Hell Shall Not Prevail

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Sermon by Bart Hodgson from Mark 1:21-28.

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My name is Bart Hodgson, and I am a guest preacher here this morning from Grace Covenant Reformed Baptist Church, which will be launching in two weeks, and so just recently
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I was unmade an elder here, so that's why I am a guest preacher today.
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We're actually, today is Sanctity of Life Sunday, so it's fitting that we would have a baby dedication together, it's fitting that we would begin to collect money for an organization that takes care of women who are in crisis and gives them an option for life, so we're starting that today.
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My passage today is a little bit peculiar for such a
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Sunday, as we focus on exorcism and demons. Now Votie Bauckham says that children are vipers and diapers, and I'm going to refrain from drawing similarities, although some of you parents may agree with that statement.
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I'm going to refrain from drawing the similarities and focus rather on the conflict, and what
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I mean by conflict is what Psalm 8 talks about. As we go to David's words in Psalm 8, he says,
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Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth. You've set your glory above the heavens.
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Out of the mouths of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes to still the enemy and the avenger.
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David is writing here about the cry of infants that give praise to the only one who can give life,
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God himself, and the demons hate the cries of infants.
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Last year, 2024, the leading cause of death globally was abortion, with 45 million deaths.
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The number one way to die on earth is to be an unwanted baby in utero.
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That makes the womb the most dangerous place to be on earth, more dangerous than the wars in Ukraine, in Gaza, or Syria.
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It's more dangerous than a COVID ward or ground zero of any natural disaster.
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Babies are being slaughtered, and demons rejoice to silence the sound of life.
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It's the sound that a new human makes when they enter in to God's creation.
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And in our world, I wish that Sanctity of Life Sunday was something that the world could celebrate.
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It's certainly something that we celebrate together this morning, seeing that life is given by God, and therefore is sacred, and yet I feel that together we stand and we defend the sanctity of life on a day like today.
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We live in a world where the battle line is very discernible. It's very easily seen.
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There is a kingdom of darkness and death that has been invaded by a returning kingdom of light and life.
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The temptation in the wilderness that we studied last week, when I kind of take a step back and look at it, it reminds me, it enters my mind.
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I have this picture of two kingdoms facing off over a wide, empty battlefield, and the two kings leave their armies and they come to the center of this field of battle.
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It's a vacant place, it's lonely, and they meet together to parley, to see if one of them will concede.
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And I believe that the devil left that battlefield knowing Jesus is not going to step down.
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He's not going to back off, so I'm going to have to kill him. And this week, as we look at Mark chapter 1, and Jesus begins
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His public ministry, we see Jesus encountering the forces of evil.
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The title of my sermon today is, You Shall Not Prevail. And that's taken from Matthew 16, 18, where Jesus says to Peter, He says,
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I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church. The rock that He's talking about is
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Peter's confession that you are the Christ, Son of the living God.
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And on that, He says, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
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Interestingly, we'll read that same account in Mark chapter 8, verse 29.
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And if this is Peter's account, Peter is telling the story, and Mark is just simply writing it down.
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It's curious that Peter doesn't include this phrase from Jesus. He just talks about His confession.
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But today, like I said, we're going to see the kingdom of darkness engage Jesus. And it's easy for me to imagine a similar moment in the
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Lord of the Rings, right, where Gandalf stands on the bridge and the Balrog is there with his fiery sword and fiery whip, and Gandalf says,
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You shall not pass, right? And in this story today, we see
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Jesus stand against the forces of darkness. The very gates of hell are opened, and Jesus doesn't even flinch.
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In fact, let's go to Mark 1, verse 21, and read through verse 28 together.
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It says this, And they went into Capernaum, and immediately, notice that word, immediately, right?
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Mark uses this word 42 times, three times in our passage this morning. Immediately, on the
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Sabbath, He entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one who had authority and not as the scribes.
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And immediately, there it is again, there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out,
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What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? I know who you are.
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The Holy One, oh, wait, I'm sorry. Have you come to destroy us? I can't leave that out. I know who you are, the
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Holy One of God. But Jesus rebuked him, saying, Be silent and come out of him.
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And the unclean spirit convulsed him, and crying out with a loud voice came out of him.
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And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this?
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A new teaching with authority? He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him. And at once, or immediately there, same word, immediately,
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His fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.
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We have this same story in Luke chapter 4, verses 31 through 36, and there are some, it's very, very close to what we have in Mark, with some differences.
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Main ones I wanted to point out were Luke calls this a demon, straight out. He uses the
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Greek word, diamonu. And then the other thing that I wanted to point out is when the demon speaks, he says, ha, or ho, or ah, or whoa.
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And it's supposed to imply surprise, or fear, or indignation. So I really like that, so I wanted to point that out.
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Here's what I'm gonna do this morning. What I wanna do is I wanna point out the things that we should take notice of in this story.
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And then what I wanna do is I wanna try and reframe that whole story, given those things. So I'm gonna give you nine things this morning that we should know about this story from the book of Mark.
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The first one is that this is the first public miracle that Jesus performs. Now, in my memory, it seems like the wedding feast of Cana came first, when
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Jesus changed the water into wine. But that miracle was maybe too private for Mark.
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So I think he goes to this one first, because only the servants knew that Jesus, and Jesus' mother, only knew that Jesus was the one who changed the water into wine.
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But here, Jesus performs a miracle in front of everybody. Everybody gets to see this.
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Second thing, these verses, verses 21 through 39, constitute a 24 -hour period in Capernaum.
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So Jesus is spending some time in Capernaum, a day, and he is seen in Capernaum doing an exorcism, healing people, which we'll see that next week, and proclaiming his message, that the kingdom of God is at hand.
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Repent and believe the gospel. Now, the effect of Jesus' ministry here in Capernaum is that he is going to begin reversing the curse of sin, and he is gonna begin to destroy the kingdom of darkness.
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The third thing I want us to look at is, well, the next three will kind of focus on the demonic.
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The third thing to notice is that the person who opposes the one speaking is his exact opposite, and he reveals himself as a sin -dominated man, but he's encountering the sinless man, and it is the demon that engages
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Jesus. Jesus doesn't engage the demon, but what he does is he demonstrates his own rules of engagement.
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He shows no quarter. He says, be silent to this demon, which in the Greek means be muzzled.
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It's passive. Something is gonna shut you down. Be shut down, right?
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And then come forth. That is the active call of this demon, is to come out of the man, and the response is that the unclean spirit causes the man to convulse, cry out in a loud voice, and come out of him.
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Very dramatic, if we were there, to watch this happen. The fourth thing to notice is that Jesus doesn't demonstrate a technique for us of exercising demons.
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In Mark 5, 9, we'll see him do it again, and in that encounter, he will actually ask the name of the demon.
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But Jesus doesn't use the name of the demon in that exorcism process. So that's not a thing that we should look to and say, well, this is how we exercise demons.
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We get to know their names. Nor is there any incantation. There's no ritual.
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There are no props. He doesn't have a cross. He doesn't have holy water. He doesn't even have a Bible in his hand.
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Rather, Jesus commands the demon with divine authority, and he comes out immediately.
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It is plausible, it's more than plausible, to suppose that no one witnessing this event has ever seen an exorcism like this before, or even heard of one like this.
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Also notice that Jesus does not require faith of the man, like he does in other miracles.
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The man at Siloam, he asked him if he believes. Here, Jesus just casts out the demon.
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Fifth thing to notice, the demon believes. The demon makes an orthodox confession of who
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Jesus is. He says, you are the holy one of God. And Jesus immediately shuts him down.
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He immediately silenced the demon's true confession of who he is. And it makes me wonder, is
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Jesus trying to keep this truth on the down low? Why is this a secret that he's trying to keep?
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Perhaps, as we've discussed before or alluded to, Jesus is waiting till his chosen moment to reveal who he is.
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So we must watch as we read through the book of Mark and take note if this changes, if Jesus actually changes and starts to declare who he is.
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But right here, he's shutting down the demon. Sixth thing, we should look at the word authority.
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The people say that Jesus spoke with authority or he taught with authority. This word is exousia in the
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Greek, and it means mastery. It means possessing and exercising strength and ability.
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And that's what they heard in Jesus' teaching. They were experiencing the power of the
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Scriptures coming from the author of Scripture. Okay? Now, I asked Bill to bring us one of his giant swords this morning, and he didn't bring it.
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So I don't have a prop here this morning, but I was gonna wave it around wildly up here, and it would have been very entertaining for all of you, including our children.
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But Jesus speaks with an authority that no one else can. He speaks with an authority that Josh cannot speak with, that I cannot speak with, that no preacher or pastor can speak with.
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Jesus preaches with the power of the Spirit here, and this is what the
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Scripture's called the sword of the Spirit. That's why I was gonna bring a sword up here for you to see it.
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And Jesus wields it like it's an extension of himself, because it was. It came forth from him.
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It originates in him. Even Revelation speaks of it, as John sees a vision of Jesus, and it comes out of his mouth like a sword.
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Now, if I were to wield a sword up here and wave it around, I would do so at great peril to myself.
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Even if it was probably not sharpened, I could probably hurt myself. And you would look at me and say,
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Bart, you're acting foolishly. Put that thing down before you hurt yourself. And there is a great weight of responsibility in coming and opening the
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Scriptures. I'm not saying that there's not, but these people heard an explanation of the
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Scriptures that I doubt anyone else has ever heard. The next word
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I want to look at is the word explessa. Explessa is a
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Greek word that means astonished. It's used as astonished and amazed. They heard his teaching and they were astonished.
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I don't like the word astonished or amazed, because it only shows half of what that word actually means.
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If you break that word into its parts, ex means from or out of, and plessa means to be struck, to be knocked out.
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So it does make sense that your senses are rattled.
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You're astonished, you're dumbfounded. That may be a better word there. But equally true is the word disturbed, is to hear it and to be disturbed by what he's talking about.
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Number eight is to notice the reaction that the people give.
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They are perplexed by the power of Jesus' teaching, yet they don't express their thoughts, they don't bring it up and verbalize it until Jesus demonstrates his authority over this person who is possessed by an unclean spirit.
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They vocalize their question and when they finally do, they say, what is this? Is this a new teaching with authority?
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And this actually, it makes sense when you understand that their culture had a rabbinic tradition with two very strong schools of thought.
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There was Bayit Hillel, Bayit meaning house, Hillel being the rabbi.
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Bayit Hillel was noted for its mercy and tolerance. It had a missionary zeal to reach the
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Gentiles and it was less stringent in its view of the law. That's how they interpreted the scriptures.
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But then on the opposite side was Bayit Shammai who interpreted the scriptures with harshness and had intolerance and bitterness towards the
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Gentiles. So which house is this teaching coming from?
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Or is this a completely new teaching? They had never heard of this before. The one speaking,
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Jesus that they're hearing, speaks not as the scribes speak. In 1
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Corinthians 4 .20 it says, for the kingdom of God does not consist in talk but in power.
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And they're experiencing the one who's bringing the kingdom of God. Their talk, the scribes' talk was probably cold, dead, having no power from the spirit.
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Could not inspire the hearts of men to have reverence for God. It was probably filled with lots of corruption.
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And what I mean by corruption, I mean man's understanding, a lot of opinions about what people thought that it might mean.
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But my question is, is why don't the people respond to the demon's proclamation, right?
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They seem to ignore what he said. They're not asking who, they're asking what.
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What is this teaching? Instead of who is this man who is teaching?
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I wonder why the people don't, at that moment when the demon speaks, have a revelation.
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Why they don't bow down and worship this one who's speaking, this holy one of God.
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And that's Mark's intent here, is for the people who are reading this and we are, to ask the question, who is this man?
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Who is Jesus? The last thing to notice is the result.
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News spread immediately and everywhere. The Greek word for news is ekos, where we get the word echo, echo, echo, echo, echo.
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And that's expressing how our voice bounces back and forth as it's reflected, right?
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And that's the meaning of how the news of Jesus is spreading in those days.
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It's just going out and going out and going out. Okay. So given those nine things, what was it like to be in the synagogue that day?
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What was it, and sometimes I love to do this, is put yourself into the story.
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What was it like? What was it like for you, if you lived in Capernaum, to get up on that Sunday morning, to go to the synagogue, to find your familiar seat there, as it's announced that they're gonna have a guest speaker who will bring a teaching from the
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Torah? And the name, you've heard it before, it's Jesus. And you've heard that that name was associated with the baptizer.
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Heard that the baptizer actually said that he was someone special. And after reciting the
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Shema with the congregation, you see him rise, bringing with him the Torah scroll.
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He unrolls it to the day's reading of the Parashah. And you're familiar with the text that he's reading.
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But as he provides an explanation of what he's reading, it's like something punches you in the gut, and you feel dumbfounded.
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Yeah, you're astonished, you're amazed, but you're struck, you're stunned. Like your whole understanding of Judaism and being raised in a
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Jewish family has just been utterly shattered. It's the punches that you don't see coming that hit the hardest.
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This is all that you've ever known. And this man has just unraveled your whole religious understanding.
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And more than that, more than that, there seems to be a conviction and a calling that seems to confront you.
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What are you supposed to do with this man? What are you supposed to do with what he's saying? Is he some kind of new rabbi?
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He seems so different from the two prevailing schools, the two prevailing houses.
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Is this a new teaching? All you know is that this man teaches in a way that has weight.
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It's not just opinions. It seems like this man has answers, and he is as confident as an author, as if he had penned the very words himself.
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And then it happened. A man stood. You'd seen him there in the synagogue often.
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He seemed to be to you someone of importance, but something's off about him today.
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Something's weird about this man. He's trembling, like a man standing before a judge awaiting his sentencing.
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He's whispering to himself. He thought he was going to ask a question of the teacher, but instead he makes a statement.
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What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come here to destroy us?
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I know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. There's something in his voice as he speaks that brings a chill to you.
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And immediately, Jesus, looking straight at the man, commands him, be muzzled. Come out of him.
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And this man screams, and he throws himself to the ground, convulsing violently. What is happening?
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You've never seen a real exorcism, but exorcism seems like the only word that you can use to describe what you're witnessing.
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Was this man really possessed? Was he controlled by the devil? But Jesus doesn't use an incantation.
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He didn't call forth his name. He has no ritual. He doesn't use a prop. He simply commands the demon, and it obeys.
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This was not how you understood exorcisms were supposed to happen.
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From what you heard, it was more of a struggle, rarely successful. And if you were ever to try to attempt something like this, you would need to have a lot of special training and rituals and incantations to banish such an evil spirit.
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But again, you're dumbfounded. You are astonished. You're amazed. You're struck. You're stunned.
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What you had just witnessed, how are you ever going to explain it? And as the service abruptly ends, awkwardly ends, more than anything, you can't wait to tell someone.
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And you stand there stunned for just a second before you find yourself bolting for the door, spilling out into the street, looking for someone who will listen to you describe something that you experienced, something that you can barely believe yourself.
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That was a weird church service. Now, what do we do with a story like this?
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What are we supposed to draw from this? One of the first questions that I always encounter when we get to a story like this in the
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Gospels where Jesus is driving on a demon is people ask the question, well, can I be possessed by a demon?
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That's a good question because we see a man here who is possessed by a demon. But I'll have
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Christians who come and ask me and say, well, can a demon possess a Christian?
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And I'd like to answer that question by going to the Scriptures, first of all. Isaiah 41, 13, for I, the
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Lord, your God, hold your right hand. It is I who say to you, fear not, for I am the one who helps you.
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Or Isaiah 49, 16, behold, I have engraved you on the palm of my hand. Your walls are continually before me.
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Or if we look at John 10, 28 through 29, I think Jesus actually takes that verse from Isaiah and helps us to understand.
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He says, I give them eternal life and they will never perish. He's talking about believers. And no one will snatch them out of my hand.
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My Father who has given them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the
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Father's hand. There seems to be security there. Jesus, at the end of His ministry, prays for Christians in John 17, in verse 13,
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He says, but now I am coming to you, talking to the Father, and these things I speak in the world that they, the people who are
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His, may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.
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I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
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They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth.
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Your word is truth, as you have sent me into the world, so I send them into the world.
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Or we could look at Romans 8, 31, and hear Paul say, what shall separate us?
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What shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? What shall separate us from the love of God?
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And he lists a bunch of things there, and he gets to angels and demons, and he says, no, in all these things we are more than conquerors.
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Or if we look, we could look at Colossians 1, 13 and 14. It says, he has delivered us out of the domain of darkness and transferred us into a kingdom of his beloved
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Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sin. One last verse,
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Matthew 12. Jesus tells a story about an unclean spirit going out of a man.
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It seeks rest in the wilderness, and finding none, it returns home, returns back to the person, and it finds the host, which he calls a house, empty.
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But the child of God is not empty. The spirit has come to reside within him.
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I think Spurgeon sums it up well when he says, whenever Christ comes in, the devil knows he must go out.
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The reason that the Son of Man appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.
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That's 1 John 3, 8. So this story shows us that Jesus isn't interested in sharing a space with a demon.
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He casts him out. The reality of this situation, again, this is Spurgeon, is that nothing in the church service had the power and authority to drive out the demon except the command of Jesus.
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I believe the Scriptures are clear. If you belong to Christ, if you are His, the
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Holy Spirit dwells within you. Romans 8, 9 says, anyone who does not have the
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Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him, does not belong to Christ. So that spirit indwells the believer.
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That's what we've heard from these verses. We also have heard that Jesus prays to the Father to protect you from the evil one and that God holds you in the palm of His hand.
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For that reason, I believe an unclean spirit cannot dwell in a redeemed,
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Spirit -filled child of God. However, however, from this story, we do see it as possible for a demonic spirit to dwell in places of worship.
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Notice, it says, the unclean spirit was in the midst of their religious service. The man was in the synagogue on the
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Sabbath. Again, Spurgeon, who I'm drawing from quite a bit this morning, says, the worst man of all is the one who can attend the means of grace and yet remain under the full power of evil.
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This unregenerate man, this man untouched by the gospel, this man had found a home in their worship service and he confronts the authoritative preaching of God's Word.
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Notice, again, Jesus doesn't confront him. He just preaches the
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Word of God. And the demon confronts that proclamation.
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Why? Because the demon hates what he's saying. He wishes to destroy, wishes to stop that teaching, the authority that Jesus has.
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Now, our error this morning would be to camp out right here and talk only about the demon in this story rather than the
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Holy One of God. And I'm sure that demons would enjoy us talking about them at length and ad nauseum this morning.
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The focus, actually, of this passage is not the demon, it is actually the authority and the power of Jesus. And what
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I want you to see here this morning is that Jesus here is the
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King who has arrived. And He is not meek and mild here.
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He is not gentle and lowly. He is not the Jesus that is often pictured in the front of Bibles holding a lamb, soft and passive.
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What we're seeing in this passage is an undefeatable, conquering King. In Mark 1,
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Jesus looks like the God of the Old Testament. And when I say that, I think about Isaiah 42, 13, where it says, "...the
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Lord will go forth like a warrior. He will arouse His zeal like a man of war.
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He will utter a shout, yes, He will raise a war cry.
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He will prevail against His enemies. He will prevail against His enemies."
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Man, I want a Bible that has that on the front cover, a picture of that kind of Jesus.
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Yes, Jesus is gentle towards us. Yes, Jesus is mild.
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Yes, He is full of grace and mercy and He condescends to sinners. Yet, towards His enemies, towards the works of the devil,
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He's absolutely terrifying. His kingdom,
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He says His kingdom is at hand. It is right here, right now. And this is the beginning of the end.
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What I mean by that is that this has eschatological implications, meaning that it speaks to our eschatology.
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And eschatology is a fancy word that means the study or understanding of end times events.
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And so when I say this is the beginning of the end, we begin to understand the end by looking at the power and authority of Jesus right here.
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I wonder if the demons had that understanding. This is the beginning of the end.
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It's all going downhill for us from this point. But what does that mean for us here and now?
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What does that kingdom being at hand mean for us here and now? Because here's what I know.
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One, we are not yet glorified. And sin and the flesh and the devil are still around and they relentlessly accuse and tempt me to indulge my flesh, to indulge those desires.
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Here's what I know. Two, it says in the Scriptures that the final one to be defeated is death.
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And death is still a part of my reality. At the same time, number three is true.
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Jesus says His kingdom will grow like a mustard seed, small at first, but growing to dwarf all other plants.
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This is the kingdom described in Daniel chapter two. Now King Nebuchadnezzar has this dream.
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He has a dream of this tall statue that is made of gold and silver and bronze and iron and clay.
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And then this rock is plucked from a mountain and it rolls down and destroys that statue.
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And he has to seek out Daniel to ask what it means. What does this mean? And in verse four, it says, and in the days of those kings, the
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God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people.
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It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end. And it shall stand forever.
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Just as you saw a stone that was cut out of a mountain by no human hand, and that it broke into pieces, the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold, a great
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God has made known to the king what shall be after this. The dream is certain and its interpretation is sure.
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Now Jesus talks about a stone as well, and we'll see this in Mark chapter 12.
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When we get there, Jesus will say the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
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This was the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in our eyes. So these two things, a stone cut from a mountain by no human hand, a stone that is the
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Lord's doing, marvelous in our eyes. You think these two things are the same thing?
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You think it's talking about the kingdom and Jesus being the king who is coming to bring this kingdom that will never be defeated.
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Now that should change the way we think. If we really truly understand this, we should think differently.
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As we are here in Springdale, Arkansas, 2025, do we understand that Christ has come to destroy the works of the devil and that his kingdom is growing, it is expanding and it shall never be destroyed.
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It will stand forever. Is that what we believe? Let me make it a little bit more personal.
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Ask yourself, what kind of Jesus are you believing in? I mean, this is very simple and yet it is very profound and it has huge implications.
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What kind of Jesus are you believing in? Now, I'm not asking what
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Jesus you ascribe to. I mean, everyone in here is going to confess that Jesus is powerful, but my question is, do you believe it?
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Do you believe that Jesus who drives out demons can change you? Do you believe that he can destroy the works of the devil in your life?
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Do you believe that he can drive out your addictions? I'm talking about pornography, anger, unforgiveness, selfishness, greed, lack of patience for your children, parents, anyone, your fears, your anxieties, your complaining, your hate.
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Can the King who redeems and restores, is he able to heal your marriage?
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Is he able to heal your broken relationships? Is this Jesus able to heal your mind?
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These are questions that people struggle with. We're familiar with this verse.
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It's a great verse, and I'm sure of this. It's Paul speaking that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.
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That's Philippians 1 .9. Who is Paul talking to in that context?
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Well, you'd say, well, it's the Philippian church, okay? Are they unbelievers or are they believers?
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Are these people who are just learning the gospel, who are awaiting salvation, they have not yet entered into salvation, are these people who have already been saved through the gospel?
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I believe he's speaking to believers. I believe that he's saying that if they have received grace and that the good work that God is doing is their perfection, it is their sanctification.
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And Paul says that he knows that God is going to complete it on the day of Christ Jesus. That seems like, to me, that he's going to be doing this work in me and it's going to finish.
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Maybe he's going to do a whole lot of work right at the end. Could be, except for Hebrews 10 .14
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says, it says, for by one sacrifice he, Jesus, has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
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You are being made holy. You've been perfected and now you're being made holy. This is a process that's happening.
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In 1 Thessalonians 4 .3, it says that the will of God is your sanctification.
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The will of God is that you would change. God's desire,
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His burning desire is that His children would be changed, that we would be perfected.
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So my question for you is, how are you doing with that?
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How's your sanctification going? How's that change happening in your life? Are you frustrated?
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I talked to a lot of people who are really frustrated. And I believe that many
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Christians are so frustrated because they're trying in their own strength to battle the flesh.
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And I wonder, is that what you're doing? Have you come to a place where you're just making peace with the darkness of sin in your flesh?
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Just saying things like, well, I guess that's just how I am. I guess that's just what
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I'm going to have to live with. Have you surrendered the battle? Are you filled with shame and guilt because, gosh, you just should know better, right?
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And if that's your story, if I'm saying things that you've thought before, this story that we've read today says that isn't true.
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It paints a picture of a kingdom that vanquishes the darkness in a man. And if Jesus can command a demon to come out of someone who doesn't believe, what can
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He do in the life of someone who does believe? Is He going to struggle to help you with your problem?
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I don't think so. This passage shows us the one who can transfer us out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of His marvelous light.
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And if He's done that, that changes a lot for you. But if we think that Jesus doesn't work, and I think a lot of people get there, or He doesn't seem to work for you, then you won't pray because what's the point?
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You won't cry out to Him over and over again, day after day, until He answers because He's not that kind of God.
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You don't believe in that kind of God or that kind of Jesus. What we'll do is we'll just learn how to manage our sin so that nobody knows about it.
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Give up on the hope of a kingdom that can change us or have faith in a kingdom that actually matters.
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And if that's you today, believe in the
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King. Look at this story and believe in that kind of Jesus. In Jeremiah 20, 11, it says, "...but
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the Lord is with me like a dread champion. Therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.
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They will be utterly ashamed because they have failed. With an everlasting disgrace, they will be forgotten."
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Okay, that's not talking about you. That's talking about God's enemies.
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But if you're feeling ashamed, if you're feeling like you've failed, you have to realize the error that we try and do this in our own power.
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We struggle to be perfect rather than joining Christ in His perfecting work in us. Now, I'm not saying that there's nothing for you to do as you work out your salvation with fear and trembling, but it is
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God who works in you both to will and to work for His good pleasure. What I'm saying this morning, and you need to hear me say this, is that self -righteousness, trying to be good on your own merit, is the wrong but natural response to our sin.
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The wrong but natural response is to do better. The wrong but natural response is to fix yourself.
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But that kind of Christianity is no different from being a Jehovah's Witness, or being a works -based
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Catholic, or even being a Mormon. It's just another religion.
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The religious works like those are easy to understand.
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That's why we gravitate to them. Okay? We understand religious works.
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If I do good, then I should get good things. If I do bad, then I get bad things, right?
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And here's my fear as a pastor. Here's my fear as someone who teaches the Word of God, is that I accidentally or inadvertently might actually be teaching you that.
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That is called asceticism. That is called harsh treatment of the body, or rules -keeping.
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Colossians 2 talks about that, and it says that that is not according to Christ. That type of teaching is not according to Christ.
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It has an appearance of wisdom. People may say, hey, good sermon, but it has no value in stopping the indulgence of the flesh.
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Do you hear me say that? It has no value. It is worthless to help you fight sin in your life.
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It's so easy to teach people how to be Pharisees, right? And look, I am not being antinomian here.
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I am not throwing out the law. The law will be accomplished in us through Christ, okay?
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What I'm struggling with recently is the realization of how difficult and how hard it is to teach the power of Christ and His grace, because it's so foreign to our understanding.
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It doesn't make sense. You should be asking the question, how do
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I do that? Paul says in Colossians 2, he says, hold fast to the head.
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Hold fast to Jesus. Hold fast to this conquering King, because He is powerful. He has authority.
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So again, have you failed to look to Jesus because you're looking to yourself to accomplish righteousness?
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Have you failed to look to heaven because you're looking to the world for wisdom? Jesus is not weak.
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He is not unable to help or deliver you, which means that we are the problem, which means
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I am the problem. He's fine. He's not flinching.
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He commands it and it goes. It's me. I don't know how to trust
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Him. I don't know how to lean on Him. I don't know how to not go back into trusting in my own power.
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Look, again, this is simple, and yet it changes everything.
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If you actually believe in this Jesus, it will change your life.
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And if I've been describing you this morning, and you're asking that question, how do
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I do this? How do I even do this? I invite you to be discipled.
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Every man, every woman in this place needs to have a discipleship relationship with someone, with another believer to help them to grow in godliness, so somebody who's a little bit further down the road who can say, hey, you know what?
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I know what you're struggling with. I've been there, and let me help you step through that. Let me help you not to go back to just trying to power through this.
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Instead, let me help you understand the power that's available to you. And if that's you, which, like I said, every man and woman, that's everyone here, everyone needs to talk to me today.
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Everyone needs to commit to meeting with someone. It may be
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Josh. It may be me. But there are a lot of other men and women in this room right now who can walk with you.
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They can connect. We can connect you to them so that you can grow, so that someone can show you the way to walk with your
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Savior and find victory and healing in your life. Is it easy?
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No. But there's a right way to do it. So I'll get back to my first question.
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What do you believe about Jesus? Is He the God who is mighty to save in your life?
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Do you actually believe that? The answer is a simple yes or no. This passage here, it challenges every one of us, challenges me.
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What do we believe about Jesus? If you've never believed in Jesus and you're here this morning, man, here
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He is. I urge you to trust in Him. I urge you to read the rest of the book of Mark and find out more about this man, this who is
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God, who can redeem you, who is the only one who can satisfy what your heart is really looking for.