“Destroying The Devil’s Work”
Mark 1:21-34
SCRIPTURE INTRO:
Gospel of Mark is about Jesus
Christ, Son of God, invading this world,
challenging our
perceptions about what God is really like.
This passage is Jesus’ first
public encounter with forces of evil,
as he casts out the
unclean spirit from a demon-possessed man.
INTRO: We lived on a canal in
Every once in a while I would
jump in and swim.
There were several drownings
in canals while we lived there—
mostly children or
elderly people falling in and unable to get out.
But hearing about those drownings never worried me about swimming myself.
Then there was a story in the
paper about a man in
who jumped in his
canal and was immediately attacked and killed by a shark.
After I read that I couldn’t
bring myself to jump into the canal.
Ordinary evil of drowning didn’t bother me,
but the thought of
lurking evil beasts gave me the creeps.
An evil intelligence that want to have you and destroy you is unnerving.
You know that the Bible tells
us that there really is that sort of evil.
There is the ordinary evil of life in a
fallen world—accidents, cancer.
There is the moral evil of the human heart—which
can be quite terrible.
And there is, underneath this
lurking, an evil intelligence—evil beasts,
the Devil and his
host of unclean spirits.
Bible tells us very little
about how they operate.
But it does make clear that they are real,
they are opposed to God an all that is good,
and they desire to
have and destroy people.
There are time
when Christians get a sense that this demonic evil is at work.
The Christians that Mark
wrote this letter to—Christians in
were in the jaws of
demonic evil.
Nero, in his perversion and
cruelty and paganism
was doing all he
could to destroy them.
It must have seemed to those
Christians that hell itself had been let loose.
This was not just ordinary human evil,
something was behind it.
You can imagine them asking
questions like:
Are the forces of evil going to overwhelm
church?
Is the Devil going to be victorious in
Maybe even more personal
questions:
How will I stand if I am taken into the
arena to face the lions?
None of us are facing extreme
trials like they did.
But perhaps there are times when you wonder
if demonic activity
is behind the evil
you face.
May be hard to put your
finger on it but there seems to be a
maliciousness or a
confusion that goes beyond the ordinary evils of life.
You may feel crushed under a
load of accusation that seems to come from pit.
You could be right.
Your spiritual antenna could have accurately
picked up on the fact
that there is a
demonic element to the conflict or trial that you are facing.
This passage certainly shows
us that there is a Devil, and unclean spirits,
and that they want
to bring harm and confusion.
But here’s the good news from
this passage—it doesn’t matter.
Because Jesus Christ has
come to destroy the devil’s work.
His authority over the devil and his demon
is absolute.
And so, as a Christian, your
trust is in the strong Son of God.
Look at this passage under
three headings:
1. Jesus has won.
2. The Devil is still fighting.
3. You must be fearless.
MP#1
Jesus has won.
First, this story shows us
that Jesus has won.
To really understand the significance of
this exorcism story—
you have to put it
in the bigger story of Jesus’ conflict with Satan.
Might say
that this is the opening public salvo of this battle.
Jesus has already faced Satan in the
wilderness temptation—but that was alone.
This is the first public confrontation that
Mark records.
Notice how it ends—in total
victory.
“Be quiet.
Come out of him.” And out the
demon came out with a shriek.
It was unable to prolong the conflict for
even one minute.
You see in verse 34 a summary
of Jesus ministry in
which shows that
casting out demons was a regular part of his ministry.
He did it hundreds, perhaps thousands of
times over those three years.
The results never varied—he
restrained their speech and then cast them out.
Everywhere the Bible speaks
of Jesus’ conflict with forces of evil—
always speaks in
absolute, finished terms—he has won. He as conquered.
The final victory came in his
death and resurrection.
Colossians
he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by
the cross.
What exactly does this mean, that Jesus has triumphed over Devil and demons?
We still see plenty of evidences of the
Devil at work.
So how can the Bible say that Jesus has won?
Jesus’ triumph is defined
very specifically in the Bible. One more
verse.
John 12:31-32 Now is the time
for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will
be driven out. But I,
when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.
His triumph over Satan will
be that he is no longer able to bind the nations
in spiritual
darkness. And that all people everywhere
will be drawn to the cross.
Let’s trace this theme:
The Bible tells us that
before Jesus, the nations were held captive in darkness.
Satan was the prince of this world, blinded
the eyes of world to truth.
But out of all the nations,
there was one little nation that had light of true God.
he is gracious, he
is forgiving. Leave your idols and serve
the living God.
But
Think for a minute about
where this demon possessed man was when
he encountered
Jesus. He was in church.
That’s what the synagogues
were—local congregations of the Jewish church.
Demon-possessed church members. That’s how far
But Jesus, as the Messiah of
Israel, fulfilled the mission that
Jesus came to open the door of salvation to
all the nations.
That’s Jesus’ total victory. He has opened the door, Satan can never shut
again.
Revelation 20 speaks of the
Devil being bound during this Gospel age—
his binding keeps
him from deceiving the nations.
Jesus uses this language
later in Mark, chapter 3 he speak of how he
has come to bind the strong man and plunder his possessions.
Look at the past 2,000 years
and this is exactly what you see—
the strong man has
been bound by Jesus and is being plundered.
Nations and peoples and
tribes that Satan once had bound in spiritual darkness,
he is now powerless
to prevent from hearing and responding to the Gospel.
Proof that Jesus has
triumphed over the powers and authorities,
and driven out the
prince of this world, bound the strong man, plundered him.
There are so many examples of
the unstoppable spread of the Gospel.
But let me tell you one that is happening in
our own time, before very eyes.
That’s what’s happening in
The Gospel door has been opened and the
Devil can’t shut it.
Missionaries came to
faced great
opposition and limited success.
Then, they were all kicked
out by the Communists in 1950.
Mao and the Red Army determined to eliminate
Christianity in
But the purges of the Cultural Revolution
failed. Persecution continues.
But today the Chinese church
has grown to over 70 million.
And there is, among Chinese
Christians, a deep conviction that cuts across
denominational
lines that one day, God is going to use the Chinese church
to bring the Gospel
back to the land of it’s birth, back to the
Lord only knows what will
come of this.
But when you think about the spiritual
darkness of the
and the violence
with which they respond to any message that contradicts Islam.
And
that any missionary who went there would know that he would die.
And you then realize that
Jesus has raised up in 50 years a mighty church
of 70 million
Chinese Christians who know what it means
to suffer and die
for the faith—well, these are interesting times.
May not see
this play out in our lifetime.
But great stories like this have been
happening for the past 2,000 years.
Jesus has won, Devil has been defeated. Prince of this world driven
out.
Application simply is take
heart. Open your eyes. See the triumph of Christ.
MP#2
The Devil is still fighting.
Second, this story shows us
that the Devil is still fighting.
Now, you might say, if Jesus has won—which was last point.
How can it be that the Devil is still
fighting?
If He has
triumphed over his demonic enemies on the cross (as the Bible says).
And if he has cast out the
prince of this world (as the Bible says).
And if he has bound Satan
and plundered his kingdom (as the Bible says).
Then why is there any more
conflict?
Answer is simply that the
Gospel Age in which we live is a peculiar time.
We live with certain spiritual realities
that have definitively happened.
And yet, these spiritual realities are
coming to their final consummation.
Theologians have a phrase for
this: “The now and the not yet.”
The now is that we live with
spiritual realities that have happened.
I have been crucified with Christ. Old man, old self is dead to sin.
I have eternal life.
Jesus has defeated Satan and all his demons
on the cross.
The not yet is that all those
spiritual realities are being realized.
They have not yet come to consummation.
So I am also crucifying old
man, fighting sin, losing some, winning some.
I will still suffer the death of my body.
Satan is still fighting. In individual battles there may be losses.
So we live in the now of
Jesus total victory on the cross,
and the not yet of
continued conflict with the Devil,
as we await the
final consummation of Jesus’ victory on the last day.
Allison has been reading a
book called “Is Paris Burning”
about the
liberation of
There was a peculiar time
during the liberation of
when the Allies had
swept into the city, surrounded and cut off Germans.
And there was this outpouring of joy because
the Parisians knew they were free.
French Resistance had been
able to take over the main radio station,
This is what happened.
“Parisians, rejoice!” shouted
Pierre Shaeffer on French Radio. “We have come on the air to give you the news
of our deliverance. The Leclerc Division has entered
But what happened the next
day? Fighting, bitter
fighting.
Soldiers and civilians died as they
struggled side by side against German troops,
some determined to
fight to the last man.
The decisive event had
happened, the Allies had arrived.
There was the announcement of certain
victory, but then there was a determined
enemy that was
determined to do as much damage as possible.
In fact, Hitler’s had ordered
demolition crews to
the city to
rubble—those plans were thwarted by the Allies.
Here is my point. The church bells have rung. Rang on first Easter
morning.
Announcing the defeat of
Satan and all his forces.
But the enemy is still
fighting, and will until the very end.
What does this fighting look like? Probably not casting out
demons like Jesus.
This is a subject that devout
and learned Christians have disagreed on—
does demon
possession still occur? Very different answers.
But even if demon possession
does still happen, those aren’t the ordinary battles.
The battles we mostly fight against the
Devil and his forces are moral battles.
Truth vs. lies. Faith vs. despair. Assurance of salvation vs.
accusation.
When you do feel overwhelmed
as a Christian,
that there is some
evil that you can’t quite explain.
Perhaps it is in fact the
forces of evil, defeated but still fighting,
trying to do all
the damage that they can.
MP#3
You must be fearless.
Brings us
to third point. In face of demonic evil, you must be
fearless.
The demons tried their best to oppose Jesus.
They called out his divine
title: I know who you are, the Holy One
of God.
That was an attempt to control Jesus,
or at least sow
doubts in minds of people listening.
But even with their strongest
efforts, they were unable to even prolong conflict.
Jesus stopped them with a word.
If there is one practical
purpose this story serves,
it is to say to
believers—do no be afraid.
Forces of evil cannot hurt
you.
Because you serve Jesus
Christ who has all authority.
It would be hard to find a
great Christian with spiritual antenna more attuned
to the attacks of
demonic forces than Martin Luther. Read
his commentaries,
read about his life
and he was often convinced that the devil and demons
were behind the
attacks and trials that he faced and church faced in his day.
And no doubt they were.
Nothing would have alarmed the Devil more
than to see the message of
God’s free grace restored to the church that
had covered it up for centuries
under works
theology.
Luther detected the Devil’s
attacks in all sorts of things—
enemies on the
outside who tried to kill him to stop work of reformation
as well as the
depression and accusations that came against him internally.
But remember Luther’s
evaluation these evil forces in his hymn A Mighty Fortress.
And though this world with devils
filled/Should threaten to undo us;
We will not fear, for God has willed/His
truth to triumph through us.
The Prince of Darkness grim,/We tremble not for him,
His rage we can endure/For,
lo, his doom is sure:
One little Word shall fell him.
Luther put his finger on
something important in this verse.
Fear may be the greatest weapon that the
Devil brings against believers.
We fear that things are going
to fall apart.
Fear that we are disasters as Christians,
ruining our children and families.
Fear that we are not going to
have the things we need for comfort and happiness.
Fear that if we obey God, going to lose out.
Fear ultimately that God is
not in control, that some other forces are.
But what does Luther bring to
bear against that fear? The truth.
The truth of what Jesus has done for us and
what he promises to do.
It is taking the truth and
pressing it into your life, using it in fight against
your doubts, against
accusations and confusion that makes you unafraid.
And it is by living your life
in the conscious presence of Jesus,
seeking his
protecting presence,
praying, lead me
not into temptation and deliver from evil,
that you can say in
truth, I have nothing to fear.
Flip side to this, if you are
not afraid simply because
you don’t pay any
attention to spiritual things.
Don’t really think you have
an enemy who is against you, family, church.
Don’t really think a shark is luring in the
canal—then you should be afraid.
Bible says that the enemy is a roaring lion,
seeking whom he will devour.
Or if your fearlessness does
not rest on Jesus Christ himself,
his work on the
cross and his continued protection—
then you are
foolish and open to the attacks of the devil.
So be fearless—but make sure
your fearlessness rests on Christ alone.
If you are fearful this morning for any
reason—
come back again and
again to your strong Savior, Jesus Christ.
Look at Him. Look at the way he deals with these demons
with a word.
Know that he is for you.
CONC:
The Harlem Globetrotters traveled
around the world
and delighted
audiences with their basketball skills and comedy.
But for the Globetrotters to
do their thing
they had to have
somebody to play against.
So there was this other team
called the Washington Generals.
The Generals would often go with
Globetrotters to play against them.
And the Generals would
lose. They were supposed to lose,
because they were
just the backdrop for the Globetrotters
to display their
basketball prowess.
The Devil and his demons are
the Washington Generals.
All their resistance, all the bad things
they bring against Christians,
are simply an
opportunity for Jesus to display his greatness.
He has demonstrated his
greatness through his victory on the cross.
He continues to show it throughout this
Gospel age,
as he helps his
people resist all kinds of attacks that the Devil brings.
That’s the message of this
first public battle between Jesus the demons.
Jesus has won, there is still fighting to be
done—
but do not fear,
fight the good fight as you look to your strong Savior.