a cross and on the third day rise again, He is the King of heaven and earth who possess all authority.

I want to show you three things from this passage that teach us about the authority of Jesus.

I. Jesus has the Authority because of who He Is.

Look at the end of Vs. 24, “I know who you are- the Holy One of God.”

  That is the point. Mark has already told us who Jesus is in verse 1. We know that this is the Messiah.

We know that this is the Son of God who has come to defeat the enemy and rescue mankind. He is God in the flesh. We know that, but notice so do the demons.

They know exactly who Jesus is and they were terrified because of it. 

Look at the personal pronouns in verse 24. What business do WE have with you? Have you come to destroy US?

This one demon, possessing this man in the synagogue was speaking on behalf of all of the demons in the world, because he knew who Jesus was, and what He came to do. He knew that Christ had the authority of God in the world.

What’s interesting is that the people in the synagogue didn’t know Him. The Pharisee’s didn’t know Him. Even His own followers (the disciples) were not sure about who He is.

It is not until Mark 8:27–29 “Jesus went out, along with His disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way He questioned His disciples, saying to them, “Who do people say that I am?”

They told Him, saying, “John the Baptist; and others say Elijah; but others, one of the prophets.”

And He continued by questioning them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered and said to Him, “You are the Christ.””

That was the turning point, It was not until that moment that the disciples were sure of who Jesus was.

 But the demons, they already knew. They knew exactly who Jesus was.  He was the Holy One of God. They recognized Him because they were created by Him.

They recognized His authority because, at one time, they were holy angels dwelling around the throne in heaven.

They had known Jesus from a time before Lucifer had led them to rebel against God, and they were cast out of heaven.

And now Jesus comes into the world and every time the demons see Christ, they recognize him, and they are screaming.

Mark 3:11, When ever the unclean spirits saw Him, they would fall- down before Him, and shout, “You are the Son of God.”

In Mark 5:7 we have the unclean spirit dwelling in the tombs of the Gadarenes and he says, “shouting with a loud voice, he said what business do we have with each other? Jesus, Son of the Most High God.”

So, the only people who know for sure who Jesus is at this point, in the gospel of Mark, are the demons, and they were terrified of Him because, they knew He was the authority of God in the world.

He had thrown them out of heaven. He had already condemned them and determined their fate. And now here He was in the world, and it caused them to scream. To expose themselves.

I think it is important for us to understand that the demons in our world today recognize Jesus Christ as well.

That is why Christians are under attack and hated all over the world because the enemy is lashing out in fear, and it is important that we stand up for what we believe and we stand on the authority of Christ.

Now,  It is also important we recognize where this demon possessed man was. Notice Vs. 23, “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit.”

For the Jewish people the synagogue was their church. It was the place they would go to worship the Lord. It was the place they would go to gather with other believers and pray, and hear the Word of God.

Have you ever noticed there are no synagogue’s in the Old Testament. The people in the OT would go to the temple and offer sacrifices as their way worshipping God.

It is not until after they return from captivity in Babylon that the Jews begin establishing these meeting places, that are similar to our churches today.

And that is where we find this unclean spirit hiding out, in the church. Why? because he is trying to prevent people from knowing the Lord and worshipping God!

That is his only purpose. He is in the synagogue to create disruptions and they would have never known that he was there, among them, if it wasn’t for Jesus

  I wonder how many of our churches today are filled with unclean spirits? People with spirit’s that are trying to prevent others from knowing God and being saved.

That is exactly what Satan wants to do. The Bible tells us, he disguises himself as an angel of light. And if Jesus doesn’t show up we may never know.

Now I don’t believe a born- again believer can be possessed by a demon. I believe we can be oppressed, by demons, but not possessed.

The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you.”

God is not going to share His temple with the enemy. So, I don’t believe we can be possessed.

But I absolutely believe a nominal Christian, someone uncommitted, sitting on the fence can be influenced, overcome, and led astray. That is a principle we see in scripture. For example,

Mark 8:31–33 NASB95

And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God’s interests, but man’s.”

So we see here Peter being influenced by Satan and being rebuked by Jesus.

Then probably one of the most famous stories of the early church is the story of Ananias and Sapphira

in Acts chapter 5.:1-5. We read about this couple; Ananias and Sapphira, they were believers, but they was under the influence of Satan and lied to the Holy Spirit, and paid an incredible price.

 The question for us today is what kind of Spirit, do we bring to the church? Do we bring a Spirit of peace and cooperation that wants to grow in a community of faith and love those around them?

Or do we bring a spirit of murmuring and complaining that can prevent someone from coming to know the Lord?

  Sometimes, we need to ask ourselves about our attitudes. Are we allowing them to rule over us. And we need to pray and ask God to take authority over them.

But listen we can’t ask Christ to remove unclean spirits, while we continue to host them with the sin in our life.

So, the first thing we see is Jesus has the authority because of who He is.

II. Jesus is the Authority of the Word of God.

Vs. 22 “They were amazed at His teaching for He was teaching them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”

     So, what caused this first demon to panic, and cry out the way it did in the synagogue? The authority of the Word of God.

Demons do not like it. They don’t like the truth, because they know the only possible way people, can be set free is by the truth. And Jesus came preaching the truth.

The same thing is true in our churches today. The only way we will be set free is when we believe, receive and obey the truth.

     Mark doesn’t tell us what Jesus taught in the synagogue. All he tells us is the response of the people. They were amazed, astonished and shocked by what they heard.

Why? Because Jesus taught them with conviction and authority.

The word “authority” in the Greek is the word (exousia) which means, He not only had the ability, but He had the right to teach that way. In other words, He taught like He was in charge.

He didn’t teach them the way the scribes taught. The scribes were Rabbi’s and The Rabbi’s would quote one another. They never taught their own thoughts and ideas.

They taught like a lawyer, but Jesus taught the direct Word of God. Why? because He was the direct Word of God.

John 1:14 says, “He was the Word made flesh and dwelt among us.”

The people of the synagogue had never heard anything like this before. They were blown away by His teaching.

Notice Vs. 23 we are told, “just then.” The man with the unclean spirit cried out. 

At the very moment that Jesus was teaching the truth with power, the demon screams. Why? because the demon didn’t want to hear it. He knew the truth of the Word of God was deadly to his plan.

 You see a demon wants to hide out inside false religion, inside of false teaching. That is where they are comfortable. They hang out inside of churches that are teaching the philosophies of man.

Because it’s there they can influence nominal Christians and immature believers. It is there they can possess people. It is there that they can keep people from the truth.  

Jesus called out the Pharisees for this very reason in John 8:44 He said, “You are from your father the devil. Whenever he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

I think the reason lying has become such an acceptable part of our lives is because Satan has a greater influence over people today than Christ.

 I heard a story this week about a man named Jack Genot from a small town in Illinois. Jack wanted to be a hero. So, he concocted a story about serving as a Marine and being taken prisoner during the Korean War.

Jack is in his late 70’s now and was serving as an alderman alongside the mayor of his small town. So, he was somebody the people respected.

  But, Jack’s stories grew and the uniform he wore on special occasions became full of fake medals. He had a bronze star, a silver star, and two purple hearts. He would march in parades and go and talk to school children. He even got a special license plate reserved for wounded veterans by forging paperwork.

Then one day, a veterans league he associated with began to notice there wasn’t any records of Jack on file and they began to investigate. For two years Jack denied the accusations, but he finally confessed he had lied.

 He told a local newspaper, “You can’t imagine what I am going through.” He said, “I really don’t know how to shake this demon. But I go to bed with it every night and I wake up and look at it in the mirror every morning, and I don’t want to meet God with this on my heart.”

 We need to understand that the devil is the father of lies and when we live a lie, we are going to bed with the enemy. We need to fill our lives with the truth of the Word of God.

 The second thing we see is; Jesus is the authority of the Word of God.

III. Jesus Is the authority of Judgement.  

Vs. 24, “Have you come to destroy us.”

What is interesting to me is demons have always been with us and are still with us today. But yet, you don’t hear about demons in the Old Testament. Even though you know they were there. There not talked about. 

After the gospels, you only hear about demons a couple times in the book of Acts, because Jesus had given the disciples authority over demons.

We don’t hear about demons in the Epistles. We don’t talk about people being possessed by demons today.  Yet we know evil is and has always been present with us.

It is only in the gospels that demons are so prevalent. Why?  It is because of the powerful presence of Jesus in the world.

 When Jesus comes onto the scene, they are in shear terror. Because they know Judgement is coming.

The greatest power the demon has is that he can hide among us, but now when Jesus comes on the scene, they can’t help but expose themselves.

  They know their fate has already been decided. They know their time is running out. They don’t know when it will be, but they know that Jesus is the one that is going to do it.

He is the one who is going to send them to the lake of fire. So they scream out. They Panic.

That is why I believe as the return of Christ draws nearer, we will see greater demonic exposure in the world.

 Notice verse 23, the demon in the synagogue couldn’t help it when he heard Christ teaching.  And he cries out and says, “what business do we have with each other. Have you come to destroy us.”

In other words, is our time up!  Is that it? Is that all we have?  (1 John 3:8) says, “The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.”

  So, this demon in Mark chapter 1 knows about the lake of fire. He knows where he is going and so do all the other demons in the world. They know the plan of God and they know they are ire redeemable.

     There is a great lesson in this for us. It is not enough to just believe in God. The demons believe in God and they tremble, but they can not be saved.

We must repent and believe. We have to turn from our sin and turn toward Christ. Then it is by grace through faith we are saved.

Conclusion

     Jesus has the power to deliver us from evil in the world because of the authority of who He is. He is the Holy one of God. He is the creator of the world.

Not only is He the Creator of the physical world but of the spiritual world. The demons that exist today, the demons that torment our lives, they were there at the throne of God. They were created by Christ. He knows them and He has authority over them.

     Jesus has the power over the evil in the world because of the authority of His Word. When He speaks, He speaks truth. And the evil of this world is based on the lies of the devil.

The demons can not stand the truth and as long as we are abiding in the truth of the Word of God the enemy has no power over us.

 Finally, Jesus has the power over the evil in the world because He is the authority of judgement. The evil that exists in this world is on the clock. It’s time is running out.

As the time of Christ’s return draws nearer you can expect evil to increase. Because in the presence of Jesus, the demons panic. 

That is the authority of the King. He has the power over the evil in the world and therefore He has the power to rescue us from it!!