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“The Authority given to us By Jesus Christ” by Rev Samuel Mametsa, Sunday Service, the 13th of May 2012.
Scripture reading: Mark 5:1-13, 1:21-27, 4:35-41.
Mark 5:1-13 “1 Then they came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when He had come out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no one could bind him, not even with chains, 4 because he had often been bound with shackles and chains. And the chains had been pulled apart by him, and the shackles broken in pieces; neither could anyone tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones. 6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and worshiped Him. 7 And he cried out with a loud voice and said, "What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God that You do not torment me." 8 For He said to him, "Come out of the man, unclean spirit!" 9 Then He asked him, "What is your name?" And he answered, saying, "My name is Legion; for we are many." 10 Also he begged Him earnestly that He would not send them out of the country. 11 Now a large herd of swine was feeding there near the mountains. 12 So all the demons begged Him, saying, "Send us to the swine, that we may enter them." 13 And at once Jesus gave them permission. Then the unclean spirits went out and entered the swine (there were about two thousand); and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the sea, and drowned in the sea.” Mark 5:1-13, NKJV.
Mark 1:21-27 “21 Then they went into Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath He entered the synagogue and taught. 22 And they were astonished at His teaching, for He taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 23 Now there was a man in their synagogue with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 24 saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are — the Holy One of God!" 25 But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" 26 And when the unclean spirit had convulsed him and cried out with a loud voice, he came out of him. 27 Then they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, "What is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey Him." NKJV.
Mark 4:35-41 “35 On the same day, when evening had come, He said to them, "Let us cross over to the other side." 36 Now when they had left the multitude, they took Him along in the boat as He was. And other little boats were also with Him. 37 And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. 38 But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him,"Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?" 39 Then He arose and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, "Peace, be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm. 40 But He said to them, "Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?" 41 And they feared exceedingly, and said to one another, "Who can this be, that even the wind and the sea obey Him!"” Mark 4:35-41, NKJV. (own emphasis).
This is the word of God under the title of the “Authority Given to us By Jesus Christ”. In the abovementioned books we read that the demons recognised Jesus Christ and that when they would see Him something was happening to them. They felt the power impact of His presence. I remember in Mark 2:18 when the Pharisees and others questioned Jesus Christ and asked Him “The disciples of John are fasting but why are your disciples not fasting?” By this Jesus Christ knew that this people were not recognizing or understanding His ministry. They could not understand that there was nothing forcing Jesus Christ to come to earth. He only came to make sure that you they and the other people were delivered.
See in this respect Mark 2:18-20 “8 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, "Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" 19 And Jesus said to them, "Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast. 20 But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.” Mark 2:18-20, NKJV.
Then the people did not care that you were sick, in that era they did no care if you were mad, or had demonic issues. They just saw it as part of life and so it was normal for them. When Jesus Christ came He realised that they considered this abnormal situation as normal and it disturbed Him.
When Jesus Christ went to Capernaum He started to teach them about the ministry that had brought him to earth.
According to the laws of the Jews they regarded Sunday as a very special day so much so that even if you were sick, they would not pray for you. Jesus Christ changed this situation. He did not teach them, He just did it. He realised that if He could teach them first they would not understand Him.
He went to his solitary place to get the mandate from heaven to cast out demons from people. The demons in that area were having a field day tormenting the people. In that era if you were demon possessed they regarded you as cursed. If you were seriously ill they would chase you out from the community. Jesus Christ was seriously perturbed by this situation.
The man of Gadarenes was a normal sight for the people but not to Jesus. When they would pass through the graveyard, they would see him cutting himself. Maybe they would greet him and pass or maybe, as he was regarded as dangerous they would just quietly pass by. They could not identify the spiritual power in that man. They only saw the physical power in him. I can just imagine that when the disciples saw the man they were running away from him. He had been sick for a while.
At a distance that man saw Jesus and started to shout and with power, broke the chains. I guess the disciples started to run away when they saw the man breaking the chains. In Jesus everything can be broken. Irrespective of the situation, irrespective of whether the attack is imminent or not, once you call upon Him, it will be broken, it will be diffused.
The man broke loose. Maybe the disciples said to themselves, “Now he is going to kill us!” Maybe Peter was in front of the group. When Jesus stepped forward the demon moved back but it was loose, no longer bound. When he stepped forward again the demon went down on its knees and said “Jesus son of the living God are you here to torment us before time” The demon was loose and could have attacked anybody it wished to.
The demons know the power that is in you. The demons know who sent you. The demon said to Jesus Christ Jesus Christ “I know you are the son of God, are you coming to torment us before time?” This demon was not in chains but when He saw Jesus Christ the chains broke loose. He could not understand the parable of Jesus. The parable of Jesus says “By just standing before Him you are free!”
To stand before Jesus you are loose. I guess, the mad man was stretching his legs, feeling his body so as to make sure that all the chains were really loose. But every time Jesus stepped forward he could not but go backwards because of the fire power in Jesus. That is why he even opened his mouth, “Jesus the son of the Living God, the son of the most High God, are you here to torment us before time?”
I don’t care how long you have been suffering, how many years the witches and wizards were tormenting you but the moment that you stand before Jesus Christ the chains will break loose.
The bible says the chains respected the power in Jesus and started to break loose. The bible says for many years the man was in chains but by just seeing Jesus Christ those chains broke. Stand before Jesus and everything will break loose!
The bible says further that the man asked Jesus, “Are you here to torment me?” Jesus Christ says “How many are you?” The bible says only one person was standing before Jesus but still Jesus Christ said to the man “How many are you?” He was talking to one person abut he asked “How many are you?”
How many are you? When Jesus asked this question, already in His spiritual eyes He was seeing many people and so wanted these people to confess and one person said “We are a legion”. It was not the voices of many people which responded but one person representing all those demons. That is why when you cast demons; there is always one demon that represents all the demons which will speak.
One person can be attacked by a legion of demons. That is why Jesus wanted to teach the people about the ministry of deliverance. Many of the people were possessed by demons and others were under attack by demons. When many saw this man from the Gadarenes they just saw him as mad (crazy) and not as one possessed by demons. The same still happens today.
One time when Jesus came from the mountain after His prayer session He said to them, “Let’s go and cast out the demons.” He was concerned about the demons, as a person’s life can be drastically changed by demon from being a nice person to being a very dangerous person. Demons can hide inside a person for many years and the painful part is that for that person it will look like everything is normal.
The demons said to Jesus Christ “Don’t kill us”. When the demon attacks you it is because they know it is not yet their time of torment. They know that all of us will be judged and when that time comes no temptation or sin will come as the devil will be in the lake of fire. By that time Christians will be living a better life. That is why they asked Jesus Christ “Why are you destroying us before time?” They are saying this is our time to do as we wish, we know that one day we will stand before God for judgment. That is why demons do not want to go when they are cast out because they know it is not yet their time. The Authority Given to us By Jesus Christ is to cast out demons, not to pray for the demon. These two are different. Praying for a demon and casting it out is not one and the same thing. If you read carefully in the above text you will realise that after the legion asked Jesus Christ to allow them to go into the pigs, Jesus Christ did not pray for them, he cast them out. He commanded them with authority to go.
I want you to understand that you need not pray for the demon. You will see Christians laying hands on people praying for a demon. The demon knows no prayer. He doesn’t know about begging, you must instruct it and it must beg you, just like the legion begged Jesus Christ. The demon must beg you. When you pray for the demon you are begging the demon and it is very comfortable and proud and feels more powerful than you and will then be very stubborn.
The bible says we have been given Authority By Jesus Christ to cast out the demons. That is why Jesus Christ says Greater is the one in me than the one in the world. That is why His disciples did not fast when they were with Him. When you have Jesus Christ they will obey when you come next to them. When you come next to them, they will feel your presence and they will know who sent you. If the demon starts to feel that you are part of them, nothing will change.
Remember the demon is not stupid and the devil is not stupid and the devil knows all the people who serve God and those whom serve him. If the devil knows that somehow someway you serve him, the demon will not move.
The bible says after He cast out the demon, He said to His disciples “Let’s take the boat and go to the other side.” Whilst in the boat, a storm came and rocked the boat. The disciples were afraid and asked “Why is Jesus sleeping in this midst of this trouble?” They woke him up and asked Him “Jesus how can you sleep in the midst of this trouble?” He said to them “Where is your faith?”
Sometimes when you cast demons without faith the demon will give you a tough time. Instead of responding to them He said “Where is your faith?”
In this situation you find yourself in “Where is your faith?”
Jesus Christ woke up and he said to the storm “Stop” and immediately the storm stopped.
Jesus Christ came down from heaven to allow Himself to be crucified so that you and I may have a life. Jesus Christ says “Stop”. He first allowed them to struggle a bit and later He helped them. I can just see them struggling with fear, they were running for their lives.
There are situations in your life that will make you to forget how to pray because you forget about the one who came from heaven.
Jesus Christ realised that these people had forgotten about Him. Jesus Christ allowed them first to face the storm. They went into the boat with Him, but He decided to sleep. When He was sleeping they even forgot that He was there. Afterwards He allowed the storm to come.
There is a lot of people who forget that there is a God and they even forget that they dedicated certain things unto Him. When they are faced with situations they still forget about Him.
The disciples went into the boat with Jesus Christ but when the storm came they forgot that Jesus Christ was in the boat. You forget that person in you, that Jesus Christ who is in you. You forget that Jesus Christ is asleep inside of you. Why? Why? Why?
He is inside of you. The problem is that the boat is moving in the storm. Wake Him up! Wake Him up! Wake Him up! Wake Him up!
I think Simon may have forgotten about Jesus Christ and he was busy sending “please call” to Jesus Christ. Some people will send you a “please call” whilst you are in the same house they are in.
Jesus Christ is with you, you forgot and he is sleeping “Jesus, here is the storm” and He will wake up and rebuke the storm. Wake Him up! Wake Him up! He is there. He is sleeping there. He is waiting for you to recognise Him. He is waiting for you to wake Him up.
If you don’t you will drown, whilst Jesus Christ is there sleeping in you. The disciples felt “We cannot die; there is somebody who is sleeping.” Hey there is somebody who is above your problem. He is above all your problems; what is left is that you must remember that person and wake him up. When He wakes up, you will see what happens.
He will say “Where is your faith?” but He will stop the storm and that storm will vanish and never come back. Jesus is here for the storm.
Jesus will not allow demons in your life, he will cast them out. Who is this Jesus from whom the demons take instructions, the storms listen to him.
You have been given authority by somebody divine. If you understand that you are properly empowered you will know. That is why the fasting of the disciples was not important. He was walking with them, He was with them all the time and that is why before He left He said to them “Wait in Jerusalem! I walked with you and you do not have faith, go and wait in Jerusalem because I know if I can leave you like orphans, you will be destroyed. So go and wait in Jerusalem.”
On the day of Pentecost He released the power. That is when the disciples started to fast. They had been given more power. Jesus Christ had realised they were lazy, even in prayer. Some people are so lazy that they will not even pray for about 5 minutes. In fact 5 minutes is too much for them.
If you want to serve God, to cast demons you must have enough time with God, you must wake up and have a solitary place where you can pray so that the demons can recognize you.
Sometimes we are frustrating the demons; they don’t know who this person is? “He is like us. It is like this person is one with us”.
He was teaching His disciples by His own life style: He would wake up early leaving them and go pray and then come back much later and when they would ask Him “Where have you been?” He would just say, “Let’s go do this and that”.
One time they tried to cast a demon and the demon refused because it knew them, they were part with it. When Jesus Christ came He just said “You demon come out!” and the demon surrendered and they had a problem. “Jesus you said it only once. Tell us, how did you manage to do this? We have been struggling with this demon for long.” and He says “There are other demons that require you to go to a solitary place.” Solitary place requires you to be in fasting. The fasting empowers you with knowledge. In that solitary place, God will give you knowledge and you will have time for the word, and God will speak to you and there will be no disturbance.
You cannot speak of a solitary place when you are in house and there are people in that same house making noise, with the TV on making noise in the background. You need to go to a place where the only noise will just be the sounds of the birds.