Reveal The Truths Of Jesus And Find Our Authority In The Demonic Realm.

This sermon was delivered to Holy Trinity in Ayr,

Ayrshire, Scotland on the 28th January 2018

(a Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).

Deuteronomy 18:15-20 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 Mark 1:21-28 Psalm 111

Psalm 19:14: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts, be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our strength, and our redeemer. Amen.

1. Introduction

This morning as we move through Mark’s Gospel in our season of epiphany, we need to remember that Marks Gospel run at very fast pace, moving rapidly from one event to the next … in fact it skips over many of the accounts and details that are recorded in the other Gospels, so what Mark records are the events of extreme importance, events that that made a mark on him if you will excuse the pun.

Our text this morning picks up after the call of Andrew, James, and John and where Jesus is found within the synagogue at Capernaum, teaching the Word as you would expect. And there is one thing I have learned over my years of preaching, more than anything else … that Jesus was very much a man, a human being, very much like you and I.

However, Jesus unlike us, spoke with authority, and he exercised a power that captured the attention of all those present … verse 22, “And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority and not as the scribes”.

2. His Authority in the Scriptures

This verse reveals his authority and how he had a real passion for the word, a passion I can easily relate to that, but Jesus was himself the Word incarnate, the Living Word according to the Gospel of John.

And I hope you can relate to that too, having that passion, a hunger or thirst to study and believe the word of God. … For me it wasn’t a burden, but a privilege when I first understood the difference between the Old and New Testament … and I couldn’t get enough of it, as it drastically changed my life. … And I want share those treasures with you, if you will allow me … because it was his wisdom brought freedom from oppression, oppression that many many people deny they have. … Our relationship with Christ therefore, compels us to seek His Word, and fellowship with His people.

3. Jesus was one of the people himself.

And yes, the people back in the day did that in his presence … they were astonished at his doctrine, at his teaching, as one who knew what he was talking about … and not the supercilious teachings of Scribes and Pharisees which went well above the people heads. Jesus spoke as someone with an intimate knowledge of both and the people and of God, otherwise they wouldn’t have flocked to listen to him … as he spoke of his father … he spoke of their fears … their wants, and their desires. He spoke of love, and his kingdom, and life after death.

That is what made the difference in his teaching … he was engaging with the people, as one of the people, born in a stable, and not some distant Ivory Tower. … The people were literally struck with wonder and with awe … and it was not what they expected, and so he had a huge impact on them.

Mark himself declared that Jesus taught differently than other men … words and teaching not centred on the established Jewish law and tradition. Jesus came to set them free from all that … and I am sure everyone went home overwhelmed, but I am also sure they wanted more.

4. His Authority over the unclean Spirits

And today’s passage was certainly radical, it wa different, it was something new to many of them, verse 23 says, “And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit”. … Now … A man in a church … with an unclean spirit … here we introduce the subject of deliverance, and don’t worry I am not going to dwell deep in on it, although … deliverance is well understood … (unlike prosperity and healing), but here we have a man, in a church, with an unclean spirit, and somehow … I believe this suited Jesus just fine … because Jesus knew how to deal with this, unlike the Scribes and Pharisees and anyone else at the time. … Jesus here had a chance to prove his authority over these spirits, and he did this in a very logical manner.

5. The truth forcing the spirit to ask for mercy

First of all, the teachings of Jesus came with power, a power which forced the unclean spirit within the man to cry out for help during his teaching. Verse 24, “and he cried out saying, leave us alone; what have we to done to you Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are … the Holy One of God”.