Luke 4:33-37

Luke chapter 4 verses 33 to 37. And in the synagogue, there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, which cried out with a loud voice, 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. Jesus rebuked him, saying, hold thy peace. Come out of him. When the devil had thrown him in the midst, came out of him and heard him not. And they were all amazed, spake among themselves saying, What a word is this? For with authority and power, he commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out. And the fame of him went out into every place of the country roundabout. God blessed to us is sacred and holy word this morning. Former European Satanus and witch Doreen Irvin wrote a book in 1973 entitled, Freed from Witchcraft. Significantly, she confessed that she did, not know that she was possessed by numerous demons. Here’s what she said. Now I was no stranger to demons, had I not often called on them to assist me in the rights as witch and Satanist. But now for the first time I knew these demons were within me, not outside. It was a startling revelation. Apparently, even the most deemons demonized individuals may not be consciously aware that evil spirits are actually dwelling in them. Jesus, we find, was teaching at Nazareth, but his message has been rejected. He has gone to Copernium, which is a Galilee in town on the northern, north, northern western coast of the Sea of Galilee. And he has been preaching at various synagogues on the Sabbath day we read here. And he encounters a demon-possessed man. Such incidents will be prevalent in the ministry of our Lord. He has come to destroy the works of Satan, and the casting out of demons is really to be prevalent. beginning of this destruction. Satan has previously tempted Christ in the wilderness. Satan has indeed stirred up the hatred of his own city against him to try to kill him. And now we see Satan is trying to disrupt the preaching of the Word of God by this demon-possessed man. And yet all these efforts will prove unsuccessful. for Christ will establish his kingdom upon the earth and it becomes apparent to all that Jesus Christ has complete power over demons and they are hopeless before him. Let me begin by talking about the demon-possessed man in verses 33 and 34. And in the synagogue, there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, cried out with a little. loud voice 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. Now let me say that you find from this text to scripture that demon possession is real. Many deny demon possession as a false diagnosis. It has been claimed by some that persons said to be demon possessed were not literally possessed. That were told that the scriptures were just accommodating to the usual ideas and language of the age. Well, what that means is that the scripture was presenting falsehood to us. Let me just clarify that so you understand. That’s what they’re actually saying. And that the people were only in a state of lunacy, or we might call mental disorder or subject to convulsions or updlectic, seizures or something of this nature. We’re even told that such possessions were unknown before the time of Christ. So that it’s reasonable to assume that actual demon possession never really occurred. That’s the whole argument. In our scientific age, we are loath, and I mean loathe, to take something that super, supernatural in scripture as truth. We try to explain it away. It can’t be. That can’t be the truth. People are loathe to take the Bible at its word. And they believe, and actually believe what it says. No, it can’t be that. So many people would say, well, that can’t be true. Scripture teaches demonic possession in the clearest terms possible. Scripture makes a plain distinction between those who have some type of disease or even lunacy as the scripture lunatics or mental disorder and those who are demon possessed. Now, hold your place here, but look at Matthew 424. Here’s a good example for you. We read here in Matthew 424, and his fame went through all Syria, and they brought onto him all sick people that were taken, with diverse diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy, and he healed them. Notice how he separates here, those who have some type of mental disorder, let’s say, from those who were possessed with devils. So they’re not the same thing. They are separate ideas, and we shouldn’t confound them. The idea that God. man, moved by the Holy Spirit, inspired to write each word of Scripture that we’ve been given. Accommodate themselves to some type of human superstition and false ideas is preposterous and must be rejected out of hand. When you read of devils entering into men and going out of them, and going out of them, You must believe it is true. I read in this scripture, there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and I take that as true. When scripture records, demon speaking, as we have here in our text, of their being questioned, of their answering, you must accept that they are separate from the person that they are possessing. That the demon could come out of this man, and the man be unhurt. indicates we’re dealing with two separate beings here, a human being and a demonic being. Don’t we find some begging Christ? Don’t torment us before the time. Don’t cast us into confinement of the pit or the abyss. Let us go into the herd of swine over here rather than that. The assertion that the instances of demon possession were not known before Christ is also false. Anyone who really? reads the Old Testament would realize you read about an evil spirit troubling King Saul, don’t you? Don’t you read that it departed from him when David played the harp? Wasn’t it a true fact that this evil spirit was upon Saul so they tried to kill David with the javelin? You read these stories in first Samuel chapter 16, verse 14, verse 23, Chapter 19, verse 9. The indication is very clear there were demons involved in the Old Testament. Thus, it is unwarranted, to say the demon possession is only accommodation to superstitions of the age. It is a biblical fact that there was demon possession. That’s what we find. And I must accept that it is true. The scripture teaches demon possession in clear terms. Now, when we talk about the origin and the work of demons, demons or devils, are fallen angels. These are the ones who joined with Satan when he rebelled against the Lord and was cast out of heaven. We read in Revelation 12-7 about the dragon, Satan, and his angels. We read in the book of Peter, or, excuse me, in the book of Jude, in verse 6, about the angels which kept not their first to stay. and we’ll be studying that sometime shortly. The day didn’t remain in heaven, but were cast out. We’ll see. Demons entering human beings and controlling them is certainly found in Scripture. And it’s very clear in Matthew chapter 5 in other places. Remark chapter 5 in other places. They afflict human beings with mental, moral, and physical problems. We read about the maniac of the Gatterines. In Luke chapter 8, we’ll be studying that sometime, Lord willing, in the future. We read about the boy that was thrown down by a demon. He phones at the mouth in chapter 9 of the book of Luke. In chapter 13 of the book of Luke, we read about the woman at the synagogue that’s bent over and couldn’t straighten up because she had some spirit of infirmity. And Christ has to heal her of that. Demons also exercise power over government rulers, according to Daniel 10, 13, to oppose the kingdom of God. Demons are involved in the religious realm. A lot of people don’t realize that, but they should, because they inspire false teachers and erratical doctrine. I read a book. But doctrines of devils, I wonder what that means. They’re involved, aren’t they? So you find demon possession is real. You find this demon described as an unclean spirit. Now, angels are called spirits. The Bible says, who makeeth his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire. For example, in Psalm 104, why they call unclean spirits? Well, we read about the holy angels. That’s a phrase that’s used in the scripture. many times. Any demon spirit, because of its participation with Satan in the rebellion against God, is said to be one of the angels that sinned, according to 2. Peter 2.4. So that fallen angels are defiled by sin. Some, in some sense, like human beings. So they have a defiled nature. They’re unclean also in connection with the sins that they promote in the person that’s possessed. In other words, they possess a man or a woman, and then they cause them, if you would, compel them to do evil, unclean things. This evil spirit could incite its victim to engage in all sorts of sexual. immoral behavior, what is called in scripture, unclean behavior. If he can lead men or women to defile their bodies, he takes special delight in doing so. Unclean in scripture is used for such things as fornication, homosexuality, beastiality, lesbianism, adultery, and so forth. You can imagine demon-possessed man being filthy. in speech and inner thoughts because the demon is stirring this up. In an unrestrained manner, people are constantly sinning against the Seventh Commandment. And thus, it may be an extraordinary manner, and thus they are unclean in their behavior. So either way, whether we talk about their nature as fallen angels, or whether we talk about what they promote in the possessed person, either way, this is what they’re not. they are unclean spirits. So you find this demon described as an unclean spirit. You find this demon possessed man in the synagogue. Hmm, that’s interesting, isn’t it? Now this demon possessed man, being fully at the command, really, of this evil spirit, was compelled to go to the synagogue. He didn’t come there to be taught scripture, and he certainly didn’t come there to be healed of his demon. But it seems his purpose was to be a disturber of a worship, a disruptor of Christ’s preaching at the synagogue, and to hinder people from believing in the Savior, so that the quietness in order that should prevail in God’s worship services, when everything should be done decently in order, would be disrupted in some fashion. So this man, or egged on by his demon, would cry out, make horrible sounds, create an uproar in the congregation while Jesus was preaching. So he’s interrupted by this man’s outburst. Years ago, when Liberty met at a Richland youth center, they had all kinds of sports activities. and everything else there. We used to meet in the basement in Gipsonia. And I was preaching one Sunday night, and a man came through the back door and interrupted me. And he just called out and asked if I knew when the basketball league was meeting, or something of that nature. I said, no, I do not know. I do not know. And we’re in a midst of a church service here, which he closed the door and left. But it was a disruption. It, you know, broke my concentration. You know, and it certainly affected the congregation to have somebody come in and disturb, you know, the, in the midst of preaching, disturb the person. So I can appreciate the idea of disruption. And here we have a worse situation because he has to deal with a demon-possessed man coming in here and speaking out. So you find this demon-possessed man in the same. synagogue. You find the hostility. Christ provokes in this demon-possessed man. Do you see the outrage? Do you see the disgust this demon has, this unclean spirit? Let us alone. Why are you here, Jesus of Nazareth? Why are you disturbing us? We have nothing in common. Just go away. Us here does not mean that the man necessarily had more than one demon. I think the rest of the passage would indicate that he had one. But I think the indication is this. He seems to realize that what’s going to happen to him is also going to happen to his other fellow demons around the area. Because Christ has come to cast them out. He’s going to have a dramatic effect upon the demonic work in the area. And when this demon cried out, it was not simply to humbly submit to Christ. It’s sort of to banish him. Leave us alone. He wants Christ to depart, to leave the area. Go somewhere else. Don’t cause us grief. And then he says, art thou come to destroy us. Notice the fear and the misery of this demon. For he knows that Christ has the power to destroy him. Christ can bear. vanish him to the abyss. He can curtail all his earthly activities, and he has the power to cast him into hell which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. He resents Christ’s presence, but he persists in his rebellion. Knowing it will end in his destruction, he’s not deterred. You find the hostility Christ provokes in this demon. You’ll notice this, you find the knowledge demons have of Christ. His demon is well aware of the name, the character, the messiahship, of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know thee who thou art. Satan and his demons know very well, the Lord Jesus Christ. Even though he is presently clothed in human flesh, they know who he is. They know who he is. the son of God. The Holy One was a well-known title used for the Messiah, the one who came to destroy the works of the devil according to 1 John 38. Jesus is holy, not only with regard to his character, but, because he was sinless, but because he is God’s anointed one, he has been separated, set apart for the very purpose of being the Redeemer and accomplishing the work of redemption. It was well we looked at in chapter 4, verses 18 and 19. Demons acknowledge Jesus Christ as the Son of God. What are we to do with thee, thou son of God, Matthew 829? Similar words are used in Luke 828. Demons know who Jesus Christ is and they tremble at his presence. They’re fearful of Him and his power over them. They’re unable to contend with him, and they note. So here is the demon-possessed man. Next, we see the power of Christ over demons in verses 35 to 37. Let’s look at verse 35. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, hold thy peace, and come out of him. And the devil had, and when the devil had thrown him in the midst, came out of him and heard him not. You find Christ here first, silencing him. the devil. Hold thy peace. Jesus spoke sharply to him, rebuked him. The word hold thy peace. The phrase here is actually he muzzled him as the idea. Be silent, he says. This disturber of the worship service is not permitted to say another word. While what the demons said here was true, Jesus was the Holy One, Jesus doesn’t desire any testimony from a demon-possessed man. Truth cannot be established by the evidence of such an evil being, less people be led astray by something else, the demon might say. Liars and deceivers are not going to be permitted to bear witness to the truth. So Jesus doesn’t need the help of this demon. You be sorry. When I read this, I thought about Paul and Silas. You remember when they were in Philippi and they were preaching the gospel? And while they were there, a slave girl with a demon began to follow them around. And of course, the owners of this demon-possessed girl used her, her masters, to prophesy, and they made money off of her. Well, she’s following Paul and Silas around. and she’s saying, crying out, these men are the servants of the Most High God, which show us the way of salvation. She did this for several days, and we read that Paul was grieved about it. And what did he do? He cast out the demon. Her continual shouting became a hindrance to Paul in his preaching of the gospel. A distraction, a disturber to Paul’s work. So like Christ, Paul refuses the testimony of such a person. So he puts it into it. Cast the demon out. So you find Christ silencing the demon. You find Christ demonstrating complete power over the demon. Come out of him. Now, you’ll notice our Lord does nothing but speak. The one who can speak the universe into existence, all he has to do is speak. And this foul fiend is evicted it once with no delay and no resistance. In leaving, he shrieks wildly, he hurls the man down. But the man is not harmed by this. Now, there were others who pretended to cast out demons like those of the Pharisees who tried to do this, but they had their charms and their spells that they would use to try to do this, to pacify the devil. It was a long draw. on our process. Christ commands with such power that immediately the demon comes out. He has to comply as a defeated foe. He has no choice. Sometimes Christ’s disciples had trouble casting out demons. One man brought his son to Christ, I think my dear, your disciples couldn’t do it. Christ does it immediately. Christ said to tell his disciples, well, some don’t come out without prayer and fasting. But Christ here, what he commands, is completely different. This delay or anything like this never occurs with Christ. When he cast out of demon, it’s gone. It has to come out. His bare word is irresistibly obeyed. So you find Christ demonstrating complete power of the demon. And you find the people amazed, hereby what Christ said, verses 36 and 7. And they were all amazed and spake among themselves saying, what a word is this? For with authority and power, he commanded the unclean spirits, and they come out. The fame of him went out into every place of the country roundabout. The display of Christ’s power or over demons gained him a reputation among the people. They were thinking, Oh, look, this is amazing. This was not a simple feat to cast out a demon. It was a genuine miracle, and the people were surprised that Christ could so effectively deal with demons. People unanimously concluded, Jesus must be a teacher come from God that he could do such things like this. Nicodemus came to that conclusion. This was a convincing sign that even the most reluctant to accept Christ’s claims could not ignore. He can cast out demons. Now, the Pharisees will try to spin that and say, well, it’s by Satan. He’s doing this. And so forth. They couldn’t deny the fact that he was doing it. The power of Christ over demons. Now, as we look at this passage of Scripture, what are the practical observations that we can make? What can we? gain what can be beneficial to us from this. The first is this. You should realize that satanic forces may be in a place of worship. Remember this incident took place at a synagogue at Copernium where Christ himself was preaching. It’s surprisingly true that Satan and his evil demons will come to a place of worship with an evil purpose. either to disturb the preacher or distract the hearer that the word may be unfruitful or unprofitable in some man. This evil spirit led this man to the synagogue that morning to disturb and disrupt our Lord. Jesus indicated in the parable of the sewer how demonic forces that he calls them fowls of the air will snatch away the sea. The sea, of the word. He said, would anyone heareth the word of the kingdom and understand if it not, then cometh the wicked one and snatcheth the way that which was sown in his heart. So let’s be aware of Satan’s mode of operation, unless coming to church prove unprofitable. He would like to disturb the church. He would like to create havoc. So you should realize that Satan had, you know, Satan’s Satan’s forces here may be at a place of worship. Notice something else. False teachers abound. You must try the spirits see if they are of God. Many religious teachers claim to, oh, I’ve got spiritual, I’m spirit-led. I’ve got light regarding truth and knowledge and doctrine and so forth. But 1 John 4-1 tells us with regard to these teachers, Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hmm. There are those who call themselves ministers of the gospel who are destitute of the spirit of God. But much worse than just being destitute of the spirit of God, and indeed the spirit that is guiding them and directing their teaching is not of God, it’s not holy at all. They are false prophets who arise at times in the church, promoting the doctrines of devils according to 1st Timothy 4.1. Their work has been devised by devils, suggested, designed to draw you away from the truth. So Satan’s demons at work in religious circles is certainly something that we should be aware of. They handle the word of God deceitfully. They would like to trick you. Ultimately, destroy your soul if they could. Such false prophets can creep in unawares, undetected, into the assemblies of God, as Jude will tell us, and begin to spout their damnable doctrine. So false teachers of bounds that you must try the spirits to see if they are of God. Thirdly, learn from this how disturbing your witness for Christ is to Satan and his demons. Think about this a minute. Do you see Christ’s presence and think about him preaching and teaching and how much this troubled, this demon-possessed man? It troubled him. Jesus had not spoken directly to this man, but his message seemed to terrorize the demon. Leave us alone. Don’t trouble us. The truth of God’s word disturbs demonic forces. As insignificant as you and I are, you and I are very dangerous to Satan’s kingdom. Because we proclaim the name of Christ and the gospel of Christ, and that is powerful. And they know it. Christ is with you. And this makes evil spirits fearful because you speak with his power and his authority behind your words. My friends, I suggest that this should give us confidence when we speak for Christ. It’s unnerving to Satan and his evil agents. Learn how disturbing your witness for Christ is to Satan as demons. Lastly, Christ casting out this demon is a foretaste of the complete victory to come. Look with me at Colossians chapter 2 of verses 14 and 15. Colossians 2 and verses 14 and 15. Blotting out the handwriting the ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, having spoiled principalities and powers he made a show in them openly triumphing over the minute. When Satan endured the shame and the disgrace of the cross, it was all for the purpose of spoiling principalities and powers as well as redeeming his people. Recently, the Pope has said that Christ was a failure on the cross. No, he wasn’t. This was a triumph over Satan. His death, by his death, he gave the death blow to Satan’s kingdom. He triumphed over it. And his resurrection proves it. Thus, he was destroying the work of Satan and when he gets to the cross, his work is complete. But you can see it beginning. At the synagogue, there at Caperty when he cast out the devil. This is round one. And as he goes along, he’s going to be casting out these demons. He’s defeating Satan and his false. My friends, to say that Christ was a failure on the cross is to misrepresent the truth of Scripture to lead us astray. That’s a doctrine of the devil. Let me make this clear. The only reason they teach that way is because they have to continue. They have to continue. crucified Christ. So they don’t want to believe it is finished as Jesus said on the cross. They don’t want to believe that the victory was won there because they want to continue to propagate this idea that you have to work toward your own justification. And that Christ has to be crucified week after week after week. It’s finished. It’s done. I’ve completed the work. Satan is defeated. He is a defeated foe and he’s going to lose. And he knows he’s defeated. We’re reading in the book of Revelation when we get to chapter 12, he knows he has a short time left. He knows he’s defeated. He knows he can’t win. He’ll try, but he can’t. All things are accomplished by Christ here. And we see at the beginning of the ministry, and that at the end, as he dies on the cross, he completes the task. That former Satan is, witch, Doreen Irvine, was startled to realize that demon, she thought we’re outside of her, were really inside of her. Demon possession is real. But victory is always found in Jesus Christ. Who has complete mastery over evil spirits. I don’t know that demon possession is as prevalent as it was in the days when Christ was on this earth, when seeing that Satan was really stirred up. But I would say that it still seems to be a truth that we should be aware of. If people are still, false teachers, still being influenced by demonic spirits, then we can’t say that they’re gone for good and we have no dealings with them today. I think they’re still around. And I still think we have to be aware of their presence. Let us close with a word of prayer.