All right, brethren, let's turn to Luke 4. Luke chapter 4. I just want to read verse 31. It says, he came down, the Lord Jesus, after he left Nazareth, he came down to Capernaum, another city of Galilee. And he taught them on the Sabbath days, and they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power. Look down at verse 43. They tried to get him to stay in verse 43, and he said unto them, I must preach the kingdom of God to other cities also, for therefore am I sent. And he preached. in the synagogues of Galilee.

Our subject is Christ, the power of God. Christ, the power of God. This passage begins speaking of him preaching, and it ends speaking of him preaching. And between those bookends, we see him and his power and his authority. to cast an unclean spirit out of a man. And so what we're looking at here is the miracles that our Lord Jesus works by His power, by His authority, through the preaching that gives Him all the glory. True preaching gives Christ all the glory, gives God our Father and His Son and the Spirit of God all the glory and gives man none. And this is an illustration here of what our Lord works through the preaching of the gospel. So that's what we're gonna look at. Now the first thing we see, and I want just to get this statement made clearly, is the preaching of the gospel is the power of God. And the reason the preaching of the gospel is the power of God is because Christ is the power of God. It says there in verse 32, they were astonished at his doctrine, for his word was with power. Matthew said the same thing, and he said, for he spoke not like the scribes. He spoke with authority.

The Lord Jesus is God. He is God. And so, He's the one that gave these scriptures. The doctrine is concerning Him. The message of the book is Him. The doctrine is that Christ is salvation. The doctrine gives Him all the glory saving for saving God's chosen people, His Father's chosen people. And He's God who makes the gospel go forth in power. The reason it comes forth in power is Him.

Turn with me to 1 Corinthians 1. And we know it pleased God to save through preaching. This world calls that foolishness. Even the religious world calls it foolishness. They think there's other ways, but it says clearly he chose to save through preaching. But, because through this means he gets all the glory, and man has no room to glory.

And so, read here with me in verse 18, 1 Corinthians 1.18. The preaching of the cross, that's the doctrine right there. the preaching of the cross, what Christ, who it was that went to that cross, and what he accomplished. Christ Jesus, the God-man, who fully redeemed all God's elect, justified all his people. That's the doctrine. The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.

But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God. Look at verse 21. Verse 21, for after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. That's from the moment he calls us until he calls us to glory. He's saving us the whole time through this message, through the doctrine. And look at verse 23.

We preach Christ crucified. There's the doctrine that astonished them. We preach Christ crucified unto the Jews a stumbling block and unto the Greeks foolishness, but unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

Christ the power of God. Romans 1, if you want to look there with me, Romans 1. In verse 16, Romans 1, 16, Paul said, I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first and also to the Greek, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith. As it's written, the just shall live by faith. Christ is the power of God.

He's the power that makes the gospel come forth and be the power to save. And He is the righteousness revealed when the gospel is preached. When He does speak into the heart, He's the righteousness revealed. We're saved by His righteousness alone. We saw last time when He was preaching at Nazareth, he preached God's sovereign free election.

The Lord passed by many lepers in Israel, passed by many widows in Israel, and went to some Gentiles and saved them. And that infuriated people, that infuriated them because they thought they were the chosen people just because they were born in that place. And many times throughout the scriptures, we find the Lord Jesus declaring that he came to lay down his life for the elect. He laid down his life for the sheep.

He said this in his high priestly prayer in John 17. He said, Father, glorify thy name. Glorify me that I might glorify thee. And he said, as thou has given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. I've glorified thee on earth, I've finished the work that you gave me to do.

That's the doctrine. Christ came down, the Son of God, and took flesh like unto his brethren. He knew who was coming to save. He came to save those the Father gave to Him, and He laid down His life for them, and He justified them. He finished the works.

Now, we can be sure the scribes and the Pharisees never preached like this. They never preached what Christ preached, because they were, they were well-worshippers, so they preached man's will, they preached man's works, and they didn't preach with any any sort of power or any sort of message that would offend anybody. You know that's how they preach because you hear it in the world today.

But the Lord Jesus came forth preaching the truth of the scriptures that He is the one sent of God. He is the power of God. He is the righteousness of God. And except you believe on Him, you cannot be saved. just like he preached to a multitude that he had fed and they came to him. He preached to them and said, I'm the true bread. And he said, except you eat this bread, you have no life in you and you'll perish.

And when they murmured, he said, don't murmur amongst yourselves. No man can come to me except my Father Troy. He didn't give man any glory. He didn't give man any room to glory. He preached that God the Father and he himself are the salvation of his people. That was his message.

Now secondly, let's see a description of every sinner. Here's why he has to be the power of God and the righteousness of God and the wisdom of God to save us. Here's why, because this is a description of all of us. Luke 4 verse 33. And in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean The Lord came forth that he might destroy the works of the devil He's gonna do it through preaching through this gospel that gives him the glory The Lord Jesus is about to destroy the devil's works in this man. That's what he's about to do This man had a spirit of an unclean devil Now, the devil and all the host of fallen angels that are evil, wicked angels, they are very real, brethren. They are very real. If we could see spiritual things, we would see the evil, unclean devils all around us. It's true.

Ephesians 6.12 says, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, as opposed to spiritual enemies. And here it is, we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. That's a description of unclean devils. wicked angels, and every person that comes into this world has a spiritually dead nature. Spiritually dead, incapable of hearing the gospel, incapable of believing, incapable of anything, dead. And we all have an unclean spirit by nature. And we're under the rule of the devil by nature. That's how we come into this world.

Ephesians 2.2, you're very familiar, says, this is so of all people in this world, but it's so of God's elect, of those he saved. It says, in time past, you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience.

The children of disobedience do not believe this gospel. They don't believe on the Lord Jesus. They believe a different God, another God who's not another. But they don't believe this gospel. And it's because this unclean spirit makes it impossible to do so.

Listen to this. Let me give you one more scripture in 2 Corinthians 3. Listen to this right here. 2 Corinthians 3, he said, I'm sorry, 2 Corinthians 4, he said, if our gospel, verse 3, 2 Corinthians 4, 3, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost. in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. That's the only way a sinner's gonna believe, is the light of the glorious gospel of God shine unto them. And that glory, that light, and that power is Christ Jesus, the power Now only the Lord can deliver a sinner from his sin-dead nature and from the power of the devil. Only the Lord Jesus can do that. But here's what I want you to note.

This man was in the synagogue that day. He was in the synagogue that day. It says there in verse 33, in the synagogue there was a man which had a spirit of an unclean devil. Even though this man had this unclean devil, and even though he was lost and he could do nothing of himself, he was in the synagogue where the gospel was being preached. That's where he was.

Everybody our Lord has purpose to save, he is going to bring them under the preaching of the gospel. You just mark it down. I don't care how it might appear that they're so far disconnected from society, and he will get the gospel to them and get them under the hearing of faith. That's what he will do. Our Lord Jesus will accomplish that, and when he calls his lost sheep, he does it through the preaching of the gospel. You know Romans 10. How shall they hear? How are they gonna call on him in whom they've not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they be sent?

It's all of him. He does it all. And he's gonna get the glory. And here's the point I want you to get. The best place any sinner can be is under the preaching of the gospel. I'm not talking about any preaching. I'm not talking about what the world preaches. I'm talking about a message that really does declare the truth of who God our Father and the Lord Jesus declares who he is.

That salvation is of the Lord. That you and me are ruined and we have to be saved by the Lord. The best place any sinner can be is under the message that glorifies God. Because if the Lord saves him, that's how he's gonna be saved. And he will accomplish that. He will accomplish that. Get under the preaching of Christ in him crucified and stay there.

The Lord's blessed you all to wanna hear the gospel and to come faithfully to hear it. When a person becomes apostate, you've heard this, you've heard other preachers say it, and it's so. When a person becomes apostate and they leave the gospel, they leave Christ, forsake him, it always starts with them they stop coming to hear the gospel. And it's just a little bit here and there, and it gets more and more, and more and more, and it's like the world just swallows them up. Get under the gospel and stay under it.

All right, here's the third thing. The devil is going to declare who Christ is. Listen to this now in verse 33. The unclean devil's using this man, this man's speaking, but it's the unclean devil speaking. And verse 33 says, and he 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. That's what the unclean devil cried out. Now, this man was saying it. If you'd have been there that day, you'd have just seen this man crying this out and yelling this at the Lord Jesus. Now, there's a lesson in that right there.

When we're speaking to men and women who don't believe the gospel and they reject the message, remember, They can't believe unless the Lord is gracious and gives them a heart to believe by his power. They have an unclean spirit. No man can receive the gospel unless the Lord works it. So don't lose patience with folks when they reject you. They're not rejecting you, they're rejecting God. But it's amazing right here when you see that the devil and fallen, unclean spirits.

He says we, so there must have been more than one. He said we. They know who Christ is. He said, let us alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? How did they know that? Well, back in Genesis, after the fall, God declared plainly to the devil that the seed of woman's coming.

The Lord Jesus Christ, and you're gonna bruise his heel, but he's gonna crush your head. He's gonna wound your head, the fatal wound. And so the devil knew this, but it's sad that the devils know him, and yet sinners don't have a clue who he is by nature. Devils know him, and they tremble, scripture says, and yet most sinners do not know who he is.

Jesus of Nazareth was a name that men used when they were speaking slanderously of the Lord Jesus. But I'm glad he used that here because it's indeed true. Jesus of Nazareth, that one who was a man who grew up in Nazareth, that man is the Holy One of God. That one is God. That's what he declared here. He's of God. He's one with God. He's the Holy One of God. And He's the one who came to destroy the works of the devil. He's the only one that could do it.

Now, the Lord does three things to deliver His people. Three things. You could probably speak of a few more things, but I've narrowed it down to three things here. And go with me to Isaiah 49. We were here not long ago. And I'm gonna give you the shortened version of what I preached then. Isaiah 49,

24. Isaiah 49, 24, shall the prey, that's you and me, that's God's elect, we're the prey. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty? That's the devil. Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? But thus saith the Lord, even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered. For I will contend with him that contendeth with thee, and I will save thy children. the word of our Lord, that's what he came to do. The first thing the Lord Jesus is gonna do in saving us, the thing that was necessary was he had to justify his people.

We're lawful captives of the devil because in Adam, we broke the law and we became guilty. We're the lawful captives of the devil. And so the Lord Jesus came forth and he went to that cross and he bore the sin of his people and bore the curse that every one of his people deserved, and he justified all God's elect. He justified his people. He made us the righteousness of God in him. So he handled our law problem. He handled our law problem. He fulfilled the law in perfect righteousness. But we're in bondage by nature.

You know Hebrews 2.14, the children are partakers of flesh and blood. So he partook of flesh and blood.

That through death, through death, he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. Our Lord Jesus went to that cross and died the death we owe to divine justice to deliver us from the devil. And then the second thing he does is he sends the gospel, gets you under the gospel, and sends the Holy Spirit and regenerates us. gives us a new heart. That's what we see happening here, an illustration of it, with the Lord casting this unclean devil out of this man.

Luke 11, 21, let's look at this. Luke 11, 21, right there to your right. Luke 11, 21. Let's read. Let's read verse 20. They were accusing him of doing this by the devil. And he said the devil's not working against the devil. That wouldn't be, that's not what's happening. But look what he said in verse 20. If I, with the finger of God, cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God has come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace. The devil's the strong man armed, and you and me can't do anything to free ourselves from him.

But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, there's Christ. Stronger than the devil, when he comes upon him and overcomes him, he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted and divided his spoils. That's what Christ came to do. And he's the stronger one, stronger than the devil. So Jesus is the holy one. And he's gonna continue with the devil for his people. But I wanna show you something else. Go to Jeremiah 31. This is, regeneration's a one-time, it's a one-time thing. But he continues to renew, he continues to save and keep us.

And when the holy one, When He binds the strong man and He delivers a sinner from the devil and from that dead spiritual dead heart, when He delivers us, He's the Holy One who does it through the Holy Spirit and creates a holy man within us. And what He does is He makes us experience being sanctified into Christ. All his elect's been in Christ from before the world was created. We were in him when he went to the cross, but then he comes and preaches the gospel and makes you to know you're in him, in the Holy One. And he unites you through faith. Well, then from then on, through the same gospel, he's going to keep you sanctified unto him so that nobody and no thing will ever separate the believer from Christ, never.

Look here at Jeremiah 31 and verse 10. He says, hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off and say, he that scattered Israel will gather him and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. The Lord paid His precious blood for His people.

He's not gonna lose one of them. And when He frees you from the strong man, He's gonna keep you sanctified unto Him, knowing He's the Holy One, and you're holy in Him. And He's gonna keep you the rest of your days, so that you'll never be separated from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, never. Now that's good news, brethren. That's good news. So to free us, He justified us on the cross. He sends the gospel and he regenerates us and he comes, enters in and creates a new holy man and then he keeps us separated to him the rest of our days until that day he's gonna call us out of this world and deliver us into glory with him. And that's all the work of the Lord Jesus. Now here's the last thing I want you to see. The Lord, I want you to see how he really did deliver this man. Look here now in verse 35.

And Jesus rebuked the devil. He rebuked him, saying, hold thy peace. The devil was yelling this out, and he says, hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the midst, he came out of him and heard him not. When the gospel's preached, the Lord Jesus rebukes in power.

This is one reason a prophet's not without honor saving his own country, because the gospel rebukes. Any man that's trusting his works, any man that's looking to himself, this gospel is going to put salt in that wound, and it's going to hurt, and he's going to be offended. But our Lord Jesus, by rebuking He's gonna save us, that's what he's doing.

He's making us see we can't do any works to save ourselves. And he rebuked the devil and made him hold his peace. Now, we saw the lesson that when men speak against Christ, when you're speaking to a man, he speaks against Christ. Remember, he can't do otherwise. That's all he can do, unless the Lord give a new heart. But also get this lesson.

When we're rebuked by the preaching of the gospel, always keep in mind, that's the Lord speaking to me. That's the Lord speaking to me. And if it's the Lord speaking to you, he's not trying to get the message to you. He will get the message to you. He don't try. He will get the message to you. If it rebukes us, it's for our own good. It's to keep us looking only to him, keep us following him.

And this is a sad thing, and I don't think anybody here's done this, but I've had this happen. When you preach the gospel, if the Lord causes somebody to be blessed by what's said, folks will say, oh, the Lord blessed me. But then if the message rebukes in some way, the knee-jerk reaction is to say, oh, that's just the preacher talking. No, if you're the Lord, and the Lord's truly speaking into your heart, you're going to find out it's the Lord speaking. And He never fails to accomplish His purpose. He will make His child hear and bow to Him and believe. He always does. He never fails.

The devil threw this man to the ground. Now, he probably convulsed. He probably was like he was having a seizure or something. But at Christ's word of power, that devil left him. The devil can do nothing but what Christ permits. He had to ask permission to touch Job. The Lord brought it up. Have you considered my servant Job? But then the Lord said, you can go this far, but you can't go further. He can't do anything but what the Lord permits. They're not in competition. The Lord is ruling the devil. He's not in competition. But that unclean devil has to flee.

Now what does that mean for us? No weapon formed against you shall harm you, brethren. Our Lord's going to keep His people all the way to the end because He's the Holy One. I don't know if the Lord saved any of these people or not. I don't know. But here's the effect that is prevalent when he does save his child. Look here, verse 36.

They were all amazed, and they 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 round about. When we sing Amazing Grace, God's saints really sing it because his grace is amazing. They were amazed, and when the Lord saves you, you find out His grace is amazing. And He won't fail to call His people, because just like they said, with authority and power, He commandeth the unclean spirits and they come out. They're doing His bidding.

And those saved by His power and grace give Him all the glory, and they can't help speaking about Him. Out every place the country around about because they were talking about him and that's what happened. You're amazed by his grace amazed by his grace and You see his power you experience his power and you start talking about him giving him the glory giving him the glory.

We'll look at the rest next time. But I want you to look now at verse 39. We got brethren that are sick, family that are sick, and I wanted to preach this whole thing. Lord willing, we'll get to it sooner than later. But let me just point this one thing out. Verse 39.

He stood over Peter's mother-in-law. She had a fever, and she's in the bed, and she's almost dead. And he stood over her and rebuked the fever. and it left her, and immediately she arose and ministered to them. See, he even has power over bodily fever. I said to you, microscopic germs do what he commands them to do. He is power over all. At his rebuke, the fever left and healed her. Now, we pray for our sick brethren and we pray for our sick loved ones. And the Lord might restore your health. He can. He can. But we will eventually die if he gives us our health back. But when he gives you spiritual life, that's the greater thing. When he gives you spiritual life, when you die, you won't die. You'll be with him forever. And that's what he can do.

You see why we need to be under the gospel? You see why? Our Lord's working this type of thing in his people when the gospel's going forth. We need to be under the gospel. He's the power of God to save. He makes the gospel be the power of God to save. And this is what he does, and he never fails to save his people. Never fails. Get under the gospel and stay under the gospel. All right, Brother Adam.