Jesus Authority over demons.
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Power and authority.
How is it that we generally know that a person has authority?
It is through their title,
their dress,
through their actions.
Jesus authority is displayed his actions.
And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! 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 when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. And he arose and left the synagogue and entered Simon’s house. Now Simon’s mother-in-law was ill with a high fever, and they appealed to him on her behalf. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she rose and began to serve them. Now when the sun was setting, all those who had any who were sick with various diseases brought them to him, and he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying, “You are the Son of God!” But he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak, because they knew that he was the Christ.
Authority over demons.
Authority over demons.
The first miracle of this Gospel is an exorcism.
The major opponent in Jesus’ ministry is not flesh and blood but rather the spiritual forces of evil.
Demons are noted twenty-three times in this Gospel, with fourteen of those references occurring between here and 9:50 in the Galilean ministry section.
Judaism believed that in the messianic times demonic power would be crushed.
Jesus has already met with Satan; now he is facing off against Satan’s cohorts.
Luke (Examples of Jesus’ Ministry (4:31–44))
Since these are the first miracles Jesus performs in Luke’s Gospel, here we should stop to look at how miracles function for Jesus.
First, miracles are real events that evidence Jesus’ authority.
Since the Enlightenment it has been popular to question the possibility of miracles,
because nature has been viewed as a closed world of cause and effect.
The age of enlightenment, also known as the age of reason began in the late 1600s.
If you have heard of the names - Rene Descartes, Immanuel Kant, John Locke.
The philosophical age.
The sad thing is that many of the men contending for the age of reason thought they were helping the church in promoting their cause.
In reality, it is this period that has snowballed to where we are to day.
If you have heard of terms such as modernism, post-modernisn
The most difficult miracle of all was the resurrection, yet its reality is the only way to explain how the disciples who were so distraught at the cross became bold proclaimers of Jesus’ as the true Messiah after His resurrection on the third day.
If the resurrection is possible, the other miracles are a piece of cake.
Can God actively intervene in his creation?
The testimony of the resurrection and the other miracles is that he can and does with sovereign exercise of his power.
And Jesus’ consistent exercise of such power testifies to his unique access to God.
Jesus will note, if his power is not from Satan, then it must represent the presence of the God.
Second, miracles paint pictures for us deeper realities.
In other words, they are not merely events for events’ sake, they picture something more important.
They picture a deeper reality about Jesus authority.
Through the Father, Jesus has power over Demons and disease.
Two things that as humans we struggle to understand.
We have come a long way today with modern medicine in the disease department but there are still many we cannot cure.
Demons also are often still a mystery to us.
Luke (Examples of Jesus’ Ministry (4:31–44))
Miracles help for us though to unveil the deep cosmic struggle between the forces of evil and Jesus.
If we ask what the miracles show, it is Jesus’ sweeping authority.
These events, especially those involving demonic forces, reveal hand-to-hand combat (Eph 6:10–12).
English Standard Version Chapter 6
12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
The miracles pull back a curtain, as it were, so we can glimpse the behind-the-scenes battle within creation.
Given the descriptions of this condition in the Gospels,
it seems clear that demon possession, whatever one calls it,
is the direct exercise of demonic power from within a person.
If something is “exorcised” or asked to depart (v. 35), then something was present that needed removal.
Having an understand of the purpose of Jesus miracles we can move forward and see how Jesus authority is displayed.
And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, “Ha! 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.”
The spirit of an unclean demon.
The spirit of an unclean demon.
What is “the spirit of an unclean demon”?
Ryrie’s Basic Theology B. Perversion
The fact that demons are also called unclean spirits shows that whatever they do perverts what is clean, noble, and right. Demons want to pervert people by having them turn aside from the plan of God to Satan’s plan
Do you know that there are some people, even those who claim to be Christians who deny the existence of demons?
They would say that this man was really struggling with some psychological disorder.
Jesus knew better.
This man was not suffering from depression; he was under the personal domination of a fallen angel—
a supernatural being who was trying to cause him spiritual and physical harm.
Commentator Norval Geldenhuys rightly says that demon possession
“was not merely an ordinary form of mental disease as some writers have alleged, but a special phenomenon which was particularly frequent during Jesus’ earthly sojourn and thus was directly connected with His coming to destroy the power of darkness.”
This raises an obvious question:
Are people still possessed by demons today?
The short answer is yes.
We are in a spiritual battle, and the cosmic forces of darkness are still fighting against us
I already quoted Paul’s response in Eph 6:12 but let’s look at it again quickly.
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
These powers seek to gain control any way they can.
They are often at work promoting evil in the structures of sinful society, but in their wickedness,
they sometimes seek to dominate particular individuals (perhaps especially in cultures that have not yet been penetrated by the power of the gospel).
This is why we hear more stories of supernatural events taking place around missionaries going out to share the Gospel in other cultures.
Demonic activity is one of the least talked about and most frequently avoided topics it seems in conservative Christianity.
Which makes sense, especially when other groups/denominations take it farther than it should.
Demon possession also goes well beyond ordinary temptation.
In some Christian circles it has become popular to attribute every sin to a particular demon.
People who think too highly of themselves have a demon of pride;
people who eat too much have a demon of gluttony; a demon of lust and so on.
When people talk this way, they are really blaming Satan for their own sinful nature.
Their sins are not the direct result of demonic control, but simply the expression of their own sinful desires.
Nor is demon possession merely a matter of mental illness.
Not everyone who has a delusion is under satanic control,
although demons may perhaps cause or exacerbate mental illness and often seem to attack people who are spiritually or psychologically weak,
taking advantage of any opportunity to gain greater control.
This means that demons can be hard to detect, or to separate from a person’s other struggles.
Someone who is demon-possessed may even have outward manifestations that are similar to other psychological disorders.
But the origin of the oppression is different.
People who are demon-possessed are dominated by an inward, personal evil.
Demons work by lying, deceit, and oppression, and when the opportunity arises they enter the body of a person (Lk 8:30; 22:3), in order to control the individual’s thoughts and actions.
Demon possession seems to happen relatively more rarely today than it did in the time of Christ.
Conservative Christians affirm the Bible is the literal Word of God, and demons existed and were active in the pages of Scripture.
It is acceptable to acknowledge demons existed 2,000 years ago, but today?
Most of us are secretly skeptical or outright hostile to the idea that in our post-modern world, demons are alive and busy.
That kind of attitude, those ideas are for the uneducated, unenlightened masses, right?
C.S. Lewis said, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors, and hail a materialist and a magician with the same delight.”
It does appear possession though is less frequent today though.
So, why do missionaries see more demonic activity than do typical American church goers?
Think of it like this: All Christians are active soldiers in a spiritual battle.
Satan has a finite number of demons.
Like any smart military tactician, Satan is going to send his troops to the front line, where the gospel is advancing rapidly or into new territory.
Christian missionaries have more experience with demons than other Christians do because missionaries are at ground zero of many major battles.
R.C. Sproul said, “The church is the most important organization in the world. It is the target of every demonic, hostile attack in the universe. Jesus personally guaranteed that the gates of hell will never prevail against the church. He made no guarantee that the gates of hell would not be unleashed against it, however.”
Another reason we may see more demonic activity in scripture is because Satan likely threw the full weight of his power against Israel because he knew that the Savior would come there first.
Whatever the reason, Jesus often came into direct contact with people who were oppressed by demons.
This was part of his ongoing war with the devil.
In this war, Jesus had authority over the demons, which he exercised simply by speaking his word.
As Martin Luther wrote in his famous hymn about God’s victory over Satan, “One little word shall fell him.”
The same word that Jesus had used to defeat the devil in the wilderness—the word of God—he now used to cast out demons.
In those days people who wanted to gain power over the darkness would resort to all kinds of magic spells,
religious incantations, bizarre rituals, and other desperate forms of hocuspocus.
But Jesus had true spiritual authority.
All he had to do was say the word, and out the demon came.
Sometimes a distinction is made between demonic oppression and demonic possession;
this supposedly differentiates an attack from without and control from within.
Although a non-Christian may be said to be “possessed” by a demon,
the Christian cannot be so possessed, for he belongs to Christ and his human spirit has been sealed by the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13).
Demonic spirits somehow know and acknowledge this seal.
Jesus is even called demon possessed, but a kingdom cannot be divided as he responds.
Demonic possession is very real today, but not something you need to be worried about, dwelling on, or searching out.
Because ultimately we know that God is in control
A demon in the synagogue?
A demon in the synagogue?
Another question we can ask of this text is what is this demon doing in Synagogue?
So here we are, in the synagogue on a Sabbath and a man is there who is demon possessed.
It really is an odd situation.
Here is a demon possessed man attending the Jewish church.
We don’t often think of demon possessed people attending church, but here we have one.
Why did he come to the synagogue that day?
Not to hear the Word of God.
Not so that he would get cast out.
He came that day so that he could cause strife, dissension and division in the synagogue.
Look what happens.
he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! 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.
What the ESV which I am reading from here translates Ha!, others have translated to - Leave us alone.
the reason for this is that the word
an exclamatory particle expressing surprise or displeasure,
The Greek word is an interjection.
Right in the middle of one of Jesus’ sermons, this man jumps up and disrupts the whole thing.
Very likely, the man’s voice would have been chilling and demonic.
The demon, who cannot stand to hear the Word of God preached, was trying to cause chaos and confusion.
That is always Satan’s goal – to keep the Word of God from being preached, and to introduce chaos and confusion into the church.
Notice what the demon says through the man.
He interjects into Jesus teaching and says
Luke 4:34 (ESV)
“Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us?
Even though there was only one demon in this man, it uses the pronoun us because Christ will deal with them all at one time in the future.
All demons are in the same sinking ship.
When Jesus came on the scene, the demons knew they were going down.
They knew they were going to be destroyed.
That’s what the demon says here.
It reveals that it knows who Jesus is.
It says, I know who You are—the Holy One of God!”
A title.
Another way that we recognize authority.
There was a belief in that day among street magicians and those who tried to practice sorcery and things of that sort that you could gain power over a person by naming them.
So this demon possessed man, by naming Jesus, is trying to gain power over Jesus.
But Jesus is not bothered by such a futile attempt.
He is not phased.
Jesus cannot be controlled.
Jesus simply rebukes the demon and casts it out of the man telling it to be silent.
The phrase be silent comes from a Greek word that is used of muzzling an animal.
Jesus effectively muzzles this demon, forcing it to be silent against his will.
And the demon does.
It must obey.
Even demons must obey Jesus Christ because of His authority of the Son of God.
But notice that even in its obedience, it tries to disobey.
It tries to commit one last act of rebellion against Jesus by throwing the man down in their midst, in order to hurt the man.
Those whom Satan cannot destroy, he tries to harm.
Jesus had purpose in de-emphasizing his own miraculous work.
When we see something amazing today, what most often happens?
The amazing act that was performed becomes the object of affection.
The amazing feet, and the person who performed it become idolized.
Jesus knew that people would focus on the signs and him as a man rather than on the Father God who the signs were meant to point to.
Throughout the Gospels Jesus guards the fact of his messiahship, probably
(1) to prevent a misinterpretation that would draw to him revolutionary minded followers seeking a leader against Rome;
(2) to allow his messianic works themselves to establish his authority among true believers
Which appears to be working based upon the response we seen in 36-37
And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Jesus power and authority amazes all who experience it.
What is this word? for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!
The people are now realizing, through this act, that Jesus doesn’t just talk the talk, but he walks the walk.
He has the ability to back up his words.
Authority
potential or resource to command, control, or govern, capability, might, power
Power
ⓑ specif., the power that works wonders
As mostly conservative Christians, I believe it is easy for us, more often then not to lose sight of the supernatural power of Jesus.
What authority and power!
We can use principles from this passage to help us
To evaluate religious leaders today,
Many today in Christian leadership crave for the same thing to be said of them as was said about Jesus—
he or she speaks with authority.
They aspire to winning a crowd of devoted followers who bow to their every word.
we must judge them by the standard of Jesus.
Do they share his aversion to publicity and acclaim?
Do they want to receive credit for all that happens?
Are they primarily interested in a power grab, in building empires for themselves, and in serving their own needs?
Do they truly speak in the name of the Lord from sincere motives?
We can use it to evaluate our own lives as well.
We are all in some position of authority.
Do we want all the credit, or do we pass it on to God?
Do we submit to Jesus authority in our lives?
Do we recognize the authority and power he has?
Do we recognize the spiritual battle that is happening around us?
Do we understand the fact that we are equipped through the spirit, we have the whole armor of God
But are told to put it on.
This is an active stance, not passive.
Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
The armor will not be put on for us.