1 Whose Authority are you under? Mark 1:14-45 Café Church 13 th Mar 16 Please keep your Bibles open at Mark chapter 1 from verse 14 Outline there Let me pray for God s help and understanding Intro/Authority We live with authority all the time in our daily lives What is authority? Authority Definition [Powerpoint 1] the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience. What sort of people have authority over us? [Open for answers] Teachers, professors, supervisors, bosses, parents, police, government. How do we feel about authority? [Open up for answers] How do we feel about God s authority? [Open up for answers] This bring us to our Bible passage this evening From Mark chapter 1 looking at v14 John the Baptist is in jail and Jesus who we learnt last time in Mark at verse 11 that Jesus is God s Son comes along preaching Good News Page 1 of 8
2 Literally a Good Message And the Good Message is in verse 15 [Powerpoint 2 Good Message] Firstly the time has come God s chosen this period of History to act and send His Son Jesus Secondly that God s kingdom is very close it s at your fingertips And thirdly How do you get into this kingdom? You repent and believe? Repent = U-turn instead of going away from God U-turn towards God Believe Believe what? Believe the Good News that Jesus is God s Son? But why should anyone believe Jesus He claims to be God s Son But how do we know? Well the rest of the chapter we get some really good evidence? We start to see what authority he has Authority over people (v16-20) [Powerpoint 3 Authority over people] In verses 16 to 20 He tells 2 fisherman Simon and Andrew come, follow me and they drop their nets and follow Jesus Page 2 of 8
3 And he tells 2 other fishermen James and John sons of Z and they followed straight away too Who has authority over people like that? If you were down Canton Beach and someone came up and said follow me you would at least have a bit of a discussion Even if you argue that the fishermen already knew Jesus a bit it s still remarkable that they left their jobs for Him? Even more remarkable is what he tells them in verse 17 that He will make them fish for people What He means by that is getting people hooked on Jesus So pause and reflect is Jesus calling you to fish for people and get them hooked on Jesus? If you read Matthew 28:18-20 Great Commission Yes He is we all need to be catching people for Jesus Jesus has authority over people! Authority to Teach (v21-22) Then we see in verses 21 and 22 Jesus goes into the synagogue on Sabbath And he teaches people are amazed never had teaching like this [Powerpoint 4 Authority to Teach] Page 3 of 8
4 Authoritative teaching he teaches and believes it and means it and it affects them why? Because it s the powerful truth of God s Word We can still experience that teaching because we have it in the Bible and we have the HS to enlighten us Do we take His words seriously take them to heart believe them! Jesus teaches with authority? Authority over an Unclean Spirit (v23-28) Whilst Jesus is in the synagogue there s a man with an impure demonic spirit evil spirit Even the impure spirit knows who Jesus is the Holy One of God And it seems like there is more than one spirit see v24 have you come to destroy us? [Powerpoint 5 Authority over Unclean Spirits] And Jesus just speaks and the evil spirit comes out of the man! If we trust in Jesus we have no need to be afraid of such things as evil spirits Jesus is stronger than them and defeated the devil and his evil spirits Jesus has authority over unclean Spirits Authority Over Sickness (vv29-34) Then moving on to verses 29 to 34 Jesus heals Simon s mother in-law from a fever in v31 Page 4 of 8
5 And then in v32-34 he healed many sick people and demon possessed people Many people today want Jesus to heal their sickness and sometimes He does. But more importantly He heals them of the sickness that we all have We all have the sickness of sin the disease of rebelling against God s rules and against God s authority over our lives [Powerpoint 6 Authority over sickness] This sickness of sin is more dangerous than any other sickness Why? Because if we don t get it healed and fixed we end up separated from God FOREVER a place called Hell If we have say cancer and it gets healed but we don t get our sin fixed we still going to Hell? How does Jesus fix that sickness of sin of course by taking the blame and punishment for our sins and dying a cruel death on the cross All our sins dumped on Him the Son of God who did nothing wrong and is perfect! Jesus has authority over the sickness of sin If you haven t yet asked Jesus to fix the sickness of sin in your life now would be a great time Authority in Preaching (vv35-39) In verses 35 to 39 we see the real purpose for Jesus coming After an important quiet time of rest and prayer Page 5 of 8
6 The disciples come looking for Him and find Him and tell Him people are looking for Him But Jesus has a mission and it s there in verses 38 and 39 His purposes is to preach in synagogues and cast out demons Why? [Powerpoint 7 Authority in Preaching] Because that s what people really need they need to hear the Truth the Good News that Jesus can fix their sin against God and heal them and save them and bring them back to God That s Jesus priority to save people from permanent separation from God Yes miracles are great but people believing in Jesus and listening to the truth about how they can be in a right relationship with God is far more important Because that has eternal consequences! Jesus has authority in His preaching For Jesus preaching telling people how they can be saved from their sin and spend eternity in Heaven was an absolute priority Is that our priority? Authority over Leprosy (vv40-45) In the final part of chapter 1 A man with leprosy what s leprosy? Page 6 of 8
7 People with leprosy we learnt Leviticus 13/14 lepers were separated from the rest of people Leprosy = picture of how sin separates us from Jesus [Powerpoint 8 Authority over Leprosy] Comes and begs Jesus to heal him if you are willing make me clean Of course Jesus is willing And He is willing to make anyone who asks He will make them clean of their sins But notice as He heals the lepers Jesus tells him not to tell anyone about this and that he has to go and follow the laws of Moses and show the priest He is clean in v44 The leper disobeys Jesus and goes off and tells everyone An important lesson here that if we put our faith in Jesus in also requires us to be obedient to Him and His Word Conclusion Now to sum up All these examples of Jesus authority in Mark chapter 1 [Powerpoint 9 Conclusion] The authority over people The authority in teaching The authority over unclean spirits The authority over sickness Page 7 of 8
8 The authority in preaching And the authority over lepers All these examples serves one purpose And it s there in verse 15 It s so that people REPENT (U-Turn) and BELIEVE in Jesus because He is the only One with absolute authority over everything How is Jesus different to all those people in authority that we mentioned at the beginning? [Open for answers] [He is always right, His rules are perfect, He fixes sin no one else can] (pause) Maybe we all need to have more quiet times with God in a solitary place like Jesus did go down Canton Beach and realign our priorities and realize Jesus has the authority and power of God himself and He is the only one who has power over the sickness of sin and there are many people we can share that with as a matter of priority Whose authority are we really under? [Open for questions] Page 8 of 8