← ArchiveFactsSharing Hope in the Midst of UpheavalDateAugust 16, 2020SpeakerDr Josh BurnhamText—Passages in this sermonLuke 4:311:09Luke 41:09Ephesians 617:36Matthew 8:2920:26Mark 3:1120:26TranscriptMachine transcribed. Click any line to jump there.0:00*music* Okay, so some have just joined us online. You have just joined us physically, so welcome back.0:30My name is Josh, lead pastor here at Bethel. So thank you for watching. Thank you guys for paying attention. We are in the middle of a brand new series called "Facts." Fact is simply what is true about something.0:51And so we are looking at basic facts of our Christianity. Basic facts of our faith. And today we are going to look at Luke chapter 4. So if you have your Bibles, go ahead and find that. Luke 4:31. It's in the New Testament. It's the fourth gospel in the New Testament. Several weeks ago we began with Christian generosity.1:17Why that is important for followers of Jesus. And then Pastor Benny gave an incredible message last week on the need of relationships. And next week Pastor Jared is going to preach on worship. Why worship is a vital soul. But I had the joy today of leading a message simply called "Finding Hope and Sharing Hope in a World of Upheaval."1:42Which I would say 2020 qualifies for that. You know, many of us don't know what to do with chaos. Especially when we can't control that. You know, if the AC in your house breaks today, you simply pick up the phone and you call your local HVAC technician.2:04If your car won't start, you either call the mechanic or you call AAA. If your cat's sick, you go to the vet and say, "Can you help my cat?" And if there's something strange in the neighborhood, who are you going to call? Some of you got that. Thank you, Benny. I appreciate you, brother. But then I begin to look back at this year. And there's always been, we see that in the time of Christ.2:36And I believe Jesus helps us uniquely understand the times and share hope in these times. But let me quickly, with broad strokes, recap this year. At the beginning of this year, you remember the Australian fires? Some estimates that one billion animals died in those fires early this year.2:58We've had tensions with Iran. We had the death of Kobe Bryant and his family and those on that helicopter. We've had COVID-19. And then it came back and it's still here. We've had the death of George Floyd and protests. We've had riots and some cities are still in the throes of riots for various reasons.3:23We have had a horrific explosion in Beirut recently that killed hundreds and has injured thousands. And the list continues. I don't know about you, but I hear all these things and I see our world and I just want to pray, Lord, come quick. When will it end? And the gospel answer is that it will not end until Christ returns and makes everything right.3:51That is our hope. But I'm reminded that none of this has caught the Lord unaware. God didn't turn on the news and say, "Beirut, I didn't see that one coming." God knows. And we can say as Christians that everything in our life sits under the throne of His grace and His sovereignty.4:18And we have a Messiah who also encountered chaotic times and meets them exactly where they needed. And so in Luke chapter 4, we're going to read one of those instances of Jesus sharing the hope of the kingdom and Him encountering chaos and then Jesus speaking right into the midst of a world that is broken and bringing it hope and peace.4:48So I pray that we will see this model and that there are our hearts to be hope dealers in a world that so desperately needs the message of the gospel. Luke 4, beginning in verse 31. I'm reading from the CSB, the Christian Standard Bible. He, that's Jesus, went down to Capernaum, a town in Galilee, and He was teaching them on the Sabbath. They were astonished at His teaching because His message had authority.5:17In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice, "Leave us alone. What do you have to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You're the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him and said, "Be silent and come out of him."5:42And throwing the man down before them, the demon came out of him without hurting him at all. And amazement came over all of them. And they were saying to one another, "What is this message? For He commands the unclean spirits with authority and power, and they come out." And this is our application today. And news about Him began to go out to every place in the vicinity.6:10I pray that God's grace would ripple from this location today. And that the message that Jesus says would be heard throughout this country and around the world. Let's pray. Father, we confess to You that, Lord, we don't know what this year is going to bring. And Lord, it has taken me by surprise. And many of us are weary.6:39We're tired. Lord, we're confused. We're frustrated. But Lord, we rest in knowing that nothing that has happened this year took You by surprise. You love us. You died for us. And You comfort us in our time of need that we might comfort others. And so, Lord, would You bring hope to us right now that we might bring hope to our families and our neighbors that we might share the greatest news that the world has ever heard.7:07The news that Jesus saves. The news that Jesus saves. Oh, Lord, do a work in us that we would never be the same. Lord, we pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. And amen. I want to give you four principles today in how you can bring hope in a world that is in upheaval.7:33You could say, "Bring hope to 2020." That's an easy tagline there. Look at verse 34. Jesus is going down to Capernaum, which is accurate because Capernaum was on the northwestern side of the Sea of Galilee. It was an agricultural center. It was a large Jewish urban city, and it was also a fishing village. To the south of that was a place called Magdala, which was known for its commercial fishing factories.8:01That's where Mary Magdalan comes from. So all of this area was known for their commerce. So Jesus is going to this large location and he's sharing the message that the kingdom of God is present. And as Jesus is sharing, we find Jesus exactly where we would expect him to find. He's in the synagogue on Shabbat.8:31He's on the synagogue on Sabbath. He is where your cool practicing Orthodox Jewish person would be. He's like your southern, he's on church on Sunday at 11 o'clock because that's when Jesus worshiped. Jesus worshiped Sunday at 11 when I was growing up. So that's where Jesus was. But something was unique about this interchange. So look again. It says he went down to Capernaum, town of Galilee, and he was teaching them on the Sabbath.8:59Now who is them? Them are the religious people. So the religious people are hearing the word of God from the very son of God. And what is their response? Verse 32, they were amazed or astonished. Some would say they were even bewildered. Now let me stop right for a second. Do you know how difficult it is to amaze religious people?9:27Church people have seen it all. And so the fact that they would hear something in the synagogue that they would say, "Wow, we've never heard that before," that's a miracle in itself. Because church people feel like they have it all together. And when they don't have it all together, they feel like they have to act like they have it all together. So even amazed today, you're not going to show your amazement because you don't want people to know that you're amazed.9:53Does that make sense? And we have people here, they were astonished. Why were they astonished? One, because Jesus is not teaching as if this is a book. Jesus was reading the Old Testament as if it was his autobiography. And guess what? It was. Jesus is reading Isaiah and saying, "Hey, you know the suffering servant?10:22That's me." And they were amazed at the power and the authority of God. So let me just stop right here and give you the spiritual truth. How do you find hope and share hope in a world of chaos? You have to understand that Jesus Christ has authority in your life. You will never find hope until you deeply experience and recognize the authority of Jesus in your life.10:44Which is my frustration sometimes when I talk to people who are religious. And they say, "Well, I believe in Jesus." I'm like, "Well, why are you living in sin? And why are you not worshiping together with the saints? And why aren't you doing..." Well, I believe in Jesus, I just don't do what he says. And I'm like, "What world do we live in?"11:16And then I think, "Lord, what in my life, what areas of my life are I'm saying that you are my Lord and you are my Savior, but my life is not reflecting that?" You will never experience the hope of Jesus until he has control of your life. And you will never share the hope of Jesus Christ until he has complete control of your life. And there is such joy and freedom when we say, "God, this is yours. You are my King."11:45And listen, a world in upheaval needs a spiritual authority. Can I be honest with you today? I'm going to be honest with you anyway. The world doesn't need your opinion. No one's going to get to heaven one day and say,12:13"You know, David, I just want to thank you for your opinion because that saved me." You know, Josh, when you like that on Facebook, that's what did it. That's what set me free from my chains and my addictions and all my sin was washed away because you like that on Facebook. Listen, why do I like that though? We need to quit acting Christians. We need to quit acting as if politics, education, money, or even religious institutions are the answer to the world's problems.12:40The world needs Jesus Christ. They don't need my opinion. My opinion never will save a single person, but the gospel of Jesus Christ will. That's what our world needs. And we should just sit back today and say, "God, I want you to have complete authority in my life." And I know what you're thinking. You're thinking that is scary.13:09For me to hand the reins of my life to God, it is worth it. There is no more freedom in my life when I say, "God, it is all yours." Oh, that that would be the theme of our hearts. You will never experience or share hope until Jesus has complete authority in your life. Live with amazement. And not surprisingly, this is Jesus' first miracle recorded in Luke.13:36And it's at the synagogue. And so look with me again in verse 33. They were astonished because his message had authority. And in the synagogue there was a man with an unclean, demonic spirit. So I don't think it's an accident that Jesus' first recorded miracle in the Gospel of Luke was in the house of worship. But in the house of worship, the synagogue, we find a peculiar man.14:04In the local synagogue we find what? Verse 33, we find a man with an unclean, demonic spirit. Now, don't look around. But one commentator said it this way, and it really just ripped me up. He said, "Satan took hold of a man and took him to church." And I began to ask the question, "Is the American church the safest place for Satan?"14:33Now, some of you are thinking, "Wow, that's tough." Well, imagine being a pastor. And really, I would just fell down before God and say, "God, is this the safest place for a demonic spirit?" Think about the boldness that it would take Satan and his minions to come into the local synagogue. There's no power there.15:03This is a safe place. This was a millennial demon, right? It found its safe place. I can say that because I am one. The millennial, not a demon. I know I was going to get an email from some of you today. But thinking, "Lord, may that not be said of us." May Satan never think that this is a good place to show up. And one of the spiritual truths that we need to see is that you will run into Satan in the most surprising places.15:30Some think, "Well, if I just avoid the dark areas of these inner cities, then I'll never find Satan." What if he is in a place you never expect? None of these people would say, "I expected to encounter a demon in the synagogue." But that's where he was. And yet, we need the hope of Jesus Christ.15:57And you know what's amazing about this? Look at verse 33. In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean demonic spirit who cried out with a loud voice. No other commentary. The writer Luke didn't say, "Can you believe that?" Lord, the Lord founds a demon in the church. And it doesn't seem like Jesus says, "Whoa, you're brave."16:26It's almost expected that Satan is working overtime in strange, unusual places. So we need to break the mentality that it's only the dark recesses of the world where we find demonic activity. What if it's in our safe religious places? Lord, may that not be said of us. And what we find is that Jesus looks right into this man and he looks at his need.16:52And if you are a Christ follower, this should be a reminder that you are uniquely gifted to recognize spiritual influences and spiritual forces. Not in an odd way. And if we're honest, we want to discount the people who we think are really spiritual. That talk about demons and angels. We say, "Well, they're just the crazy spiritual people."17:20Well, if that's true, then what does that make Jesus? We must recognize that there are spiritual realities all around us. What does Ephesians 6 say? Some of you are thinking, well, put on the full armor of God, right? The helmet, the breastplate, the sandals, the belt. But right before that, what does Ephesians tell us? It says, "Listen, guys, our struggle is not against flesh and blood,17:49but against the rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens." Let me rephrase that. Spiritual forces in the synagogues. Spiritual forces in the American church. We will never share hope to the world until we realize that we are in a spiritual battle.18:17And it's the Holy Spirit working in us that gives us the sight to see and the faith to believe. A reminder for me today is, Josh, do not leave here as a practical atheist. Some of us would confess the Godhead. I believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But we leave here without any spiritual influence in our life.18:44May we not live as practical atheists. But may we live and say, God, work in me. I believe in your Holy Spirit. Lord, I believe that your Spirit is stronger than anything else. Which is the third point. In the synagogue there was a man with an unclean spirit, who did what? He cried out.19:14Now, I think in my mind there's two possibilities. One, I think that the demon, knowing what he was up against, went, "Oh!" That's a cry. Or, right? Or, there was this blood-curdling... And I think the demon might have cried out and everyone in the synagogue said, "Mmm." People in the synagogue said, "Okay, you came in late, you sit by him."19:44Right? Front row for you. I think there was such a turmoil that everyone recognized that there's a deep spiritual darkness about this man. And I think everyone in the synagogue, their heart dropped except one person. There was one person that said, "Okay, game on."20:12What I find fascinating about this is, the normal reaction to Jesus Christ from demonic forces is a cry. You have in Mark 3:11 and Matthew 8:29, usually when demons encounter Jesus, shriek. Which is a reminder for me, the presence of Jesus Christ makes Satan nervous. There's never a time where Satan sees Jesus and feels like he has a chance.20:41Because he learned that even when he killed the Son of God, that the death of Jesus Christ was the greatest death the world has ever witnessed because it brought us hope and peace. And so we must understand, and I think the third principle is that Jesus sees our need. Jesus sees the spiritual chaos of this man.21:07What's the request of the demon? He said, "Leave us alone." What do you have to do with us, Messiah? And it's interesting right here. That Jesus could have easily said, "Okay, you don't want me." But Jesus was not okay giving a superficial answer to a superficial question.21:32Jesus looked right into the man's soul. And right into the man's heart. And look how he answers the demon. Now, I don't think that we should gloss over the fact in verse 34 that the demon says what? Leave who alone? Commentators are split. Are this multiple demons?22:01Or is the demon saying, "Jesus, this man is mine. You leave us alone." We'll come back to that later. And Jesus looked right at the question of the demon and he said what? I love this. Think about the power of the good news of the Messiah. He looked right at the man in verse 35 and the demon and said, "Be silent and come out of him."22:22See, Jesus has a way of recognizing your need even when you don't know what your need is. I'm so thankful for that. There are times that I pray selfishly. I'm like, "Lord, you just give me this, this, this, and this. This is what I need." And God says, "I'm not going to answer any of those prayers because they're trash. But I'm going to answer a better prayer.22:53Because, Josh, you want this. You want to dig in the gutter, but you need this." And Jesus looks at this demon and said, "Leave me alone." He said, "No, this man is mine." And in that instant, the demon comes out of the man. And I'm reminded of the fourth principle that we have here. How do you share hope in a world of upheaval? You have to recognize the need of other people. Listen, they don't need to know what your favorite sports team is.23:23They don't. That might be good. They don't need to know the weather. They need Jesus Christ. And if I'm honest, the greatest hindrance for me sharing the gospel with other people are just superficial conversations. They're not bad conversations. But it's, hey, let's talk about the grass. And let's talk about our kids' sports. And let's talk about school. And let's just talk about all these good things.23:53And you know where good things lead you? They lead us to hell. Because we don't need good things in our life. We need God. And I'm so thankful for a Messiah that knows my spiritual need, even when I don't recognize it yet. And if you are a Christ follower, the Spirit of God is living in you, you know the spiritual needs of people. You know they need Jesus Christ, even if they don't realize it. Well, you ask today, say,24:23"Lord, may I see the spiritual need of others?" There is a world desperate. They're going to hell and they don't even know it. Because they don't understand the true depth of God's love for them. May we break past this superficial and have deep conversations of faith. And you know what I found when I do that?24:50We want to say people are going to stiff arm us, but usually it's thank you for caring enough about me that you would have that conversation. Past the superficial and into the spiritual. Third, we see this of Jesus Christ. So the demon shrieks, I believe it's the... I think it's more that than the wimpy scream.25:18And people are watching this. We'll exercise that.25:38And people are seeing and they're hearing. Can you imagine? I mean, sometimes we read the stories of the Bible and we just take for granted what's going on. If Jesus, if a demon comes out of someone right now and they're thrown to the ground, our reaction is going to be, I'm not coming back to that church. That's the power of the gospel. And something happens here and the people say this in verse 6. "Amazement comes over all them26:08and they were saying to one another, what is this message? For he commands the unclean spirits with authority," right? We must recognize the authority of God, but also with what? With power. And they come out. And news about him began to go out in every place and in all of the city. Last spiritual truth. You will never share hope in a world of upheaval26:35unless you have experienced the power of God in your life. And I believe there are people who go up in church or wander into church and they know about Jesus, but they've never experienced the power of the gospel. Can you imagine this man's story? He's gonna say, "You guys sit down." Because I would go into the synagogue and all I could do is screech27:05because I was tormented by an unclean demonic spirit. And Jesus looked at this demon and he cast it out of me. And you'll never believe this. I don't look like I was demon possessed, but I will never be the same because I have experienced the power of Jesus Christ. The world needs to hear that. The world needs to hear us say, "Listen, I am in the same boat as you. I was a sinner, God showed me my sin27:35and I realized how dark my life was. Then I saw the most beautiful light I've ever seen. And I saw the power of God and he rescued me." If you've never experienced the power of Jesus Christ, you can never share the hope of Jesus Christ. And it's not an intellectual exercise. That doesn't mean we check our minds at the door, but some of us think the gospel is like this. He says, "Mm-hmm." "Do you want to get baptized?"28:04"Mm-hmm." "Do you want to join the church?" "Mm-hmm." "Okay, done. Signed, sealed, delivered." And as Stevie Wonder would say, "I'm yours." But when I was in grade school and I learned for the first time that one plus one is two, I didn't stop the class and say, "Hey, stop!" That will change my life. So you're telling me that one plus one equals two?28:31I will never be the same again. I am so thankful, teacher, that all my addictions and all my sins and heaven is now mine. The kingdom of God is here because one plus one equals two? That didn't happen for me.28:59But when we see the beauty and the majesty of Jesus Christ, that does happen. And the more I grow and experience the power of Jesus working in me and on me and through me, the more thankful I am that God has changed my life. And so if you're here today and your gospel experience was, "Yeah, I knew about Jesus." And I said, "Mm-hmm, that sounds good. I'm done." Maybe you've never truly experienced the power of Christ.29:30Because I don't know about you, but there's often I look in the mirror and I'm thinking, "God, you saved me." Because I grew up in church. And you might not look at me and say I was demon-possessed, but I was as far from heaven as a person could be. And I'll never forget the day in the synagogue,29:56in a church in Mississippi at 11 o'clock because that's the Lord's day and that was the Lord's worship service time. And I'll never forget the moment that God said, "If you want to know the power of Jesus Christ, by faith, receive him." And I felt like God exercised a demon. And I felt like I was thrown on the ground and said, "Man, I've never been more free."30:26And so why do I want to share hope to the world? Because I know the power of God that saved a wretch like me could save anyone else. The same power that rescued this man could save any of you. But we must experience the power of the gospel before we can share the gospel. I read this story recently. And I think it demonstrates the power of30:54a small acorn of truth. In Italy, many years ago, a pastor was doing a graveside service and pastors are morbid people. Pastors are strange people, in case you didn't know. So he was walking through the grave and he was just looking at the different graves. And there was a man that had lived centuries before. And this is what his gravestone said. It said, "I do not want to be raised from the dead.31:21I don't believe in it." So this man who had died centuries before, a large stone placed upon his grave because he was not a Christ follower. He didn't believe in God. But he was scared of the resurrection. But something had happened during the man's burial. As they were burying him, apparently they had dropped an acorn in the grave. And over the centuries, that small acorn had protruded and broken the slab of granite.31:50And the power of that life had come out of the grave. And the pastor thought to himself, "If this small acorn has this much power in this grave, how much more does the power of the gospel have in our lives?" Jesus Christ is hope for a world that is desperately broken.32:16So how do we share hope? Let me give you the four examples that we see in Jesus' life again. What if you fully recognized God's authority in your life? What if you prayed a prayer today and said, "God, I don't know what you're going to ask me to do,32:46but the answer is yes." What would your life look like? We have parents and little kids here. What would your family look like if you said today, "God, I don't know what your plan is for these young ones, but they're yours. And God, I don't need to know the plan, but I trust in the master architect." What would St. Clair County look like33:14if every single person worshiped at this local congregation said, "God, I am completely and fully yours in everything that I do, in everything that I say." I believe this world would be a different place. Would you be bold enough to pray that? God, I am fully yours. Secondly, what if God opened our eyes to spiritual realities?33:39What if we really believed what Ephesians 6 says? Our battle is not within flesh and blood. Our battle is not between a donkey and an elephant. But our battle is won by a lamb. Because we have a deeper spiritual fight. What if we believe that and we pray like that was true?34:07Would you be bold enough to pray and say, God, open my mind to what you see? Oh, Lord, open our eyes. What if Jesus gave you insight today to the needs of others? What if you were able to look at your neighbor and you would look past his sports allegiance or her sports allegiance and you would look past the marriage that might be difficult34:37and you would share with them, "Listen, if you would give your life to Jesus Christ, everything else would fall in line." What if God opened our eyes to the true needs of the world? And that we wouldn't live in the superficial, but we lived in the spiritual needs. And I'm so thankful to have a Father that knows my need even when I don't. God, open our eyes. And what if the power of the gospel coursed through our veins every second?35:07What if when we left here, the demons start shrieking because the church has left the building and we're living on mission. Because what I see in the gospel is every time Satan sees the people of God, he gets nervous. That's the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. And the same power that is in Luke chapter 4 is the same power that reigns today35:35for those who follow Jesus. Would you be bold enough to pray those prayers? To say, "God, you have control. God, open my eyes. God, I see the needs of those in and around me. And God, let me live the power and the conviction that you are who you say you are and you will do what you say you will do." I think there's one more group of people here.36:04I think you might be the person who is possessed by the demon. You know, Satan brought the man. Satan took over the man and he took him to church thinking that nothing would change. What if you wandered in here thinking, "My life will never change." And God said, "Give it to me and I'll show you." Would you say yes to Jesus today?36:31Maybe you're in your home watching this. Would you simply pray a prayer of faith that sounds something like this? That say, "God, I know that I have sinned. And Lord, I know that you died on the cross for my sins. I believe in you. I believe that you died. I believe that you were buried and I believe that you rose again.36:58And Lord, I believe that if I give you my life, I will never be the same." And so, "God, take all of me because I am yours." Really, the prayer of faith is saying, "God, save me from me. Believe me to you." And I believe what scripture says. That whoever confesses and believes that you will be saved.37:25And I believe there are people here today that Satan brought you here thinking this was a safe place. And Jesus says, "I'd die for you." And I just picture that man. I know that he heard the demon say, "Jesus, leave us alone." And Jesus saying to that demon, "No, he's not yours.37:52He's mine." And my prayer for you is that you would hear today Jesus saying, "You're not the world's, you're not Satan's, but you are mine. Run to me and find abundant life." Let's pray.← Previous in FactsThe Power of RelationshipsNext in Facts →Gospel-Driven Worship
