Show of Force (Mark 1:21-35)

Since I started this series on Mark, I’ve been doing a bunch of one or two verse sermons. I’m glad to say, our text this morning is finally going to be more than one or two verses. We are going to read Mark 1:21-35. Please turn there, and we’ll read these verses together.

”Mark 1:21-35 (KJV) 21 And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught. 22 And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes. 23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let [us] alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. 25 And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. 26 And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine [is] this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 28 And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee. 29 And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30 But Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever, and anon they tell him of her. 31 And he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up; and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them. 32 And at even, when the sun did set, they brought unto him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed with devils. 33 And all the city was gathered together at the door. 34 And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him. 35 And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

I don’t watch or read the news anymore. Anything that tries to get my attention on a day to day basis—whether it’s facebook, podcasts, radio shows, TV, or blog posts—I don’t do it. I figure if it’s important enough, someone else will tell me about it. I’ve just been trying to focus on my preaching and work.

But in researching this sermon, I learned that there has been a weird subject in the news lately: military parades. Apparently, President Trump wants to have a big military parade— a show of force — in Washington D.C. Because President Trump is President Trump and he’s trying to do anything, the Democrats are opposed to it.

I spent seven years of my childhood in the D.C. area and I remember going to a big military shindig when I was down there. It wasn’t a parade, it was in a stadium, but it was the same idea. There is nothing like the pomp and circumstance of a military parade: Men marching in order in full uniform and airplanes flying overhead. If you are into that sort of thing, it can be beautiful and patriotic.

But a military parade has a second purpose besides just pomp and circumstance and patriotism: It says to the world, “Don’t mess with us, or we will wipe you off the map,” or, “We have power, and we aren’t afraid to use it.”

Our text this morning is like a show of force for Jesus. Jesus is parading His power here. He is showing the world and the devil that He isn’t to be messed with.

I sang that song this morning, “There is Power in the Name of Jesus.” I LOVE that song. It gets me every time I hear it. It’s a little over the top, but the message is amazing.

I believe that Jesus has power to change lives. I believe that Jesus has power to heal, and I believe that Jesus has power to show us the truth. If He doesn’t, then why are we here? What’s the point? Jesus has power and I couldn’t think of a better song to go with this message than that.

So in these verses we are going to see the power of Jesus in four ways. Let’s pray, and we’ll jump right into them.

The first way Jesus showed power in this text is...

1. Jesus showed His power as a Preacher

Look at verse 21:

”And they went into Capernaum; and straightway on the sabbath day he entered into the synagogue, and taught.”

The Jews had the temple, and before that, they had the tabernacle. That is where the priests worked. That is where the ark of the covenant was. That was where all of the offerings were made.

But there was only one temple, and it was only in one place: Jerusalem. So it’s not like you could go to the Temple every week. Especially if you didn’t live in Jerusalem.

So the jews of Jesus day had a second religious institution that was actually much more influential than the temple, and there was one of these in every town and village: the synagogue.

The synagogue was much closer to a local church as we know it today than the temple was. Every sabbath, the faithful Jews would go to the synagogue, and it went something like this:

• There would be some kind of reading of Psalms
• There would be some kind of benediction.
• There would be an offering.
• Someone would read a prescribed portion of scripture for everyone to hear.
• Then someone would get up and teach or preach.

There was one major difference between a church and a synagogue: they didn’t have set pastors. Anybody was welcome to teach there. The gospels teach us that Jesus customarily took advantage of this and preached in synagogues whenever there was an opportunity.

Now this passage doesn’t tell us what Jesus preached, and it doesn’t tell us how Jesus preached. It just tells us the effect it had on people.

Look at verse 22:

”And they were astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and not as the scribes.”

The preachers and teachers the people were used to listening to were in love with quotation marks. They wouldn’t come out and say anything. It was always “According to Gamaliel,” “According to Halel,” or “So and so says.” Listening to them preach was like reading the bibliography of an encyclopedia. As Noah would say, ”Boring!”

And it wasn’t at all clear that these scribes and Pharisees who preached to them believed what they were saying. They didn’t know what they were talking about, and they didn’t really live it. It was just going through the motions, dry formalism, and an empty intellectual exercise.

You do know, church, that it is possible to be as straight as a gun barrel doctrinally and religiously, and be as empty as one, too. You do know that there are hundred of thousands of modern day scribes and Pharisees going through the motions every week and reheating someone else’s message.

I get an email almost every day from a guy trying to sell me someone else’s sermons. At Easter, it was “Twelve amazing Easter sermons”, and this week, it’s “Quick and easy Mother’s Day sermons.” I’m not kidding.

Then there are preachers who are so educated and self-important that they are bringing theological arguments every week that no one understands. I’m not at all against education, training, and study, but you don’t need a one-hour lecture on the hypostatic union or the marrow controversy every week. You need the word of God.

So just like today, there were all of these churches, and most of them were full of scribes with powerless messages.

But when Jesus preached, they were astonished at his doctrine. Those words mean it was like they were punched in the gut. It was powerful. Jesus didn’t beat around the bush. Jesus cut to the brass tacks. Jesus spoke in a way that they understood. Jesus preached the clear and unadulterated truth of God’s word, but most of all, Jesus spoke with power and authority because He lived His message.

And they were gut-punched. They were astonished.

God still uses powerful, authoritative preaching to change lives. I can speak with personal testimony that preaching has changed my life. Preaching has convicted me. Preaching has altered my path. Preaching has built me up and challenged me week to week.

I’ve seen preaching break through the hearts of hard people. I’ve seen Jesus get a hold of people. I’ve seen Jesus put families back together. I’ve seen Jesus clean up drunks. I’ve seen Jesus erase prejudices. I’ve seen Jesus wipe out bitterness. People are made over again when Jesus is preached with power.

So Jesus preached with power. Wouldn’t you like to have been there, listening to it, watching it, feeling it? Wouldn’t you like to see the light of Christ break through on people and the Holy Spirit change their lives? Maybe He’d convict you. It would be awesome to see. Maybe when we get to heaven, we’ll find the home video and watch a replay.

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But you know what?

If you were watching this, it wasn’t a peaceful service. It wasn’t a quiet service because Jesus’ power and light were met with demonic opposition.

Look at verse 23:

”And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, saying, Let us alone!”

There was a man in this synagogue who was demon-possessed. He was controlled by a demon: Hard-hearted, past feeling, tormented, and demon-possessed.

And get this: He was in church!

Likely, this man had been in this synagogue for a long time. Likely, no one had noticed him much. They might have said, “That guy’s a grump,” or, “That guy is a jerk.” But they didn’t give it much thought.

The preaching didn’t bother him. He could listen to the dry scribes and Pharisees all day.

But when Jesus showed up, this demon made a ruckus.

Listen, when Jesus shows up, He’s a destructive force against the power of Satan. He’s going to turn over the couches. He’s going to shine a light into the corners. Things that lay dormant in your life and things that have been swept under the rug are going to come into His light, and the devil is going to resist that. He’s going to say, “Let us alone!”

But notice what Jesus does. He just rebukes the demon. There were exorcists in Jesus day and it was all a big hubbub. But with Jesus, there was no chant, no elaborate exorcism ceremony, and no candles. He just rebukes Him and says, ”Hold thy peace and come out of him.” Jesus told that demon to shut his mouth and find a new place to live. He gave him his eviction papers, and right there, with everyone watching, that demon-possessed man convulsed, shook, screamed, and shrieked, but the demon came out of him.

So the second power Jesus showed in this story was...

2. Jesus showed His power over demons

Listen, folks: Jesus is a destructive force against the powers of darkness. He’s a steamroller. He’s a Sherman tank. It’s no contest. Jesus is always going to win that fight.

The light will always win against the darkness.

I remember one time when I was a teenager, I got lost in this giant cave. I had to be rescued. I sat for a long time in the pitch dark. I mean, you’ve never seen dark like this. There was no light anywhere. The dark was oppressive and scary. You couldn’t get away from it, but that darkness had no power over light. It couldn’t put out the tiniest little LED.

The world and the powers of darkness might seem like they are everywhere and they are powerful, but they can’t put out the light. All Jesus needs to do is shine in their direction, and they are toast.

I don’t think born-again Christians can be demon-possessed, but you might still feel the power of darkness in your life. Let me tell you: It’s no match for Jesus. There is going to be a struggle. The darkness won’t go without a fight, but it’s going to lose. You can mark it down.

Jesus has complete power over demons.

So we’ve seen Jesus power in preaching and His power over darkness.

Look at the third thing...

3. Jesus showed His power over sickness

In the next little part of this story, Jesus goes to Peter’s house and heals Peter’s mother-in-law. She was sick with a fever. It was probably nothing life-threatening; she was just incapacitated. It probably came on suddenly.

Jesus just walked up to her bed, held her hand, rebuked the sickness, and lifted her up, and she was good as new. She got right up and set the table.

Later on (they waited until sunset because it was the sabbath), everyone in town who was sick came to Jesus to be healed, and He healed them all. Verses 33-34 say:

”And all the city was gathered together at the door. And he healed many that were sick of divers diseases, and cast out many devils; and suffered not the devils to speak, because they knew him.”

That’s a show of force right there. Jesus was just healing everyone.

I believe that Jesus still has the power to heal diseases, don’t you? I believe He has power over sickness. We are still commanded to anoint the sick with oil and pray over them.

There is power in Jesus’ name.

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So think about this day: Jesus has preached with power, He’s cast out demons, and He’s healed many people. A big part of His healing didn’t start till after sunset. It had to be a very late night and Jesus had to be exhausted.

Sometimes ministry is exhausting. Sometimes I’m not much fun at Sunday afternoon lunch, and I’m usually very tired on Mondays. Preaching wears me out. Just the emotion of it. Can you imagine how tired Jesus was? I’d imagine He wanted to sleep in on Sunday morning after this exhausting sabbath day.

But look what he does in verse 35:

“And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”

Jesus woke up early while everyone else was still sleeping, and long before the sun was up, He tiptoed out of the house, walked outside of town, found a quiet place where He could be alone, and He talked to God.

The last place where we see Jesus power is...

4. Jesus showed His power in Prayer

Jesus needed prayer and quiet time more than He needed sleep. He needed to get alone with God. I don’t understand this, but I think Jesus needed His spiritual batteries recharged. The only place that happens is in quiet time with God.

Listen, we are never going to have power like Jesus had, but if we want Jesus to be powerful in our life, we need to learn from Him, get up, and find some quiet time to talk to God.

?
My quiet time alone
Gives me power to obey
My quiet time alone with God each day
I go to him in prayer
Every day he meets me there
My quiet time alone, with God

Quiet time is powerful. Prayer is powerful. Are you making time to get alone with Jesus?

Church, there is power in the name of Jesus. Jesus is powerful. His truth is powerful. He has power over demons and darkness. He has power over sickness.

He is just as powerful today as He was in the Bible. He’s the same God. ”Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever.”

So the question is: Is Jesus powerful in your life?

• Are you letting His word speak to you?
• Are you letting Him destroy the powers of darkness in your life?
• Are you letting Him look under the rug and turn over the couch?
• Are you finding time to get alone with Him?

The world doesn’t need more clever gimmicks and slick church programs. The world doesn’t need more of us. The world needs more of Jesus. The world needs to see Jesus working powerfully through us.

Are you letting Him work powerfully through you?

Let’s stand for invitation and prayer.