Who is Jesus

I don't know if you've ever ridden a roller coaster, but my favorite part is when you sit down in the roller coaster and then the attendant comes by and they move that bar down across your quads and they make sure it's good and tight and snug because the ride's about ready to commence.

You're going to need that kind of attitude as you turn your Bible to Mark chapter 3. Mark chapter 3, hold your horses, buckle your seatbelts, get ready.

Mark chapter 3, this exciting, fascinating gospel, these days my favorite gospel to just read through and be impressed with Jesus Christ.

To say, Lord, as I read this, I'm impressed by you and would you make your fame increased in my heart.

I know you've loved me to the uttermost and now help me by your spirit's empowerment to respond with the love that you deserve.

With my obedience, my honor, my all, I want to respond to your great act at Calvary, your great life, your great resurrection.

I want to do that. So Mark chapter 3 today, we're going to ask this question and then answer it, who is Jesus? This is the

Sunday morning outreach evangelism sermon, right? Just before Christmastime, we have a sermon where you can, a

Sunday where lots of visitors come and they're all attending churches, they do their annual

Easter Christmas pilgrimage and so I prepared that this week and you're going to receive that even though I don't think we have one visitor.

And so you may, you may be a Christian, so I'll turn this a little bit as we have some application so it encourages you, the saints.

And so you say to yourself, you know, Christianity is about Jesus a lot more than it's about me.

I've been reading a lot these days about how people want to create their life story and they add

God as he's kind of a, just a partner and he's kind of a father figure or a grandfather figure and his main goal in life is just to make you healthy and happy and whole versus God is the subject of the world and universe and we are the objects.

And there's a big difference between God as a subject and we are the subjects. And so that difference is we want to make sure we understand who

God is, the world does not revolve around us as humans and that we frankly are beloved children, yes, but we are not contributing to God's glory in the sense that he needed to create us to make glory, etc.

So let's look at Mark chapter 3 with this purpose, to ask the question, who is Jesus? And then to let the text tell us who

Jesus is with the desire in our hearts to say, I want to respond properly. You learn about Jesus, the response should be, get away,

I'm a sinful man. The response should be, I'm impressed. The response should be, what a wonderful savior.

There's lots of responses, but it's not just let's learn for learning reason alone, academic reasons alone.

Mark chapter 3, we're going to look at four pictures of Jesus and we're going to take a look at each of those and then you can ask yourself the question as well, how do

I see Jesus? Now, we're not in this text, we're not found here in the congregational sections.

I remember Sinclair Ferguson, he said, don't read the Bible like where's Waldo, where you search over and over and over to find little

Waldo and here we find, how can we find ourselves in Mark 3? We can't find ourselves in Mark 3 because we're not there, but we can find

Jesus and his excellencies and you'll watch and you'll learn and you'll say, I'm impressed.

There's no one like Jesus and he's my savior and he's my Lord and Lord, help me to think properly about Christ Jesus, the

Lord. Perspective number one, picture number one was the

Pharisees picture and so I could ask it in a question or I could make it in a statement, which might be better.

Don't you be like the Pharisees who rejected Jesus' Lordship. Don't you be like the

Pharisees who rejected Jesus' Lordship. In other words, you want to see Jesus and you want to affirm that he is the

Lord and so let's just get right into Mark 3, verse 1 and following and you're going to see how only

Jesus can take these Pharisees who think they're, as one man said, on the judge's bench and then move them over into the prisoner's dock.

It's fascinating to just watch Jesus deal with these false teachers, right before your very eyes in a divine object lesson that I hope you don't forget very soon.

And Jesus entered again into the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand. We don't know about the time, we do know that it's a

Sabbath, right? You go to the synagogue on a Sabbath so it's a Saturday and he comes into this local place of worship and assembly and he has a withered hand.

If you want to do some of the study in the original language, it seems like this person had a good hand and then it was crushed by some kind of stone, maybe one tradition says.

It was somehow affected by some disease, but he wasn't born this way.

He had a withered up hand, a dried hand, as you have no water for a plant and they become lifeless and kind of full of dropsy.

So too, this person had a withered hand, either by deformity or paralysis.

Dr. Luke says, by the way, it was which hand? Only a doctor would probably say it was his right hand.

If in fact tradition was right and he was a stonemason, how much does he need two hands? Look at the plot.

They were watching Jesus to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. If you go back to chapter 2, verse 28,

So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. That's the whole context here.

The scribes and the Pharisees are watching him. You can see them take out their iPhones and begin recording this thing.

Sneaking around, trying to videotape it so they can have it on forever and send it off to everyone who would notice.

They were spying, they were watching. Literally, it's an imperfect tense. Over and over and over, watching

Jesus. Wycliffe said that they were espying him. They were spying on him.

What would Jesus do? Is Jesus going to be intimidated by this barrage of theologians?

They're waiting to pounce on Jesus for anything that he would do wrongly.

And so they want to see, will he heal on the Sabbath? He's Lord of the Sabbath. Will he heal? Won't he heal? And he said to the man with the withered hand, rise and come forward.

Hey, there's no sense to hide around the corner and have people spy over here. No sense for the

Pharisees to hide around the corner. Let's make sure we all see who this person is and they see with full view what

I'm going to do. Rise and come into the center, literally. It's an imperative. I want you to make sure you come into the center ring of the three -ring

Pharisee scribe circus. Front row. Let's just come right there. And I don't know about you, but if you ever stared at one of those black and white images long enough, then you close your eyes and look somewhere else and you can see the inverse image.

Jesus basically, get a good look. You're going to stare at this because there's going to be an afterglow image that you'll never forget.

And he said to them, look at this probing question. Just like Jesus always does, he gives no third option.

There's no middle ground. There's no hedging. There's two clear -cut extremes and that's the only thing you can go on.

Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill it? Let's go from the laws of the

Sabbath to morality. Sabbath in chapter 2 was a source of blessing.

So what are you going to do on the Sabbath? What happens if a sheep falls into the pit on a

Sabbath? Will you pull it out? Well, of course. How many sheep would equal a person? And don't tell me what

PETA might say or anyone else might say. Humans have great value and so can you do good on the

Sabbath? Of course. By the way, can you imagine what's going on here? Jesus is going to say, is it good to do good works on the

Sabbath? Yes, the whole time they're going to be trying to do the bad work of killing the Messiah on the

Sabbath, applauding Christ's death on the

Sabbath. And so what's their response, these people that talk so much? I remember

Calvin used to say, pastors, you ought to fast from speaking. Theologians like to talk.

And here, these talkers were what? Silenced. By the way, it's an ongoing, long, quiet, cat got your tongue silence.

This is pin drop silence. It's vivid language. This is the sound of silence.

Just want to see if you're awake. I always tell people, preaching should never be boring. Look at this gaze of Jesus here in verse 5.

Very often, Mark talks about the look of Jesus. Chapter 3, chapter 5, chapter 9, chapter 10, chapter 11, the look of Jesus.

How would you like to get that look from Jesus? And after looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, stretch out your hand.

And he stretched it out. And his hand was restored. Can you imagine this

Jesus who is described in Revelation chapter 1 as his eyes were like a flame of what?

Fire. And he looks around, what does the text say? With anger and then grieved at the hardness of heart.

Here's the Greek language. He looks with a flash of anger, instantaneous, short -lived, righteous anger, but with an ongoing grieving in his soul for the people who are thinking this way.

So you have a quick burst of anger, righteous indignation, and then you have this ongoing process in our

Savior's heart of grief. He was displeased with sin.

He gives the momentary flash of anger. And then he is grieved at their calloused, hardened hearts.

You recognize the passage as I read it. Speaking of Jesus, he was despised and forsaken of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And like one from whom men hide their faces, he was despised and we did not esteem him.

Surely our griefs he himself bore and our sorrows he carried, yet we ourselves esteemed him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.

What did Jesus do? It says he said to the man, stretch out your hand. Look at verse 5. That's very important.

How did you get rid of someone who had a demon back in those days? How did you get rid of the demon?

How do you get rid of somebody's problem? Well, you do all kinds of things, but you wouldn't just say it. You might have techniques.

You might have incense. You might have all kinds of quackery devised, and you might have certain kind of prayer cloths and incantations.

You might do a lot of stuff, but you don't just say, and it's healed.

He just commands. There's no kind of odor. There's no kind of burning something.

There's no repeat, you know, should have bought a Honda over and over and over again. He didn't do any of that.

He just says, stretch out your hand. Nothing but speak. By the way, is it okay to speak on the

Sabbath? Is he breaking Sabbath rules by talking, or do you have to have like the, you know, silence on the

Sabbath? He can't be accused of doing a work.

What work in there is talking? No comments, you know what I mean? All right.

His faith was restored. This is not necessarily only about the compassion of Christ for a person with a withered hand, but this is all pointing to Jesus was the

Messiah, and everything he did contributed to and affirmed and confirmed the authority of his message.

As Spurgeon said, there's no knowing how long God's arm is. There's no telling how precious

Christ's blood is. And to you who have felt the power of it yourself, and then you will wonder as long as you live, even through eternity, and you will be astonished to think that the blood of Christ could save such a wretch as you are and make you the monument of his mercy.

So this is just human mercy. Excuse me, this is just temporal mercy. There's a greater mercy, but how does a

Pharisee respond in their comrades? Verse 6, the Pharisees went out immediately and began to praise

God from whom all blessings flow. They went up and began taking counsel with their archenemies, these political people, the

Herodians, against them as to how they might destroy him. Luke says they were filled with rage.

You can see that vein in their forehead begin to just bulge. By the way,

Luke, when it says they were filled with rage, rage means out of your mind.

They had the proverbial steam coming out of their ears. They were so mad they couldn't talk.

Enough is enough. This is the last straw. So let's counsel together. We must destroy Jesus.

These strange bedfellows knew, you know what, we've got to get rid of this person. So my question to you is, we've seen

Jesus, we've seen what he's done on the Sabbath. Don't fall into the trap that says, you know,

Jesus, he's not really Lord of the Sabbath, there's another issue. He's just a false guided teacher.

He's just a false teacher. No, we want to recognize Jesus is Lord. Matthew Henry said, unless we consent to him as our

Lord, we cannot expect any benefit by him as our Savior. The dying thief knew that,

Luke 23. Lord, remember me. Doubting Thomas, my Lord and my God.

Jesus himself in John 13, you call me master and Lord and you say, well, for so I am.

Jesus is Lord. Look at the second picture. First, don't be like the Pharisees who rejected

Jesus' lordship. Number two, don't be like Jesus' family who at worst wanted to institutionalize him, at best just were misguided.

I can't wait to show you this one. Jesus' family basically want to go and put a gag around his mask, gag around his mouth, put a straight jacket on him if such a thing were invented and take him back home.

Don't be like Jesus' family who at worst wanted to institutionalize him or at best just misunderstood him.

Let's go down to Mark 3 .20. We're going to stay in Mark 3, but we'll just jump around just a hair for a purpose but to be revealed later.

Mark 3, people misrepresent Jesus all the time.

They misunderstand Jesus all the time. I don't know if you see him as crazy, but his family certainly did.

Verse 20 of Mark 3, I mean, it's one thing to have opposition but from a home.

Mark 3 .20, and he, Jesus, came home, probably Peter and Andrew's house, and the multitude gathered again.

By the way, that happened all the time. The whole city gathered at his door, Mark 1.

Mark 2, many were gathered together so there's no longer room even near the floor, the door. These multitude gathered again.

To what extent this time? To such an extent that they could not even eat a meal. Isn't that amazing?

It's just so crowded we can't eat. Packed in like proverbial sardines.

Can you imagine the smells and the pushing and elbowing and trying to get space and trying to do it in a polite way?

It reminds me of the crowds at CBD where I've got to get those good discounted books and if I have to righteously elbow people in the way,

I just have to do it. It's all in Christian love. I want the best stuff for me. Verse 21, and when his own people, his own town, his own people heard this, they said, the

Messiah's home. This is our homeboy. This is a guy from our own town.

They went out to take custody of him. They were saying he's lost his senses.

Literally, his own people would be translated, they who were from beside him.

Talking about origin, most likely, and birth. His mother and his brothers.

This is how the Septuagint would talk about mothers and brothers, this way. By the way, if you go down to verse 31,

I think it's inferred down there who these people were, and his mother and his brothers arrived standing outside. They sent word to him and called him.

How do you discuss someone who was very close to someone back in those days? This exact way.

Mothers and his brothers, his mother and his brothers come and they want to take custody of him. They want to seize him, grab him, take him back to Nazareth.

It's the last straw. The guy doesn't eat. The guy doesn't sleep. The guy's got a Messiah complex.

You've got to get rid of this guy. He's kind of, you know, when you've got one weird one in the family, what do they think about you?

I see some of the family members smiling. He is so engaged in his messianic work, he doesn't even care for himself or for his family.

They wanted to take him by force. Mark uses the same word elsewhere to mean arrest, for Herod himself had sent and had

John the Baptist arrested. Go arrest Jesus. The guy's a loon.

They had heard what had been going on in the neighborhood, and 20 miles away as if eagle would fly, they know what's going on.

Now, let's go get the guy and bring him home. This is kind of cult intervention stuff. You know, we've got to go in there.

Remember, John 7, not even his brothers were believing in him. Mary believed the angel, yes, but time goes on.

And now what do they say? He has lost his senses, imperative. They kept on saying, he's out of his mind, he's lost his senses, he's gone bonkers, the elevator doesn't go to the top floor, and this goes on and on and on and on.

He's unbalanced. He's into this religion thing too far. He's delirious, he's deranged.

This religion is going to kill him. If you had a family member who wouldn't eat, rest, had no house, had no job, who was a religious fanatic, you would call 1 -800 -BRAINWASH.

You'd send him to a modern 12 -day step recovery, cults are us, deprogramming. Let's make sure he can't hurt himself.

And here we have probably a sincere love, but sincerely wrong.

By the way, I kind of take comfort in this. I know I'm not in Mark 3, but when people think I'm a crazy

Jesus freak, I have a good example. I have a good example.

Not just Jesus, but Paul, 2 Corinthians 5, for if we are beside ourselves, it is for God. He's beside himself.

Come on, we've got to be balanced. You can hear that call. Who do you think

Jesus is? He's out on this messianic mission. Pharisees thought, you know what, he's not

Lord, but he is. Jesus' family said, you know what, he's got to have some help. Let's institutionalize him or let's at least say we don't understand what he's doing.

Number three, the third picture found in Mark 3, 22 -30. Do you see

Jesus as corrupt like the religious scholars did? Do you somehow misrepresent him like they did?

Let's take a look. We've seen his lordship, we've seen his desire to serve the Father, and now how do these religious scholars view him?

They misrepresented him. If you go to Mark 3, verse 22, we pick up the story.

Look at these Yale and Harvard and Princeton theologians accused. And the scribes, these theological lawyers and writers who came down from Jerusalem.

By the way, they're sending the big guns from Jerusalem, not just over there from the sticks.

These are the best we've got. They came down from Jerusalem and they're saying, he's possessed by Beelzebub.

He cast out demons by the ruler of demons. He's demon -possessed himself and he's in collusion with the prince of demons.

That's how he does all this stuff. And they're trying to do what? Poison the minds of the followers of Christ with this theological cyanide.

They came down from Jerusalem. Jesus now has their attention. The wheels of the upper echelon of false teachers have begun to move and they say he is possessed by Beelzebub.

Can you imagine? Jesus is a raving, lunatic, demon -possessed person.

And you can imagine as they begin to infiltrate the minds of people by possibly saying, he's got saliva coming out of his mouth.

He's foaming at the mouth. Beelzebul, we could pronounce it.

Beelzebub, lord of the flies maybe meaning. Beelzebul, lord of the dwelling place.

I don't care how you pronounce it. It's all bad anyway and it has stuff to do with demons. Jesus is the son of a demon.

You see Jesus' work. You hear his words and your response is what? Praise and worship?

Are the guys demon -possessed? It's crazy. Mark 3 .23.

And he called them to himself. By the way, Matthew 12 says he knew their thoughts. Knowing their thoughts, he said to them.

He began to speak to them in parables. Uh -oh. Not a good sign. He began speaking to them in parables.

And then he gives questions or statements to show them how illogical their comments and their position would be.

Look at the first one. How can Satan cast out Satan? That's kind of stupid.

That's like a superpower fighting itself. That's like calling the National Guard to fight the Coast Guard. That's like the

Army and the Navy of the United States fighting each other. You think I've got demons?

That's wrong. He gives a second comment. And if a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.

That's the North and the South. Civil War in America. Civil Wars in Lebanon.

Verse 25. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. Husband and wife, when they're at it, it's not going to stand.

Verse 26. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but he is finished.

If Satan rises up against himself, that would be stupid. That would be dumb. That would be asinine. Absurd. Verse 27.

But no one can enter the strongman's house and plunder his property unless he first binds the strongman, and then he will plunder his house.

If you want to think about this in this way, it may be helpful. If you'd like to rob Samson's house, you better tie him up first.

Hi, Samson. We're here to take all your stuff. Really? You can't plunder and carry off things unless you're greater.

Jesus is the conqueror of Satan. He's not in cahoots with Satan, demonstrated by previous exorcisms and everything else.

Verse 28. Fascinating. Look at how chilling this is. Truly I say to you, all sin shall be forgiven, the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they uttered.

If there was only a period there, if it only stopped there, oh, great. How true, how authoritative, how merciful

God is, how forgiving God is. But, verse 29, whoever blasphemes against the

Holy Spirit like you guys are, he says, you scribes, you false teachers, never has forgiveness.

But is guilty of an eternal sin. Why? Because they were saying Jesus has an unclean spirit.

They were defaming God, they were mocking God, they were blaspheming God, and there is no forgiveness for these men to see

Jesus on earth with their own eyes, and instead of saying, it's got to be

God working through him, but we just don't understand how he can do all these prophetic things, instead they have said, you know what,

I don't know what he does, but for our own selfish good, he's demonic. By the way, they're saying, he's a blasphemer, and what did you have to do in the

Old Testament if you found somebody who blasphemed? Kill him, stone him, Leviticus 24.

The one who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. And by the way, aren't you glad we're not under Mosaic law?

All the congregation shall certainly stone him. The alien as well as the native, when he blasphemes the name, shall be put to death.

You've got to kill this guy. Guilty of an eternal sin, unending consequences of sin, some people say hell's not forever,

Jesus would disagree. When you say Jesus did these miracles, by Satan's power it's blasphemy of the

Holy Spirit. They just kept on saying, verse 30, over and over and over and over.

It wasn't some isolated thing, it wasn't a slip up, they attribute the work of the Holy Spirit to Satan. Now without diving into too much of this,

I don't think Christians can commit this sin today because Jesus isn't on earth doing these miracles.

And I also believe, secondly, that if someone dies with any sin that's not paid for by the blood of Christ, that's enough to send them to hell forever, right?

Any unforgiven sin, whether that sin is denying Christ Jesus or that sin is not loving

God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. Every sin on earth for us now as this side of the cross, this side of Calvary, every sin can be forgiven by Christ Jesus.

Any sin that Jesus doesn't pay for, the people who have committed those sins will pay for. But here specifically in context,

Jesus is a demon. Well, I have to say a couple of things about Jesus before I go on, that God is by nature a forgiving

God. Listen to some of these great verses. Jesus may have said, you know, this cannot be forgiven, but I want to remind you, the congregation, those in Christ, listen to the forgiveness found in God alone.

Psalm 86 .5, for thou, Lord, art good and ready to forgive and abundant in loving kindness to all who call upon thee.

Psalm 103 .3, who pardons all your what? Iniquities, heals all your diseases.

Maybe one of my favorite verses, Daniel 9 .9, to the Lord our God belong compassion and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him.

For us as Christians, we have not said Jesus is on the earth and we now say Jesus does miracles by Satan's power.

We have sinned, yes. We have sinned by omission and commission, yet we are forgiven. Jesus has paid for it.

God won't make us pay for it as well. And these men were in big trouble.

Listen to J. Gresham Machen talk about the situation.

Offend against the laws of health and the result follows with the terrible certainty.

No excuses will avail. Crying and tears will count nothing. The retribution, however deferred, is sure.

In the sphere of the physical life, it is certainly clear that the wages of sin is death. Many people think that the paymaster can be cheated.

That after a life of sin, we can present ourselves, hopefully, at the cashier's window and be paid in some different coin from that which we have earned.

Wages are fixed. The matter is not discussed. The employee does not then try to strike a bargain with the cashier.

The amount of the payment has been determined beforehand and the payment itself is purely formal and an impersonal affair.

Aren't you glad you're forgiven? Can you imagine? I don't want to misrepresent

Jesus. I don't want to misunderstand him and I don't want to say he's not Lord. Well, what's the only option? Option number four, picture number four, you must see

Jesus as the Son of God, Mark 3, verses 7 to 12. But it's going to come from an unlikely source, unlikely source.

This is who God is and it's not even a human necessarily who recognizes this. Surprise, surprise, an unlikely witness.

Mark 3, verses 7 to 12, this is the last little picture we see of Jesus. Verse 7,

Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples and a great multitude, there we go again, from Galilee followed and also from Judea.

Probably a time of respite, probably a time of getting away from the ecclesiastical authorities.

Maybe there's physical danger, but God orchestrates it all perfectly because the day that he died, the way he died, the place he died has all been ordained and he retires here to the sea.

Great multitude followed him and also from Judea. There were hordes of people, tons of people, all needy, all wanting

Christ's attention. Verse 8, not just from near Galilee but also from far and from Jerusalem, from Edomenea, let's see,

I don't like the way I pronounce that, Edomenea, and beyond the Jordan and from the vicinity of Gentile areas,

Tyre, Sidon, a great multitude heard of all that he was doing and came to him. Reports are flooding in, let's go see

Jesus. From close by Galilee, from far, Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon, way up, up in Lebanon, we've got to go, we've got to find out.

This is a 100 -mile trip to Jesus, jam -packed. They're all just pressing in.

What would you do? Verse 9, he told his disciples that a boat should stand ready for him.

As a fireman has his fire trucks or her fire trucks ready for the split -second need, so too these men were to have this boat ready for him.

Why? Look at the text. Because of the multitude in order that they might not crowd him.

It's like some kind of car that you keep on and running so you easily can get into it and off you go.

Keep this boat close to the shore because when Jesus needed it, he needed it. It could crush him and press him, this great throng of people coming in.

There were no crowd control back in those days, no bouncers, probably some unruly people, and pressing in like a vice grip.

I've only been in a situation one time, I went to a concert when I was 20,

I guess, and I went to this concert. I won't tell you the band name, but I do remember this. It was some of those festival seatings, remember?

Back in the days before the concert, I think it was the Who and there's people that died, and so now they had to assign seats.

But this was before that time, and you just got there early, and when they opened the doors, you just ran. And I remember doing this.

I'm a fairly, you know, I'm a big enough guy, but I remember this. There were so many people crowded all around me that I just decided that I would lift my legs up, both at the same time, and bring my heels up to my hamstrings and just be stationary like this because the crowd was pressing in.

So I just stayed there for as long as I could, just balancing in the crush. I thought, that's crowded.

I'm just refraining myself from telling you the rest of the story of what happened at this concert. It's all right here, sadly.

And they were Middle Easterners, not at the concert that I went to, but back in Jesus' day. Aggressive, pressing in.

Picture thousands of these people grabbing, yelling, trying to bring their loved ones in who were sick.

Why were they pressing in on him? For his teaching, he came to teach, but no, they were coming for his healing, verse 10, for he had healed many.

But the result that all those who had afflictions, by the way, that word affliction comes from the word of to whip or to stripe or to give a lash.

They had such an affliction, it was like that they were on the receiving end of a whipping, scourging. They had so many afflictions and they pressed about him.

I could only touch Jesus in order to touch him.

Of course, Jesus knew that they needed something more than physical healing, but here this wonderful Messiah came and did all those healings as well as taught, verse 11, and whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, there was more than one, by the way.

Whenever the unclean spirits beheld him, somehow in this throng of all these people jammed in close by Jesus with the boat ready, there were some in there that were demon -possessed and had these unclean spirits.

They would fall down before him. They've made it to the front. How do they make it to the front?

We don't know, but they would fall down before Jesus and they would cry out, this is an unclean spirit, you are the son of God.

These demons who are, if I could just try to make the point oratorically, these filthy, smelly, morally unclean, nasty, squalid, obscene, vile demons bowed down before Jesus and said, you are the son of God.

The Pharisees didn't say that. Jesus' family didn't say that.

The scribes never said it, but the demons knew it all along. You're the son of God. They might not bow in real praise and real worship and real adoration.

Now, there's one other possibility. Sometimes back in those days, if you wanted to kind of have an edge on someone occultically, you'd say their name.

So, you know, you'd meet someone and you wanted to try to do some kind of voodoo pin doctor thing on them or something.

You'd say, hey, what's your name? And the other person would say, hey, what's your name? I'm not going to tell you my name until, you know, I know if you're friend or foe.

It could be a possibility that they're trying to get the best of Jesus, but I think with the bowing down and falling down and crying out in agony before the

Messiah, they're not saying we're trying to get one over on you.

They're saying, you are the son of God. It's futile to say anything else. We recognize you.

Just your presence strips us and robs us and takes away all the kind of sheen of who we are.

What did Jesus say to these demons? By the way, good job. And I want you to go around and since Satan is my hardest working servant,

I'm going to use you as well. You go out and be my emissaries and you preach the gospel of good news to everyone.

Is that what Jesus did? Is that what Jesus said? He rebuked them and he said, verse 12, and we get an idea of what, not exactly what he said, but he earnestly warned them not to make him known.

It's a severe rebuke. There's a time for me to have all my emissaries, but the time's not now and it's not with you.

Jesus was recognized by the evil spirits, even if the crowds didn't know.

Crowds could have been saying he's popular, he's a prophet, he's a great teacher. And the demons cry with despair, not faith, as one writer says, they know who he is.

But if you'll turn to Matthew chapter 12, we'll wrap it up here. Something else happened after Jesus said,

I don't want these things to be known through you. He warned them not to make him known. And then there's an in order that in Matthew.

So we have Mark and Matthew and Luke, these three similar gospels. They each give us a different picture, but we have a little bit more of information found in Matthew.

And I want you to see why Jesus did that. Why did Jesus say, don't make me known?

Yes, they were demons, of course, but something more than that. Matthew chapter 12, verse 16, we see the similar verse and warned them not to make him known.

Verse 17 of Matthew 12, we get the reason, the purpose statement, in order that what was spoken to the prophet,

Isaiah, the prophet might be fulfilled, saying, Jesus is going to say, there's a reason why you're not to go out here right now.

This is the prophetic reason. Verse 18, right from Isaiah 42, behold, my servant, whom

I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. Can you imagine the father saying that to the son?

I will put my spirit upon him and he shall proclaim justice to the Gentiles. He will not quarrel, nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets.

A battered reed he will not break off and a smoldering wick he will not put out till he leads justice to victory.

And in his name, the Gentiles will hope. This is

God's beloved son in whom he is well pleased. Chapter 12, verse 18 of Matthew, you and you alone,

God says, are well pleased. Jesus is the one fulfilling this great redemptive mission that Isaiah prophesied about all those 100 years old, 100 years ago.

I don't think God ever said out loud when Moses' men all took in the offerings, as the

Levites would all be in charge of the priestly offerings, and as the throats of the lambs were slit, the throats of the goats were slit, the throats of the pigeons were slit, killed.

Never did you hear the words out loud, with this I am well pleased. Yet at Christ's inauguration, at Christ's baptism, this is my beloved son in whom

I am well pleased. Jesus, now, you should be thankful for this. If you're losing me, this is my last bit of information.

Don't lose me now. You ought to all be very, very glad for this purpose statement because Jesus said, it's not my time yet for one reason and one reason only in the context.

I've got to go to the Gentiles because I've got to save Gentiles too.

I'm very glad for that. I'm very glad we have a sovereign God who saves not just Jews but also

Gentiles. Who's Jesus?

That's a good question. Let me give you a bad question. Who is Jesus to you?

You say, why is that bad? Well, in one sense, it's not bad.

You have to decide in your own mind, your own volition, of your own free agency, who is

Jesus. But some people say, well, to me, Jesus is this, and to me,

Jesus is that. Who is Jesus? The answer can only be found in one book, right? Who is

Jesus? Jesus is this. Our response is either, do we like it or do we not?

Do we believe him or do we not? Do we trust in him or do we not? Do we follow him or do we not? But we can't make our own personal

Jesus. Remember an old song called that, my own personal Jesus. I like this, a little bit of love, not too much this, you know, and we create it.

Who is Jesus to you? Irrelevant. Who is Jesus from the Bible? That's the right question.

We have one source of authority, one book to learn from. And as we learn Jesus, then we could ask ourself the question, what's your response?

Do you believe he's Lord? Do you believe he's misguided? Do you believe he's insane or do you believe he's the son of God?

Those are the questions. Those are always the questions. And somehow, I think people like Christmas because Jesus is in the manger and he never talks.

Everybody likes babies for lots of reasons. One of the reasons I like babies is because they never tell me anything I don't want to hear.

They just smile. But once Jesus started opening his mouth and saying, this is what

God requires, and I am the only one who can fulfill that requirement, that plays against pride and the sinful righteousness, self -righteousness of man.

It's one thing if we say, Jesus helps me, Jesus walks with me, and Jesus, we get saved together and he's...I

mean, I heard on the radio yesterday, basically this message, Jesus is dying to save you if you'd only let him.

It's a lot different when you have this Jesus who sits on the throne and at his own good pleasure puts the scepter out to say, you may approach me.

Mark 3 tells us Jesus is Lord. Jesus isn't misguided. Jesus isn't misunderstood.

Jesus is the son of God. Let's pray. Lord, we exalt your name this morning.

We are thankful that we have this holy word to learn about Christ Jesus. It's not an oral report, it's not hearsay, it's not some kind of myth, yet we know who

Jesus is. Strictly by your spirits, opening our hearts.

And we are all here who are Christians, like Lydia, whose heart was opened by you and then she received that good news and responded.

And so, Lord, we had acknowledged this morning that we are your handiwork and that we offer no good thing to you and it's by your will we are created and it is in Christ that we have been saved and it is in Christ that we still stand.

And so, we're thankful that we have a mediator as Christians, Christ Jesus. We are weak and we are troubled and we are failing.

Then we go back to the cross, we go back to the life of Christ, we go back to his resurrection and say, what a savior we have.

Lord, I pray for the dear congregation this week. I pray that they wouldn't focus on their marriages, good or bad.

I pray that they wouldn't focus on their jobs, good or bad or without a job. I pray that they'd focus on Christ Jesus so that they might realize who he is to a greater extent by your spirit's illumination so we might respond with praise and adoration and thanksgiving.