Sermon Tone Analysis

*New Covenant~/Sanctification*

*A New Teaching With Authority*

*/Mark 1:2/*/1-28/*/ & Deuteronomy 18:15-20/*

/Vicar Brian Henderson/

* *

*Grace, Mercy and Peace to you from God our Father and our Savior Jesus Christ!*

*Introduction:  *This morning we will be using the Old Testament and the Gospel readings in our message, but we’ll pay specific attention to these words from our* *Gospel reading: “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" (Mark 1:25)

 

Prior to Jesus encounter with the demon possessed man, He had just left His hometown of Nazareth where he was rejected by his own neighbors for refusing to perform a miracle.

You see he had preached a powerful sermon within their Synagogue.

He  proclaimed that He had come to heal the broken hearted and set the captives free, which was a passage taken from the Book of Isaiah, reserved only for the Messiah.

Now the people noticed that He spoke with power; they sensed it, but they demanded a miracle to back up this clear messianic claim.

After all, this was Jesus; they knew Him, His father, mother, brothers and sisters.

So to validate His messianic message, they insisted that He perform a great miracle like the one they heard that He had done in Capernaum.

But Jesus refused to give them an additional miracle.

I say additional miracle, because they had just unmistakably experienced the power and authority of the living Word of God that He spoke.

No, there would be no more miracles; instead, He rebuked their demand for proof, and He returned to Capernaum.

Dear people, God has warned, “/You shall not put the Lord your God to the test./”

(Deut.

6:16)

 

Now in Capernaum, Jesus once again began to preach in the Synagogue with great power and authority.

The people were awe-struck and speechless after His sermon.

Unlike the people of Nazareth who demanded a miracle, the people of Capernaum were silenced by the awesome power of the Holy Spirit, which was alive in the Words of Jesus.

I imagine that the Synagogue was very quiet, as the people were trying to come to terms with what they had just heard (when suddenly the silence was broken by a man who was possessed by a demon).

*"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."* (Said the man possessed by a demon!)

This is the way that it always is when darkness is overcome with light; when evil is confronted with God’s goodness.

The devil can’t bear to hear God’s Word proclaimed.

It must challenge the Word by way of interruption.

It fights to remain in control, but God’s Word still does not loose its power or authority; and then when that Word is spoken, the devil is left with only one option; *IT MUST FLEE!  *

 

I am afraid that many of us misread Jesus’ rebuke of the demon, because the English language does a poor job at communicating passion and emotion in the words we read.

We tend to read Jesus rebuke as a mild mannered response like this, “Be quiet, and come out of him.”

But in the Greek, Jesus Words come alive; they are more like these, *“SHUT UP!  COME OUT OF HIM NOW!!”*

You see the Words of Jesus were filled with so much power and authority that the poor possessed man began to convulse and scream as the demon immediately left him.

The demon discovered what Martin Luther knew to be true, "one little word can fell him."

In the blink of an eye, those powerful Words of Jesus changed that man forever.

He was set free from the evil that had engulfed Him.

Why?

Because what God declares done can not be undone!

This morning we will be talking about change; the type of change that takes place once God’s Word has been spoken and believed.

Like the demon possessed man, we too have been freed from the grasp of the devil and the filthy sin that once completely controlled us.

In the blink of an eye,  we have been changed, freed from the grasp of the devil, by what God declared done at our Baptism, but in another sense, it is also correct to say that we must continue to change every day as we fight the sin that is all around us and even within us.

* *

Change is a difficult thing to embrace, especially when we’ve grown use to the “old way” of doing things.

“Old habits die hard” the saying goes, and so does our old sinful “me centered” way of thinking and living.

But Jesus says to us, /“Be quiet, and come out.”/

This morning we will answer these two questions: *What is He calling out of us? * (and) *How can it come out?

\\ \\ *

*I.

What is He calling out of us?

He is calling to our fear.*

*A.

Our fear of sin.

* In our Old Testament lesson, we encounter Moses and the Israelites collectively remembering the day they were at the foot of Mount Horeb receiving God’s Law.

They were terrified by God’s Word and presence.

What was it that terrified them so?

It was the perfect Law of God that revealed the complete sinfulness of their hearts.

You see that is the very purpose of the Law!

The Law demands that we must do this and that to live yet it does not offer us a way to do this and that.

The Law threatens that we must never do that or this, yet it knows full well that we can’t help but to do that or this.

Because of our fear of God’s Law, we wish that God would not speak to us, but like a parent who must do what is best for the child, He speaks, because – our – hearts – must – hear – the - truth.

People then and people today can’t bear to hear God speak the truth, and that is why they say, "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God!”

We can not bear it!

Certainly this is the cry of all sinful men, women and children.

Deep within ourselves we know that we are sinful and no good, because God’s Law ensures that we know this.

Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God!

But Moses calms our fears this morning, with the sweet Words of Grace!  “/The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among you, from your brethren—Him you shall heed/.

/Just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb/.”

Is that what the Israelites asked for?

Yes, it is the true cry of all God’s people.

Now they may not admit it, in fact they may not even know that is what they are asking for, but deep down all people are hungering to hear God’s Word of mercy, peace, and grace.

And now God has answered this secret prayer of His children.

Now, God is doing something new that He alone has the power to do, free us from our fear of sin.

God’s direct action is the only way that the prayer of His people can be answered.

God Himself has created a new kingdom, a new worship, and a new Word.

Through His action God has created a new way back to Him; one which removes the threats of the Law.

God the Son Himself calls out to His children and says, “Come unto me all you who are exhausted from sin and I will give you rest!”  Jesus is the new Prophet that Moses was speaking of when he said, “/The Lord your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me—You will listen to Him.”  / Through this new ministry, Moses clearly saw the end of his own ministry, and he knew that he must be replaced by the Prophet who was to come, Jesus who is God Himself in human flesh.

And now, your Jesus, our Jesus announces, “I have come to heal your broken heart, and set you free from your prison of sin.”

This is a ministry that Moses could never serve in, because he was a minister of the Law, sin, and death.

His ministry demands, but it does not give what it demands.

But now Jesus calls out to us, announcing that He alone has removed the penalty of sin.

Now please understand, I am not minimizing the Law of God.

Certainly, both of these teachings must be heard, but the reality is this, the sin and wrath that Moses stirred within our hearts through the proclamation of God’s Law has been canceled through the work Jesus alone.

And He demands nothing; but He grants what Moses could not, a return to a right relationship of love and peace, with God our Father.

Do you believe this is true?  *If so, then Jesus is calling, “Come out!*

*B.

He is calling out our Fear of God.  *Again, in our Old Testament reading we hear these words in the 16th verse: "Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God nor see this great fire anymore, or we will die."”

(Deut.

18:16) The Jews knew that they were surrounded by Jehovah God, and they were keenly aware, perhaps for the first time just what it meant to be a creature standing in the presence of their creator.

His righteousness had completely engulfed them.

Their natural instinct told them to run, but the power of God held them in place.

He had other plans for them!

He wanted them to hear more that just the threats of the Law, He wanted them to understand just how much they needed Him.

Dear Saints, are you afraid to hear God speak to your heart?

Does your fear prevent you from doing that good service that He has put within your heart?

You know what service I mean don’t you?

It is the act of ministry that you feel drawn to fulfill, but because of your doubts and fear you say, “But I can’t!”

Yet, *Jesus is still calling*, *“Come out.”

*

* *

*C.

He is calling out our fear of change.*

In our Gospel lesson, starting in verse 23 we read, “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?

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.”