The Parable of the Soils I

Mark 4:1-12.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, June 23, 2019.

Today we are back in the Gospel according to Mark.  Here we are going to look at one of the parables that Christ told, the Parable of the Soils.  Jesus often used the common experiences of the first century Israelite to Illustrate spiritual truth.

As we approach this passage today, there is something we should all ask ourselves.  Am I responding to the Holy Spirit, who is drawing me to Christ, or am I simply going along with a ritual that I think I am supposed to do?  The condition and purpose of our heart are what is most important in this thing that is called Church, and Christianity.  As David said long ago, “For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering.  The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart—these, O God, You will not despise.”  (Psalm 51:16,17).  He also said earlier in that same chapter, “Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part, You will make me to know wisdom (vs. 6).

Yes, God is concerned about our outward lives.  However, He will not settle for an outward conforming that lacks inner transformation.  It is not enough to look like Jesus when my heart does not look like his.  So, today, let us hear the Holy Spirit calling us to a deeper growth and a deeper walk with Him.

Jesus teaches the multitude

At the beginning of the ministry of Jesus, he was very popular and multitudes would crowd around to hear him teach.  This was sometimes 1,000’s of people.  Whenever we have a multitude, crowd, or even mob, it is a mixed bag.  So, it was in those days.  They ranged from people who were there seriously seeking truth from Jesus to those who were there looking for a cause to shut him up.

At this point we are told that Jesus is beside the Sea, which is most likely the Sea of Galilee.  The crowds are pressing in so hard that he gets in a boat and puts out from the shore a little bit. This would keep them from pressing in too much on Jesus, and it would allow more people to see and hear him.  The water and the ground rising up away from it would also serve as a natural amphitheater, making it possible for far more to hear his teaching.

We should take time to note that this is in comparison to his times of teaching in the synagogues (or even in people’s homes).  Jesus was not stuck to teaching in special religious places.  The synagogue would be small, restrictive to crowds, and often filled with the notable people of the village.  Jesus preached wherever he knew that people would listen.  It is important for Christians to avoid the trap of only preaching in our Church buildings.  How many people do not hear the Word of God because they would never enter a Church?  Most likely a large number.  We must go out to them.

We are told that Jesus often used parables in his teaching.  The term parable often brings the person of Jesus to mind, even among non-Christians.  IT comes from a word that means to cast or put alongside.  Thus, it came to be used of a comparison of two things.  It could be a simple simile, or a more complex story that still functions as a simile.  The parables of Christ are illustrations of spiritual truths that all believers should want to study and understand.  Many times, the explanation to a parable is given in the Bible, and other times we may receive a string of parables with only one of them explained.  It is understood that the unexplained parables are teaching a similar point and thus can be sleuthed out by those that are explained in the context.  We should also understand that parables were never intended to be allegories where every single detail has a mystical or metaphorical meaning.  There is a long history of people who have taken the parables of Christ and twisted them to mean patently false things.

Jesus did not entitle his parables.  However, believers and teachers often refer to them with titles.  The parable today is sometimes called The Parable of the Sower.  The titles have developed over the years and are not original to the stories.  They only help us to identify which parable a person is referring.

We should also recognize that sometimes a parable can be found in the other Gospels and may have details in the others that are not included in the first.  So, these are some things to keep in mind when reading and trying to understand a parable.

The parable in front of us today involves a person who is sowing seed.  The seed falls upon four different types of ground and thus has four different effects.  We are going to deal with the interpretation more next week.  However, verse 14 tells us that the seed represents the Word.  I think it is obvious Jesus specifically means the Word of God.  The sower would be anyone God sends to proclaim His Word, which in this case would be Jesus.

The main thrust of the parable centers on the different kinds of soil that the Word of God falls upon when it is spoken or broadcast.  The condition of the place it falls explains the different responses that individuals have to it.  The illustration is helping us to see the different spiritual conditions that can exist within a person’s heart.  The first soil corresponds to those who do not respond to the Gospel.  The seed (Word of God) is quickly lost to them.  The second soil corresponds to those who respond positively and quickly, but their quick growth does not last during the heat of trials.  The third soil corresponds again to a person who responds positively and yet the Word is eventually choked out by the desires of their flesh.  The fourth is the soil that responds positively and goes on to bear fruit at varying yields.  The fruit is the effect that the Word of God produces within their souls and within their lives.  The reason that I am not going to spend more time on the interpretation this week is that Jesus himself goes on to talk about the purpose of the parables before he explains its interpretation.  In fact, the explanation is given later to The Twelve when Jesus is alone with them.

The purpose of parables

In verse 9, Jesus ends his parable with a statement, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”  This phrase uses an obvious physical necessity to point to an inner necessity.  Of course, everyone there had ears and could most likely hear.  If they had been deaf, Jesus would typically heal them.  Just as we use the word “to listen” or “to hear” to mean more than just the act of hearing itself, so did the Hebrews.  When we say to a child, “Are you listening to me, or Did you hear me,” we clearly mean more than only picking up auditory signals.  We are pointing both to understanding of the words and also obedience or acting upon the words.  Many people hear the Word of God, but not all understand it, and even fewer will actually turn from the self-life and follow the Lord Jesus.  Jesus knew this about the multitudes.  Many of them did not understand what he taught and were not really looking for spiritual teaching.  Rather, they wanted miracles, healings, and free food.  This phrase really expresses a challenge, “Do you really want to know what I am talking about today?”

Ultimately, Jesus states that the parables only explain for those who are inside, but they are intended to cloak the truth for those who are outside.  So, who are these outsiders and insiders that Jesus is talking about?  From our passage, we can tell that at least The Twelve disciples are on the inside because Jesus gives them the explanation later.  We would also suspect that most of the multitude are on the outside.  It is helpful that the Apostle Paul also uses these terms in 1 Corinthians 5:12 and following.  There he defines the insiders as those who are believers in Jesus and therefore, part of the body of Christ.  They are inside the grace of Christ.  The outsiders are those who are not believers in Christ and are not a part of his body.  They are the unbelievers.  Paul’s usage of these words definitely fits our context.  Many people in the crowd were not actually believers in Jesus.  They were there to see a spectacle and others were there as his enemies.  So, why would Jesus teach in a way that would cloak God’s Word to those who don’t believe?

It is instructive that he quotes from Isaiah 6:9. In that passage, Isaiah had spoken the Word of God to people who had received many Words from the Lord over the course of 700 plus years.  When Jesus spoke, it was another 700 plus years on top of that.  Israel had so much Word of God that it was coming out of their noses, to use a manna reference.  Yet, many of them were not really understanding it and much less obeying it.  Those who have no shortage of the Word of God were challenged by this cryptic saying that God gave Isaiah.  Why would God say to us to keep on hearing and not understanding, keep on seeing and not perceiving?  I believe it was a direct challenge from God for them to change their ways and press in to Him further in order to understand.  It is the same reason that Jesus sometimes said things that were very hard to accept and understand.  It is a challenge to see if you will follow the Holy Spirit and truly learn what is being said, or will you shut down and turn away from Jesus? 

When he told the people that if their eye leads them into sin then they should gouge it out, and if their hand leads them into sin then they should cut it off, he is not instructing us to literally do these things.  Yet, we can get offended at the harshness of the teaching and walk away.  Alternatively, we could press in to Him in order to gain better understanding.

Another example is when Jesus told the people that unless they ate his flesh and drank his blood, they would have not life in them.  Many were offended at that teaching and walked away.  We are actually told in John 6:66 that “From that time, many of his disciples went back and walked with him no more.”  Then Jesus turned to The Twelve and says, “Will you too go away?”  Peter’s response is priceless.  “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the Words of Life.”  We can only understand the teaching of Christ if we are willing to first believe in him, and that belief will be challenged along the way.

In some ways Christ was being gracious.  His desire was not to heap more guilt upon them, but rather to prick their conscience.  It was to cut through the thick flesh that encased their hearts and call them back to faith in God, specifically faith in the One whom the Father had sent, Jesus!

I pray that today your heart is trusting Christ.  When you read verses that seem hard to understand or to accept then don’t let the offense of your heart cause you to go away from Christ.  Rather, let Christ know in your prayers that you trust Him even when you don’t understand everything that he taught.  Ask him to help you to understand and follow him in faith.  He is faithful always to help us to grow in understanding what only the Spirit of God can teach us.

Parable of Soils I audio

The Power of Jesus

Mark 1:21-28.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on February 24, 2019.

Having introduced us to Jesus, Mark goes on to give evidence of the powerful things that Jesus did while he ministered on this earth.  This is important because we need to recognize that, though Jesus was smart and spoke in a way that amazed people, the biblical authors highlighted his power over his talk.  Paul references the effect of this reality in 1 Corinthians 4:20, when he says, “The Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk, but of power.” (NIV) 

If we only have fine sounding words to offer people then we might as well hang up our hat now.  At some point, they will come to realize that they need real power.  Yes, knowledge is power, but not all knowledge can set you free from the bondage of sin and hurts that so easily entangles us.  Even knowing the Scriptures is not enough to break the bondage of sin.  We must have a living relationship with Jesus, who alone has power to break every fetter!

Jesus teaches in Capernaum

Jesus focuses his ministry in the northern part of Israel for several reasons.  The more he ministered in Jerusalem the quicker the authorities would want to kill Him, and God had a particular timing about all of this.  Another reason is that it was symbolic of God’s care and heart for those who need help.    Jerusalem represented the best of Israel in the natural.  All the political and religious leaders were there.  Compared to Jerusalem, Capernaum represented the country bumpkins.  Jerusalem represented riches and knowledge, whereas Capernaum was a fishing village on the Sea of Galilee and would not have the greatest teachers in the land.  Those who know they are poor are quicker to receive than those who think they already have everything.

So Jesus goes into the synagogue of Capernaum on the Sabbath.  The Sabbath was the day of rest, which corresponds to Friday evening to Saturday evening.  The people of Israel had developed the habit of gathering in buildings in order to worship God, to hear the Word of God read and to have it explained.  The concept of a synagogue developed at some point after Israel’s exile into Babylon and subsequent return to the land.  Before this time, their religious life was mainly at the Temple, where they worshipped God and offered sacrifices.  With the temple destroyed in 586 B.C., they had to wrestle with continuing to worship.  Thus the concept of synagogues that focused on teaching was born.  In fact, early Jewish Christians called their gatherings synagogues as well.  However, the term “Church,” that had been used by Jesus, later became the main word to describe Christian gatherings.  So this is much like a Jewish Church service in its function. 

The fact that the leaders of the synagogue let Jesus teach says something.  He was not a rabbi who had learned under the rabbis of the day.  Normally this would preclude him from being able to teach.  Yet, the prophet, John the Baptist, had gone on record that Jesus was God’s anointed one, the Messiah.  Thus the talk had preceded Christ and the people were eager to hear from Him. 

We are told that the people were astonished because he taught “as one with authority.”  It may be easy to read into these words that Jesus was cocky and arrogant.  However, the emphasis is the contrast between how Jesus taught and how the scribes taught (who were men trained in the religion of Israel).  The scribes normally taught by referring to different views of the great rabbis from the past and the present.  They basically were relaying what others had said and those great rabbis often disagreed with each other.  Though we do not have a text of this teaching, it is safe to say that Jesus did not quote any authorities to substantiate his interpretation of the text.  Jesus is “acting as if” He is the authority on the subject.  Of course, that is because He actually is.  Knowing who Jesus is, we can recognize that He is the most qualified man of all history who could give authoritative understanding on what passages of the Bible meant and what God intended us to understand from it.

Today, we need to be careful that we do not make either of two mistakes.  One, we can forget that we have received authoritative understanding on what passages of the Bible meant and why the Law of Moses was given.  These were given by the true author of the Bible, God Himself, and those who He personally trained.  Two, we can use the authority of Jesus in order to teach things that He and His apostles did not teach.  Confidence is not good if it is placed in the wrong thing, but when it is placed upon the right thing, or right person, then it is a good thing.  We can confidently proclaim the teachings of Christ and His Apostles, but we should never become arrogant and take to ourselves a confidence that sees the authority of Jesus as something that has been handed down to us.  Jesus is still the authority.  Paul Himself said in Galatians 1:8 that even if the apostles were to teach a gospel that was other than what was originally given, they should be considered cursed by God and rejected.   We must never forget this truth.

Jesus casts out an unclean spirit

At some point in the teaching of Jesus a man with an unclean spirit cries out and interrupts the meeting.  It doesn’t seem that he had been brought to the meeting in order to be delivered, but it is possible.  Sometimes a person who is demon possessed may retain their faculties most of the time.  Depending on the situation these demons will “manifest” or show their presence from time to time.  The Gadarene demoniac seems to have been under constant “manifestation.”  He was never in his right mind and people could not interact with his human psyche.  Whereas others have demonstrated varying amounts of self control with times in which the spirit takes control, or manifests.

The phrase that is used in this passage is “unclean spirit.”  What is an unclean spirit?  Unclean is another way of saying evil or bad.  It is a reference to the spiritual defilement that sin and rebellion against God brings to a being.  Therefore this spirit is sinful and in rebellion against God.  In that sense we could say that the Devil and his angels are also unclean spirits.  This would be true technically, but the phrase never seems to be used of the Devil and his angels (fallen angels).  Much speculation and dogmatic ideas have been put forth from then to now.  However, the Bible seems to equate unclean spirits with evil spirits and demons.  There are different beings within the spirit realm and there are hierarchies within the spirit real as well.  Thus we cannot be completely sure what exact “species” (for lack of a better word) demons or evil spirits are.  They may just be lower level beings that rebelled with the devil and his angels, or they may be something else.  However, we can be confident that the Bible has told us what we need to know.  We do know that demons, or unclean spirits, appear to be restless until they are able to control a human being to some varying degree.  How do they get this control over humans?  They are not “spiritual ticks” that happen to fall on people.  Rather, they are able to get control and influence through the activity of the person who has connected to the spirit through some form of spiritual arts (divination, séance, occult rituals, and basically anything promoted by these spirits to get control).  Christians should not be enticed by t he so called knowledge that spiritists of any sort promise to give to them because these spirits cannot be trusted.  They resist God and hate mankind.

At this point, I should point out that it is easy to make the mistake of seeing all mental problems as demonic, and the opposite mistake of seeing all such problems as only a physical problem of the mind.  Unclean spirits are real, but they are not the only reason why people have ailments.

It is clear from this passage that the unclean spirit is afraid of Jesus.  This is notable because it was not common for demons to show any fear in the presence of people, quite the opposite.  Thus, this is astounding to the people watching.  The spirit is afraid and Jesus is not.  By following the text, we can see some of the fears of the spirit.  First, it wants to be left alone.  If fears that Jesus is going to interfere with its control on this human (and for good reason).  It also asks if Jesus has come “to destroy us.”  Since there is no sense that multiple spirits are involved, this seems to be the same fear that the legion of demons in the Gadarene demoniac.  The unclean, demonic spirits know that there is coming a time when they will be evicted from this earth and put in the Lake of Fire.  Thus, they are afraid of that coming destruction.  Third, it is afraid because it knows exactly who Jesus is.  It refers to Jesus as “The Holy One of God.”  It is a phrase that refers to God’s Anointed One who is beside Him in the heavens, but would come to earth one day. 

At this point, Jesus commands the spirit to be silent and to come out of the man.  We do not want to make a big deal out of the fact that the demon calls Jesus the Holy One of God because the spirit is a tainted witness.  He can’t be trusted either way.  The testimony about Jesus is an important theme in the Gospels.  They emphasize that the Father and the Spirit witnessed or testified that Jesus was the Messiah.  They also emphasize that John the Baptist, the greatest prophet of that time, had testified that Jesus was the Messiah.  Then lastly, we have the testimony of the words that Jesus spoke, the life He lived, and the powerful miracles He did.  Jesus had very strong testimony from far better sources than to let demons give testimony.  Demons are liars and as such, you cannot know when to trust what they say and when it is a lie.  If we believe Jesus is God because a demon says so, then we are on shaky ground.

In the exorcism that occurs we do not see Jesus doing any rituals or reciting a mantra, as were common in those days.  He simply commands the unclean spirit to come out of the man.  The power of Jesus is not in ritual knowledge and magical arts.  Rather, His power is in the authority of who He is and the position that He holds.  Jesus has a position that is above all beings on earth or in Heaven, save the Father.  Though this spirit had “legally” gained entry to this human, Jesus had come to set the man free.  Thus, one command from Him was enough to send the demon packing.  Even in cases where one has consciously and willingly chosen things that ail them, there is hope that Jesus will set them free.  Many people today are stuck in things that they know they chose, but Jesus has come to offer us freedom.

We are told that the unclean spirit leaves with a convulsion and a cry.  This seems to be one last fit of resistance and protest from the demon at having to leave.  Of course, the real challenge is to remain free of the spirit.  The man’s life needs to change, if he is not to fall prey to another or the same unclean spirit.

The people watching this are amazed at how easily Jesus does this.  They are flabbergasted that he could make an unclean spirit leave with a simple command.  No rabbi had demonstrated such power in all their experience. 

As believers today, Christ has given us power over the enemy as well.  Yet, we must remember the lesson of the seven sons of Sceva in Acts 19.  They attempted to cast out a demon by saying, “We cast you out by the Jesus whom Paul preaches.”  The spirit then responded, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you?”  The authority that Jesus gives to us is not some special power that we hold in and of ourselves.  It is always His authority.  By their own testimony, the sons of Sceva did not really know Jesus.  When we really know Jesus and have a relationship with Him, then and only then should we confidently stand in opposition to such unclean spirits when they manifest.

Praise God that we need not fear any evil spirits no matter what station they hold on the other side.  It is our relationship with the All-Powerful One that protects us and gives us strength.  I pray today that you will not so easily scoff at the power of Jesus as mere tricks in an age when people were ignorant.  If Jesus were too walk into our mental institutions today and with a mere command give someone their sound mind, who would we rely upon to give an accurate description of what happened, Jesus or the psychiatrists who are often unable to do anything with schizophrenia?    Again, I am not saying all mental illness is demonic.  However, I am saying that regardless the problem, whether they need healing or freedom from an unclean spirit, Jesus has the power to set us free!

Power of Jesus Audio

Society under Siege: The Educational System

Deuteronomy 6:4-9; Proverbs 22:6.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on October 30, 2016.

The first colleges of the colonies in America were started in order to train ministers, with Harvard being the oldest.  It was actually founded by the Massachusetts legislature in 1636.  Today its motto reads, “Veritas,” which is Latin for Truth.  However, originally it was, “Veritas Christo Ecclesiae,” which is Truth for Christ, for Church.  This simple truncation explains much of what has gone on in America when it comes to education.  We have been rejecting Christ and His Church.

Education is a critical area in the life of a young person.  It has a huge bearing upon where their life will go.  As our families disintegrate and fall apart, it becomes harder and harder for kids to get a good education.  Yet, at the same time our educational system is falling apart.  I do not mean that there aren’t enough schools, but that they have changed and become something that is often harmful to them.  Many of our college campuses have become the last place you would go to to find the truth.  Oh, yeah, I am not talking about mathematics and physics.  However, even the hard sciences find themselves bending under the weight of political correctness.  Let me give you a few examples of how Truth is lost on our campuses.

Martin Luther King Jr. promoted in speeches and sermons what we could call being color-blind.  Instead of judging one another by the color of our skin, we should make our judgments based upon the content of one’s character and the actions they take.  Yet, in our colleges, race and color are everything.  The true liberal promoted the idea that race is insignificant, but the leftists of today promote that it is racist to say, “All Lives Matter.”  This brings up the area of free speech.  The liberal idea that ideas must be freely debated without threat of well-being or jail is the foundation of our country.  However, on our campuses there is an iron-clad political correctness on what can or cannot be said.  If you cross these lines you will become the target of some of the most hate-filled language, all in the name of love.  These actions that happen on many campuses do not help us.  They only further hamstring our ability to deal with the issues of society.

So what does the bible say about education?  Let’s go to Deuteronomy 6:4-9.

Education Begins with The Teacher

God understands that the education of the next generation is critical for any society.  So He engrained the duty of teaching children into the minds of the people of Israel.  However, in this passage, God is not addressing the “State of Israel.”  There was no government at this time, just a leader named Moses.  Rather, God is addressing to each and every parent as a part of the group called Israel.  His command is to them, not the state.  A pernicious idea has risen and grown over the years that parents are not equipped to teach their kids.  There is some truth in the idea that parents can’t teach their kids everything, especially if the kid is going to enter a profession different than their parent.  Yet, this is misleading.  Do you remember this statement?  “The best things in life are free.”  Similarly we could say that the most important things in life do not need a rocket scientist to teach them.  Our colleges often do a good job at teaching small things like how to build a better bridge or computer.  But they actually propagandize against the big things in life that those same young people need to know.  Historically parents were the primary teachers of their kids.  If there was a school, it was because parents got together and paid for a building and teacher.  Little by little education has been taken over by the state and parents have been more and more squeezed out of the process.  The manipulators of our society understand that the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.  So they have inserted themselves between the cradle and parent in order to establish and secure their power.  Parents, beware that you do not pay for your kid to be brainwashed against everything you ever taught them.

This passage opens with the word, “Hear!”  Though Moses is speaking to Israel, he does this on behalf of God.  Moses is telling them that they need to hear or listen to what God is saying.  Thus parents need to teach, but they need to teach after having heard from the Lord.  When God and His revelation are separated from education, we end up with pure humanism.  Pure humanism will always fail because it cannot face the ramifications of wickedness found in the heart of mankind.  It continually seeks more and more sophisticated ways to get around the reality that men are sinners and cannot be fixed by other men.  Yes, humanism when coupled with science is very powerful.  But when it comes to ethics, it is powerless and impotent.  Many Christian teachers have left schools or been run out of colleges because they didn’t toe the line.  We must not surrender in this clash.  But continue to stand for truth.  Two counter movements have sprung up to help slow down the damage done through public (actually “state”) education (propaganda).  Many private Christian schools have been built and continue to thrive.  Also, the Home Schooling movement has been able to convince many Christian parents to teach their kids and band together in order to protect it from an antagonistic society.

Having heard from the Lord, it is even more important that parents love the Lord.  I am not talking about having fuzzy feelings for Jesus.  But, rather, a parent must love the decisions and plan of the Lord.  Too many Christians do not love how God has interacted with mankind.  So we focus only on what God has promised.  If our love for God is only based on what He has promised us and refuses to deal with what He has done throughout history, it is not based on reality.  Many people who are supposed to be believers do not believe what Jesus told us to believe.  Similarly they do not do what Jesus told us to do.  The problem is not that they struggle with faith and action.  Rather, it is that they do not exercise enough gumption to struggle with the Lord in prayer and searching of the Scriptures.  Thus they wear Christianity like a mask that covers an inner rejection of the Lord Himself.  We need a generation of Christians who have not just fallen in love with what God is offering, but also love who He is: the judgments He has made, and the grace that He has given.

Lastly Moses tells them to be “diligent” in verse 7.  Diligence often fails on the difficulty of the task.  A child doesn’t want to learn all the time and will vary in their degree of cooperation.  They often resist the principles that we are teaching.  It would be easy to throw up your hands and quit.  However, Christians, we must not do so.  The desire to give up must be extinguished by the reality of the duty that our Lord has given us.  Just as the Lord says to Joshua, “Be strong and of good courage, do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go,” so He says to us.  It is not the perfection of the process, but the loving diligence to being a perfecting influence that makes a difference in the life of a child.  Now let’s look at the side of the child.

Children Need to be Taught

In Proverbs 22:6 we are told, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  It is easy to take this as a kind of guarantee.  The truth is that the proverbs are words of practical wisdom.  The point is that if you want your kid to go in a good direction then you better train them.  Kids are not born “pointed in the right direction.”  Training and education are critical to the future of a child.

Leftism within our society acts like education is extremely important.  But the truth is that leftists believe only certain education is important.  When a young person enters the average leftist-run college, they encounter many teachers who purposefully antagonize any faith and Christian belief they may have.  They use a kind of historical hypocrisy in doing this as well.  Notice how leftists judge the people of the past by the present context.  Thus our founding fathers were bad guys because they had slaves.  Yet, within the context of those societies, these men valiantly fought the demons of their day and laid the groundwork for what we have today.  Leftists also demonstrate a sort of arrogance, as if they will always be in power.  For they care not that people one hundred years from now will judge them based upon a future context.  In other words they will be judged in the same way that they have judged others.  As Jesus said, “make a right judgment.”  Leftists pretend to want to open kid’s minds.  But, in truth, they only want them open enough to take out what they don’t like and put in what they do.  Then they want those minds locked back up.  They only want your mind open to their ideas.  They pretend that they want open discussion, but in truth only certain things will be allowed to be discussed.  Children do not need such hypocrisy.  This kind of stuff is poison to the minds and souls of our children.

In Deuteronomy God reminds us that all of life is a schoolroom.  “Talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”  Parents are the teachers that are always teaching.  In fact, parents, we should never stop learning.  As children our parents teach us what they believe we need to know.  But when we become adults, they cease to have the role of primary teacher in our life.  Why?  It is because by then we should have learned how to be taught by the Spirit of God.  On into our adult years to the day of our death, we walk arm in arm with the Spirit of God and learn the mind and heart of God.  If a child is ever to be able to do such a thing, they need parents who will teach them the wisdom of God’s love.

God help us to show this generation that there is a God who loves them, despite their sin.  He has made a way for them if they will only turn away from the propaganda of this world and hear the words of life.

The Educational System audio

The Power of Jesus

We have been looking at the True Jesus by walking through the gospel according to Luke.  Today we will specifically deal with Luke 4:31-44.  Now Luke has just finished sharing an event in the hometown of Jesus where he is received at first but then quickly it turns into a riot where they try to throw Him off of a cliff.  Tragically this incident becomes a metaphor for the rest of His life.  People often receive Him at first only to reject Him when they see they can’t manipulate Him.

In this section Jesus goes down to Capernaum and because this isn’t His hometown they are more open to receive His teaching.  This opens the door for amazing demonstrations of the power that Jesus has.  This section begins with Jesus teaching in the Synagogue of Capernaum on the Sabbath.  The fact that He is teaching is important but I am going to come back to that at the end of this sermon.

Jesus Has Power Over Demons

In verses 33-36, a man who is in the synagogue that day begins to manifest that a demon possesses him.  Jesus is in the middle of teaching and at some point the demon cannot continue to hide its presence.  The Bible does not explain the origin of demons, but several things are made clear about them.  First of all they are spirits that can afflict or possess people.  They need some form of permission to do this and so feed upon false religions and occult practices to act as “honey pots,” as it were.  We do not know how this man came to be possessed by a demon, but there are two adjectives that are used of demons.  They are evil and unclean spirits.  By this is revealed that their moral intentions are not for good.  Demons are bad no matter what power or knowledge they promise or give.  They cannot be trusted.  Also, demons are unclean.  This metaphor means that those who enter into business with demons risk themselves being “stained” by their moral filth.  The demonic spirits are as unclean as the Holy Spirit is pure.

However, these spirits obviously fear Jesus.  As Jesus teaches the spirit breaks out and speaks through the man.  “Did you come to destroy us?  We know you are the Holy One of God.”  Later Jesus runs into some other demon possessed people in verse 41 who declare that they know he is the Christ the Son of God.  These evil spirits know who Jesus is and because they know who he is they fear him.  Why?  Jesus has the power to remove them from this earth and put them in the spirit prison called The Abyss or Bottomless Pit.

Now Luke points out that once these evil spirits manifested, Jesus would not let them speak and told them to leave the person.  These demons had to obey and would leave.  However, they don’t want to leave.  Thus it says that the demon through the man down in the middle of the group but didn’t hurt him.  Clearly its intention was to hurt him, but the power of Jesus held it in check and made it leave.  Jesus didn’t let them speak because nothing a demon says can be trusted.  And, even if they do say something true, they are manipulating it to their own ends.  Do not become enamored with any secret information you think you can get from speaking to spirits.  If you are using occult practices to contact spirits you are being manipulated by evil spirits and will quickly come under their evil control.

Now Jesus has both Power and Authority over demons.  Though the words are related they have two very different emphases.  First Power is a reference to ability.  Jesus was able to make the demons leave.  “Greater is He [Jesus] who is in us than he [devil] who is in the world.  These demons are in league with the devil, but Jesus is more powerful than them.  He can force them to obey him.  Yet, Jesus also has authority.  This is a reference not to brute power, but rather to the power of position.  In other words, He has a place of authority that is over all of creation, visible and invisible.  Thus all things must obey him by right of position and by power of His strength.  Now God is not tyrannical with such position and power.  In fact most people wish He were.

For us as Christians, it is important to learn that Jesus delegated His authority to His disciples in order to carry out the commission that he gave us.  He gave them the authority to cast out demons and He has supplied the Holy Spirit in order to give us the power to back that position up.  The disciples of Jesus learned a lesson later when they tried to exercise that authority and the demon wouldn’t leave.  Why not?  It was because they were not walking fully in the power of the Holy Spirit.  We need to learn from the temptations of Jesus how to resist temptation through times of prayer and fasting.  In this we make agreement with the Holy Spirit and He operates more powerfully in our life.  Now we want to be careful with that because God is able to do what He wants without cooperation from us.  However, there are some things that He has determined to do only as men and women believe on Him, and ask Him to do them.  This is the testimony of the church that as men and women of God moved into dark, demonically-controlled countries, the demons fled from them.  In some cases the demons came back later, but that is a different sermon.  Let’s move on.

Jesus Has Power Over Sickness

In verses 38-39 Jesus goes to the house of Peter.  These very specific accounts of certain times, places and people are recorded so that people of Luke’s day can fact check his story.  Here Peter’s mother-in-law is sick with high fever.  Clearly she had a virus of some sort that threatened her life.  Notice that the family request Jesus to help her.  Jesus had healed others at different times and so the plea is only normal.  How important is it for us to be quick to ask and pray for our Lord’s help?  Sometimes we hold back because we think it to unimportant or we doubt it will be done.  But remember that it is the asking who receive.  Those who do not ask will definitely not receive.  But those who ask from a good God at least have the hope that he might answer in the affirmative.

Jesus then rebukes the fever, which may sound odd.  But just as he rebuked the storm on the Sea of Galilee, “Peace be still!”  So, here he rebukes a storm of a different kind.  A fiery storm raging through her body, is told, “Peace, be still!”  The fever not only subsides, but as a double miracle, she feels strong enough to get up and serve them.  Jesus not only stops the virus, but also strengthens her.  It is ludicrous to try and turn this into a self-serving miracle that Jesus does just to get her to serve him.  The more natural aspect of the story is that she is not just grateful to be feeling better, but feels well enough that she does what she enjoys doing, serving others.  After this, the town brings the sick and demon possessed to Jesus and he heals everyone that is brought to him.  On the next day Jesus began to leave.

Jesus Had Power To Teach

Although this passage seems to focus on the miracles of Jesus, notice that it begins and ends with the teaching of Jesus.  In verse 32, the people were astonished at His teaching and in verse 43 He reminds them that He needs to go to other cities and preach the Kingdom of God to them.  Notice that Jesus emphasizes that he needs to go there to teach, rather than do miracles.  The miracles of Jesus were to help people to receive His teaching.  In the end it is His powerful and truthful teaching that is of primary importance.

Now the people were first astonished at the authoritative tone that Jesus used when he taught.  But they were also astonished at the authority in which He challenged the accepted teachings of that day.  Jesus often employed a method of teaching that pointed out an accepted teaching of the day followed with a corrective statement by Jesus.  Here is an example, “You have heard it said love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I say unto you love your enemy, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you that you may be sons of your Father in heaven.”  False teachings can arise and then become entrenched within the ranks of God's people.  Jesus powerfully pointed these out and corrected them.

Jesus wasn't just explaining how to better keep the Law of Moses.  He was pointing them to the Kingdom of God and how they needed to live to be a part of it.  Don't be mistaken.  God's Kingdom is a real kingdom with real laws and ways of doing things.  Are you a citizen of that Kingdom?  Are you listening to the words of Jesus and incorporating them?  The powerful teaching of Jesus goes beyond the Israelites of the first century A.D.  It powerfully speaks to all those who desire to be a part of God's Kingdom and instructs them in how to be like their Father in Heaven.  Those who do not follow Jesus, by default, cooperate with the world system and serve the purposes of the god of this world.

This is important because many who seem to be good and purport to care often misuse the words of Jesus or minimize it.  A case in point is the modern teaching that God is the Father of all people and we are all brothers.  They may use Jesus to back this up through cherry-picked verses and explaining away those that contradict it.  Or, they may simply state that the specifics of what Jesus taught are not important.  The importance is that He understood the Universal Fatherhood of God.  This latter method does not come to Jesus for specifics but only for "big picture" principles.  But even these end up contradicting His own words.  Jesus did not teach the universal fatherhood of God.  He specifically taught that some even in the leadership of God's people are children of the devil and have sold out to his worldly system.  Jesus taught that only those who believed in Him enough to take up their cross and follow Him would be given the right to become the children of God.  Yes, we are all here because of the creative power of God, but that doesn't make us his children.  If you want to be a child of God then you need to have a spiritual birth, to be born from above, to be born again.  The teaching of Jesus is of primary importance even down to its specifics because it is the very light of God given to dispel our darkness.

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