Prioritizing His Kingdom Luke 4:31-44

Well, good morning, and welcome to Faith Bible Church. We're glad you're here, and those that are tuning in, we're glad you're watching.

Wanted to mention Sunday school in the mornings at 9 .30. Pastor leads a really wonderful time of devotional, of teaching, of just exchanging, interacting with one another as believers, going through the

Psalms mostly, and just a great, it's a rich time, it's a good time.

And if you're able, and I encourage you to try to come out at 9 .30 and be a part of that.

You will be blessed, and we thank the Lord for a pastor and his commitment to, he has a lot of plates in the air, and that's one of them, but he does it with joy and with just a wonderful spirit, and we thank the

Lord for him. Announcements -wise, it's kind of the usual prayer meeting tonight at six.

There'll be a banner going up out front for biblical counseling training. That's gonna start at March 11th at 11 o 'clock in the morning, that's open to everybody.

So come on out and see what that's all about. It's definitely something that's needed in our world today, and it's rooted in God's word, that's where it needs to be in.

It's not human psychology, it's not the means of man in his own abilities, but it's in the power of the

Holy Spirit and what his word directs us to do. So please share that with others, maybe somebody that you know might wanna be fortified in that area, or they're working through a situation with a friend or family, just maybe they could glean some nuggets that will help them as they interact with their family members and maybe helping others to come to Christ.

So I guess as we come before the Lord in our time of worship,

I wanted to read Psalm 19, verse 14, it says, let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight.

Oh Lord, my strength and my redeemer. Jesus is our redeemer, he has saved us.

Without him, we are lost, we are hopeless, we are just wanderers looking for a home.

But if you know Jesus and you know the redeemer, then you have a home, you have a place to go and you can have peace in your life.

And so it's a joy to get together as believers to worship together, so would you please join me in prayer?

Lord God, we thank you, Father, that you have shown yourself so evident, Lord, in our lives, in the lives of those around us.

Father, thank you that you have given us your word that we have something that we can stand on, that we can rally around and know that we are worshiping the

God of this universe, the true God, the one and only God that is our redeemer.

Thank you for your son, Jesus, Father, for the sacrifice that he made, that through his death and his resurrection, we might have life, that our sinful life can be put away and wiped away and washed away,

Father, and redeemed for a life eternal with the heavenly Father. So God, we ask this day,

Lord, that you would bless those that are at home that are not feeling well, that you would sustain them, that you would care for them.

Lord, that you would bring others around them to minister to them, but also to draw their hearts to you,

Father, even in the silence of the room that they're sitting in or listening or praying. God, we thank you for their faithfulness, and we pray that you would encourage them, even in a difficult time,

Father, because all things are from your hand for our growth and for us to look to you for all things.

So God, this day, we ask that you would bless our service and the musicians and pastor and his giving of the word, and Lord, as we as the choir,

Father, may you be pleased with the offerings of our praise, that the Holy Spirit would guide and lead us today, Father.

We pray these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Let's stand and sing to Jesus, our heavenly

Father. Truth to believe for this morning is

Colossians chapter one, verses 15 through 20. Who is the image of the invisible

God, the firstborn of every creature, for by him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions or personalities or powers.

All things were created by him and for him, and he is before all things, and by him all things consist, and he is the head of the body.

The church who was the beginning of the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he might have the permanence, for it pleased the

Father that in him should all forces dwell, and he may peace through the blood of his cross, then be letting them to reconcile all things unto himself by him.

I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, may the

Lord allow us to read his word. No one loves as much as Jesus does, right?

And no one understands as much as he does. ♪

This Christ is born ♪

Please turn with me to the Gospel of Luke, chapter four, verses 31 through 44.

Luke, chapter four, verses 31 through 44.

Then he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbaths.

And they were astonished at his teaching, for his word was with authority. Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying, let us alone, what have we to do with you?

Jesus of Nazareth, did you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be quiet and come out of him. And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.

Then they were all amazed and spoke among themselves, saying, what a word this is, for with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out.

And the report about him went out into every place in the surrounding region. Now he arose from the synagogue and entered

Simon's house. But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever, and they made a request of him concerning her.

So he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her. And immediately she arose and served them.

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to him.

And he laid his hands on every one of them and healed them. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, you are the

Christ, the Son of God. And he rebuking them did not allow them to speak, for they knew that he was the

Christ. Now, when it was day, he departed and went into a deserted place.

And the crowd sought him and came to him and tried to keep him from leaving them. But he said to them,

I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.

And he was preaching in the synagogues of Galilee. This is the word of the Lord. Let us pray.

Father, we're thankful that we get to see Christ's ministry in action. Thank you that his word is not just word only, but his word has power.

His word has power to save. His word has power to restore. He does not speak any empty words like humans do.

Father, we pray that we would come to Christ today to be changed by his word.

In Jesus' name, amen. So last week, Jesus told us the reality of God's restorative plan through his messianic king.

This week, Jesus shows us the reality of God's restorative plan through his messianic king.

Now, the question that this text answers this morning is what does it mean for God's messianic kingdom to finally arrive?

What does it mean for God's kingdom to be here? Now, this question is really important for us today because many

Christians throw the word kingdom around in every form possible, yet from our modern context, we often lose the meaning of God's kingdom that the

Bible tells us. For example, kingdom is used as a sticker tag for every type of ministry.

We feed the homeless for God's kingdom. We send doctors and nurses abroad for God's kingdom.

We teach impoverished kids how to read for God's kingdom. Now, what does it mean for a ministry to be focused on God's kingdom?

And oftentimes, the most common answer that people give are, well, they're helped financially, socially, relationally, economically, physically.

Therefore, that's God's kingdom. However, if that is the true answer, then it is an extremely deficient view of God's kingdom.

If God's kingdom was just about, only about helping those who are in need, why does your ministry need to be

Christian? Muslims can do that. That's one of their pillars.

Buddhists can do that. Atheists can do that.

If God's kingdom was about just helping people, then we have a very low view of what

God's kingdom is truly about. And however, this text shows us that Jesus' miracles were not done for the miracle's sake alone, but they were signs that pointed to the reality of God's kingdom.

And really, the difference between the secular philanthropy and charity and Christianity for God's kingdom is the focus on the king.

Any so -called kingdom ministries that do not mention or even focus on King Jesus have nothing to do with God's kingdom.

Yes, is it godly? Is it good that poor people are fed? Yes. Does God command us to do that?

Yes. Is it good that those who are hurt are healed? Yes. But if we proclaim that that is only

God's kingdom ministry, then we have missed the main point.

Because every kingdom, the focus is the king. And for Christians, when we talk about God's kingdom or any ministry that relates to God's kingdom, if it lacks the gospel message about what this king has done to rescue his own enemies and to bring them in to his own kingdom through the blood on the cross, we have missed the point of kingdom ministry.

Every ministry that proclaims to be gospel -centered or kingdom -oriented must, in the end, be focused on Christ.

Yes, feed the poor. Yes, help the hungry. Yes, heal the sick.

But at the center of it must be how and what

Christ has done to bring these people, sinners, all of us, into his kingdom.

By dying for our sin. The main point of today's text is that Jesus' ministry powerfully proclaims the coming of God's kingdom by fully restoring his people from sin.

Jesus' ministry powerfully proclaims the coming of God's kingdom by fully restoring his people from sin.

So the glimpse of what Jesus' ministry happens in this text is a sample of what will fully happen when

God's kingdom is fully realized at his second coming. The fact that Jesus is here, it shows that the kingdom is already here, but then there is this longing wait for the full restoration from sin at Jesus' second coming.

First, the coming of Jesus' messianic kingdom powerfully delivers his people from Satan's power.

The coming of Jesus' messianic kingdom powerfully delivers his people from Satan's power.

Now, after Nazareth, his hometown, the town that he grew up in, rejected the

Messiah, Jesus goes down to Capernaum to teach in their synagogue. Now, the first two verses tell us the summary of what happened at Capernaum.

Then he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and was teaching them on the

Sabbath. Capernaum was a city below the sea level, the lowest point in the region of Galilee, by the northwest shore of the

Sea of Galilee. And it was a major city for trades and agriculture.

It was a big city. And verse 32 tells us the response of Jesus' teaching.

And they were astonished at his teaching for his word was with authority.

Similar to the last section, the audience is shocked by Jesus' teaching ability.

His teaching wasn't just good. His teaching wasn't just clear, but it had authority.

It was authoritative. While Israel's teachers and scribes taught from their traditions, what they've been taught, words of others.

Jesus' words alone were sufficient to exegete the text.

Jesus' words alone were sufficient to explain the text. Jesus' words alone had the authority.

He did not need to back it up with other experts' words. While the scribes and teachers relied on the words of others,

Jesus' words were directly from the divine source. That's what made these people astonished.

Now, as Jesus' powerful teaching continued, verse 33 introduces the first public opposition to his ministry.

A man with an unclean demon loudly shouted at him. Now, the unclean here is most likely defining the moral evil, wickedness of the spirit.

And this is what the demon shouts. Let us alone, what have we do to with you,

Jesus of Nazareth? Do you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.

Now, it is important to note that whenever God's will is being accomplished on earth,

Satan attempts to thwart it. And here, the first being to recognize the significance of Jesus' ministry is none other than a demon.

He interjects loudly, let us alone. What have we to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth?

The interjections to be left alone implicitly tells us

Jesus' teaching was so powerful that it was threatening to the demon. If it weren't, he wouldn't be screaming.

If it weren't, he wouldn't be interjecting. And viewing from another angle,

Jesus' ministry powerfully opposes Satan's domain. If you want to know how your ministry is having an impact, see how

Satan responds. That also means if your ministry is letting you be rich, comfortable, and powerful, and there's really no opposition, some questions have to be asked.

Are you having an impact against Satan's domain?

Or is he your ministry partner? The next question further corroborates the fact that Jesus' kingdom is a deadly threat to the demonic realm.

Did you come to destroy us? Now, it is rather curious that the demon uses the plural pronoun, even though verse 33 tells us it's a singular unclean demon.

And the question is, is Luke getting the pronouns mixed up like our culture? At one level, the demon's hysterical cry speaks for the whole demonic realm.

The demon knows just by the presence of Jesus, their whole evil enterprise is gonna go bankrupt.

It's a sure sign that they are to be destroyed. Seeing Jesus' teaching publicly clearly showed that Satan's days are numbered.

His expiration date was closer than one's thought. That could be one reason for the plurality.

At another level, the demon speaks for himself and the man he is possessing.

The demon declares that Jesus' power would utterly destroy the man and himself. As we know from scripture, demons try to destroy the host like a parasite.

In fact, this is a hostage crisis. Jesus, if you try to destroy me,

I will kill the man. If you try to destroy me, I will destroy the man. This is a demonic last ditch effort to survival.

Now, why is the demon so scared? Because unlike the audience, the demon is fully aware who

Jesus is. I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Here, it is abundantly clear that Jesus is not another teacher.

In fact, seeing Jesus as a great teacher would be a giant misunderstanding and even a bigger understatement.

If Jesus were just another teacher, he wouldn't be so threatening to the whole demonic realm.

The demon publicly proclaims who Jesus is, the Holy One of God. And this title signifies

Jesus' role in bringing God's kingdom of restoration to earth.

Remember what the angel announced to Mary, announcing the virgin birth in Luke 135.

Therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the

Son of God. The Holy One is the divine figure who will establish

God's kingdom for all eternity. He will vanquish every opposition.

He will conquer Satan and his kingdom. And he will reign forever unopposed in a kingdom that has no limit temporally and also spatially.

There's no end in sight. And the logical conclusion is, if this king is here, the

Holy One of God is here, then my days are numbered. Now, how does

Jesus respond to the demonic threat? Jesus rebukes.

Be quiet and come out of him. Here, Luke displays what he has narrated before.

Jesus' words are powerful. All he needs to do is to speak, and the demon comes out.

No rituals necessary, no gadgets, no sprinkling of the holy water.

Jesus authoritatively speaks, and even his enemy has to obey.

This is quite different from other cultures on how they perform exorcism. Even the

Roman Catholic Church, they read in Latin, they have to sprinkle holy water, and they have to chant over and over again.

And then the pagan cultures are pretty similar. I come from a Korean culture, and for non -Christian

Koreans, if they need to perform exorcism, they call a specialist, an expert, a shaman, who's dressed up in very colorful robes, and they have a sword, and they're swinging it, dancing, and they're sprinkling whatever, and then chanting things.

That's not the case we see here, because Jesus actually has authority.

He has authority even over his enemies. Jesus is the type of king who has authority not only over his own subjects, but over his own enemies.

No king can say that, or wars wouldn't be fought. Wars are fought because there's a disagreement on who has authority over you.

Not for Jesus, he just needs to speak. And Luke tells us at the end of verse 35 that it came out of him and did not hurt him.

This emphasis that the man was unharmed is important because Jesus' deliverance is compassionate.

Jesus is not at all like human rulers who may sacrifice a few to win the war.

To this king, every life is precious and worthy. Jesus is able to conquer evil without sacrificing the innocent.

To Jesus, the hostage was not the obstacle to his mission of fighting the demon, no.

Saving the hostage was the purpose of deliverance. And this is the demonstration of what last week's scripture foretold.

To set at liberty those who are oppressed. Jesus sees a demon -possessed man not as an obstacle to his ministry.

Ah, what a burden, he's screaming. Let me just teach in peace. No, Jesus views a demon -possessed man as a man who's oppressed and is in need of freedom.

That's Christ's view of the oppressed. Jesus overcomes evil without harming humanity.

Jesus defeats evil and protects the man at the same time. It's not an either -or.

It's not about greater good. Jesus only does good. And verses 36 to 37 show the response of the audience.

While they were astonished by Jesus' teaching, now they are amazed by his application.

What a word this is. For with authority and power, he commands the unclean spirits and they come out.

It's not that he speaks well. It's not that he teaches well. It's that his power has the force to enforce what he says.

He's not just the talk. His speech has the capacity to act.

What kind of person is this? And in the Old Testament, God acts through speaking.

There's a hint here. This is no ordinary person.

How is that he can accomplish just by speaking? And verse 37 recounts that Jesus' reputation spread around the region.

After all, something like this didn't happen all the time. And when we read

Luke, for the matter of any of the gospel accounts, I think we get jaded by growing up sometimes in the

Christian household. We hear about exorcism and healing and then we think, oh yeah, that's what

Jesus does. Of course, what else would he do? But we need to go back to this awe and wonder that the original audience would have experienced.

The original audience comes from the ancient realm in which demon oppression happened all the time and there was nothing really they could do.

Only in a few instances were demons exercised in the

Old Testament and that's with David playing the harp and he needed that harp and it was not a permanent solution.

David had to continue being with Saul in order for Saul to be comforted.

In one sense, even the great king David was a temporary solution to the demonic oppression.

But the audience, they get to experience firsthand that there's a man who can just speak and the demons will listen and they'll just depart.

They'll leave them alone. That's the wonder and awe that these people experience.

That's why the words got around. And I believe sometimes when we do lose that wonder and awe, maybe that's why the words don't get around.

The fact that we worship a king who can do that, who can speak and the demon, any demon, and even

Satan have to obey. Second, it's also important to know that when we read this text in the context, this is not an instruction for exorcism.

This does not give you the warrant to go around finding demon -possessed people and start rebuking them.

And certain denominations and certain ministries do that, but that's not the point of the text.

The point of the text is Jesus is highlighted and set apart because he's the only one who can do that.

And in fact, in the Acts of the Apostles, whenever they're healing, whenever they're exorcising, it's in Jesus' name.

It's not even in their own authority. The context of this text shows us that what

Jesus is doing is not something we do ourselves, although we can pray and we can go to God to be freed from demonic oppression or have someone be freed from demonic oppression.

But the point is, it displays what kind of king this is.

This is a king, when he starts his ministry,

Satan's realm is visibly uncomfortable and cannot withstand him.

That's the type of king who came to Israel to restore. And additionally, this king does not sacrifice his people in order to defeat his enemies.

Jesus does not send you to the front line so that Satan may be brought down. Jesus is the king who fights against Satan himself to rescue you from Satan.

You're not the sacrifice to win the battle. He's the sacrifice and he won the war.

And when we consider that, we have to see that those people who are vehemently against Christianity, at their core, they're not the enemies.

They're actually the captives, just like the man who's screaming to interject, to interrupt

Christ's ministry. People who purpose themselves to oppose

Christianity at their core are victims of satanic rule.

Sure, they do want to, it's from their desire, right, to oppose

Christ. But in another sense, they themselves need deliverance too.

And we have to pray for them. That's, for Christians, rescuing people from the satanic rule is the same way as the text shows here.

We go to the one who has the authority. We go to Christ. We pray for their souls.

We pray for deliverance from them. That's the only way out. We don't go around rebuking people in Christ's name.

We let Christ do his job. Second, the coming of Jesus' messianic kingdom authoritatively undoes the effects of sin by healing people to serve.

The coming of Jesus' messianic kingdom authoritatively undoes the effects of sin by healing his people to serve.

Now, from the synagogue, we move to Peter's residence. Now, he arose from the synagogue and entered

Simon's house. It is important to note that although Peter's hometown is

Bethsaida, his current residence is Capernaum. And this is important because some people might say, well, you see, the

Bible contradicts itself. People move. They change their home.

They can grow up in one place and then move to another. Here, we find another form of oppression and it's illness.

But Simon's wife's mother was sick with a high fever and they made requests of him concerning her.

Oh, maybe, maybe Jesus can do something about the illness too. He was powerful enough to get the demon away.

Maybe the illness too. And Simon here is Simon Peter, one of the apostles.

And the main problem at hand is that Simon's mother -in -law is really sick and they specifically asked

Jesus to heal her. And now, some may be surprised by the fact that Peter is married, but Paul confirms this in 1

Corinthians 9 .5. Cephas, Peter, was married. And for those of you who grew up with a

Roman Catholic background, this may be odd, but it further shows that priestly celibacy is of men's tradition, not of scripture.

Even if they hold that Peter is the first pope, the first pope, the first pope, we don't hold to that.

He himself was married. In the same manner that Jesus freed the demon -possessed man,

Jesus rebukes the fever. So, he stood over her and rebuked the fever and it left her.

Here, Luke personifies the illness. Just as the demon was rebuked and forced to leave, forced to leave the man, the illness is rebuked and forced to leave the woman.

By doing this, Luke threads the theme of what kind of oppression is

Jesus here to free his people from? And at the core of it is sin.

In one sense, all diseases exist because of sin. Now, this is not to say that you're suffering from a chronic illness because you've sinned in a certain way, right?

That's spiritually abusive to claim that, right? Oh, maybe if you had read the

Bible long enough, you wouldn't be suffering from blank, right? That's not okay. But rather, we experience sickness because there's sin in the world.

Remember, the Garden of Eden did not have any diseases or death until Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God.

And in one sense, all forms of oppression, whether demonic or pathological, trace back to the entrance of sin.

And that's because God's design of the world did not initially include sickness and death, but flourishing life.

Life abundant. However, because men sinned against God, sickness and death entered the world.

And what is God's response? Good luck, you're all on your own? He could have done that.

God's response is that he comes back to restore what's been shattered. Here, Jesus, God incarnate, and restores a seriously sick person completely.

The disease left her. It's personified to highlight what kind of healing this produced.

Nowadays, when we think of healing, okay, we've suffered for a week or two, and yeah,

I'm still fatigued, but I'm well enough to go out in the public because I'm not coughing up my lungs.

Ah, I feel I'm healed now. That is not the healing that we see.

The healing is that, and immediately she arose and served them. The disease was completely gone.

It was not that she was feeling a tad better and needed a few days to rest. Oh, Peter, just have your guests calm down a little bit.

I'll clean up after. No, she was fully restored at Jesus' command.

It is not just the demons who bow down to the authority of Christ, but every cell in that sick woman's body obeyed their creator's command.

There was no cell, whether human cell or bacterial or viral, whatever the cause was, that could disobey

God's command. Upon this instantaneous total recovery, the woman immediately serves.

When God saves, He restores His people for service. When God saves,

God has a purpose for you. You're not saved to just do nothing.

You have a role in His kingdom. And when we see healing accounts, we have to consider them as a sample of the greater restoration to come.

After all, Peter's mother -in -law, in the end, died, probably of some sort of illness herself again.

Jesus' command points to the greater freedom that will come, that He's come to accomplish.

Whether it's personal force, like a demonic evil, or impersonal evil, like diseases,

Jesus came to undo all effects of sin. There's no effect of sin after which

Jesus' commands lingers on. That is what kind of king

Jesus is. That's the type of king who has come to restore.

Second, if you want to know God's view of diseases, we look at Jesus.

He could not stand it. God being in all omniscient, all -knowing

God, could He have said, well, you know, your mother -in -law's gonna get better. I'll even let you know at what day, so just don't fret it.

No, He could not stand it. In fact, wherever He went,

Jesus healed the sick so that they may live as God has purposed them to. And this is because diseases, sickness, injuries are not a part of God's original design, but results of sin.

The common cold, the flu, and cancer, all will cease to exist when

God's kingdom is fully realized. That's the king we serve.

For secular atheism, diseases are just a part of nature.

That's what the world has been, and that's what the world will be. And no wonder why people are so distraught and depressed nowadays, because they don't have the king to go to who hates diseases, who hates it so much that He came to die to abolish it forever.

By stabbing the core, which is sin, He removes the core of all diseases and illnesses, sin, by dying on the cross so that one day

He may fully restore the good creation that He's created thousands of years ago.

That's what gives the sick people hope. Not, that's the natural course of human event, and that's the type of ministry that Jesus came for, to undo all effects of sin completely.

Third, although Jesus' messianic kingdom cares for each person, the ultimate purpose is to proclaim the kingdom of God.

Although Jesus' messianic kingdom cares for each person, the ultimate purpose is to proclaim the kingdom of God.

Now, when I say cares for each person, it means care in terms of physical, in terms of the care that we've seen so far.

People being freed from demon oppression, people being freed from illnesses. Yes, that is what

Jesus is capable of doing, and He willingly does so because He's compassionate. But here, we will find out what is the core purpose of His kingdom?

Is it mainly that no one will get sick? Is it mainly that no one will be oppressed ever? Now, as the word gets around what happened that day, remember all that happened in one day, a crowd gathers around Jesus with requests of more restoration.

When the sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases brought them to Him, and He laid

His hands on every one of them and healed them. Notice how Jesus lays

His hands on each sick person. Could He have healed everyone instantaneously upon just one word?

Yes. He had no problem doing that with Peter's mother -in -law. Right, He didn't have to touch

Peter's mother -in -law. He just rebuked the disease. Would it have been faster to just rebuke the disease?

Every disease in the room, I rebuke you. Yes. Apparently, there's a crowd, and sun's setting.

He's been working from morning to evening. However, Luke shows us

Jesus' intentional, personal care for each individual.

Even as the day is over, to Jesus, you're not just a number, but an individual.

Even as the sun has set, and He has been working since that morning, He prioritizes the need of His people.

To Jesus, you're not a project to fix. You're not just a tally mark

He's going to put on His record. See, I've done this many healings, but you are a person worthy of His compassionate care.

That's what kind of king He is. That is the culture of His kingdom. He lays

His hand on them. In the Jewish custom, the Old Testament law, people are told not to touch the sick because that would make you unclean.

Jesus does the opposite and makes them clean and remains pure Himself. That's what kind of king, and that's what kind of kingdom

He's bringing. While verse 40 shows Jesus' healing authority over the broken world, verse 41 shows

Jesus' full authority over the demonic world. And demons also came out of many, crying out and saying, you're the

Christ, the Son of God. But, as we have seen previously, Jesus silences the testimony of demons.

The demons here, what's notable is that they're actually telling the truth.

Right, Satan and demons are known to be deceivers. But here, they're actually telling the truth. There's nothing wrong with what they're saying.

Jesus is the Son of God. He is the Christ. And Luke has told us already, both titles used for Christ.

Now, why does Jesus silence them? There are a few speculations regarding this, and they do not have to be mutually exclusive.

First, Jesus does not wanna be revealed by the demons. After all, the demonic announcement could lead people to misunderstand who

He is. It's the same way that when a dignitary, an important dignitary comes, they're not gonna ask

His enemy to introduce Him. Just doesn't make sense.

Second, Jesus is waiting to fully reveal Himself as the Messiah and Son of God.

It's not the right time. Right now, the only things the crowd has witnessed of Jesus are powerful miracles, right?

Demons are cast out, the sick are getting healed, completely and immediately. And although Jesus is the

Messiah and He is the Son of God, with this limited information, the crowd will misunderstand.

They will only see Him as the conquering King, a powerful figure who will continue doing this until they're ultimately freed from the

Roman Empire. In fact, recall that there's a crowd gathering around Him, and this has been only one day.

How big can His army get if we do this, continue to do this for a year? Man, Rome wouldn't stand a chance.

However, Jesus knows and Luke knows that Jesus is most clearly revealed as the

Messiah and Son of God when He is, in fact, most humiliated and hanging on the cross, bearing the sin of the world.

This is not the picture the demons were painting, nor what the people were expecting.

But that's the only way that Jesus came to restore the world, not through might, but through what's right, to tackle sin head on Himself.

Not by conquering and healing, but dying for the world that He came to save.

And this is why Jesus silences the demons. He does not want an incomplete picture of who

He is. He does not want to be elevated as a revolutionary figure to overthrow

Rome, but as the

Son to fulfill the Father's will as the suffering servant. And at this time, it wasn't the right time to mention that.

In fact, when we get to Luke, the middle of this book, it's all going to point to Jerusalem.

Luke has, Luke devotes over half of his gospel account showing where Jesus is headed.

You can see what the focus is. It's not about power and healing.

It's about dealing with sin head on through death. Now, when the crowd continues to gather around Him, Jesus actually isolates

Himself. He doesn't want this attention. Now, when it was day,

He departed and went into a deserted place, and the crowd sought Him and came to Him and tried to keep

Him from leaving them. Don't leave us. We need you. Man, if this guy stays in our town, we will not have a single disease.

No one will be sick. No one will be oppressed. It will, in fact, be paradise on earth.

Now, if Jesus' goal were to gather as many followers, isolation and departure would not make sense.

However, because His purpose is to obey the Father's will in full restoration of the world through the cross, departure here is extremely necessary.

When the crowd tries to keep Him, Jesus responds, I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities, and because for this purpose

I have been sent. Jesus' main calling was not to serve as a city's doctor.

A big city, in fact. He probably would have had a large business, nor even an exorcist.

His core calling was to announce the coming of God's kingdom to the surrounding area so that they may be prepared to receive what's coming, so they may be prepared to join

God's kingdom, to trust the king. That was

Jesus' main purpose. The healing and the series of exorcism, that was just cherry on top.

That's what the coming kingdom was all about. It was just the

Costco sample size of what's coming. It's to show that when the king is here, no remnant of sin will last, and Jesus' main goal was, it's here.

I gotta tell others. This means for us today, when

Jesus has come and His kingdom did come, already, and we wait longingly for the full fulfillment of His kingdom, where sin is just a distant memory, it makes no sense for Christians to have a separate ministry for exorcism and healing.

And I don't mean, you know, doctors without borders, right?

That's not what I'm saying here. I'm talking about ministries that allegedly only focus on healing ministries as they try to rebuke diseases out, have conferences, and the main figure calls out someone who might have some sort of disease and say, hey, you're healed.

That kind of ministry, where the main focus is not on Jesus, but on supernatural healing and exorcism.

Those ministries actually miss the point of the text. Christ's supernatural ministry shown here was not for the miracles themselves, but what the miracles signified.

These miracles were actually signs that pointed to the reality of God's kingdom.

When God's kingdom's here, Satan has no footing. When God's kingdom's here, effects of sin will be done away with.

Because when God's kingdom's here, the king will deal with sin himself.

And to branch off to make supernatural ministries in current days to forget what

Jesus is doing through these miracles is a complete misunderstanding.

Jesus' ministry was not primarily a hospital for the sick. Jesus' ministry was not primarily a deliverance ministry of exorcism.

Jesus' ministry primarily dealt with the coming of his kingdom. That's what he came to proclaim.

And every ministry that exists needs to point to Jesus' messianic ministry of proclaiming the arrival of the kingdom of God.

How do we proclaim this reality? We must tell all that there is a new king in town.

We cannot separate the king from the kingdom. Kingdom ministry is not the most number of people helped.

The kingdom ministry is precisely the coming of the king who came to save.

By trusting in this king, you are welcomed into his kingdom. His kingdom is victorious against Satan's kingdom.

His kingdom totally heals his people from sin and effects of sin. Maybe not now, but that date is set in stone.

His kingdom personally and compassionately cares for each individual. Most importantly, the king brings you into this kingdom at the cost of his life.

His kingdom is the only kingdom in which the king personally died to bring his subjects in.

Other kingdoms sacrifice their subjects to continue expanding. His kingdom is the opposite.

The king himself gives his life as the ransom for many to completely restore them.

And any ministry that is for Christ's kingdom must proclaim the gospel of this king, the good news that this king is here, the good news of what kind of king this is, the good news of what he came to do and what he has already done.

If any kingdom -related ministry does not introduce the king, we must really question whose kingdom are you bringing?

Yours or his? Let us pray.

Father, we are thankful that we worship a king who is fully capable of undoing everything that sin touches and fully restoring all the damage that sin has done.

And Father, we pray that we would forever worship this king, that we would not idolize the effects of the coming of this kingdom and forget the king, but that we would love the king with all our hearts, minds, soul, and strength and enjoy the effects of the kingdom with a grateful heart, knowing that at the core of it is the king,

Jesus Christ, who made it all possible. Help us to enjoy the king more than the kingdom.

In Jesus' name. Well, the singing and the preaching was really enjoyable today.

And he is able to carry us through the upcoming week with many blessings, and we are now dismissed.