[0:00] Let us begin our worship of God by singing together in Psalm 46 of the Scottish Psalter version. You'll find that on page 271 of the Blue Books.
[0:17] Singing to the Tune Lingam. Psalm 46, we'll sing verses 1 down to verse mark 6. God is our refuge and our strength, and straight at present aid.
[0:30] Therefore, although the earth remove, we will not be afraid. The hills amist, the seas be cast, the waters roaring make. And troubled be, yea, though the hills by swelling, seas do shake.
[0:44] We'll sing from the beginning of that psalm down to the end of verse mark 6. And we'll stand to sing, if we can. God is our refuge and our strength. God is a refuge and our strength.
[1:03] In streets of present aid. In streets of present aid. Therefore, although the earth remove, We will not be afraid.
[1:20] We will not be afraid. We will not be afraid. We will not be afraid. We will not be afraid.
[1:35] Though hills amids, the seas be cast. Though water's roaring make. Though water's roaring make.
[1:49] Though water's roaring make. And troubled be, yea, though the hills. Menschet, how it is.
[2:00] By swelling, seas do shake. By swelling, seas do shake. By swelling, seas do shake. By swelling, seas do shake.
[2:11] shady Most high hath his afford God in the midst of heart doth dwell Nothing shall her remove The Lord to have and help us well
[3:16] And that right there he flew And that right there he flew And that right there he flew And that right there he flew The heathen rage to much us see The kingdoms move and where The kingdoms move and where The Lord God God direct his voice The earth is meant for fear The earth is meant for fear The earth is meant for fear We'll join together in a short word of prayer
[4:18] Let us pray to God Our Father in heaven We ask that we would know your peace As we come to you That you would still our hearts That we would be quiet And know the quietness of your presence So that we would hear your voice And it would speak to us And as we come to your word May we know the riches of it And we pray for the young ones that are here with us We thank you for them We thank you for them It enriches and it brings joy to their heart To see children coming and singing praises to God That they may learn of your ways And learn all about Jesus Christ Learn of the biblical stories And the power of God And the authority that he has over all creation God created us
[5:19] And God made us so that we may bring forth his glory And that we may know what he has given to us In Jesus Christ Jesus came and died for us on the cross And that through that We can enter into heaven And we can be with God And we have the right to call God our Father A loving Father that looks after us A loving Father that always hears us when we cry to him And so we have confidence when we come to you in prayer That you will listen to us And that you will hear our voice So Lord we just ask Bless us in the gathering of your people In this time and this hour Bless the children as they go into Sunday school And tweenies and creche That they may hear of the beauty of God
[6:21] And the wonders of Jesus Christ All this we ask in your name Amen Just a short word to the boys and girls Before you go into Sunday school Holiday twinies and creche Have you ever seen them before?
[6:43] Do you know what they are? Sweeties Do you like them? We love sweeties We love sweeties We love sweeties And supposing there were seven sweeties in here Supposing I had to go out one, two, three, four, five, six, seven And I left them all there And I said well you can have six of them But I want you to leave one of them It would be very hard to leave one wouldn't it?
[7:13] You'd eat this one Yummy You'd eat the two Oh that was good You'd eat the three, four, five, six You'd eat them all I think that was great I love them sweeties It tastes so good But there'd be one left And you'd be looking at it You'd be thinking hmm Will I eat that one?
[7:36] I've not meant to eat that one But what we do is We love these sweeties And we think well No one will notice I'll just slip it in my mouth And I'll enjoy it too Yeah, that's what we do isn't it?
[7:55] We're tempted by these things And it's very like what we do with the days that we have God has given us six days And then one day is for God That's one day where we come to church But what we do And what people do And what we like to do Is to do all the things that we want to do Even on God's day Just like the sweeties We enjoy doing all the things we love doing Through the week The days were Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday And then Sunday We have to give that to God But it's pleasing to God To come and remember his day To give God his day That we come to church And we learn all about God Because it's good for us Too many sweets aren't good for us No
[8:57] But God knows that it is good for us To have a day set apart Where we come and worship God It's good for children And it's good for grown-ups To have a rest on Sunday And to give our time To thinking about all that God has done for us The hardest thing to give is our time Because we want to do all the things We're so busy But God asks us To give us time To share our time With him Because he wants to share time with us too And that's what happens on Sunday When we come to God That we share our time And that he would share time with us So we'll say the Lord's prayer together Before we go through Our Father Which art in heaven Hallowed be thy name Thy kingdom come Thy will be done on earth As it is in heaven Give us this day our daily bread
[10:00] And forgive us our debts As we forgive our debtors Lead us not into temptation But deliver us from evil For thine is the kingdom The power and the glory Forever Thank you for listening to me Now we'll continue by singing In our praise to God In Psalm 36 Of the Sing Psalms version Psalm 36 In the Sing Psalms You'll find that on page 44 Of the blue book Singing from verse mark 7 Through to verse mark 12 How precious is your steadfast love What confidence it brings Both high and low find shelter In the shadow of your wings They feast within your house And drink from streams of your delight For with you is the source of life In your light we see light To those who know you as their God
[11:02] Your steadfast love impart Maintain your righteousness To those of pure and upright heart Let not the ruthless foot of pride Approach and threaten me Nor let the hand of wickedness Force me to turn and flee See where these evildoers lie Who righteousness despise Thrown down they are And there they stay Unable to rise God's steadfast love to us God's protection of his people From the wicked And that he will ultimately Cast them down That they will not rise up So we'll stand to sing To God's praise from verse 7 How precious is your steadfast love To the tune Jackson How precious is your steadfast love What confidence it brings What high and low find shelter in The shadow of your wings The shadow of your wings
[12:03] They feast within your house and drink From streams of pure delight For with you is the source of light For with you is the source of light Find shelter in the shadow of your wings To the tune of your wings To the tune of your wings They feast within your house and drink From streams of pure delight For with you is the source of light In your light we see light To the tune of your wings To those who know To those who know you past God, you steadfast love impart, maintain your righteousness to those of pure and upright
[13:09] Let not the ruthless fruit of pride approach and threaten me Nor let the hand of wickedness force me to turn and flee See where these people doers lie, who righteousness despise Roadmen are red and their lives still are able to abide Turn now to a reading from scripture and we'll find that in the Gospel of Mark chapter 1
[14:14] Gospel of Mark chapter 1 and we'll read it from verse Mark 14 through to the end of that chapter Gospel of Mark chapter 1 reading from verse Mark 14 Let us hear God's word Now after John was arrested, John the Baptist, Jesus came to Galilee proclaiming the Gospel of God and saying The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God is at hand Repent and believe in the Gospel Passing alongside the sea of Galilee He saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon Casting a net into the sea for they were fishermen And Jesus said to them Follow me and I will make you become fishers of men And immediately they left their nets and followed him
[15:16] And going on a little further he saw James the son of Zebedee And John his brother Who were in their boat mending the nets And immediately he called them And they left their father Zebedee in the boat With the hired servants and followed him And they went into Capernaum And immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching And they were astonished at his teaching For he taught them as one who had authority And not as the scribes And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit And he cried out What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
[15:56] Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are I know who you are The Holy One of God But Jesus rebuked him saying Be silent and come out of him And the unclean spirit convulsing him And crying out with a loud voice came out of him And they were all amazed So they questioned among themselves saying What is this?
[16:22] A new teaching with authority He commands even the unclean spirits and they obey him And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout And all the surrounding region of Galilee And immediately he left the synagogue and entered into the house of Simon and Andrew With James and John Now Simon's mother-in-law lay ill with a fever And immediately they told him about her And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up And the fever left her And she began to serve them That evening at sunset They brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons And the whole city was gathered together at the door And he healed many who were sick with various diseases And cast out many demons And he would not permit the demons to speak Because they knew him And rising very early in the morning While it was still dark He departed
[17:23] And went out to a desolate place And there he prayed And Simon and those who were with him Searched for him And they found him and said to him Everyone is looking for you And he said to them Let us go on to the next towns That I may preach there also For that is what I came for And he went throughout Galilee Preaching in their synagogues And casting out demons And a leper came to him And imploding him And kneeling said to him If you will You can make me clean Moved with pity He stretched out his hand And touched him And said to him I will Be clean And immediately the leprosy left him And he was made clean And Jesus sternly charged him And sent him away at once And said to him See that you say nothing to anyone But go Show yourself to the priest And offer for your cleansing What Moses commanded For a proof to them
[18:25] But he went out And began to talk freely about it And to spread the news So that Jesus could no longer Openly enter a town But was out in desolate places Where people were coming to him From every quarter Amen May the reading of God's word Be a blessing to those Who hear it this day May we join again In prayer before God Our Father in heaven We give thanks that we are here On this day On your day A day in where we will remember The power of your resurrection A day where we find out Found out that the tomb was empty The grave cloths had been folded Signifying your return And return you did And as we read there in the passage The people were astonished even At your teaching And they wondered What is this?
[19:27] But you revealed to them Things that were kept for secret Of the Old Testament And you fulfilled the Old Testament Through your life And you showed forth The ways of God And the glory of God And the power of God And the authority of God That you were indeed Undoubtedly The son of God When we look at you We see the characteristics of God We learn about God And so let us Have our focus upon you This morning That we may see the riches Of your glory That we may understand What is set before the people Who have faith in you And trust in you That they will be in your presence And it is a wonder That you would have us And that you would listen to us
[20:28] When we come and pray to you That we seem so insignificant In our eyes That you would be mindful Of me That you would be mindful Of each one of us That is gathered here But so you are We know it from your word And we know it That you speak to us Each individually In the mysterious outworkings Of your ways We know it to be true And we are With confidence Draw near to you This morning To hear you speak That we may learn of you And know your direction That you would show us your paths The paths in which we are To walk our lives The ways in which we are To be obedient to you And how we are To bring glory to you That we may know What are calling us
[21:30] In this life And that may it Bring forth The riches of your fruit Things that are heavenly Not of this world Things that are pure And undefiled Things that are rich And everlasting Lord We bring before you The expectations Of the week ahead That we may draw to you Prayerfully Seeking your presence With us That we as your people May come with joyous hearts Remembering All that you have done for us In your death And resurrection And that it will be a source of strength For the Christian That is weak A source of encouragement For those who are downcast That we may come And sit at your feet Like Mary did That we would not be busy With the things of the world
[22:32] Like Martha That we would choose the good part That we would be wise To give of our time As we said to the young ones That we would be willing To be willing And come with willingness To sacrifice the time And to give pleasingly Cheerfully Our time And that you may bless us in it For we know it is good To sit at your feet To hear your word To know your ways And to remember What you have done for us What you have done for us Otherwise Without it We would be lost We would have no hope Without the death of Christ But you give us hope And you are An anchor in our lives When we have no hope To whom else can we go That we can turn with confidence to you
[23:33] You are the one You are the one that holds us You are the one that carries us at times And it is in you That we place our faith and trust In the days ahead And our lives Whatever is set before us We commit to you Faithfully Lord we just pray That you would be mindful of each of us In our circumstances Those who have difficulties in life Those who have difficulties of health We pray that you would draw near to them And be their strength and comfort Give them assurances from your word May your presence be ever felt in their hearts And knowing that you are with them by their side We pray for those who mourn Be their comforter May they know your loving arms Wrapped around them As the loving fatherly arms Of the heavenly father Draws near calling you to come
[24:35] And be embraced by his love We pray for those who are on mission for you Who seek to go out into this world And reveal to people that are hidden in the darkness The light of the gospel We remember Muriel in Cambodia And the work that she does with the girls in that area We pray that you would continue with her Be a strength and may she see fruits for her labour As she sows the seed May she see it grows in the hearts of many Remember Kenny John's work in Uganda And across Africa God is good Remember the schools that have been established They are in the clinics That it may bring forth questions from people And wondering why such a man would do these things And yet it is the love of Christ within him That drives him to give of himself And to care for his fellow beings And to share the gospel message
[25:39] Lord we pray That you would be with us As we come to your word May it be rich in our eyes May we understand what it says to us May your glory be revealed to us May we come and trust in it So be with us in our time together Keep the evil one from us Give our focus and attention To the wonder of Jesus Christ And we ask all of these things By the name and power of your son And our saviour Jesus Amen We will continue in our praise of God By singing in Psalm 9 Of the Sing Psalms version From page 8 Psalm 9a In the Sing Psalms version Page 8 Singing from verse Mark 6 Down to verse Mark 11 The enemy have made their doom
[26:41] Destroyed eternally And you have uprooted all their towns They are lost to memory The Lord as ever reign on high His throne for judgment stands He will judge the world in righteousness With justice rule the Lamb The Lord as ever The Lord as ever The Lord as ever The Lord is the King And the Lord as ever The Lord is the King The King The King The King The King Who has saved them And destroyed eternally The enemy's threat They are lost to memory So we will stand together Singing from verse Mark 6 Down to verse Mark 11 To God's praise The enemy have made their doom Destroyed eternally The enemy have met their doom Destroyed eternally You have uprooted all their towns And lost to memory The enemy have met their doom Destroyed eternally You have uprooted all their towns And lost to memory The enemy have met their doom Destroyed eternally You have uprooted all their towns You have uprooted all their towns And lost to memory
[27:53] The Lord forever reigns on high His throne for judgment stands He'll judge the world in righteousness With justice through the lands The Lord will be a hiding place For those who are oppressed And He will be a strong defense For those who have oppressed
[29:01] All those who know Your name, O Lord And You their trust will play For you do not abandon those Who seek Your gracious face Sing praises to the Lord who sits Sit Zion on His throne Among the nations of the world Proclaim what He has done
[30:05] Turn back to the passage that we read, the Gospel of Mark. We'll consider the account there of the unclean spirit coming into the meeting on the Sabbath day in the synagogue.
[30:30] Particularly verses there, 24, 25. Well, the spirit cried out, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God.
[30:44] But Jesus rebuked him, saying, be silent and come out of him. This reading sets forth the beginning of Christ's ministry.
[30:57] John the Baptist has been arrested. He is in jail. Jesus has been led out to the wilderness, already to be tempted by the devil. And in that account, it tells us that he returns to Galilee, the region that is Galilee.
[31:14] And particularly that western coast of that region on the Sea of Galilee, where we read that he recruits his first disciples at that coast, his disciples being the fishermen.
[31:27] But he comes to the words of verse 15, saying to the people, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God is at hand.
[31:39] Repent and believe the Gospel. This account that we come to here in Capernaum, Capernaum, seems that it would be after, follow after the events of Cana, where Jesus went with his disciples to the wedding feast.
[32:01] If you can imagine, just briefly, the Sea of Galilee is like an egg-shaped, upside-down egg-shaped sea, Galilee like a lake, the River Jordan, directly north, directly south.
[32:15] That River Jordan's subdivision in the land, to the west is the region of Galilee. Capernaum sits at the kind of near the top of that egg-shaped lake.
[32:26] Out directly to the west is Cana, and directly below that, you have Nazareth, where, of course, he grew up. And we come into this passage, it seems he has gone to Cana to the wedding, and he returns to Capernaum, or Capernaum, as people say, where he enters into the synagogue, as he did on the Sabbath day, and he meets with this evil spirit, this unclean spirit, as they join together to worship in the synagogue.
[32:59] The people had gathered as normal on that Sabbath day, which would have been the Saturday. Forgive me if Sunday slips out of my mouth when I'm referencing the Sabbath, but it would have been the Saturday for them.
[33:12] Nothing is out of the ordinary for their worship. Apart from the visitor, Jesus has come with his disciples. And the practice was that they would read from the Old Testament, of course, the reading from the law, a section of the law, they would read from a section of the prophets.
[33:30] And if there were any visiting rabbis or teachers, they would be invited to say a word about the readings, or to take the readings. And such, we see that Jesus Christ spoke with the people as a visiting rabbi.
[33:46] And we read of the reaction that the people had to his words in verse 22. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, not as the scribes, not like the people that they knew.
[34:02] There was something remarkable about Jesus Christ and the way he taught. The words that he spoke came with great power. There was great authority in his words.
[34:14] And even when you consider that Jesus Christ came to join with the people, he had a desire to meet in the synagogue with others who had the intent desire to worship God.
[34:32] There's a lot in that, that Jesus Christ, Jesus himself, desired to come with the people as they met in the synagogue. And there was an immediacy about his worship.
[34:44] You can see there in verse 21, when they came into Capernaum, immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue. There's more, you know, it doesn't just come out of routine.
[34:55] It's purposeful. It's like the first thing on his mind to come and gather with the people. The other gospels tell us that it was his custom to gather in the synagogue for worship on the Sabbath.
[35:07] And as it was his desire to come and join with the people, as it should be for the Christians' desire, Jesus had the desire to teach them, not of the things of old, the things that were new, the powerful things of the gospel and the kingdom of God that he had insight to.
[35:31] And he leaves the people that were listening to him in complete awe and astonishment. They joined together to worship God and he astonished them when they grasped, when the people grasped what Jesus was saying, they couldn't believe it.
[35:50] And we, as we gather together to worship God, we pray that as we likewise incline our hearts with an intent to worship God, that we would be astonished by the words of Christ and that we would be in awe as we join together in worship, that we would know his presence coming to be with us, the pleasing custom that would be for the Spirit to join with his people, to reveal us things of the gospel, things that are new to us, and the richness of his words would come forth to every one of us and speak to every heart that is gathered here that would leave us in astonishment and awe of what Christ has done for us and what God has revealed to us through his word.
[36:54] But of course, that's not an everyday occurrence for us that we are in awe as we come to worship, nor would it have been an everyday occurrence for Jesus to come and join with them for Sunday worship, for Sabbath worship.
[37:09] though we wish it would be. We wish when we come to join together that we would come out astonished and amazed about what Christ has done for us, as the people were astonished when Christ spoke there.
[37:28] It's not always the case for us. It wasn't always the case for them that Christ was there to teach them. But the Christian can certainly say, that there have been days when that has happened.
[37:43] As you look back in your memory, even if you sat in the seat that you sat in, you've listened to a different preacher come, and there have been days where you can say, the Spirit was with us.
[37:59] Christ was here. And we have left in awe of the words that were spoken to us. This Sabbath day, where they joined together, it was a surprising day for them, because there are two distinct things that happen on that day in that worship in the synagogue.
[38:21] The first thing is, the demon causes disruption. The demon comes in into the middle of that service. But also, we see that the Son saves.
[38:33] Two points to hang our thoughts on this morning. The demon's disruption and the Son's salvation. So let us first look at the disruption that was caused in this passage.
[38:46] The people are astonished by Christ. And in then comes this man in verse 23. Immediately in the synagogue was a man with an unclean spirit.
[39:00] The timing of this is just perfect, well, typical, in a sense. Spiritual battle commences.
[39:11] Spiritual warfare enters into the room. As soon as people become interested in the gospel, as soon as people show wonder in Christ and question who is he, the devil's not far away.
[39:31] This man who is seemingly controlled by the power of the Spirit, a spirit which we read of has been unclean, could easily be translated, has been evil, from the Greek.
[39:44] But if you look at Luke's parallel account of this chapter, it calls this an unclean demon or possessed the man. And we can say for sure that it is the work of the devil and we can identify it as such.
[40:02] And though this account may seem so foreign to us today, it's difficult to understand what is meant by the unclean spirit to know exactly what the demon possession looked like.
[40:15] It is true that it is still a valid characteristic of the works of the devil today to use any means he can to disrupt us from the awe of Christ, to disrupt us from that wonder.
[40:31] When we show an inclination towards Jesus, when we show an interest in this man, when you find Jesus wonderful, when you seek him out, the devil will not be far away.
[40:52] It's his characteristic to distract us, to disrupt us, to interrupt us as we join together to worship God. You know, we may come this morning with great intentions to listen to what has been said and we struggle to keep our focus.
[41:10] We may leave with good intentions to live our lives devoted to Christ with greater resolve and we're so easily distracted, disrupted and we turn away from the desires of our hearts.
[41:25] There is a war between the Christian and the evil spirits at our present. the evil in our hearts. The closer we draw to Christ, you can be sure that the more active the work of the devil will be.
[41:42] But in this passage here we have a vocal voice from this spirit. Verse 24, it says, What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth?
[41:54] Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God. And you may look at this and think, why on earth did this spirit come in on the Sabbath day into the synagogue?
[42:07] And it sounds like he's revealing for the good of Jesus' cause and the good of God, to reveal the goodness of God by revealing who Jesus is.
[42:23] He's revealing that this is the Messiah set before you. Why on earth is an evil spirit, unclean spirit doing this? I think there's more to it than meets the eye.
[42:35] I think there's more to it than we can understand. This entering line is, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? It's not, what have you to do with me? It's, what have you to do with us?
[42:49] And looking at it, there's significance in this plurality that is emphasized here. What have you to do with us? Is it the us of the people gathered there in the building?
[43:02] Is the devil trying to associate himself with the people? Jesus is a visitor and he's speaking there. Or is the us there? The possession of the spirits within him.
[43:15] Cast your minds to the passage again, or passage of where Jesus meets Legion and he asks him his name, my name is Legion for we have many, the many possessions of spirits within him.
[43:27] Is the us there? Speaking of the spirits within him, this may be true. Picture the scene if you will though. We're in the synagogue.
[43:39] It would be a very simple sort of building like we have here. This man walks in. Is he trying to include the people as part of the us? Is the demon trying to excite with the many?
[43:53] Associating himself with the people to turn them against God and say, you have nothing to do with us, the visitor, Jesus of Nazareth. If you look into that, it seems that there's nothing too good to come from Nazareth.
[44:10] There was no good reputation in Nazareth at that time. Nathaniel questioned the disciples. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
[44:22] The devil is saying, what have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? The people are not waiting for someone from Nazareth, the people of God.
[44:34] They are waiting for someone from Bethlehem. In the scriptures that was revealed. He's instantly trying to cause a divide by his words.
[44:45] He's trying to stir doubt amongst the people. if this is the case. People that were just in awe of him prior are now forced to question his identity and question, well, who is this man?
[45:01] This man's from Nazareth. The devil's, is he instigating that this man is some sort of a fraud? Is he there only to deceive you?
[45:12] It says that are you there to destroy us? And a rendering of this word destroy is cause us to lose. Are you there to cause us to lose?
[45:25] Now, if the devil was trying to influence the people to turn against God, that's an interesting phrase because it is very suitable for him to use that if they would listen to his words, they would be at a loss.
[45:39] Take this phrase in its essence. What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? You have come to destroy us. What it's saying is, Jesus, you have nothing to do with us.
[45:53] Jesus, you have nothing to do with me. You're from somewhere that I don't want to know anything about. I don't regard anything of your people.
[46:06] You're coming here to deceive me with your words. you're coming here to deceive others with your words. And if people listen to your words, they're going to be at a loss.
[46:20] Have you heard that before? Something similar like that? Have you heard people say they don't want Jesus to have anything to do with them? Have you heard people say if you listen to these words, you'll be at a loss?
[46:36] We don't have to look far to find that. I'm not saying that people that have these views are demon possessed, but it's the evil inclination of our hearts.
[46:47] It is the evil that is within us. But we do not desire God. We only love because he first loved us. Our heart is turned against God.
[47:00] We don't want to have anything to do with Jesus. Our heart desires. You take that's a possibility.
[47:15] I don't know if it's right, but there's an element of truth to it. The other case is that if it were the Spirit speaking, have you come to destroy us?
[47:27] They knew fine that Jesus had authority to destroy them. They wanted to be left alone. They wanted to go about causing stirring contempt against the people of God.
[47:46] They wanted to be left alone, the spirits if it was. But why did this spirit enter into when the people were in awe of God if it were not to distract them, to turn them away from God?
[47:59] The last phrase here that he speaks is, I know who you are, the Holy One of God. Why did he say this?
[48:13] But there's a change in this phrase. It's not us anymore, it's not we, it's I. I know who you are. Why change that singular pronoun now?
[48:27] Because if it were a spiritual sense that they had been speaking about, the devils know fine who Jesus was.
[48:41] There are no questioning, why is it a single pronoun there? Why? The we of the spirits evil within him would have all known who Jesus was.
[48:54] The devils know more of God than we do. R.C. Sproul says that the devils would score 100% in their theology exams. They know exactly who Jesus is.
[49:07] They know exactly who God is. They know full well, every one of them knows full well, so why has it changed to an I now? Why does it not say we know who you are, the Holy One of God?
[49:24] You wonder at these things, but you've seen evil in your life. You know what evil looks like. And if someone stirred evil, they may come in shouting.
[49:39] And if they have a problem with someone, they may come up and speak directly to that person. It is, I know who you are. I may be wrong, but did the devil spirit then come and directly attend to Jesus by saying, I know who you are.
[50:01] You are the Holy One of God, and I am against you in every way. I will do everything in my power to oppose you and frustrate your plans. you rejected me in the wilderness.
[50:15] I will do everything to speed up your demise and turn the people against you. There's a deep-rooted hatred in this man.
[50:27] But when we seek, when we as the people of God, we seek to do good, we draw near to God, we pray, we read, there's moments when we are in awe of God, as we said, the devil will be on your heels.
[50:41] If we succeed in something, he won't be far away to cause us to fall, to doubt, cause us to distraction. I don't know if you're considering coming to sit at the Lord's table next week.
[50:57] Maybe you have resolved in your mind that you would come, but the devil's at you saying, no, don't go, you're not good enough. He'll be on your heels when you decide to turn you away.
[51:16] He'll do everything he can to make a doubt salvation in Christ. But if we hold on to Christ and hold on to his words, the one who spoke, be silent, depart from us, come out of this, be silent, come out of him.
[51:34] Christ has the power and authority to separate us from that evil, power. That is what he is saying, the son that saves. It is Jesus Christ that saves us.
[51:47] And the doubts of our hearts as we stick faithfully to him, and it is our custom to come to him, he has the power to cast out every evil that grows within our hearts and says, be silent, come out of him.
[52:05] Jesus is the son that saves. And we gauge from the reaction that Christ has here in verse 25.
[52:17] He rebuked him saying, be silent, come out of him. Be silent, it's not your place to reveal who I am, he's saying to the spirit. You're not to reveal who I am, I will reveal who I am, and by my own means.
[52:33] He reveals in his word and in his practice. You remember John the Baptist when he questioned, he heard about all the things Jesus had done, and he was in the prison cell there, and he sent his disciples, go and ask that man if he is the one that is to come, or should we wait for another?
[52:53] Jesus' response to him was not to say, I am the Holy One of God, I am the Messiah, I am the one you have waited for. He said to the disciples, return to John and tell him of all the things you have seen and heard.
[53:09] That is how Jesus reveals himself, that we see what he has done, we hear his word, and it is likewise in our lives, we see that word taking root in someone's heart, and we see that power taking hold of their hearts and lives, someone that we didn't expect maybe to come to God.
[53:34] And we say, well, what is this? What power is in this word that it would turn such a man to God, that it would turn me to God?
[53:45] It is by the word and power and authority of Jesus Christ. Jesus reveals his authority through his word and through the practice, of his actions.
[54:05] You know, this account, it's strange to us, as we said, to consider what is evil and what is spiritual. There's things in it we cannot grasp, there's things that we don't have answers for.
[54:21] There's a battle between two great authorities here, but which one comes out the greater? which one succeeds. When Christ comes and we meet with him, only one can succeed in our heart.
[54:37] It is a great conversion within us that when Jesus draws near to us and he speaks a word to us, the authority of good conquers, the authority of evil.
[54:55] It's the same in our hearts. Spiritual warfare may enter into us for a time and we may battle with these things.
[55:06] The spirit did not just come out of the man, it convulsed him and cast him to the ground. God and the word of his power and authority comes to us.
[55:20] We don't like to separate ourselves from the world. It takes difficulty. It's a war that goes on within us because we love the things of this world and we want to hold on to them.
[55:38] But the only one that can succeed is the power and authority of God. Even what we have in this passage here, the power of Christ and his authority overrules the whole situation.
[55:56] And that is a power that overrules your situation today. The whole world is under the authority of God ultimately. But what the devil does is he comes in.
[56:10] He knows he's a defeated foe. But he stirs us against God. He stirs the people against God. He does what he can by his power to distract us from God, to turn us from God.
[56:24] But you know what? He's defeated. The power of God through Jesus Christ is a great reassurance to us.
[56:36] God will be to God. When we have our doubts, when we know that we have failed, ultimately, if we trust in him, trust in his word, trust what he can do for us, that greater power will reveal to us greater things.
[56:59] We will be welcomed into his glory. God's glory will be revealed to us.
[57:10] It will be a wonder like no other. We'll say, what is this beauty? What are these things that words cannot express?
[57:29] We come next week hopefully to remember what Christ has done for us. And there is no greater place where we can come that we sit at the feet of Jesus so you can expect that there will be no greater disruption in your lives and distraction from it.
[57:57] But ultimately, Jesus is in control of everything. And you ask him to silence these voices that come to us and the worrying that happens within our hearts.
[58:14] And we focus our minds and our sight on Jesus and his words. It opens our perspective to things eternal and what is set before us.
[58:25] the people gathered in the passage here. After the Sabbath day, the Sabbath ended in the evening and all the people gathered because they heard about what Christ had done.
[58:41] And wouldn't it be wonderful if we saw the people of Stornoway gathered because we saw the wonderful things of Christ Jesus in each of us.
[58:55] And they saw his beauty and his power and his authority revealed to them in the way we conduct ourselves, in the way we speak to them.
[59:12] That they may question in their hearts, what is this in that man, in that woman, in that boy, in that girl. that they may come and draw near to Jesus and see his glory and that all would be revealed to him.
[59:31] Praise God for the Son has come, the Son who loves us. He is the Son that saves us.
[59:41] And he is a Son that we can rest, assure us in with confidence that he will watch over us, guide us, and keep us in every step of the way and protect us in life's journey.
[59:56] May these thoughts be blessed to us. We'll conclude our worship by singing in Psalm 105 of the Scottish Psalter on page 347.
[60:14] Psalm 105 Scottish Psalter, page 374. Sorry. 374.
[60:26] Singing from the beginning of that psalm. Psalm speaks with thankfulness to God for the steadfast love he has that breeds admiration in our hearts.
[60:39] Give thanks to God, call on his name, to men his deeds make known. sing ye to him, sing psalms, proclaim this wondrous works each one.
[60:49] We'll sing down to the end of verse 5, to God's praise. Give thanks to God, call on his name. Stand to sing. sing psalm, sing psalm, sing psalm, proclaim this one of the songs of his name.
[61:10] Give thanks to God, call on his name, to men his deeds make known. Sing ye to him, sing psalm, proclaim this one, sing psalm, proclaim this one, sing psalm, proclaim this one, as one, as one, as each one.
[61:31] See that he is his holy name, to God in you accord, and let the heart of everyone rejoice that seeks the Lord.
[62:02] The Lord Almighty and his strength will steadfast hearts in thee.
[62:17] His blessed and his gracious grace, seeking continually.
[62:28] Think on the words that he hath done, which admiration free.
[62:47] His wonders and the judgment saw, which draweth his mouth from the sea.
[63:05] And conclude with prayer. Our Father in heaven, as we come to you, may we have admiration bred within our hearts for the wonders that you have done for us, and that you have saved us from evil, and rescued us and redeemed us.
[63:22] Lord, be with us, we pray, in the days ahead. Protect us from the schemes of the evil one, that we may know you and your beauty, and that all these things may be revealed to us in new and amazing and astonishing ways, that we may question in our hearts, what is these things so wondrous and beautiful, that we may draw near with assurance, and not waver to or fro, but hold fast to Christ.
[63:52] Be with us as we part. Watch over us, guide us, bless the word to us this evening, as it is preached and read and sung. We thank you for the singing of your praise. Forgive us our sins, we ask in Jesus' name.
[64:03] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.