Gospel Prism

And he went down to Capernaum, a city of Galilee. And he was teaching them on the Sabbath, 32 and they were astonished at his teaching, for his word possessed authority. 33 And in the synagogue there was a man who had the spirit of an unclean demon, and he cried out with a loud voice, 34 “Ha! [2] What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” 35 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm. 36 And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.
Luke 4:31-37

Introduction

Our text and next week’s text is filled with people and demons. There are people who are demon-possessed. There are sick and dying people. There are demons that are shouting, crying out, scoffing, sarcastic, angry. There are crowds of people seeking and desperate. And in the midst all of this, there is Jesus. What the people see is what so many saw in Jesus’ day. As we learned last week, He was the carpenter’s son. He was the self-proclaimed prophet. He was the miracle worker. He was the wise teacher. He was the caretaker of the downtrodden of society. But so few saw Jesus as who He truly was, the Son of God who would conquer sin, death, and Satan. Jesus would redo all that Satan and humanity had destroyed. And Jesus would overcome all of death’s consequences, fear, insecurity, worry, shame, guilt, pain, sorrow, grief, and mourning.

Luke 4:31-37 is a foreshadowing of this ultimate victory. Even though the people saw a rough-hewn young prophet, Luke portrays Jesus as someone so vastly different from anyone that the people had ever heard from that they realized his word possessed authority. Demons frothed in fear and terror as soon as they encountered Him, knowing full well their time of dominion and sheer existence had come to an end. This was the Gospel that Jesus had come to both preach and to demonstrate, ultimately through His work on the cross. This was the Gospel that was meant to transform not merely those who were sick physically, but those who wanted freedom from the consequences of sin and death. And this is the joy that He promises to you and me today if we trust and believe that He has come to give life abundantly (John 10:10). So this week we’ll be examining Jesus’ power over Satan and his dominion and next week, Jesus’ power over sickness and death.

Context

Jesus traveled about 20 miles northeast from Nazareth to the harbor city of Capernaum where once again he begins teaching at the synagogue on the Sabbath. Even before Jesus encounters the demon-possessed man, notice that the people were “astonished at his teaching” in verse 32. What do you think was so astonishing about His teaching? One thing that Jesus did that the Pharisees and Sadducees did not do in their teaching was that He taught from Scripture directly. The ruling religious leaders tended to teach from tradition. But as we learned last week, Jesus explained the Scriptures such as Isaiah 61 in view of His coming and His work. He held the actual text of God’s Word in high regard and did not surround it with empty traditionalism. In many ways, this authoritative teaching would provide the groundwork for the miracles to come.

So once Jesus has set the stage by teaching with authority, a demon-possessed man shouts out: “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Talk about disruption. Imagine if I was preaching a sermon, and someone stood up and shouted in an angry, crazy, distorted way such things. What would this place be like? You might be stunned, or angry, or scared. So what is going on? What we know is that Jesus, God the Son has broken into Satan’s dominion and a cosmic clash has ensued, where the Enemy knows this is the beginning of the end and he will not depart without wreaking as much havoc as he possibly can. Which begs the question that I’d like to answer, so what influence and power does Satan have?

Satan’s Influence and Power

First, let’s acknowledge that Satan does exist. Satan and demons are mentioned throughout the Bible and Jesus, more than anyone else speaks of Satan and encounters demons. If you do not believe in Satan or demons, then you really couldn’t believe in Jesus as God the Son since He is the one who continually refers to their reality. Satan and demons are also not a thing of the past. Nowhere in the Bible do we see Satan’s role in our lives negated simply because we live in an a-spiritual believing world. So let us first note that Satan and demons still do exist and still continue to wreak havoc in our world.

Second, Satan is out to steal, kill, and destroy God’s people (John 10:10). And let us not underestimate the power of Satan whom Jesus calls the father of lies (John 8:44) and destroyer (1 Cor 10:10) and the accuser of the brothers (Rev 12:10). Satan will stop at nothing to destroy and steal everything that God does. Before Adam and Eve sinned, Satan sinned. He will murder (Ps 106:37; John 8:44). He will deceive people so that they will close their hearts to the Gospel (2 Cor 4:4). He can cause sickness, can speak words of doubt, and fear, and anxiety into people’s hearts. He can hinder the advance of the Gospel (1 Thess 2:18).

Satan has many angels who wage war against God, His angels, and His people. The demon that is speaking through this man Jesus encountered is actually afraid. Notice his second question, “Have you come to destroy US?” The ‘us’ probably refers to all of the demons (Satan’s kingdom) that Jesus encounters. But ‘us’ also can refer to the demon and the man himself. As if to say, “Jesus, if you kill me and my friends, you will kill this man as well.” Things seem pretty bleak. Satan and his demons have controlled the world since Adam and Eve so it seems. But then Jesus steps in: “But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent and come out of him!” And when the demon had thrown him down in their midst, he came out of him, having done him no harm.”

Third, Satan’s power is limited. So let’s not overestimate Satan’s power either. By Jesus’ mere word, Satan and his demons are absolutely powerless. His deceptions are revealed for what they are, lies. Jesus is not fearful of hurting the man, regardless of what the demons says. In fact, Satan can only have the power that Jesus allows, which Satan knows full well. We must never believe that Satan is the anti-God, who has equal powers and authority with God. Satan can only do what God permits, as Job 1:12 points out. There is no one on this earth or in the spiritual realm who has omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence as God does (Isa 46:9-10). And the fact is, one day, Satan and his demons will receive the just punishment they deserve when they are thrown into the lake of fire eternally (Rev 20:10).

Fourth, Satan’s primary weapon is deception. When Jesus rebukes the demon, the demon is forced to flee in terror. But why would Jesus silence the demon? Satan and his demons know just enough of God’s Word to be very dangerous. This demon declares Jesus to be the “Holy One of God.” In Mark 3:11 the unclean spirits cry out, “You are the Son of God.” In other words, the demons can express theological truths about God but manipulate them in a way to serve their purposes rather than God. Be forewarned my friends, just because people or books or sermons or teachings use the same words, words like Gospel, grace, salvation, sin, does not mean the teaching is sound and God-honoring. Satan doesn’t use a whole new vocabulary to deceive people to turn from God. He uses God’s very words to distort God’s truth to make things sound correct and wise and innovative and caring and loving. Satan is only effective as a destroyer and a deceiver (Rev 12:9) if his words sound tantalizing enough to lead even so-called good and smart people astray. Don’t expect Satan to come in evil, distorted, and deformed clothing. Rather, Satan’s general modus operandi is to come in sheep’s clothing (Matt 7:15).

And so before the demon is forced to flee, he gives this one parting shot, to tell the world what Jesus was all about, the Holy One of God, the Messiah. Because Satan had been instrumental in creating a rouse that had plagued so much of Jesus’ society, that the Messiah would be an earthly hero who would overthrow Rome and establish a new Davidic Kingdom in Palestine, he declares to the world that Jesus has come to do just that. Satan and all of his demons knew that this is what so many people believed about Jesus. So he would stop and nothing to lead people toward that end and he would deceive many to eventually reject Jesus and the promises that His heavenly Kingdom would eternally provide. And so Jesus silences and rebukes the demon and the demon melts under the power of God the Son.

Our Fight Against the Enemy

We must never forget that there is a Satan and he does have demons. This is not some Frank Peretti concoction. This is the biblical truth. And our fight is against this Enemy. Satan wants to keep every one of you from trusting in God. He wants to convince you that you are the most important person in your life. He wants you to believe that you are always right and others are always wrong. He wants you to believe that the cross did not satisfy God’s wrath. He wants you to believe that your reputation is your own and that you’re stuck with it. He wants you to work hard to make certain God accepts you. He wants you to ignore God’s Word, to doubt His promises, to condemn yourself for every sin, to embrace self-pity, and to ignore the work of the cross. He wants you to give up meeting together, to stop attending homegroup, to find Sunday Worship inconvenient, to find spending time in God’s Word boring or unproductive. Satan doesn’t hate God’s Word. It’s his primary weapon. He loves to distort God’s Word to make people turn away from God, as we saw in the Garden. But what Satan hates and despises is right preaching, teaching, proclamation, missions, and evangelism that is rooted on God’s Word. He hates such exposition and he is afraid of it because it draws people to God. And so we can fight this infernal enemy in a number of ways.

First, we have the Body of Christ to fight the Enemy together. Praise God that our fight is not alone. When Paul wrote his letter to the Ephesians, he said in 6:11, “Put on [plural] the full armor of God.” In fact, every verb in that chapter is plural. The fight against the enemy will be with fellow believers. And the Hebrews writer in 3:13 shows us the significance of having fellow believers around us: “But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.” Since Satan is a master of deception, his greatest power is to bring about a cloud of deception over our own hearts. And so we need one another to speak truth. We need the intervention of those who care for us, who will be gracious enough to speak truth.

Second, God provides the means and power to defeat Satan. While Satan is real, he is not all-powerful. And God has provided us with the power to overcome him. Listen to the Bible’s support on this fact: 1 John 4:4: “Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” Eph 6:16: “In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one.” 2 Cor 10:4: “For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.”

Because God makes it so clear that we have such power in Christ, we should pray in faith and pray for deliverance and pray in confidence and even pray against the strongholds of the Enemy.

Third, recognizing that this is a spiritual battle is a critical step in defeating the Enemy. Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12: “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” We can either take Paul at his word and believe that there truly is a struggle, a war that constantly occurring in spiritual realm, or we can say that Paul is making up things. But anyone who is serious about God’s Word and believes it to be true, then must realize that this struggle is truly a cosmic struggle of forces both seen and unseen. In Timothy Warner’s book Spiritual Warfare, he writes:

The problem often is that even Christian workers reflect the prevailing worldview and do not consider demonic attack as a possible cause of personal problems being faced, or perhaps they are not aware of the nature of such attacks.” (Timothy Warner, Spiritual Warfare, 88.)

We need to recognize that demons do attack people and that not all physical ailments and mental problems are merely physiological or psychological if we believe in the Bible. If this struggle is truly not against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers, and rulers of this dark age, then we must genuinely see this as a reality because the Bible says so. According to 2 Cor 10:3, “We are not waging war according to the flesh.” So to fight against the Enemy, we need to recognize that he truly is an Enemy that intends to destroy us in any way possible. We can’t discount him because the Bible doesn’t allow us to do so.

Fourth, we need never fear Satan because of the Gospel. Christians, we have the very power of God to even drive out demons as Luke 9:1 says. The disciples, after being sent out on a mission by Jesus, declare: “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” (Luke 10:17) James makes it clear that demons are subject to Christians who are living in the Gospel: “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” (James 4:7) And the primary means by which we claim the authority that we have over Satan and his kingdom is because of Jesus’ work on the cross. I can’t emphasize how critical this reality is. Listen to this important statement from Hebrews 2:14-15: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” And Rev 12:11 declares: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.”

Satan’s continual attack will be to use lies and deception in your life: you’re not loved, you’ve been hurt and you need not apologize, you’re not forgiven, you’re not at fault, you’re absolutely right and he’s wrong, God doesn’t care for you, you’re more important than anyone else, everyone hates you, you’re all alone, you will be alone for the rest of your life, you deserve better, you should take revenge, you have a right to vent, you have a right to veg, you don’t need God’s Word, God’s Word is boring, God’s Word is useless, prayer is hard, it’s too early in the morning, you don’t have enough time, etc., etc. And the cross and its implications, that Jesus has given you His perfect reputation and worth and value, resolves, fights, and conquers every one of these lies. When you live with the cross in view and the full breadth of the Gospel in your heart, you will conquer Satan by Christ’s blood and every filthy, unclean trick he has.

Fifth, knowing Satan has ultimately lost because of the Gospel drives away fear and anxiety and gives us confidence. John tells us in 1 John 3:8: “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.” Jesus didn’t hurt Satan at the cross. He destroyed the works of the devil. This was the beginning of Satan’s end. Now you might be wondering, “But if the cross destroyed the work of the devil, then why does the devil still affect people’s lives.” Timothy Warner gives this illustration:

The Unit in which I served in the Second World War was given the assignment to ‘mop up’ in the Rurh pocket. The mail lines of battle had move well to the east, and the outcome of the war was not seriously in doubt. There was no doubt at all about our ability to overcome the resistance we faced in our assignment. It was still war, however. Real guns and real ammunition were being used. People were still being hurt and killed. We had no fear, however, that the enemy was going to launch any major offensive against us that would threaten our position of military superiority. (Timothy Warner, Spiritual Warfare, 55)

When Jesus said, “It is finished,” (John 19:30) He was declaring total victory over Satan and his dominion. Paul declares that at the cross, death had lost its sting (1 Cor 15:55). Verse 57 proclaims: “But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Jesus’ victory is true. But Satan continues to fight until the last day. Like a cornered animal, he will do all that he can to take down as many of God’s creation as He possible can. And our position in Christ because of the cross is what keeps us firmly fixed in the Father’s love.

Remember the song we just sang, “Jesus, My Only Hope.” That is a song that declares the victory we have over Satan and sin because of Jesus. Listen to the second verse again:

I will not fear Your judgment
For me, no wrath I dread
For it was spent on Jesus
Poured out upon His head
When Satan’s accusations
Make my poor heart afraid
I hear my King declaring
“Father, that debt is paid”

Praise God!!! No matter how much Satan accuses us because of our sins, because of our continual rejection of God’s grace in our lives, when we trust in Him, Jesus responds to our sin eternally saying, “Father, that debt is paid!” This is the assurance that we have because of the Gospel. And because of this assurance, we no longer have dread, we do not live by fear, and we are free from worry. As John proclaims and reminds us, the perfect love of God revealed through His Son, casts out fear. (1 John 4:18).

Effects of a Victorious Fight

Verses 36-37 comment on the effect of a victorious fight: “And they were all amazed and said to one another, “What is this word? For with authority and power he commands the unclean spirits, and they come out!” 37 And reports about him went out into every place in the surrounding region.” People begin to spread the word that someone has come with power that has never been seen. Jesus’ power and authority over Satan is startling. But what these people do not fully realize is that Jesus’ power over Satan in this text is only a sampling of what He will do through the cross.

Before Jesus’ arrival, Satan controlled the world. Every person was bound by sin and help captive by it. He did all that he could to hold onto such power. Remember Revelation 12:10: “And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death.” The cross’ effect over Satan will lead to his ultimate demise. We never need doubt this. But it also took the death of God’s precious Son to do this, for us, all of us. We were not deserving of such mercy and yet God showered us with His gracious love through the sin-bearing crucifixion of God’s Son. Who can understand such love?