Signs
Pt. 3
I. Introduction
We are invading the moments in Jesus’ daily life in which signs interrupted His walk. 34 times in 3 ½ years. There were 34 different occasions where signs were a part of Jesus’ life. We key on those moments in which His deity was validated by miracles. The supernatural overtakes the natural. You will remember that I have told you the challenge is that Jesus, in John 14 and Mark 16, very clearly state that we should not only have signs following us but that those signs will be greater than what Jesus did. I trust you have spent this week going back to pick up Words that you walked away from. They are timeless!
So, I want us to fast forward to Jesus’ 3rd miracle. The passages that we need to focus on are Mark 1:21-34 and is also recorded in Luke 4:31 which is where we will read.
Text: Luke 4:31-37
31Then he went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and on the Sabbath began to teach the people. 32They were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority. 33In the synagogue there was a man possessed by a demon, an evil spirit. He cried out at the top of his voice, 34"Ha! What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!" 35"Be quiet!" Jesus said sternly. "Come out of him!" Then the demon threw the man down before them all and came out without injuring him. 36All the people were amazed and said to each other, "What is this teaching? With authority and power he gives orders to evil spirits and they come out!" 37And the news about him spread throughout the surrounding area.
II. Signs
a. They were amazed we are bored and busy.
The folks in the church were amazed by Jesus’ teachings because His message had authority. When He commanded or took authority something happened. I think that some of us have heard the teachings for so long that we have become bored with His power. I wonder if we have heard the truth for so long that we have become immune or so accustom to the radicalness of Jesus’ teachings that we fail to recognize the power we are hearing and handling. I wonder if people are amazed by the same teachings of Jesus that they hear from us?
We underestimate the authority of the truth we know so well. Therefore we under communicate it! If we really understood the authority contained in the truth that we have embraced, that we set through week after week, that we treat with contempt, that we can take or leave, we would be the first on the scene when someone needed answers. We would be the first ones to offer assistance. We would be looking for opportunities to share the truth because we would be aware of the authority we have access to. Teach me something new, but do it quick. No tarrying. No time. This is just one stop in my list of things to do today. If would actually believe what we have already heard signs would be abundant! If we would slow down and absorb truth again and make room and time for the supernatural we would see signs!
b. We need signs in the sanctuary.
I find it interesting that the folks in the synagogue were apparently unbothered by a demon possessed man in their church. The text doesn’t say this was his first time there. I guess it could have been, but the feeling I get when I read this is that he was a normal part of their services. Could it be that they had become comfortable with a demon as their pew mate?
I think there are too many devils that are allowed to stay in the church! There is some unclean stuff that is allowed to stay in the church. A mediocre, forgotten, overlooked, and useless church is one in which we come and sit, worship, pray, preach, and do our thing and people walk out with the same chains they walked in with. How many teachings, worship songs, moves of God had this man set through while possessed? The devil is comfortable in that kind of church! The kind of church that bothers him is the one in which Jesus’ power is established and forces him out! The devil was comfortably hanging out with religious people.
Religious people were more amazed at Jesus’ ability to remove the devil than they were that the devil was in the church in the first place.
I think we have grown comfortable with pornography in the church. We are best buds with prejudice in the church. We are OK with kickin’ it with backbiting, broken relationships, adultery, addictions, and sickness in the church. I want to see alcoholics run to the altar and throw away their drink not because of an altar call or a sermon, but just because of the strong presence of Christ here. I want to see drug addictions broken when a greeter smiles at a visitor. I want to see couples on the brink of divorce so experience the awesome power of God that they fall in love again during worship. One of the signs we desperately need to see is bondage and sin to be kicked out of the church! You want to a see a church grow? Build a church where when people walk in their sin, addiction, chains are forced off and they walk out free. Can’t be so self absorbed in this sanctuary that we don’t see the needs and recognize the bondage of others. This has to be more than a place for religious activities and practices. It must become a place of deliverance and hope! Let’s ask Jesus to bring signs to our sanctuary. That can’t happen in a church where folks just show up to go thru their religious charades and format. That can’t happen in a church where we are just marking time. That can’t happen in a church where only the pastor or a few prayer folks actually prepare for the service prior to pulling up in the parking lot. That can’t happen in a church where we are more focused on getting home in time for the football game than we are on the sin that just sat down next to us! We have got to let Jesus invade this place to such a degree that there is no more room left for demons!
c. Silence is a sign!
Hold thy peace. Jesus had to quiet the devil down in church. I think we allow the devil to run his mouth too much! How loud is the devil in here? How active is the devil in here! You shouldn’t be able to come to church with Jesus and have the devil be louder than Him! We need to adjust the volume! Jesus’ voice should be the loudest voice in our life and in our church! We must take authority over the noise of the enemy and silence him so that the voice of Jesus can be heard. Signs will be silent if Satan is allowed to be loud. The devil’s big mouth has dominated the conversation in your life for too long! The devil has a big mouth! He roars like a lion. It is time to introduce him to the Lion!
I want us to believe for silence! I want us to believe that we will see the day when the big mouth of the enemy is silenced in our lives and in our church! I want to see the voice of doubt, fear, shame, and pain silenced in His presence. I want to see the voice of prejudice, racism, elitism, legalism, and apathy silenced forever.
Whose voice is loudest in here? I want us to become expert at playing the quiet game. Any time the enemy tries to speak up we silence him and put him in his place!
d. Experiencing a sign won’t hurt you, but not having one will!
Notice what is said about this man’s condition. He is being tormented and controlled. His life is a spiral of sinister darkness. His world is wrapped in evil. His is undoubtedly in pain. He is suffering. He is hopeless. No sign has destroyed him. No sign is costing him his life. But then Jesus shows up on the scene and a sign takes place. And Scripture says that Jesus cast out the demon, the demon cast the man on the ground, came out, but did not harm him. I realize that some of you are afraid of signs. I realize that some of you have never seen a miracle and the concept of a miracle frightens you. But this man’s story teaches us that we should be afraid of is a life without a sign. Not having a sign is more dangerous, painful and destructive than experiencing a sign. Don’t be afraid of the sign; be afraid of not seeing/experiencing the sign.
e. Your need knows who Jesus is . . . do you?
It is interesting to me that on numerous occasions, including this one, the need recognized who Jesus was before the person did! I mention this because I want to make you aware of something. Your sickness, addiction, pain, past, and brokenness have no problem recognizing Jesus. Believe me those things know Him and recognize His power and authority. All they are waiting on is you to recognize His power! Your lack of recognition, your doubt, and your distraction is keeping your need from being met! If our recognition of His authority, power, and ability matched the recognition that our need has of who He is we would see breakthrough and change!
f. We must find the source of signs.
Finally, I want to draw you attention to something. We must find the source of signs. The source of the signs that Jesus worked is not found in the text that I read to you today. It is actually found in the first and fourteenth verse of this chapter. Let me summarize Luke 4:1, 14 – Jesus full of the Holy Spirit and Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. We need to revisit the source. If you have ever been filled you need to be refilled. You need to begin to live up to what is living in you! If you have never been filled you need to be filled. Why? Because it is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit says God. Our ability to see signs is directly proportionate to the level of our filling! If Jesus’ sign working was dependent on being full of the Holy Spirit how much more do we desperately need this same power? We can’t become comfortable with living without this key component in our lives.
