Mark 1:21-34 with Pastor Matt Crethar

Well, we we'll begin our time in our passage this evening.

I invite you to open your Bibles to Mark chapter one.

We'll be studying verse twenty-one down to verse thirty-four, and we'll begin by reading the passage together.

Mark one twenty-one to thirty-four.

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he that is Jesus entered the synagogue and taught, and they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 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 unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.

Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this?

What new doctrine is this?

For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.

And immediately his fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue they entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John, but Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told him about her at once.

So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she served them.

At evening when the sun had set they brought to him all who were sick and those who were demon possessed, and the whole city was gathered together at the door.

Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons, and he did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.

The Lord Jesus has just announced that the kingdom of God is at hand.

The time is fulfilled, the king has come.

He has been building his kingdom by gathering in his people.

He has just gathered in Simon and Andrew, James and John, and his kingdom continues to advance.

And tonight we see the next step in this advancement.

But with a new king claiming his kingdom is at hand, comes an important question.

Upon what authority is that kingdom legitimate?

Upon what authority is the kingdom worth joining, worth being a part of?

Or is it just some sort of fad, a self proclaimed kingdom?

Is there no real substance to it?

Or is there a rock solid authority?

And the answer that we'll discover in our passage is that the king's authority is himself.

He is the holy one of God.

And he will demonstrate his authority in our passage in four ways, four clear ways.

First of all, we see his authority in teaching, and we'll see that in verse 21 down to 22.

Secondly, we'll see his authority over demons in verse 23 to 28.

A third, his authority over sickness, in verse 29 to 31.

And fourth, his authority over the multitude, in verse 32 down to 34.

And that's really the message of our passage.

This is what Mark 1, 21 to 34 teaches us.

It teaches us that the king's authority is revealed in word and in deed or action.

Let's pray, commit our time to the Lord, seek his help, and then we'll dig into our passage.

Would you pray with me?

Almighty Heavenly Father, speak to us now through your scriptures as we look at this precious passage and gaze at the majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, if there are any here that have not bowed the knee to him, will they see the authority that is his and bow the knee now before they are forced to when he returns?

O Lord, for any that are here that do love the Lord Jesus and are walking closely to him, may they marvel at his majesty, and delight and be comforted in their king.

Bless us, help me to speak clearly and faithfully, and only from your word.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Well, the first demonstration that we see in our passage is uh of the king's authority is this.

Number one, we see that Jesus has authority in teaching.

Have a read just simply a verse twenty-one down to twenty-two again.

Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath he entered the synagogue and taught, and they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

Now we pick up from uh last time in Mark, the Lord Jesus he left the village of Galilee and walked along the shore of the Sea of Galilee, and he calls four of his disciples.

And the Lord Jesus has just called f um his disciples and now uh he comes to Capernaum, a village that is situated uh along the shore.

Now this was a along a great trade route between Damascus and the Mediterranean coast.

There was uh a lot of commerce and trade that that that took place here, probably where Peter and Andrew had set up their business.

And Capernaum is where Jesus moved and planted his base of operations for his itinerate preaching.

As Matthew tells us, he he was uh rejected in his own hometown of Nazareth, a miniature example of his own people not receiving him.

And so he went out over a period of roughly two years teaching in the synagogues across Galilee.

And it was the Sabbath day that the Jews set aside in accordance to God's law, and they gathered in the local synagogue to be taught from the scriptures.

Each synagogue, if you don't really know what goes on there, uh was overseen by the ruler of the synagogue who uh would see to various duties.

Remember, there was only one temple, and it was in Jerusalem, where offerings were made by priests.

However, there were many synagogues for the customary uh gathered public worship of God's people on the Sabbath day.

And the synagogue service usually consisted of prayers, readings from the law and the prophets, an oral translation of the reading into Aramaic, a homily or sermon on the text, and then a closing benediction.

And so Jesus went to the synagogue in Capernaum, and the ruler of the synagogue selected Jesus on this occasion and in the providence of God to teach the homily, to give the uh the message, and and indeed he he began to teach.

And now notice here in our text, Mark doesn't actually tell us what Jesus taught.

There's no record of of his sermon outline, of his of his big idea of his uh application or uh the theology that he taught.

That's not the highlight.

Rather, Mark describes to us the authority in Christ's teaching by highlighting specifically how it was received by the hearers.

Those in the synagogue, they heard the teaching, and verse 22 were astonished at his teaching.

They were alarmed at what they just heard.

They were utterly stunned by their teaching, by his teaching.

The Lord Jesus has in a sense caught their attention like a fisherman catches fish.

And why were they astonished?

Verse 22, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes.

You see, the Lord Jesus, he taught unlike anyone that they had heard before, unlike even the great scribes, those students of God's law and experts in its interpretation.

You see, these scribes, they often quoted from earlier rabbis from the tradition of the elders, their authority was was mediated, but Jesus he taught as one having of himself authority, unmediated.

You see, when I stand here and teach or preach, the power is not in my authority as as a pastor.

The authority is in the word of God.

It's in God's holy word.

You see, what I have to say is really only as authoritative as it is faithful to the word of God.

If I say something contrary to Scripture, then you ought to outright reject that and and and call me out.

The authority that I have is is in the word of God.

Yet when Jesus taught in the synagogue, yes there was power in the authority of God's word as it was faithfully taught, but it was faithfully taught in a way that the scribes and rabbis could not possibly attain.

Not only because Jesus is a superior teacher, but because he is in another class altogether.

You see, the Son of God was standing before them, proclaiming his word.

The power of Christ's teaching was in the authority of Christ Himself, and his teaching was simply a demonstration of his innate authority.

We call this ministerial and magisterial authority.

Ministerial authority really just means the preacher's authority is derived from faithfulness to God's holy word.

But magisterial authority means that the authority of God's is the authority of God's word and of the Lord Jesus Christ himself.

And again, we see Jesus' authority in teaching over in Matthew's gospel in the in the Sermon of the Mount, a wonderful example.

Remember, it was the Lord Jesus who taught, you have heard that it was said, but I say to you.

Which means that his authority shapes the way that you live and the things that you love.

Do you merely hear Christ or do you listen to Christ?

The authority of Jesus in teaching, it it echoes the promised prophet of Deuteronomy chapter 18.

Deuteronomy 18 · chapter mention

Deuteronomy eighteen, verse 18 to 19 says, The Lord God, he promised to Moses, I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.

And it shall be that whoever will not hear my words, which he speaks in my name, I will require it of him.

In other words, there will be a judgment.

This prophet promised to Moses would not only interpret God's word like the scribes, but he would carry God's own words in his mouth, speaking with unmediated divine authority.

Whoever refuses to listen to this promised prophet to God himself.

This is who the crowds in the in the synagogue, this is this is who they were witnessing before them.

This promised prophet, they will stand to give an account to whom they witnessed.

The only question is can they say this Jesus is my prophet and my king?

Or can they only say I was astonished?

Woe to any who merely respect the words of Jesus, yet neglect to bend the knee to him as their king.

And what a waste of time it is for us believers to listen to unbelievers give their commentary on the Bible and how they think the Christian should live.

Foolishness.

They simply say, I'm astonished, and yet they refuse to bend the knee.

In the next scene, we see number two, Jesus' authority over demons.

Have a read of verse 23 down to 28 with me again.

Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, 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 unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him.

Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, What is this?

What new doctrine is this?

For with authority he commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.

And immediately his fame spread throughout all the region around Galilee.

We enter into a scene of the unseen.

What we have here is a head-to-head conflict between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness.

And such a conflict is just as the Lord foretold all the way back in the book of Genesis.

You see, just as God promised in Genesis 3.15 that there would be enmity between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent, and that seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head.

And just as we've we see it previewed time and again throughout the whole sweep of the Old Testament scriptures, so now with the commencement of the Son of God's earthly ministry, we have a seed battle.

And here Mark records a man in the presence of Jesus' authoritative teaching in the synagogue.

The assembly were astonished, but but not all of them.

You see, there was among them a man possessed by a demon.

An evil spirit that rebelled against God like that archdemon of Satan.

This spirit was unclean.

An ungodly spirit that manifested ungodly behavior.

Until this moment, this this demon has has lived within this man undisturbed in the synagogue.

But King Jesus enters into Capernaum, the kingdom of God, he is breaking through this present evil age of darkness.

And so the man cries out, verse 24, let us alone.

What have we to done to you, Jesus of Nazareth, Nazareth?

As if to say, We know who you are, leave us alone.

There's nothing in common between us.

You are of your kingdom, we're of our kingdom.

We've nothing to do with you.

So what do you want to do with us?

And then the demon says, Did you come to destroy us?

I know who you are, the holy one of God.

Now notice this.

How does the demon refer to himself?

He asks, Did you come to destroy us?

The demon speaks in the plural.

Now perhaps the demon is concerned with the man that he is possessing, though there's no suggestion that Jesus is going to destroy this man as well as the demon.

Or what some commentators believe is going on here is that this demon is speaking in concern of all demons.

This us, leave us alone.

Did you come to destroy us?

I know who you are.

And indeed, this is the mission of the Holy One of God.

The mission that every demon knows.

It is as first John 3 8 says, the devil has sinned from the beginning.

For this purpose the Son of God was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil.

And here stands this demon, knowing his destruction is imminent.

But pay careful attention to this also.

How does a demon refer to Jesus?

He calls him the Holy One of God.

This second disclosure of Jesus' deity, in one sense, echoes back to the first disclosure.

The words of the Father at the baptism of Jesus, who said, You are my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.

You see, the Holy One of God is a divine and messianic title.

It it echoes God's own self-designation throughout the book of Isaiah, where he's referred to as the Holy One of Israel.

It echoes Psalm 22, verse 3, that Psalm of David, which declares of the Messiah, you are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.

Psalms 22:3

This demon challenges the Lord by declaring his name, an old practice of gaining mastery over a foe or attempting, and yet ironically, he's actually confessing the deity of Christ.

This is actually a pattern where that we see across the Gospel of Mark.

When the Lord encounters those that are sick, they call him Lord, Teacher, Son of David, Master, but a demon it's the demons who confess the titles of divinity, the Holy One of God, the Son of God, the Son of the Most High.

High God.

There is something that the demons know of Jesus that the crowds are yet to grasp about him.

They are witnesses that that Jesus is indeed the Holy One of God.

Now, dear friends, if if even the demons believe, if even the demons believe that Jesus is the Holy One, that He is God, then what does that say about every cult or religion that denies the deity of Christ?

They're more foolish than demons.

Remember the words of the Apostle James who who writes in James chapter 2, verse 19, You believe that there's one God.

James 2:19

You do well, yet even the demons believe.

And they go one step further.

They tremble.

Perhaps you think, well, I'm glad that I don't deny the deity of Christ.

But let me ask you sincerely, are you denying the deity of Christ practically?

Do you honor his kingship with your lips?

And yet your heart is far from him?

Is King Jesus the king of your life?

Or do you see say with treasonous henley insisting, I am the master of my fate.

I am the captain of my soul.

And against such a foe, against this demonic spirit, the Lord Jesus demonstrated his authority.

He declares, Be quiet and come out of him.

And it was so.

The spirit was muzzled, the spirit was exercised, the spirit was crushed.

And as the assembly beheld the authority of Christ over the demon, they marvelled yet again.

All of them.

And now his teaching was even further validated by his authority in this way that Christ commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.

It's fascinating, you know, that the people did not marvel that a man was possessed by a demon.

Rather, they marveled that Christ had authority to exercise that demon.

You see, Mark's audience, they understood that demons and the devil were indeed real forces that even possessed men.

They were engaged in real spiritual warfare.

The same warfare that we are in today.

Oh, yes, the devil has deceived many by making many in the West believe that he doesn't exist, nor his demons, that they're simply myths, or perhaps they're friendly spirits.

But the truth is, the devil is real, as are his demons, and yet fear not, because our Lord Jesus Himself has authority even over every demon.

And with this, verse 28, the fame of Christ's name spread throughout the region of Galilee, word of his authority and works began to spread, his kingdom was being declared, his authority was being visibly established, and his name was spreading across the land.

What we have here in these verses is the first confrontation in Jesus' earthly ministry between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.

Genesis 3 15, the seed of the woman, uh uh that confrontation that we saw, the first skirmish in Mark of the conflict between these two and the and the outflowing of that promise from the proto-evangelium.

But what we see, an unclean spirit yields to the Holy One of God.

We see an advancement in Christ's conquest against the ruler of the demons, a preview of Satan's defeat and Christ's triumph over the forces of darkness at the cross, and a preview of that final victory when Christ returns and casts the devil into the lake of fire.

Christ has authority over even demons, trampling the works of the devil under his foot.

In the next scene we see number thir number three, Jesus' authority over sickness.

Have a read again in verse 29 down to 31.

Now as soon as they had come out of the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John.

But Simon's wife's mother lay sick with a fever, and they told him about her at once.

So he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she served them.

The very same day the Lord Jesus exited the synagogue and made his way into Simon Peter's nearby house.

This is a rare moment in the gospel narratives, appearing into the domestic and personal lives of his of the disciples.

And there was Simon's mother-in-law laying down, struck with some sort of fever.

A fever we need to understand it's understand was no trivial complaint in the ancient world.

This was not man flu.

This was a pre-antibiotic era.

Fevers could be life-threatening.

And Luke, in his gospel account, as he retells the same event, he calls it a high fever.

There is something serious here.

Now put yourself in Simon's shoes for a moment.

Here is a man who left his nets, his livelihood, just days before the uh when the Lord Jesus had called him.

His wife, his mother-in-law were dependent on him in some way, and now his mother-in-law was sick and unable to get out of the bed.

And Peter's instinct was to go and tell the great physician.

Not because he was going to quit following Jesus, but because he needed Jesus' help.

And the Lord Jesus made provision indeed.

Peter records this whole event or retells it, Mark records it, and especially this healing so intimately.

As though he he he's reliving these moments as he as he relays them to Mark.

He came, he took her by the hand.

He was he was helping her up.

And immediately, as though I I blinked, and time had suddenly passed.

Immediately the fever was gone.

It left her in an instant.

This was not the gradual removal of sickness, nor the diagnosis and remedy.

Take this three times a day for four days.

This was instantaneous.

The Lord Jesus healed her of this sickness totally.

Her fever is rebuked, she is delivered, and she responds in service.

She serves him.

This is the disposition of one who has been radically transformed by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Those in the synagogue, they were amazed at the exorcism, but there is no indication that their hearts were moved.

And yet Simon's mother-in-law was healed of her sickness, and her heart was moved to the service of the King.

This is a picture of what genuine salvation does.

The sort of fruit that is immediately displayed in a person's life.

It doesn't stay stagnant, it moves to action.

And there's something here for us to learn from concerning our own salvation.

This is a fitting picture of justification.

Just as the Lord Jesus touched and immediately she was healed, so too the Lord Jesus touches the sinner with his grace.

And immediately the great physician heals them, forgiven of their sin.

Immediately their sins are forgiven.

In an instant, they are reconciled to God.

There's no progressive infusion of righteousness.

No, keep taking this, and eventually you'll get better.

There is only the instantaneous and complete righteousness of Christ.

The only progressive work in their salvation is their sanctification, not their justification.

And when the Lord Jesus grants free pardon for the past, he also grants strength to serve for what lies ahead.

And so I wonder, has Christ's mercy in your life, has it produced a genuine heart of service, unglamorous, humble, unpraised service?

Or has it only produced mere relief?

A sort of get out of jail free card?

Remember the words of Mark 10, 44.

Whoever of whoever of you desires to be first shall be slave of all.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.

And so I simply ask, has Christ's servanthood transformed your disposition to pour yourself out for him and for his people?

Just as creation was made good and knew no sin or sickness until sin brought the curse, and disease entered as its bitter fruit, subjecting a groaning world to decay, so now we've seen a picture where Christ's kingdom breaks into our curse, cursed world with healing.

And one day when he returns, he will wipe away every tear.

There will be no more pain, no more sickness or death.

Christ's healing in Mark's gospel is a preview of new creation, a foretaste as his kingdom breaks through even now.

We've seen the authority of Jesus over sickness, bringing healing and foreshadowing even the new creation life in his kingdom.

In the final scene, we see number four, Jesus' authority over the multitude.

Have a read finally of verse thirty-two down to thirty-four.

At evening, when the sun had set, they brought to him all who were sick, and those who were demon possessed, and the whole city was gathered together at the door.

Then he healed many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons, and he did not allow the demons to speak, because they knew him.

See, word word had reached the whole city, and as the sun went down, so the Sabbath restrictions had lifted, they had ceased.

Now was the city permitted to bring out their sick.

Now did the people bring out their demon possessed.

They had heard of Christ's authoritative teaching in the synagogue, they had heard of his exercising of a demon, they had heard of the healing of Peter's mother-in-law all on the same day, and now the city came to the very doorway where Jesus was.

The Lord had demonstrated his authority.

But perhaps these were perhaps these were only individual cases.

Perhaps Jesus needed to rest between miracles.

Perhaps it was too much, a whole city coming to his door.

Maybe he was limited by scale.

But what we find in verse 32 to 34 is that scale was no challenge to the Lord.

He had authority even over multitudes that came to him.

And the Lord in his great compassion for those who came to him, he heals all of them that have need.

Various people with various diseases are brought before him, and one by one he heals them all.

Those with recent fevers, others with lifelong conditions, still even those with terminal illnesses.

And Christ's authority was demonstrated time and time and time again, unquestionable.

His word was validated by each deed.

And not only the sick, but the demon possessed too were brought to him.

And these demons were each cast out as the one had that very morning in the synagogue.

And as the one in the synagogue knew who Jesus was, that he was the holy one of God, so too did every one of those exercise demons among the multitude.

And yet the Lord did not allow them to speak.

Why is this?

Doesn't it impede the advancement of God's kingdom?

One commentator, James Edwards, he he he recognizes three converging reasons why Jesus commands the demons not to tell anyone who he is.

Three reasons.

The first reason he argues is that it was strategic.

It was simply a strategic decision.

You see, a demon shouting out that the Messiah is here would bring unnecessary attention from the Roman Empire.

It's the language of military deliverance and would unhelpfully provoke the authorities into action against Galilee before Jesus' mission was ready for Roman hostility.

And so there was strategy there.

Now the second reason that he gives is that it was according to pattern, to something that we've already actually seen disclosed in Scripture.

You see, it it follows the pattern of how the Lord Jesus is described in Isaiah's prophecies of the servant of the Lord.

A servant with meekness and humility.

Isaiah forty two three says, A bruised reed, he will not break.

Isaiah forty-nine two says, He has made me a polished shaft or arrow, in his quiver he has hidden me.

There's a sort of restraint of his authority and power evoked by these verses.

The Lord's ministry would be hidden according to the pattern of previous prophecies for a time.

As Edwards says to quote him, if one will not receive Jesus in this form, one will not receive Jesus in all his power and majesty.

The third reason he gives, and the clearest, is that it was simply according to timing.

The mission of the Lord Jesus and his kingdom has its own divine timetable, and the full truth about Jesus is not ready to be announced.

Every claim about his identity before the cross is premature.

The demons know who he is, but the Lord does not permit them to speak.

And Peter confesses, You are the Christ, before he's silenced by Christ.

But the clearest confession, and what Mark I think is trying to draw our attention to in his whole gospel narrative, comes at the climax in Mark's gospel, as Jesus hangs on the cross and a Roman centurion looks upon him in his humiliation and confesses without being silenced, truly this man was the Son of God.

Now, this scene here, with the great multitude in Galilee coming to Jesus, to whom he demonstrates his authority with healing and exorcism, this invites us to ask an important question.

Why is it that the crowds had really come?

What was their motivation?

It wasn't because they knew as the demons did that Jesus was the Son of God and they were bowing the knee, but rather because they wanted the wonder worker.

They wanted what Jesus could do for them.

Instead of Jesus himself.

It's like those who sought him for more bread, desirous even to make him king, to fit their agendas and satisfy their stomachs.

Well, the very next morning, the Lord Jesus knows what's in man's heart, and he slips away to pray in a solitary place.

And Simon finds him and says, Everyone's looking for you.

They want more.

But Jesus had come for another purpose.

He didn't come into the world to be the miracle worker, he came to preach the kingdom.

Relief from suffering was never the point in and of itself.

It was merely the sign that was pointing to something greater.

And so I wonder, are you here tonight waiting at the door of that house for what Christ can do for you?

Or are you waiting at the door for who he is?

Remember, the goal of the gospel is a person, and that is Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

We've come to the end of our passage.

And as we look back, we have seen four scenes that demonstrate the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the King, and his kingdom is breaking into the present darkness.

King Jesus has authority in teaching, he has authority over demons, over sickness, over even the multitudes.

And yet, the advancement of his kingdom hasn't merely been concerned with the conquering of his enemies.

But look again, who who has received the blessings of Christ's kingdom advancing?

Demons has have been crushed, but the possessed man is free.

Sickness has been dispelled, but the sick woman is healed.

You see, Christ's authority is not only bad news for the kingdom of darkness, and it is, but it is good news for the kingdom of God and for any that have put their faith in the King.

The Lord Jesus is not flexing his authority, he is demonstrating his majesty so that sinners hear the message.

The kingdom of God is at hand.

Repent and believe.

And so will you come to the door of the one who has demonstrated his authority?

Will you bow to the king whose authority is all?

Will you put your faith in Jesus Christ?

Or perhaps there is an area in your life where you have not bowed the knee to Christ, but you must, where you have practically not acknowledged his kingship.

He has authority over all and over you.

Bow to the King.

His kingdom is at hand.

Repent and believe.

Let's pray.

Almighty Heavenly Father, you have sent your Son who has all authority.

All authority has been given to him.

Forgive us for when we fail to recognize his kingship practically in our lives as believers.

Oh teach us to put him first in every way, to see how his kingdom may advance even through simple means such as us.

Use us this week in some marvelous way to proclaim your kingdom in our witness before colleagues and friends and family, and help us to submit those things to you that we ought to.

May we marvel at the king and not be so captivated by simply what he has to offer.

May we long for his return, where his kingdom is revealed visibly before all, and every knee bows, and tongue confesses.

And should there be any here that have not bowed the knee, O Lord, they will soften their hearts to do so before it's too late.

In Christ's name and for his glory.

Amen.