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Pastor Mike preaches The Lordship Of Jesus - [Luke 4:31-37]
Years ago, I read a little illustration about God's truth. A little humor in it. I kind of changed a little bit of it for my own purposes. There was a cruise ship and someone fell off the ship. The person didn't know how to swim.
And so people on the deck began to give advice. And one man, who was a moralist, said, Here's a book. I'm going to throw it over. And you just need to read the book and follow the instructions and you'll figure out how to swim.
Another man, who was standing on the deck, he was an idealist. And so he jumped in and said, Watch me swim. Learn from me. You'll be okay. Do as I do. Another person was a member of the institutional church.
He looked at the man and yelled out, Hold on, friend. Help is on the way. We're going to establish a committee and dialogue your problem. If we come up with the proper financing, we'll solve your dilemma.
The next person on deck yelled out some advice. And this person was in the school of positive thinking. Friend, this situation is not nearly as bad as you think. Think dry. Revival was on board and he saw the drowning man and he said, Yes, brother, I see that hand.
The last man on deck was a savior. He immediately jumped into the water, saved the man, and lost his own life. Jesus certainly was not a moralist, nor an idealist, but a savior. And if you'll take your Bibles and turn to Luke chapter 4 today, it is good to get to know our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who sought us and bought us with his redeeming love.
We all need this Savior and we'll learn about him today. I would say the most important thing in your life is having a right relationship with the God who created you. We know we are sinners and God is holy.
And so how can we stand in his presence? Knowing judgment day is going to happen. And therefore, what we believe about Jesus, the Savior, is very important. Eternal ramifications. We all know that our religious deeds will not earn God's favor.
We know that something has to be done for our sins and it's a debt we cannot pay. And the only solution for our problem is the Lord Jesus is the risen Savior. And what I love about the Gospel of Luke, among other things, is that it teaches us about who this Jesus is.
Certainly there are benefits that Jesus gives us, but it teaches us also who Jesus is. His heart, his compassion, his power, who he is. Because what we never want to do in life is to separate his benefits, salvation, forgiveness, justification, glorification, from his person.
Because it's the person, the Lord Jesus, who gives us his benefits. And so what Luke does, marching through what he does in Galilee, all the way up to Jerusalem and then to die, you get to see a perspective of Jesus that will remind you, he's a worthy Savior, I can trust this Savior, he's a good Savior, and he is powerful.
And so I love Luke because we get to know who Jesus really is and then to see his brilliance put on display. This morning we'll be looking at verses 31 through about 37 in Luke chapter 4 as we go verse by verse through the Bible.
And I basically want an outline today to look like this. I want to give you two truths, or two verities about Jesus that Luke wants you to know. They are ahead of time. Luke wants you to know about the power of Jesus and Luke wants you to know about the deity of Jesus.
He wants you to be certain that he is powerful and that he is in fact God. And as you know truth has consequences and ideas matter and so it's not just for your mind so you think, oh he's powerful and he's God.
But he wants you to know, Luke does, that Jesus is powerful so that you have hope now and in the future and that you believe that he's God because Luke does not want you to be out-believed by a demon.
Luke wants you to know that God is powerful, that Jesus is powerful, so you'll have confidence now and in the future and so that you're not out-believed by a demon. Well let's take a look at the setup here first in verses 31 and following.
We're going to see the power of Jesus so you can have hope now and in the future. That's the first verity, the first truth. Luke 4 .31, boy this is an exciting passage. And he went down, Jesus did, 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. We've got a lot happening here and Luke compresses everything into about two days and you'll just see Jesus continue his earthly ministry.
Remember he has been born of a virgin and that he has lived a perfect life and he has been in the wilderness tempted by Satan and not once but twice but three times. Jesus says no to temptation, he appeals to God's word.
We see that he has the right genealogy, he has the right background that he can be the Messiah. And we're looking for this savior after many years of kings that didn't live up to their calling. Jesus is now here on the scene.
And he says, or Luke does, he went down to Capernaum. And some of you have been to Nazareth before and it's about 1300 feet above sea level. And any guesses on Sea of Galilee, how many feet above sea level it is?
Well, if you guess it's above sea level, you are all wrong. It's 600 feet below sea level. You knew that? Nice. Would you like to preach? Good, because I won't let you. One day, one day. And so he literally, 2000 feet, goes down into Capernaum, right?
Mount Noachusa, it's about 2000 feet tall. And so we see that he's into Capernaum. And by the way, Mark, a parallel account, says Simon, Andrew, James and John are with him. Capernaum is a busy place, it's kind of a trade route.
There's Romans there, there's a synagogue there. And Jesus now goes to synagogue. And by the way, what do you think Jesus will do when he goes in the synagogue? Any guesses? Well, what he always does, he's teaching.
And that's really the thrust here in Luke. Jesus the teacher, Jesus the prophet. Prophets proclaim the truth from God. And so Jesus begins to teach. And this Capernaum synagogue, by the way, there's a 2nd century synagogue that you can go to today, right at this very spot where Jesus was.
And that's one of the reasons why I love to go to Israel, is because there's archaeology when it comes to the Bible. No archaeology for Middle Earth. No archaeology for Narnia. No archaeology for Mormon stuff.
But we have real archaeology here, because truth is tied to historical things. This is not just ethereal knowledge. Historical Jesus, in a historical place, going from Nazareth down to Capernaum. Right there by the Sea of Galilee.
And he was teaching them on the Sabbath. And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. Now remember what happened at Nazareth. He was just teaching there, and what was their response?
Kill him! Get rid of him! Drive him to the brow of the cliff, and try to push him off if we can. It's a little bit different here. They're astonished. And the word here in Luke and in Mark, it's like the wind got knocked out of them, because he was such a powerful preacher.
He was such a marvelous preacher. I don't know if you've ever listened to someone preach, and it has nothing to do with the preacher, but the word of God comes, and it's kind of a gut check. You're like, that about knocked the wind out of me.
I want to say to my wife, did you hear that sermon, because I think it's directly for you, but you say, no, no, that was for me. And here it's this person in his teaching. They're dumbfounded. They're out of their senses.
It's par for the course. After the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus preached, and said the multitudes were amazed at his teaching. It's like they were having the wind knocked out of them. I don't know if you've ever had the wind knocked out of you before.
Only once, I think I have. I was on the kickoff team playing football, and I was running down, certainly to tackle the person that had the ball, and I was going to be the star. I didn't see the person on the side of my peripheral vision, and that guy just plowed me down.
And I thought, I don't know where I am. This must be heaven. And if you look at the text again, he taught as one having authority, and he's not like the scribes. Well, what's going on? Scribes quoted everybody.
Rabbi so-and-so, Rabbi so-and-so, this person said this, this person said that, and Jesus isn't doing that. Jesus doesn't need to quote anyone. Jesus is speaking the Word, powerfully and directly, because he's the Word incarnate.
Certainly quoting the Old Testament, I'm sure, but he doesn't need to quote anyone. By the way, if I ever quote someone, you might ask the question, why does he do that? So let's say I quote, I don't know, the Puritan William Perkins, or Theodore Beza, or John Calvin.
Why would I quote someone? Well, because I want you to realize, I'm not teaching something new. Church history has taught that before. I quote someone because they probably say it better than I do. And I quote someone because I'm kind of giving you a little hint.
If I'm quoting them and like them, maybe that's a good scholar you could read too. But for the Lord Jesus, he doesn't have to quote anyone, because no one can say it better. No one can have better authority.
And he just says it without saying, Rabbi so-and-so said such-and-such. Not as the scribes. There's a little hint too, when it comes to this, found earlier in Luke chapter 4. Do you remember what Jesus said?
Luke 4 .22, and all spoke well of him and marveled at the gracious words, literally the words of grace coming from his mouth. He's not speaking legalistic things like the scribes. He's not talking about works righteousness like the Pharisees.
He's not saying do good and be good and have these extra traditions piled on the Bible. Jesus is speaking words of grace. And you would never think that gracious words, words of grace would make anyone mad.
But it makes the self-righteous mad. It makes the people who think, I'm going to get to heaven by being good mad. And so they're mad at Jesus about the words of grace. And here in our passage, he's speaking differently because he's not quoting anyone.
And he's talking about gracious words versus scribal legalism. Remember how Jesus often preached. Matthew 5, For truly I say to you, unless heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or stroke shall pass away from the law until all is accomplished.
Matthew 5, You have heard that it's said, but I say to you. That's how Jesus preaches with authority and power. He's the prophet sent by God. He is chapter and verse. They're astonished at this. Nobody preaches like this.
Except Jesus. So they're shocked. Who is this man? I tried to think of a good illustration. You listen to someone and you're like, whoever talks like that, based on what you look like and where you're from.
Who does that? The only thing I could think of really was maybe American Idol or America's Got Talent or something like that. And somebody kind of walks out and they kind of look, I don't know, small, nerdy, like they don't know what's going on.
And they got a weird outfit on. And all of a sudden they grab the microphone and they start singing. And everybody is like, what is going on? You see the judges look at each other. What is going on here?
That's the closest I can think of. And here is Jesus preaching. Of course, one of the things about Jesus preaching was it was very boring. Of course not. They are dumbfounded at the preaching of Jesus.
They're astonished. Inherent authority. Power. Grace. Words of grace. He not only taught with authority, but He cast out demons with authority. Look at the power of Jesus. Verses 33 through 35. In the synagogue, there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon.
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. Let's look at this more closely. Verse 33. They're in the synagogue. Jesus is preaching with authority and power.
And someone, a man, a real human, has a spirit of an unclean demon and he cries out. Why in the world would Luke say an unclean demon? Are there any clean demons? I'm going to answer that question here pretty soon, but not quite yet.
In the power of an unclean spirit. This is not psychosis. This is not some kind of psychosomatic illness. This is not a disease. This is not some syndrome. This is not some kind of weird thing. This is a demon.
He's possessed this man. Demons are real. One Bible resource said that the Bible teaches demons are spirits, intelligent, cause blindness, cause illness, cause insanity, control the mind, control speech, cause dumbness, are vicious, are many, are wicked, cause suicidal tendencies and have supernatural strength.
Maybe, just maybe, since Satan couldn't make Jesus fall to temptation, a powerful demon can vanquish Jesus. Maybe Jesus, the God-man, has met his match with this demon. This demon certainly can control humans.
Jesus is a human. He's truly human. Jesus has maybe met his match. And this demon-possessed man cries out with emotion. Okay, now imagine it. This is kind of like last week. Jesus is in the synagogue.
It's a worship service. Synagogues were used, especially after Babylon destroyed the temple, and so you needed little places to worship. As long as there were ten married men together, you could have a synagogue.
Synagogue in the service, you would have reading of the Torah, reading of the prophets, you would have all kinds of things, no sacrifice, because that's for the temple, and the temple only. And all of a sudden, in the middle of it, Jesus is preaching, and now here's this demon issue, raising their voice.
One time I was at Grace Community Church, and John MacArthur was preaching about Jesus dying for sinners, and dying for sinners, even though he was sinless, and that if Jesus died for you, you would go to heaven, and the guy stood up and started shouting MacArthur down in the middle of the service.
That was one of the times I wish I was a Navy SEAL retired. But anyway, they finally quieted him down and escorted him out. Here now, it's a worship service, and this is all going on. I wonder what the people were thinking.
What would you be thinking? Let's think through this very carefully. The first miracle that Jesus ever did is not found in Luke. It's found in John 2, where Jesus turned water into grape juice, of course.
Water into wine. But the first miracle recorded in Luke is this one. Why? Why is this the first one? And I'll tell you, ahead of time, it's because you need to know Jesus has power and authority. You need to know in this first miracle, this signal miracle as some call it, that it's going to set up everything else.
Jesus is the powerful one. And you need to know that from the get-go. Not just because He's powerful over demons, but the reader, Theophilus and everyone else who would love God, would say, that's a powerful Savior.
I can trust Him. There's no other greater Savior. There's no other greater enemy. Because everything in Luke is designed to try to get you to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you do believe, to keep believing.
Who wants to worship an infinite Savior? Who wants to worship a Savior that can be demolished by some satanic demon? You need to know ahead of time, my Jesus is powerful. He's the Almighty. I can trust Him now, and I can trust Him until the very end.
That's why this first one is here. And this demon, verse 34, ESV says, Ha! H-A! Exclamation point. Some translate it, A-H! Exclamation point. It's an interjection. It's dismay. It's, I'm mad. I'm angry.
I'm surprised. I've got indignation. What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. The Holy One of God. They hate Jesus. They hate God. They hate righteousness.
They hate holiness. They hate obedience. And with what some call a diabolical screech, this demon-possessed man shouts out. He's not happy. I mean, when Jesus preaches, you try to push Him off the brow of the cliff if you don't like what He's saying.
Now, we have this confrontation. What do you have to do with us? What do we have in common? Why are you here? What fellowship does light have with darkness? What fellowship does Christ have with Belial?
What is going on? Leave us alone. Get out of here. And literally in the Greek, it's what to us and to you. Sometimes how Hebrew people would talk and how they would write. What to us and to you. It means don't bother me.
It means we have nothing in common. It means it's none of your business. You're sticking your nose into places where it doesn't belong. We don't have anything in common. Get out of here. Let us continue to be like a parasite sucking on the blood of its host where a demon-possessed man has got the host from these satanic emissaries.
Certainly the demons are using the man's voice. And what did the demons know? This is a good question. What did the demons know? They knew that He was Jesus of Nazareth. They knew His identity. They knew His power and mission.
You've come to destroy us. It doesn't say, you have no power over us. Don't even think about destroying us. You can't destroy us. We know you're going to destroy us. Is this going to be the time? That's the point.
Of course, John, the apostle, says in 1 John 3, the one who practices sin is of the devil for the devil has sinned from the beginning. The Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
That's why Jesus came. For that many reasons. Have you come to destroy us? Revelation 20, the devil who deceived them was thrown in the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet also are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Satan knows it. The demons know it. And now Jesus shows up and this demon-possessed man says, is this the time you're going to destroy us? And they also, the demons knew, that Jesus was God. What is said there in the passage?
The Holy One of God. The Holy One. That's what Isaiah calls Jesus, the Holy One of God. You're the Holy One of God. Holy means what? No sin. And certainly Jesus is sinless. He had to be to redeem sinners.
And holiness also means, with the priority here, is set apart for something. He doesn't sin and He's set apart for something. What's He set apart to do? He's sent by the Father to rescue. We learned that in chapter 4, verses 18 and 19.
What is Jesus sent to do? We know who you are. You're the sinless one. You're the eternal Son and you're sent to save sinners. We know that. I wonder what the people must have been thinking. You're the Savior of sinners.
You're sent by the Father. What did Jesus say? But Jesus rebuked him, verse 35, saying, be silent and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him down in the midst, he came out of him having done him no harm.
We're going to have no satanic testimonies today in church. Why don't we have testimony time at the church? Well, it's not related to this. But there's going to be no demon testimonials here. Not everybody obeys demons.
Not everybody can command demons. There are people in the Bible that try to command demons and exercise demons. And you know what happened to them? I'll tell you. Acts 19. Some of the Jewish exorcists who went out from place to place attempted to name over those who had evil spirits.
And they named the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, I adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preaches. And seven sons of one Sceva, a Jewish chief priest, were doing this. And the evil spirit answered and said to them, I recognize Jesus and I know about Paul, but who are you?
And then remember what happened? Listen up, kids. And the man in whom was the evil spirit leaped on them and subdued all of them, and overpowered them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded.
Jesus is not like one of these typical men. He has power to tell demons what to do and they have to obey him. Jesus is saying there's going to be one preacher in the synagogue today and it's going to be me.
It's not going to be anyone else. And I need no endorsement from a demon. I don't need any kind of recognition from a demon. And Jesus says peace be still with the exact same language in Mark chapter 4 where the sea of Galilee is a stormy mess and Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea same words, peace be still and the wind ceased and there was great calm.
It means, demon, put a muzzle on yourself. I'm going to muzzle you. Be quiet. No talking back. Do you see the sovereign authority? Do you see the sovereign power of Jesus? He didn't say, well, this is what I have to do.
I need to get the incense and fumigation. I've got to have some Latin words. I've got to do all these other things. He says the word and they do what he says. No room for negotiation. No one else can do this.
And so the demon obeys and in Mark's account it says he threw him into convulsions. Threw him down. Spasm. Just imagine there's somebody right there just going kind of an epileptic fit except it's not epilepsy, it's a demon.
Crying with a loud voice. Howling. I met somebody once and they were going through very difficult times of intense agony and I don't think their mind was right and they would just be outside and they'd just howl.
Here it's because it's a demon and the demon throws the person down. Jerking back and forth. Throwing down like you've got tackle, you throw it overboard. Like you throw Joseph in a pit. Like you throw the babies in the Nile.
Like you throw the staff to the ground. You throw the Egyptians in the Red Sea. Same language. Out of all the miracles in Luke, 20 plus, this is the first one. Why? Because Jesus, the cosmic Lord, has power over Satan.
He has authority so you can be rest assured in your Savior. If Jesus has power over demons, he must have power over everything and everyone. No wonder Paul then could write a very familiar passage. Be strong in the Lord and the strength of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. We do not wrestle against flesh and blood but against rulers. Against authorities. Against cosmic powers over this darkness.
Against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand and withstand the evil in this day. That's all the armor of God in Ephesians chapter 6.
Christian, take heart. Take comfort. Jesus, your Savior, is powerful. I've told the story many times. I was younger and I was in a 5 foot and under basketball league. And we had to go to a bad part of town and I was the starting center because I was exactly 5 foot tall.
And so I walked out to jump center and shook the guy's hand. The ref is there and everybody's around the little circle there in the center court. And the guy looked at me. When I tried to shake his hand, he put his hand back and he said, If you don't let me win the tip, I'll kill you.
I'm like 13. I don't have all my adult teeth yet. But I looked over and my dad, 6 '4", golden glove boxer, was sitting right there. And I thought, you don't scare me at all. So I tried my hardest and lost anyway the tip.
You're safe. Jesus is your powerful Savior. The world and everything else doesn't want you saved. Will you make it to the end? How about the Lord Jesus? I give them eternal life and they will never perish.
And no one will snatch them out of my hand. Why? Because He's powerful. He has authority. You don't have to worry. Satan wants you to go to hell. Satan wants to damn you. Satan wants you to lose your salvation.
Satan's powerful. But he's not almighty. You, dear Christian, are sealed to the day of redemption, Ephesians chapter 1. Jesus is your armor, your shield, your Savior, your protector. And as you read Luke, you think, I am glad He's mine.
And I'm His. I can trust Him. I don't have to be afraid about my life, my health, the country, the future, the church. I'm not going to buy into Satan's lies. God's mad at me because I've sinned. I can sin my way out of the kingdom.
My eyes ought to be off Jesus. No. The first truth is, Jesus has so much power, you can trust Him now and for your eternal salvation. And before I talk about the second one, I do want to have some clarification questions on demons.
Because I think it's important. Let me give you some clarification questions. I have several. Number one, do demons exist today? Do demons exist today? The answer is, yes. Demons exist today. But it's interesting.
Spurgeon said, the best evidence of God's presence is the devil's growl. If you look at the Bible and try to figure out when demon activity was the highest, when it spiked, when there was the most demon activity, when do you think that demon activity would be?
Around the time of Jesus. You can look in the Old Testament and you'll hardly find any demonic activity. You'll find Ahab's prophets and Saul. That's it. You go to the New Testament, outside Jesus and the Gospels, you can look at Acts and you'll think about the sons of Sceva that we just talked about.
You'll think about the Philippian servant girl. And outside of that, no demon talk. And even there, the demon talk was dealing with the apostles and the apostles only. So you can imagine, when the Son of Man, Jesus, finally arrives on the scene, all hell has opened up to try to stop him from completing his mission.
Demonic activity increases when Jesus, the Incarnate One, is on the earth during Jesus' reign. Question two, where do demons spend most of their time today? You said demons are alive. Demons don't seem to be showing themselves with a bunch of demon possession.
What do they do today? Keep your finger at Luke and let's just turn over to 1 Timothy chapter 4. Where do demons spend most of their time today? Inhabiting people? No. So, what do they do? 1 Timothy chapter 4.
Paul is writing to Timothy, of course. And it says in chapter 4, verse 1 of 1 Timothy, answering the questions, what do demons do today? But the Spirit explicitly says that in latter times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons.
By the way, doctrines of demons is not a lesson on demons. It's what demons teach other people. The subject is not demons. Demons are teaching doctrines of demons. Doctrines that demons teach. And they use men to do it, verse 2, by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron.
These people's consciences are seared, and they know better. They're hypocrites. It's not like they're really good teachers. They know what they're doing, and the demons use them. And what do they use them to teach?
Well, many things, but in Ephesus, where Paul was writing to Timothy, they focus in on a couple demonic teachings. 1 Timothy 4 .3, Men who forbid marriage, and advocate abstaining from foods, which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.
For everything created by God, verse 4, is good, and nothing is to be rejected, if it is to be received with gratitude. What do demons like to teach about today? That marriage isn't everything that God says it is.
That marriage isn't good, and holy, and right. Somehow singleness is better, and marriage is just some kind of made-up thing. We can go on and on when we think about marriage as well. That it's not between a man, and it's not between a woman.
It's between you and anybody that you love, because love is love. Demons want to go, and they want to attack the institution of marriage, because marriage talks about Jesus and the church. Marriage talks about the Savior, and His love for the bride.
Self-sacrificial love. Of course, Satan hates marriage, because he hates Jesus. And so, what do people do today that are demonically influenced? They're denigrating marriage. God made it for good. He made it for good for unbelievers.
He made it good for believers. But also, demons love to attack people that say you can eat anything you want. Food. Abstaining from certain foods. Oh, you'd like to be better in God's eyes? Don't eat that.
You'd like to be having a better standing in God's eyes? Eat that instead. By the way, just take these verses and just put them over every Christian diet book that exists. Would you please? Trying to take us back to the Old Testament.
By the way, if you want to be a vegan, if you want to be keto, if you want to be a keto vegan, you can do whatever you want, I don't care. For your health. But for spiritual things, if I just do this and eat this food, I'm good with God?
This is not how it works, because we walk by faith. And so, where do demons spend their time now? Attacking good things of God. Duh! They attack marriage and they attack food, sanctification. Demons are associated with idolatry, verse 10.
Divisions, James chapter 3, chapter 10 of 1 Corinthians, I said earlier. Question 3, what authority do Christians have over demons today? If you meet somebody who's demon possessed, well, what would you do?
What authority do you have? My question is, do you have the same authority that Jesus has? My question is, do you have the same power that the apostles have? Bad Bible interpretation leads to bad theology.
Where in the Bible does it help pastors, elders, leaders, the congregation, know how to cast out demons? Where would we go? Right? The Bible contains everything pertaining to life and godliness. Sufficient for everything for the man of God.
Everything we need to know is here. Don't you think it's interesting that there's no formula, no commands, no institution for pastors to know how to cast out demons? It's not in 1 Timothy, a pastoral epistle on instructing pastors.
It's not in 2 Timothy. It's not in Titus. It's not found anywhere. So, when people cast out demons, they're just making it up. When they exercise demons, they're making it up. One account says, after calling each demon or group of demons, take a deep breath and blow out your mouth.
Demons come out through tears, air passages like your mouth, through coughing, yawning, mucus, nose running, are no visible signs at all. No one knows all the answers, but when you blow out, it helps dislodge demons.
They're just making it up. Origin said, cast out demons by naming Jesus and naming the martyrs. The Roman Catholic rite of exorcism, they are the most popular exorcists these days. One account says, the possessed should hold the crucifix in his hands and have it in front of him.
Whenever available, the relics of the saints can be placed on his chest or on his head. The Holy Eucharist should not be placed on the head or anywhere on the body of the possessed. There's a danger that it will be treated irreverently.
The exorcist should perform and read the exorcism with command, authority, great faith, humility, and fervor. Whenever he sees part of the possessed person's body moving or pierced or some swelling appearing, let him make the sign of the cross and sprinkle holy water.
You are to say, unclean spirit, whoever you are and all your companions who possess this servant of God, by the mysteries of the incarnation, the sufferings and death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, I command you, tell me your name, the day and the hour of your damnation.
Obey me in everything. Do no damage to this creature. And the list goes on. It's all made up. It's all made up. There's not one thing in the Bible that says, this is how we should get demons out. I know what you're thinking.
So what should we do? Run? If you ever meet a demon-possessed person, I have good news. Why don't you preach the gospel to them? Because once the demons go out of them, or excuse me, let me rephrase that.
Once the spirit of God goes in them, the demons go out. It's very, very simple. Christians are called the temple of the living God. You are from God, 1 John 4, little children who have overcome them, because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit? You've been bought with a price, therefore glorify God with your body. I know what you're asking. Why is this even an issue? Why do people somehow want to talk about demons a lot?
Maybe not in our circles, but in other evangelical circles. And the answer is simple. Because instead of us saying, we sin because we sin, we sin because we just decided to disobey God, we sin and we're going to blame our own sin, it's a lot easier to blame the demon of lust, the demon of porn, the demon of possession, the demon of disobedience, the demon of, you name it, as our old pastor used to say, the demon of post-nasal drip.
One writer said, who was into all this deliverance ministry and bondage-breaking stuff, anything bad which you cannot stop doing, or anything good which you cannot make yourself do, could be an area of demonic control.
When it comes to deliverance ministries, you ought to just disregard them. You ought to say to yourself, Galatians chapter 5, the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envy and drunkenness, carousing, and things like these.
Of which I forewarn you, just as I forewarn you, that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. You're a Christian. You don't sin. I don't sin because I've got a demon and I'll blame the demon.
The text is so clear, even in Proverbs chapter 28 verse 13. If you confess your sin and forsake them, you get mercy. And if you blame the demon, there's no mercy. So why don't you just say, as Elder Pradeep said today, we just agree with you God what we did.
The text says in 1 Peter 5, resist Satan firm in your faith. God wants you to know the power of Jesus so you can have hope for now and in the future. Back to chapter 4 of Luke. And I just will introduce the thought and then we'll land the plane.
Luke chapter 4. Two truths we said today that we wanted to work through in this section. Luke wants you to know the power of Jesus so that you have hope now and in the future. And now secondly, Luke wants you to know the deity of Jesus so you're not out-believed by a demon.
What in the world? Out-believed by a demon? Yes, don't be. Look at what the demon said. You're Jesus of Nazareth? Come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. This is a warning. There could be some people today here in this congregation who don't even believe as much as demons do.
Every true Christian is trusting in the finished work of Jesus. They know Jesus' race for their justification. They're hoping in the soon return of Jesus. If you're a real Christian, you don't have demon faith.
That's by the grace of God. But if you're not a Christian, can you believe demons might believe more than you do? They might know more than you do? That should make you think, something's wrong. I need to repent.
So I ask the question, why aren't you believing then? I've just shown you much about the Lord Jesus and how He loves sinners, how He has power over Satan. Are you not believing because you're ignorant?
I don't think you're ignorant any longer. Is it because rebellion against God and you don't want to have a master over you or a Lord? Is it because you don't want to give up some kind of certain sin of living with your boyfriend or girlfriend or whatever it might be?
Are you not believing because you're afraid of what your friends might think and your Jewish father might think and your Roman Catholic family might think? Don't be out-believed by a demon. The demons believe.
James, Jesus' half-brother said, you believe that God is one, you do well. Even the demons believe and tremble. James says, you believe God's one, you believe in the unity of God, you believe that there's one God, you do well.
Really, I'm very impressed, James says. Because demons even believe, and they do something more than most unbelievers do, they shudder. And shudder is an emotional word. When demons... You could tell, right, what was going on in Luke chapter 4.
Demons hear something about Jesus. It's not just, yeah, I know, it's true. But there's a visceral reaction. They're shuddering. They're afraid. And so, what are the things that Luke is trying to do? On purpose.
You know those people in Nazareth? They didn't believe. Last section. Demons? They believe. They're one up on the people of Nazareth. They won't believe in Nazareth, but the demons believe. The demons believe.
I'm sure the demons could believe our statement of faith. I'm sure demons know that God exists. God's monotheistic. They're creedally orthodox. And they shudder. Sadly, many people are deceived. Some even go to church.
It's not enough to intellectually believe. It's not enough to just give a scent. It's not enough to just have an emotional experience. You need to trust the Lord. You need to believe in Him. You need to rest in Him.
What do you have to do with us, Son of God? Have you come to torment us before the time? Matthew 8. Martin Luther said the life of Christianity consists in possessive pronouns. It's one thing to say Jesus is Savior.
It's quite another to say He's my Savior. He's my Lord. The devil can say the first, but only Christians can say the second. Aren't you glad by the grace of God, God has allowed you to say, Jesus is my Savior.
I trust Him with my eternal life. I trust Him with my soul. That's the Christian's heart cry. And we know He has power to keep us to the end. And for the unbeliever, the response today is, or the challenge is, don't be out-believed by a demon.
Don't fool yourself. Eternity is a long time. And Jesus is a mighty Savior. Why don't you call out to Him, and say something simple. God, will you have mercy on me? I know I'm a sinner. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word today.
It's scary to think about. Not just demons, but eternal life. Without Jesus, a friend and advocate. So I pray for all of us today. For Christians, I pray, that we would trust you more. Increase our faith, Lord.
We think of things that are so powerful in this world, but nothing in the world is as powerful as a demon. And you're more powerful than demons. So help us to rest in you. It's resting in you, and not what we do.
And Father, for those that are here today, that might not be Christians, I pray that your spirit would help them say, Jesus is powerful. Jesus is the only Lord. Jesus is the only judge. But Jesus is a Savior.
And I'd hate to be out-believed by a demon. Lord, grant me saving faith. Forgive me, in Jesus' name we pray.