Luke 4:31-44
Beyond The Wonder
Woodlawn Missionary Baptist Church
April 9, 2006
Introduction
Have you ever watched the birth of a child? Of all the awesome experiences I can think of having been a part of, childbirth has to be one of the most amazing. The very idea that a child can be conceived that can grow and feel and hear and experience so many different things even before delivery fascinates me, but none of that measures up to the amazing process of delivery. When Kassidy was born, there Kathy was having all that fun, and I was watching with great intensity wondering what she would look like and wanting to hold her when all of a sudden the doctor said to me, “Get out of the way, you’re in my light!”
I’m sure we’ve all got some amazing stories to tell about the wonders of life. You’ve no doubt experienced some pretty wonderful things in your own life. This week I experienced another wonder in life. My earliest memory of fishing with my Uncle Donnie over here was when I was a little boy. He, my dad and I were in a little boat fishing in Kansas. I pulled back to cast, and when I did by jig was caught on something, so without looking I tried to throw again. I don’t remember if he yelled or not, but when I looked back my jig was in his ear! The wonder I got to experience this week is that he still gets in the boat with dad when I’m in it!
In our text today, we’re going to encounter Jesus as He ministers to the people of Capernaum and does so in an amazing way. I’d be lying if I told you I didn’t envy the people of Jesus’ day from time to time. Imagine what it must have been like to live in that day, before our medical and scientific breakthroughs where people don’t seem amazed by much of anything. Jesus came along casting out demons, healing the sick, giving sight to the blind, making the lame to walk, the deaf to hear, the mute to speak and more importantly He restored hope to those who were at the end of their ropes.
Jesus foretold what His ministry would be about when He read from the scroll of Isaiah in the synagogue of Nazareth. Now He is fulfilling that prophecy, and He’s doing it with great authority. Jesus is a man in charge. As we consider our text, I want to share with you three domains over which Jesus has absolute authority: absolute control, and one domain over which He will not exercise authority.
Jesus Has Authority over the Word
Jesus demonstrated His command of the Scriptures when He was tempted by Satan in verses 1-13. Every time Satan used the Scriptures, Jesus answered with the Scriptures. Jesus later went to the synagogue in His hometown of Nazareth where He read from the Scriptures and spoke of Himself from the Word. He was so confident about what He said the people took Him outside the city to kill him, but verse 30 says He gave those men the slip. Let’s read verses 30-32.
“But he passing through the midst of them went his way, and came down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbaths. And they were astonished at his doctrine: for his word was with authority.”
Some of your Bibles use the word power at the end of verse 32, but it is really the word authority. If you’ll look down at verse 36, both words are used. “for with authority and power.” The word power in verse 32 and the word authority in verse 36 come from the same Greek word exousia, while the word power in verse 36 comes from the word doonamis, from which we get our word dynamite.
Matthew 7 ends with very similar words. After Jesus finished preaching what we call the Sermon on the Mount, the Bible says,
“And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.”
What is it that distinguished Christ’s teachings from those of the scribes and Pharisees? Why did His teaching have such great authority? It wasn’t necessarily His methods. He didn’t have a better delivery, probably didn’t have a style of preaching and teaching that was so radically different, but it was different.
You see, for one thing, Jesus didn’t beat around the bush. His teaching was simple and straightforward, while that of the scribes and Pharisees was academic, scholarly and obscure. But the primary thing that made Jesus’ teaching authoritative was the fact that He taught as the Author of the Word and not as a student of it.
The very best any man can do with the Bible is to teach it as a student of it himself. You’ll spend a lifetime studying the Bible for meaning and digging out those nuggets of truth, but Jesus wrote those nuggets! John said,
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us…”
The writer of Hebrews said,
“For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”
Jesus Christ had absolute command of the Scriptures. He knew them front to back. We saw Him when He was twelve hearing the doctors and asking them questions, and “all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.” Why? Because Jesus has authority over the Word. Not only that, but…
Jesus Has Authority over the Spirit World
In Luke 4:33-37, Luke says that,
“In the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice, 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, Holy thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! For with authority and power he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out.”
Again, in verse 41,
“And devils also came out of many, crying out, and saying, Thou art Christ the Son of God. And he rebuking them suffered them not to speak: for they knew that he was Christ.”
Back in the 50s a man by the name of Christian Herter was governor of Massachusetts. The story goes that he was running hard for a second term in office. One day, after a busy morning chasing votes and no lunch he arrived at a church barbecue. It was late afternoon and Herter was famished. As he moved down the serving line, he held out his plate to the woman serving chicken. She put a piece on his plate and turned to the next person in line.
"Excuse me," Governor Herter said, "do you mind if I have another piece of chicken?"
"Sorry," the woman told him. "I’m supposed to give one piece of chicken to each person."
"But I’m starved," the governor said.
"Sorry," the woman said again. "Only one to a customer."
Governor Herter was a modest and unassuming man, but he decided that this time he would throw a little weight around. "Do you know who I am?" he said. "I am the governor of this state."
"Do you know who I am?" the woman said. "I’m the lady in charge of the chicken. Now move along, mister."
Now that’s authority! Well listen, when it comes to the spirit world of angels and demons, Jesus is in charge of the chicken. Whatever He says goes. The unclean devil knew it and was concerned that Jesus had come for judgment. “Leave us alone! Have you come to destroy us?”
Repeatedly Jesus commanded the demons not to speak. Don’t think it strange or that Jesus was trying to hide something about Himself that the demons might expose. He just didn’t want them talking. If there was going to be a question about who was in charge, He made sure people knew it was Him!
He refused the demons the right to speak. He didn’t allow the demon to hurt the man and He didn’t allow the demon to remain in the man. Not only do we see Christ’s authority over the demons in what He did and didn’t allow, we also see it in the confessions the demons made.
The first demon addressed Him as Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy One of God. The other demons in verse 41 confessed that He is Christ the Son of God. The people of Nazareth saw Him only as the carpenter’s son. Their misconceptions about Him blinded them to who He was. So many people then and today cannot see what the demons already know. Jesus has absolute authority over the spirit world. He, not they, sit at the right hand of the throne of God. He, not they, are the Creator. He made them, He commands them and He will judge them. Revelation says that some will be cast into the bottomless pit while the angels of heaven will prostrate themselves around the throne singing glory to His name!
Not only does Jesus have authority over the Word, and not only does He have authority over the spirit world…
Jesus Has Authority over the Physical World
Verse 38 says,
“And he arose out of the synagogue, and entered into Simon’s house. And Simon’s wife’s mother was taken with a great fever; and they besought him for her. And he stood over her, and rebuked the fever; and it left her: and immediately she arose and ministered unto them. Now when the sun was setting, all they that had any sick with divers diseases brought them unto him; and he laid his hands on every one of them, and healed them.”
Stop and think about what Jesus is doing here. These are sick people, and with just a touch from Jesus, a word from His Almighty lips and they are healed. To the lame man He says, “Take up your bed and walk.” The woman who suffered hemorrhaging for twelve years only had to touch His robe. He walked on water. He calmed the stormy sea. He gave sight to the blind and called a man out of a grave. Here He healed Peter’s mother-in-law and then whoever else was brought to Him.
If you’re ever in doubt about what great power that is, just try taking a walk across Lake Texoma this afternoon!
Conclusion
Jesus is in control. In Colossians 1 the apostle Paul was writing about how awesome Jesus is when he wrote in verses 16-17,
“For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
Do you know why He’s in charge and we are not? Because He created everything! He’s in charge by right of Creation and by right of the authority given Him by God the Father. There’s not a single thing in all of heaven or earth over which Jesus does not have authority, but there is at least one thing over which He will not exercise authority, and that is your right to choose.
You’ve probably heard the story about the man and his fiancé when they met with her pastor to sign some pre-wedding ceremony papers. While filling out the form, the young man read aloud a few questions. When he got to the last one, which read: "Are you entering this marriage at your own will?" he looked over at his fiancé. She said, "Put down ’Yes.’"
Jesus isn’t like that. He’s not going to make you say yes. He will not exercise authority over your right to choose what you want to do with Him. Read Luke 4:42-44 with me.
“And when it was day, he departed and went into a desert place: and the people sought him, and came unto him, and stayed him, that he should not depart from them. And he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also: for therefore am I sent. And he preached in the synagogues of Galilee.”
The Bible says that no man searches after God. The only way anyone recognizes that he is lost and needs a relationship with Christ in salvation is because Christ is drawing him. When Jesus showed up in Capernaum doing all the things He did, it wasn’t just to put on a magic show; He was drawing these people to Himself. His teaching demonstrated that He knew what He was talking about. His miracles proved Himself to be worthy of their faith.
You might think that if Jesus showed up in Denison this week doing the things He did in Capernaum that hundreds or thousands of people who accept Him as their Savior, but that’s not necessarily so. Turn with me to Matthew 11.
Did you know that for centuries people believed that Aristotle was right when he said that the heavier an object, the faster it would fall to earth? Aristotle was regarded as the greatest thinker of all time, and surely he would not be wrong. Anyone, of course, could have taken two objects, one heavy and one light, and dropped them from a great height to see whether or not the heavier object landed first. But no one did until nearly 2,000 years after Aristotle’s death. In 1589 Galileo summoned learned professors to the base of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Then he went to the top and pushed off a ten- pound and a one-pound weight. Both landed at the same instant. The power of belief was so strong, however, that the professors denied their eyesight. They continued to say Aristotle was right.
In Matthew 11:20ff,
“Then began he to upbraid the cities wherein most of his might works were done, because they repented not: Woe unto thee, Chorazin! Woe unto thee, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon at the day of judgment, than for you. And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say unto you, That it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you.”
When you read the Bible record you’ll find that Jesus did some wonderful things in Capernaum. Luke told us in our text today that the people there were astonished at His teachings. They marveled at His miracles. They spread His fame from coast to coast, but they never repented of their sins and trusted Him to be their Savior. Verse 42 shows us they wanted to keep Him around, not because they desired a relationship with Him, but for what He could do for them. They never moved beyond the wonder to become true worshippers of Him.
What about you today? Have you ever moved beyond the wonder? You know Jesus has absolute command of the Word. He has authority over all of life, but have you ever handed the right to your life over to Him? Have you ever personally repented of your sin and trusted Him to be your Savior?
When my father-in-law began to get really sick with Meniere’s Disease, he went through several doctors who couldn’t help him, but in time he began to hear about this amazing doctor in Dallas who was nationally known as the best in the field. Once he heard about this guy, he got an appointment and let the man do some odd surgical procedures on him to get some relief from the disease.
Some of you today are sick with a disease called sin. We’re all born with it and most of us spend a lifetime going to all the doctors. The world writes is prescriptions for more recreation, more work, more purpose, more fun, more self-help, more 12-step programs and more religion, but Jesus is the Great Physician who has the answer for your disease. Will you trust Him today and pay Him a visit? Would you admit to yourself that you’ve never really admitted your sin before Him and put your trust in Him alone for salvation?
Jesus has authority over domain in existence, but He’ll never interfere with your right to make up your own mind about Him. What is your choice today?
