Untitled Sermon (6)

I would like to invite you this morning to turn in your Bibles to . We are going to begin our Bible study, once again, in —>. But before we begin to read in v.22, allow me to give you a bit of context so that we better understand what is happening in this text. The Bible tells us that Jesus did a lot of preaching and teaching during his 3.5 year ministry. But perhaps we He did more than anything else was the healing and curing of people.

Jesus healed all types of diseases. The Bible tells us that one encounter with Jesus could make the disabled person walk; could make the blind person see; could make the mute person speak; and could make the hope of the terminally ill into reality. Jesus healed so many different people, and multitudes would follow him for it.

But not everyone was happy with the healing’s of Jesus. The Bible tells us that the religious leaders of His day were always criticizing his healing and his methods. If Jesus would heal someone, there was always someone else critical of that healing. And what we find in is another one of those moments where Jesus is going to do something wonderful, and someone is going to criticize him. And we begin to read in —>

Now every single time I read this story, it amazes me to see how the religious leaders could not understand the good that Jesus was doing. The Bible says in this text that this man that came to Jesus was not only demon-possessed, (which is already a big problem), but he was also blind and mute. And Jesus not only got rid of the evil spirit, but he also restored the sight and the voice of this man; in other words, Jesus did three miracles in one.

The Phariesees instead accused Jesus of having cast out the demon by Beelzebub, who (WHO AS BEELZEBUB?)

What captures us is found in Jesus answer. Because when answering the objection of the pharisees, Jesus tells us how he was able to do something like this, when he says in v.28 “…I cast out demons by the Spirit of God…”

I want you to understand this morning how Jesus was able to do so many wonderful things. His actions, his miracles, all the healing and the curing was done through the Holy Spirit, that is, the Spirit of God.

The Key is the Spirit of God:

Now this idea is so important because it explains much more than what Jesus did; it also explains how the disciples were able to do the things they did as well.

For example, in , Jesus gives his disciples a list of things that they are supposed to do:

“5 These twelve Jesus sent out and commanded them, saying: “Do not go into the way of the Gentiles, and do not enter a city of the Samaritans. 6 But go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as you go, preach, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8 Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

Notice what the disciples were called to do: They were commanded to do the same things Jesus was doing. Was Jesus healing the sick? Yes! Was Jesus raising the dead? Yes! Was Jesus casting out demons? Yes!

So the disciples were told to do the same things Jesus was doing. And maybe here we how were they able to do these things? But notice what we read in “And when He had called His twelve disciples to Him, He gave them power over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all kinds of sickness and all kinds of disease.”

Were the disciples commanded to do amazing things? Yes they were.

How were the disciples able to do these amazing things? Because they received power..

And what does this power mean? Well if Jesus was casting out demons by the Spirit of God, than the power that the disciples had to cast out demons was also through the Spirit of God.

Did the disciples receive power, yes or no? Yes! And it was because they had been given the Spirit of God. And if in case you are not completely convinced, notice what Jesus says in - “You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.”

In other words: Jesus —> Holy Spirit —> Power —> Disciples

This is the order of things. This is the only way to do the things Jesus would do. It begins with Jesus giving His Holy Spirit, so that the Holy Spirit can give the power, so that the disciples can heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, and even, if necessary, cast out demons.

It is no wonder, then, what happens next after Jesus makes this clear promise in :

In the disciples are filled with the Holy Spirit.

And in - the disciples are doing miraculous and wonderful things.

When all goes wrong:

Now all of this is good, up until we reach the 19th chapter of Acts. You see, all this time, after being filled with the Holy Spirit, the disciples were out their with the full force of heaven: they were out there preaching about Jesus, teaching about Jesus, and doing wonders in the name of Jesus. All until we get to .

And I want you to look in your Bibles in

Brothers and sisters, everything was going good until we read about these Seven Jewish Exorcists. They tried to cast out an evil spirit, but something went terribly wrong. Quite frankly, you can even call this story how not to cast out an evil spirit, because not only did they fail in doing so, but they were also overpowered by the demon. The man possessed beat them, wounded them, and ripped off their clothes as they ran away.

Now our first reaction might be to say this is what they get for trying to mess around with demons or evil spirits. Men should not get involved with these things. We should not try to mess around with the occult.

That would be fine, except that Jesus had cast out evil spirits. And the disciples were given the power to do so. And Paul himself had cast out evil spirits.

The problem was not in man vs. evil spirit; the problem was in the manner these men came to cast out this evil spirit. The Bible records their words as saying “We exorcise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”

This tells you everything you need to know. These men did not believe in Jesus directly. The believed that Paul believed in Jesus. But they themselves did not have a relationship with Jesus. You can even see this in the response of the evil spirit:

“Jesus I know” = ginosko “to know by interaction and experience” “Paul I know about” = epistamai “to know about to understand”

In other words: We know who Jesus is, and we understand why Paul invokes Jesus.

But you… Why in the world are you invoking the name of Jesus?

You see, anyone can invoke the name of Jesus. Anyone can say anything in the name of Jesus. But that name means nothing if you don’t have a relationship with Jesus. If you don’t know Jesus intimately, the results are clear:

If you don’t know Jesus, you won’t receive the Holy Spirit.

And if you don’t receive the Holy Spirit, you wont’ receive the power.

And if you don’t have the power, you cannot, and will not cast out any evil spirits.

This morning I am not asking you to go and cast out evil spirits. I do believe that if many of us encountered someone demon-possessed, we would probably run the other way, and want to have nothing to do with that.

But what I am saying is that God still wants to do amazing and wonderful things in our lives. And God still works through miracles, through various ways, using a multitude of methods. And God not only wants to do amazing things IN our lives, but he wants to reach other people through the amazing things he can do THROUGH our lives.

But none of this can happen if there is no power. And power cannot happen if there is no Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit cannot be given unless you know Jesus personally. If we approach the problems of our life, the challenges of our life, or even what we call our own personal demons, without knowing Jesus personally… at the end of everything we will end up beat, overwhelmed, discouraged, and embarrassed.

Jesus wants none of that for your life. Jesus wants you to live the best life possible.

But many of us fail at being the best we can be because we lack the power, which means we lack the Spirit, which means we lack Jesus in our lives.

I want you to look at another way:

The people who were on the outside think they deserve to go in because they were in close proximity to Jesus, and they heard him teaching in the streets. But notice Jesus answer”

“I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity”

Why does he answer this way? Because simply being at a place where you can hear the teachings of Jesus does not mean you carry a personal relationship with Jesus. You can come to church, you can hear about Jesus at church, but you need the personal, you need the intimate, you need the relationship with Jesus to save you.

And ultimately, if we do not have things like this, we cannot experience the wonders and miraculous actions of God in our life.

Like EGW puts it:

“A superficial faith results in a superficial experience.”

IMPORTANT: GREAT THINGS CANNOT HAPPEN IN OUR LIVES IF THERE IS NO INTIMATE CONNECTION WITH JESUS. Many of us expect great things, great changes, great miracles, but without believing in the name of Him, nothing will happen.

Conclusion: