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Evening Fellowship Service
All right, good evening.
Well, this is a wonderful night to be out, isn't it?
I'm glad you braved the elements and came out.
We were just about to leave,.
And all of a sudden the power went out, then it came back on, and then it went out, then it came back on.
So we were playing Russian roulette with the electricity, and I said, well, we better hurry up and get over to the church, because
if it goes out here, then somebody needs to tell you all to go home.
But, so, the lights are on, so here we are, glad to be in the house of the Lord tonight.
We have a candlelight service, Jim says, yes, yes, okay.
Let's turn to number 112 in our hymnals to start tonight.
God leads us along, sometimes in shady green pastures,
sometimes, sometimes in the valley in the darkest of night.
Let's stand together as we sing, shall we?
In
shady green pastures so rich and so sweet God leads
his dear children along Where the water's cool flow
pays the weary one's feet God leads his dear children,
some through the water, Some through the flood, some
through the fire, All through the blood, some through great
sorrow, But God gives a song in the night season, And all
the day long, sometimes on a mount, Where the sun
shines so bright, God leads his dear children along,
sometimes in a valley, God leads
his dear children, some through the
water, Some through the flood, some through the fire, But all
through the blood, some through great sorrow, But God gives a
song in the night season, And all the day
long, though sorrows befall us,
God leads his dear children
along, through grace we can conquer, Defeat all
our foes, God leads his dear children
along, Through the water, some
through the flood, Some through the fire, but all
through, Some through great sorrow, but God gives
a song, All the day long.
♪ Let's open in prayer, shall we?
Jim, please lead us in prayer.
Amen, thank you.
Be seated, and if you would, turn to the 29th Psalm tonight,
Psalm 29.
You wanna read the Psalm together, and tonight's message is gonna be from Mark
4 and 5, and focusing on the authority of Jesus, and his authority as king
over several different realms.
And this Psalm is praising God for his majesty, for his strength, for
his power, for his authority.
And we'll see some of those areas where he expresses that power, that authority, by way of
his voice in this Psalm.
So we'll read it together, and then sing from that red song book, the Psalter.
So Psalm 29.
Give unto the Lord, you mighty ones.
Give unto the Lord glory and strength.
Give unto the Lord the glory due his name.
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.
The voice of the Lord is over the waters.
The God of glory thunders.
The Lord is over many waters.
The voice of the Lord is powerful.
The voice of the Lord is full of majesty.
The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars.
Yes, the Lord splinters the cedars of Lebanon.
He makes them also skip like a calf.
Lebanon and Syrian, like a young wild ox.
The voice of the Lord divides the flames of fire.
The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness.
The Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.
The voice of the Lord makes the deer give birth and strips the forest bare.
And in his temple, everyone says, glory.
The Lord sat enthroned at the flood.
The Lord sits as king forever.
The Lord will give strength to his people.
The Lord will bless his people with peace.
Lord, that is blessing to the reading of that psalm.
And let's turn in that Psalter, the red book, there on your pew, number 60.
Number 60, it's entitled, O Give to Jehovah.
And this tune,
I'm quite sure you have heard before.
Okay, I did sight read it, but I did recognize it, even in my own sight reading.
So let's see how good my sight reading is, okay?
Let's sing this together, O Give to Jehovah.
O give to Jehovah you sons of the
mighty O give to Jehovah the glory and
power O give to Jehovah the honor
and glory And holiness kneel and
adore The voice of Jehovah comes
down on the waters In thunder the God of all
glory draws nigh And over the waves of the
wide flowing waters Jehovah as king is
majestic on high The voice of
Jehovah is mighty is mighty The voice
of Jehovah in majesty speaks The voice
of Jehovah the cedars is breaking Jehovah the
cedars of Lebanon breaks All life
in his temple his glory proclaiming God sits
on the flood he is king on his throne Jehovah gives
strength to his own chosen people Jehovah with
peace
evermore With
peace ever blesses his own.
All right, good.
That almost makes you want to sing, Oh Come All Ye, no, Come Ye Thankful
People Come or something, doesn't it?
Oh, and then in your hymnals, one other song before we have some time of testimony,
115, 115.
We're singing about the authority of our king and
this chorus song speaks of the authority of his name.
There
is a rest in every wall There is a refuge from the
fall There is a peace this world can't know It's in his
name There is a glow in darkest
night A dawn of hope, a guiding light There is a help
in helpless plight It's in his name It's in
his name His name is wonderful,
counselor ye God His name is
Jesus and he's ever the same There is
a calm when fear assails There is a power all nature
hails There is a love that never fails It's in his
name It's in his name And
praise that wonderful, matchless, powerful name.
All right, so some testimonies tonight.
Let me first of all make an announcement or two.
Lynn asked me to mention that we are wanting to continue doing a meal or two a week for the
NAPs for Bob and Jody.
And if you can help with that, please let her know.
And we'll get a schedule going, so this will be maybe a once -a -month thing, maybe.
I'm not sure how often, how long you want to continue that, but at least for now, if you can help out a meal
for Bob and Jody, let Lynn know, and we'll work that out.
I do want to say thanks so much for that surprise lunch today.
That was a wonderful, wonderful treat, and Chris and I really appreciated that,
and several gave some cards as well, and the most appreciated gestures
of thanksgiving.
And, you know, honestly, I'm a bit humbled by that because I
know some of my pastor colleagues who go through this month like
it's any other month, and nothing is said, no expressions of appreciation.
And it's not that it has to be or it's expected to be, but when, you know,
when you folks, the church is so good about remembering that and expressing
gratitude, I feel for my friends and colleagues who
just go week after week and they hear nothing.
In fact, it's kind of ironic.
One pastor friend I know, in his church tonight, they're having a knock -down,
drag -out thing, one of those kind of Baptist business meeting things that
is awful.
And, you know, honestly, his position is at stake, and he's been in his church for 27 years.
He's been there for 27 years, and a couple of people stirred some things up and
created some problems.
And, you know, I think about that in contrast and what a
tragedy it is.
And the thing that's being stirred is so unnecessary, so needless.
So anyway, we might just pray for that as kind of a
nameless thing.
I won't give you any names or anything like that, but just pray for that situation.
In fact, they're probably, hopefully they're about done with that thing because it's an hour -time difference.
All right, any other words of testimony tonight, words of praise, of thanksgiving to the Lord, or
some other way the Lord has worked in your life and taught you, challenged you in the last seven
days?
Anybody at all?
Oh, good to have this couple with us, the Pilchers.
They're from Texas.
They're here for a funeral.
They had a friend of theirs, an acquaintance, a missionary to Japan that had just recently passed
away, and so they were here for his funeral.
So we sorrow with you and that family tonight and trust
God will give you adjourning mercies when you head back to Texas, seeming to be the promised
land to many people these days.
I don't know.
But anyway, we're glad you came tonight.
Yes, Dan.
Thank you.
I'm thankful for our God's holiness and his justice
but his mercy and his loving -kindness.
Amen.
Praise the Lord.
Good.
Yes, Jim.
I just don't want you to judge me.
I've seen you get settled.
I've seen you get married.
I've seen you get divorced.
I've seen you get also remitted from the fact that sent the angel of the Lord
to the woman that came along that came so long ago.
She turned into an angel.
And then it was in the name of the Lord.
Verify that.
Sent the angel of the Lord again.
The angel of the Lord didn't go to him.
And it spoke to me because I'm a reminder of that.
Isn't that a wonderful passage to shatter stereotypes too?
Because, I mean, what is the stereotype?
Men are rational.
Women are emotional.
Right?
Isn't that the stereotype?
How many times have you heard that?
And in that instance, it's just totally flipped.
You know, Manoah is responding emotionally to this thing, and she says, calm down, calm down.
Here's the, think logically, think reasonably.
Yes, Mike.
Yes, that's fine.
If you're out of line, we'll call you down.
You know?
No.
If you're out of line, we'll be very gracious and, you know, speak to you afterwards.
No, go ahead.
Go ahead, brother.
Yes, indeed.
Yes, Erin.
Congratulations again.
And at least you didn't have to sweep the floor.
There's a story behind that.
I think I shared that with you.
Okay.
Yes, Chris.
She got saved when she was four.
Thank the Lord.
Anybody else?
Let's take our hymnals then again and turn to 462.
462.
Hiding in the, we'll stand as we sing, shall we?
Oh, safe to the rock that is higher than
I, My soul in its conflicts and sorrows
would fly, So sinful, so weak,
thine would I be.
Thou blast, rock of ages, I'm hiding in
thee.
Rock of ages, I'm hiding in
In the calm of the noontide, in sorrow's lone
hour, In times when temptation casts o
'er me its power, In the tempest of life,
on its wide -heaving sea, Thou blast, rock
of ages, I'm hiding in thee.
I'm high
when pressed by the foe, I have fled to my
refuge and breathed out my woe.
How often when trials like sea,
Rock of my soul, rock of
ages, I'm hiding in
You may be seated.
Let's turn in our Bibles to Mark chapter 4.
And we want to cover a very lengthy section of Mark's gospel tonight from chapter 4, verse
35, all the way through chapter 5, which is 43 verses of chapter 5.
And so because of that length, we'll not read all of that.
But what's going on in this section is four different accounts or four
different illustrations of Jesus exercising His authority.
So we'll look at those, we'll kind of work through those in a different, unique sort of
way, I think, tonight.
So let's have a brief word of prayer.
So our Father, I pray that as we look at these expressions of the authority of our
King, that we would bow before Him and surrender to His
authority, respond to it in ways that are appropriate.
We pray in Jesus' name.
Well, if you think about different kings, you were to describe what you know about them,
what would come to your mind?
So, for example, you think of King Louis XIV of France.
What comes to mind?
You might think about extravagance.
I mean, think Versailles, the Palace of Versailles.
Have you seen the interior of that palace?
You think, why in the world would anyone want to live in such a place?
It's so gaudy, you know, that kind of thing.
Well, that's King Louis.
How about King Tut?
When you think of King Tut, what do you think about?
You think about a pyramid, mummies, you think about gold all over the place.
After he's died, hopefully he can spend lavishly in the afterlife.
King Tut.
King Henry VIII.
What comes to mind when you think of King Henry VIII?
I shouldn't admit it, but it reminds me of an old, probably Jim's laughing, an old 60s song.
Henry VIII, I am, I am, Henry VIII, I am.
You know, he had however many wives.
But, of course, he's most noted for, I think, well,
he's most noted to me for being angry with the Roman Catholic Church because they
would not annul his marriage.
And he wanted his marriage annulled because he kept trying to have kids and his wife couldn't have kids.
She was barren, so he wanted to have that marriage annulled.
And they wouldn't do it, so he said, okay, if you're not going to do it, then I'm going to start a church of my own.
And he started the Church of England.
Well, that's...
And we can go on and on through the different kings of history.
But when we think about King Jesus, what comes to mind?
What would you focus on?
Well, when we come to this passage tonight, one thing that stands out, there are a lot of things that might come to our minds, but one of the
things that stands out very clearly in this section of Mark's Gospel is his
authority.
It's his authority.
And he shows his authority in this passage over four different areas.
He shows his authority in the natural realm, in the supernatural realm, and in the
physical realm in a couple of different ways.
So I want us to first of all notice that those who appeal to him, they already
have a recognition of his authority.
In other words, his authority is apparent.
It's apparent.
It's obvious to others before he performs the miracles, four different miracles in these
passages.
So in chapter 4, verse 38, his authority is apparent to his disciples.
His disciples are with him on a boat in the middle of the sea, and they are there
because Jesus exercised his authority and told them, let's get in a boat and go to the other side of the sea.
And they get in the boat, and they're heading across the sea, and a great windstorm
comes up.
We read in verse 37, the waves beat into the boat.
It was already filling with water.
And in verse 38, Jesus was in the stern of the boat asleep on a pillow, and it says, they awoke him and
said to him, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?
Now, why did they go to him?
What prompted them to go to him and wake him up in the first place?
It's because they recognized, they had some awareness of his authority as if, you know,
certainly you've got to be able to do something about this.
Now, they had no idea what he was going to do or what he was capable of doing, but they knew that he could do
something.
But clearly in verse 41, they weren't aware of the extent of his power because when he caused
the seed to be stilled, they said, who in the world is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?
So the disciples were aware of his power.
In the next section, in chapter 5, Jesus encounters this
demoniac who likewise knew of Jesus' authority.
He knew his position at least.
In verses 6 and 7, when this demoniac saw Jesus from afar, he ran and
worshiped him.
And he cried out with a loud voice and said, What have I to do with you, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?
I implore you by God that you do not torment me.
So he knew Jesus' position.
He knew that he was the Son of God.
Here's a demon -possessed man who knows more than a lot of people who have been listening to him in all of his
teaching and didn't recognize him as the Son of God.
But he did, the demoniac did, and he also knew his power.
The end of verse 7 indicates that he knew that Jesus had the power
to torment him, to do something to make his existence as a demon and
possessing a human being miserable.
So the demoniac was aware of Jesus' authority.
And further on in chapter 5, Jesus is
encountered by the ruler of a synagogue to come and deal with
his sick and dying daughter.
And we'll talk about him in a minute.
But before that, before we do look at him, as Jesus is going to deal with this ruler's
ailing daughter, he's interrupted by this woman who has had
some kind of a malady for 12 years, an issue of blood, the Bible tells us.
We don't know the specifics of it.
But it's something that she couldn't do anything about, that the physicians couldn't do anything about.
But she, in verses 27 and 28, heard of his reputation.
So it says, when she heard about Jesus, she came behind him in the crowd and touched his garment.
Why did she do that?
She heard of his reputation, and she was convinced that he had the ability to do something
about her malady.
She said, in verse 28, if only I may touch his clothes, I shall be made well.
So his authority was apparent to her also.
Well, then you back up a couple of verses to this ruler in verses 22 and 23.
He's an interesting individual because as a ruler of the synagogue, that means he was
very committed to Judaism and would have been respected by those
in the synagogue and his colleagues in the synagogue.
He was a ruler of the synagogue.
But verse 22 tells us that this ruler of the synagogue came, Jairus by name, and when he saw
Jesus, he fell at his feet and begged him earnestly, saying, my little daughter lies at the point of death.
Come, lay your hands on her.
She may be healed, and she will live.
So most of the rulers of the synagogues, most of those who were
Pharisees and in positions of responsibility and authority, they at
least had a hands -off approach, an arm's -length approach to Jesus, and most were even
more adamant in their rejection of him.
But this ruler of the synagogue rejected the ideas of his colleagues
and instead accepted this record of Jesus and what he has been
able to do.
He's understanding that Jesus can do something for his daughter that nobody else
can do.
So his authority in these four occasions is apparent.
There are people who recognize to some extent the authority of Jesus.
His authority is apparent.
But then, secondly, I want us to notice in these four different situations that his authority is
potent.
That is, it's used effectively.
Not without challenge, though.
Not without challenge.
Notice how his power is challenged.
It's challenged, and we could just generally speak of these four different instances as the
storms of life.
The storms of life.
And the storms of life challenge the authority of Jesus.
So at the end of chapter 4, as the disciples are with Jesus in his boat
out on a storm -tossed sea, a storm of nature would challenge to overthrow
peace.
These disciples are filled with fear and anxiety.
They're tormented over this storm.
It's a storm of nature.
And that storm of nature challenges Jesus' authority in its effort to overthrow
the peace of his disciples.
Then there's the storm of demonism as the demoniac is
controlled by and possessed by these demons.
And the storm of demonism would seek to overthrow the soul.
This is challenging the authority of Jesus.
Will he be able to deal with that storm?
And then there's a storm of illness on the part of this woman who's been afflicted for a dozen
years.
Would Jesus be able to deal with this storm that would overthrow her health
and has overthrown her health for these dozen years?
In the dozen years of her sickness, Jairus has enjoyed the life of
his daughter.
She's been the apple of his eye.
She's been a blessing to his home and his family.
But now a storm has afflicted his household.
And it's the storm of death that is threatening the very life of this
precious 12 -year -old daughter.
The storms of life challenge his authority, but so does the
utter inability of the human beings involved in each of these cases.
Here are these disciples who are totally powerless
to do anything about their storm that they are going through, and their
fear threatens the authority of Jesus.
Their fear.
In verse 38, Jesus is asleep in the stern, and they come full of
fear, saying, Do you not care that we are perishing?
Notice how their fear has provoked within them
a measure of distrust.
Can he calm us?
Do you not care that we are perishing?
Can he calm our fear?
And then in chapter 5, verse 5, there is the control of man that is
challenging his authority.
This man, this human being, this man is controlled by these demons, and
night and day this man is in the mountains and in the tombs.
He's crying out and cutting himself with stones.
Can Jesus do anything about that which nobody else could do for
this man?
They couldn't even control him.
They could try to put him in chains, they could try to tie him down and keep him from hurting
himself or other people, but they were all ineffective.
All the efforts of man were ineffective.
He'd break the chains, and he'd lash out again.
In verses 25 and 26, this woman who had a flow of
blood for 12 years, verse 26 says, she suffered many things from many physicians.
Isn't that interesting?
Doctors don't have all the answers.
They may actually cause more problems.
She suffered many things from many physicians.
Kind of reminds me of, I just finished the biography of Samuel
Davies.
It was a long time getting through it, and it wasn't a long book.
It was just reading a few pages at a time.
But Samuel Davies got really sick, and he lived back in the late 1700s,
and he succeeded Jonathan Edwards as the president of Princeton College, the College of New Jersey.
So it was a long time ago.
But he got really sick, and so one of the things, one of the ways to deal with his sickness was what
they called bloodletting.
Many of you are familiar with that.
The doctors, they figured, well, the sickness is in the blood, so what we have to do is take blood out of
his body.
Eventually they found out that's not a good idea.
He needs his blood.
The life of the flesh is in the blood.
Well, anyway, so here's this poor woman who can't find help from
anybody.
Even the physicians can't help her.
Could Jesus?
Could Jesus heal her?
Nobody else can.
And then there is the destruction of this little girl that's threatening Jesus' authority.
Could he do something to avert her death?
That's the question at hand, isn't it?
So human inability challenges his authority, and the reactions
of different individuals in these four stories also challenge his authority.
So in chapter 4, verse 40, some simply don't trust him.
Jesus brings this out when he asks the question, why are you so full of fear?
Don't you have any faith?
How is it that you have no faith?
Now we might be a little nonplussed by that.
Isn't this kind of understandable?
The storm is raging.
The water is filling the boat.
Jesus is asleep.
Wouldn't we be afraid?
Shouldn't we be afraid?
The thing of it is they come to Jesus, and what they ask of him is really
kind of an affront.
Don't you care that we are perishing?
We're going to get into that in just a moment.
But they're exhibiting a lack of faith because, after all, if Jesus is who they have claimed to
believe that he is, is it realistic to think that he's going to be drowned in this
sea?
Is it possible that the Son of God, that the Messiah who has come to save his people,
is going to be drowned by waves in the sea?
Where is their faith?
Jesus challenges them with their lack of trust.
So his authority is challenged by some who don't trust him.
His authority is challenged by some who simply do not want his influence.
Chapter 5, verse 17, after Jesus heals this demoniac, and he's sane, he's in his
right mind, what he did was he caused the demons who were within him to
depart and inhabit a bunch of pigs on a hill, and they run down the hill and run into the
sea, and these pigs all die.
Well, word gets out to the townspeople in verses
15 and 16 that what had happened to him, and they
came to Jesus, verse 15, they saw the demon -possessed man.
He was sitting in his right mind, and they were afraid, and those who saw it told them
how it happened to him who had been demon -possessed and about the swine.
So how did some respond?
Verse 17.
They began to plead with him to depart out of their region.
Get away from here.
We don't want you around.
So one of the ways Jesus' authority is challenged is the reaction of man that says, We don't want you
around.
We don't want your influence.
We're seeing a lot of that in our day, in our culture, aren't we?
We don't want the influence of Jesus and his crowd.
And some challenge his authority by questioning his demands.
So look at verse 31.
Verse 31.
So this woman comes up behind Jesus, and she touches the hem of his garment, and she's made well.
The power of Jesus causes this woman to be healed.
And Jesus stops.
He's on his way to the home of this ruler of the synagogue to deal with his
daughter, and this power goes out of Jesus.
He heals this woman with the issue of blood, and he stops the crowd from moving forward toward
Jairus' house.
And he says in verse 30,
he says, Who touched my clothes?
Who touched my clothes?
Now, remember who's asking this question.
The reaction of the disciples in verse 31,
it indicates a challenge to his authority.
If you recognize who Jesus is, he's the King of kings, he's the Lord of lords, he is the Messiah, he is
the anointed one of God.
Doesn't he have the authority to ask the question, Who touched my clothes?
But what do they say?
You see the multitude thronging around you.
How in the world can you ask the question, Who touched me?
Why would you ask such a question?
It is the sense of their questioning of him.
They question his demands.
And some challenge his authority by scorning his claims.
So Jesus arrives at the home of Jairus, and Jairus has been
told that your daughter is dead.
Verse 39, though, Jesus came and said to them, Why do you make this
commotion and weep?
The child is not dead, but asleep.
Verse 40, because of the authority of Jesus, everyone said, Oh,
okay.
Let's see what happens next, right?
Verse 40, they ridiculed him.
They ridiculed him.
So some challenge his authority by scorning his claims.
She is asleep?
What do you mean she's asleep?
She's not asleep.
She's dead as a doornail.
And they ridicule him and make fun of him.
So the reactions of people, of man, challenge the authority of Jesus, the king.
But nevertheless, his power is effective.
He speaks to the sea, and it is calm.
A woman simply touches the hem of a garment, and she who
has been utterly hopeless is now filled with hope.
She knows she's been healed.
The one who has been in bondage to a legion of demons is by his power
delivered and delivered completely.
And, of course, he speaks to the little girl and tells her to arise.
She gets up off the bed.
He brings life out of death.
His power is effective.
And the reason I wanted to bring these four different stories or
accounts of his exercising of his authority together is to emphasize the fact that
his power, his authority, is universal.
It's universal.
These various situations in different arenas of life all
illustrate that there is nothing too hard for the Lord.
In the material world, in the natural world of
oceans and seas, there's nothing too hard for the Lord.
In the spiritual realm of the demoniac, there's nothing too hard for the Lord.
In the physical realm of a physical malady, there's nothing too hard for the Lord.
Even in the realm of death, there's nothing too hard for the Lord.
His authority and his power is universal.
But then I also want you to notice how his authority is timely.
It's timely.
He exercises his authority at a desperation point.
So, you know, Jesus, the God -man,
when he put his disciples on that boat, he said, let's go on to the other side.
You think he didn't know what was coming?
He didn't know that there was a storm rising?
Well, I would suggest he did.
And do you think that it was just a coincidence that he's sound asleep there on the back of the boat, in the stern of the boat,
while the storm is raging, water is pouring in?
Do you wonder how in the world he could sleep like that, in that kind of a situation?
I mean, have any of you been on a boat, in a small craft, in a storm
that's being tossed and turned?
You are probably at the rail.
I mean, I don't know.
I probably would be.
You know what I'm talking about.
Jesus is sound asleep.
How could he sleep?
Because he was waiting for the right time to exercise his authority.
He could have gotten up from his nap as soon as the storm started to pick up and the
waves started to jostle a little bit.
He could have said, come on, calm down, waves, stop wind, and everything had been calm.
But no, he wanted to bring this situation to the desperation point.
And that's where it is.
It's at the desperation point where the disciples come in desperation to him and say,
can't you do something about this?
Will you do something about this?
Don't you care that we're going to die here?
He waits to just the right time.
He works at the right time in relationship to the demoniac, where the control of
the demons over this demoniac, it's total.
And there is no one else who could help.
Desperation point.
For this poor woman, ravaged by this disease of some kind for a dozen
years, she's tried everything and has just absolutely no hope whatsoever
that anybody can do anything to help her condition.
Except maybe Jesus.
For her, all hope was gone, and Jesus was the last resort.
And then, of course, do you see in this situation with
Jairus' daughter, 12 -year -old daughter, a parallel to Lazarus?
Lazarus is sick.
Let's take it easy for a couple more days until he dies, and then we'll go.
Why?
Jesus wants to exercise his authority at just the right time.
He always works at the right time.
Jesus' timing is always perfect.
When the life left, the last breath left this little girl,
help was absolutely impossible.
Nobody could do anything except for Jesus.
His authority is timely, and his authority is relevant.
It's relevant.
He was on the back of the boat, sound asleep, just waiting for the call from his
disciples.
Waiting for the call.
I wonder how many times Jesus, our King, our Lord, our
Master, waits for our call.
He lets us get to a point of absolute despair and desperation because we've
been trying to manage things and handle things on our own and not even including him, not even
giving him a nod.
He says, okay. Okay.
I'm waiting.
And then finally, there's this desperation point, and we call.
His authority is relevant.
He waits for our call.
His authority is relevant in that he will help, as he did with his demoniac.
His demoniac is in bondage to something that he can't control, and
I believe that the Lord, in his authority, will help overthrow some involuntary habits,
some things that we have allowed ourselves to be controlled by just through habitual
practice, and before you know it, it's an addiction or it's something that we can't break out of.
Jesus has the authority to deal with those things and overthrow those things.
Sometimes Jesus is waiting.
He's waiting for us to finish doing all that we
can invest in the situation.
So like the woman who has exhausted the store of our resources to use the hymn.
When we have exhausted the store of our resources, he giveth and giveth and giveth again.
He gives more grace.
And I think Jesus' authority is relevant, we see in this passage, in overcoming these
hopeless circumstances.
Here is the hopeless, absolute, utter hopelessness of death.
What can be done about it?
He can give life.
When a person comes to that place in their spiritual understanding, when God in
his grace opens their eyes to see that they are dead in
trespasses and sins, and there is absolutely nothing that they can do to deal with their
own spiritual death, they have to turn to the only one who can give them
life, give them eternal life.
That is Jesus.
And his authority is very relevant at that moment of repentance.
And then I would have you notice his authority is productive.
It's productive.
It brings about results.
And not all those results we would look at as being positive.
So what was the result of casting the demons into a
bunch of pigs that went down a hill and drowned in the sea?
What was the result?
One of the results was a whole bunch of people said, get out of here.
One of the reactions to results of Jesus expressing his authority is
the rejection of his authority.
Again, as I said earlier, I think we see a lot of that expressed in our culture.
Ever since we have officially, as a nation,
started on this trajectory of getting God out of different aspects of life,
we can't any longer have Bible reading in public schools.
We can't have teachers praying in public schools.
I mean, I recall, I don't know how they did it, because this was in 1968
or 1969.
The principal, when I was in fourth, fifth grade, every morning we had the
same thing.
We'd say the Pledge of Allegiance to the wall and to the flag,
and then the principal, Principal Ford, would lead us in praying the Lord's
Prayer.
This is a public school.
Not anymore.
Not in your life.
And even coaches of ball teams and stuff are getting,
are being prohibited from praying with their teams before or after games.
They can't do that.
They can't lead their teams in prayer.
And that's just one little thing.
But it's like, when we started down that road, we started going down that path of getting God
out of the different facets of life, there's no stopping
it.
Now, we don't want God and Christ mentioned in
anything.
You know, you talk about cancel culture.
His authority is rejected.
That's one of the results of the exercising of His authority.
Preachers stand up and proclaim authoritatively, Thus saith the Lord.
Jesus authoritatively claims, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes to the Father but by me.
You say that in the public square, and you're threatened with cancelling, a
cancellation.
That's one of the results.
But another result of His authority is astonishment.
Astonishment.
In chapter 5, verse 20, it says, Jesus departed and began to,
He, that is the demoniac after He was healed, departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus
had done for Him and all marveled.
So one of the results of Jesus' productive exercising of His authority is that people responded with
astonishment.
They marveled.
See that also in verse 42.
Immediately the girl arose and walked after she had been dead.
She was 12 years of age, and they were overcome with great amazement.
People were amazed.
His authority is productive.
Another result of the exercising of His authority is
obedience.
When Jesus exercises His authority, one of the results is obedience.
He speaks to the wind, and it stops.
He tells the wind and the sea to be still and to be calm.
And those natural elements immediately obeyed
His voice.
He spoke to the demon, the legion of demons, and said, Be gone.
And they left, obediently departed out of the man and were cast into the
pigs.
By His authority, He allowed His power to go out of Him when the woman
touched the hem of His garment and the disease departed.
He spoke to this dead little girl and told her, Get up, arise.
And she obeyed.
She immediately arose.
And the result of that exercising of His authority, another
result of it is worship.
Worship.
You notice in chapter 4, verse 41, when the
great calm came upon the sea, verse 41 says, They feared exceedingly
and said to one another, Who can this be that even the wind and the sea
obey Him?
An expression of reverence of this king who has just exercised His
You see the same kind of thing in chapter 5, verse 33.
The woman, after Jesus said, Who touched me?
The woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell down before Him and told Him the whole
truth.
She fell down before Him, expressing reverence before the one who had healed her.
And worship not only of reverence but of gratitude.
Of gratitude expressed in verse 18 of chapter 5 by this demoniac who,
when Jesus got into the boat, the healed man, the man who is now restored and in his right
mind and the demons cast out, he came to Jesus and begged that He might
be with him.
Is this not an expression of gratitude on the part of one who had
been such a helpless and hopeless situation?
Same with verse 33, I think, is an expression of gratitude.
She comes and she falls down before Him and tells Him the whole truth.
But another expression of worship is seen in verse 20, again on the part of
this healed demoniac as he witnesses of Jesus,
tells of Jesus.
He departed and began to proclaim all that Jesus had done for him.
An expression of worship.
We express worship to our King, our Savior, when we speak of what He has
done.
In our salvation, in our sanctification, in the work in our lives, in
the changing of things in our lives, in the expression of His authority, exercising of His authority
in our lives.
We witness to it and that's a worshiping of Him.
So how are you handling of the authority of the King?
So in each of these four accounts, there are doubters and there are believers.
There are those who reject His authority and there are those who are counting on it.
To the best of my knowledge, everyone in this room would profess to be a believer in Christ, a follower of Jesus,
in our heads acknowledging His authority.
But are we counting on it?
Are we trusting in it?
It is, as the hymn writer says, and we're going to sing in a moment, it is so sweet to trust
in Jesus.
So let's pray together and sing.
Our Father and our God, we thank You tonight for these
different vignettes of the exercising of our King's authority.
And I pray that from these, we would be emboldened and encouraged
to trust Him all the more.
So number 410 is that song we want to close with.
Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus.
410 in our hymnals.
And let's stand together as we sing, shall we?
Just to take Him at His word Just to
rest upon His promise.
Just to know, thus saith the Lord Jesus,
Jesus, how I trust Him.
How I've proved Him o 'er and o 'er Jesus,
Jesus, precious Jesus.
For grace to trust Him more And the last.
I'm so glad I learned to trust Him.
Jesus, Savior, Friend.
And I know that He is with me.
Be with me to the end.
Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him.
For grace to trust Him more.
Grant us that grace, O Lord, we pray.
Dismiss us tonight with Your blessing.
And I pray that You would be gracious to us through this week.
That we might grow day by day in our trust in our King, our
Lord, our Savior, Jesus.
Alright, Lord bless you.
You are dismissed.