What have we to do with thee, Jesus?

 

LIMAVADY INDEPENDENT METHODIST CHURCH

SERMON NOTES FROM SUNDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2022

MARK 1 VERSE 21 – 28

Jesus going into the synagogue in Capernaum on the Sabbath day was confronted by the claims of Satan’s demons – verse 24 a man with an unclean spirit came out when Jesus began to speak “what have we to do with thee?”  A battle is going on in every family, there are souls that need to be saved.  The battle climaxed on the hill of Golgotha.  Paul was speaking of the battle for men’s souls in Colossians when he said “And having spoiled principalities and power and he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.” (Colossians 2 verse 15)

The directions Jesus took.  Jesus comes into Capernaum and into the synagogue.  When he went to Nazareth one day, he also went into the synagogue and opened up the scriptures people didn’t like it.  They took him out to a nearby cliff meaning for him to be cast over but he stepped away (Luke 4).  When Jesus came into Capernaum he knew they needed to hear they were lost in sin and lost for all eternity.  God knows what we need in this province and land.  He knows there are people needing to hear the message of the gospel.  They need to hear of Jesus, how he came into this world as a baby in the womb of Mary, how he was born into a manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes.  That he grew up as a man and at 33 years of age he suffered and died for the worlds sin.  The battle goes on for your sin.  You were shapen in iniquity.  The Lord died that you might be saved from hell for all eternity.  He knew the value of a man’s soul.  “For what shall it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”  He came to seek and to save that which was lost.  Jesus has come in our direction.  “Where 2 or 3 are gathered together in my name there am I in the midst.”  Just as he passed that sycamore tree and saw Zacchaeus sitting he passes by you just now and is asking what direction you are taking.  “I must needs go through Samaria” he told the disciples one day.  He knew he had to go there to meet the Gentile woman who had no connection with the gospel at all.  He made his way through that land just for her.  Maybe you can look back to a day when you were convicted of your sin, bowed the knee and trusted in Christ for your own Saviour?  Jesus set his face to go to Jerusalem – why – for your soul and mine.  Verse 23 this man listened to the Lord as he opened up the word of God.  The people were astonished at his doctrine, they never heard anything like this before.  They had heard the scribes preaching the word of God but never like this.  Jesus was teaching things others never teach.  Nicodemus came at night and Jesus confronted him, looking past the veneer and looking at the heart.  Samuel had to learn that too.  When he went to Jesse’s house he was gazing at the sons that passed before him, the stature of these men, how they looked and presented.  Each time the Lord told him no it is not him – “man looketh on the outward appearance but the Lord looks on the heart.”  We can see the outward veneer but there is one who sees right into the very depths of the heart.  He has directed his footsteps to come this way.  Jesus preaching in the synagogue could see into their hearts.

The disruption that he causes.  He begins to preach and a man with an unclean spirit cries out “let us alone, what have we do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth?”  It was only when Jesus opened up the scriptures that Satan opposed him.  Not before when the scribes and Pharisees had preached.  The enemy planned to disrupt people from hearing Jesus and what he had to say.  The demon realised what Jesus was speaking about.  This was the plan of the enemy.  They were astonished at his doctrine.  Maybe it was the first time he ever cried out.  The enemy wanted to distract the minds of the people in the synagogue that day.  Think of the parable of the sower which represented the preaching of God’s own word.  The seed is the word of God sown on the ground.  The path around the field was hard, trampled on, stony, not much earth, thorny ground, the seed fell into it.  The seed lay on the top of the ground, couldn’t penetrate the soil.  The birds came down and took the seed away.  The Lord likened it to people hearing the word of God, hearing of God’s great sacrifice from sin through his son.  The word goes by and people don’t respond.  Then comes the devil and takes away the seed less men be saved.  That is what the enemy wants to do.  If you are not saved he will cause a distraction because he wants to take your mind away from the preaching of the cross of Christ.  The enemy is taking you away from the cross of Calvary.   Think of the apostle Paul in Thessalonica.  He began to preach in that place.  People were saved as a result of the preaching.  Throughout the city people came to Jesus. Acts 17 verse 5 “but the Jews which believed not, moved with envy, took onto them certain lewd fellows of the baser sort and gathered a company and set all the city on an uproar” – why – because of the preaching the cross.  The enemy still disrupts when the preacher begins to speak of the cross, that sins were dealt with at Calvary,  This man cries out but it is not the man himself crying out, it is the demons.  They have got this man in the right place and crying out to disrupt the meeting.

The deliverance that comes. This man cries out from the depth of his soul – verse 25 “hold thy peace and come out of him.”  In the Garden of Gethsemane the enemy came to destroy Jesus.  The Lord spoke and they fell backwards.  The power of the word of God.  The unclean spirit didn’t need any introduction to who Jesus was.  In Philippi they knew all about Christ as the Son of God, why he had come, the mission he had.   There was a woman who followed Paul and the team around the city.  She was possessed of a demon.  It allowed her to tell fortunes.  She followed them and heard what they had preached.  She went around crying out “these men are the servants of the most high God, these show us the way of salvation.”  Paul delivered this young woman through the power of the Lord.  The enemy knows who Jesus is.  Right now Jesus is waiting for you to acknowledge your sin.  There is no other entrance into heaven but by him.  “No man cometh unto the father but by me.”  What a disappointment if we miss God’s salvation.  To end up in a Christless sinners hell. 

A dispute that erupts.  When such power is displayed the demon came out.  They began to dispute it – verse 27.  Is there a dispute in your heart?  Have you been distracted?  Will you make your way to Calvary if you have never been there before?