Fright night prelude . . .

Jeremiah 10 says, “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O LORD; thou art great, and thy name is great in might.
[7] Who would not fear thee, O King of nations? for to thee doth it appertain: forasmuch as among all the wise men of the nations, and in all their kingdoms, there is none like unto thee.
[8] But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.”

Jordan explains, “Notice there is a doctrine associated with the worship of these idols and the doctrine is called in I Timothy, ‘The doctrine of devils.’ There’s a religious system associated with these people and these idols and the idols represent the physical manifestation of the demonic spirits that inspires the doctrine they represent.”

The passage goes on, “Silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the workman, and of the hands of the founder: blue and purple is their clothing: they are all the work of cunning men.
[10] But the LORD is the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.”

Jordan says, “They’ve got the colors, the robes, the tapestry, and all the accoutrements that go along with the idol. That’s the contrast going on in Luke 8. This (formerly demon-controlled) man was over there caught up in all this satanic stuff and now he’s liberated and Christ says, ‘You go back and tell those people where you come from in your hometown—go back into that satanic stronghold—and declare to them what the true and living God can do. Demonstrate for them what He’ll accomplish and let them see the difference between you now, and when you were like they are, and make that known.’

“It’s fascinating this thing about Jesus being the true and the living God. You know, when you read down there in Jeremiah 10, Jeremiah looks at it and says, ‘Man, when people look at you and realize who you are it’s staggering to consider who God is, and who in their right mind wouldn’t honor you?!’

*****

“A brother in Christ asked me, ‘What is your favorite subject to study in all of the Bible?’ Usually my favorite book is the one I’m studying at the time because you just get caught up and fascinated in it.

“But I thought for a minute, ‘If there’s one subject in the Bible that you like to study that does more for you than when you study it than any other subject, that would be your favorite subject, that when you’re down in the dumps, it’s the subject you’d study and it’d get you up and when you’re up already it’s the subject that would bring you up more . . .’

“The word ‘enthusiasm’ is a Greek word--‘en’ and then the word ‘theos,’ or God. Into God. The Greek word is the idea of being inspired and lifted up. You get into God and it gets you into life.

“If there’s one thing I could study, and that I do study a lot, and just enjoy studying that always revs me up, it’s what Christ told that guy to do. It’s the deity of Christ. Of all the subjects in the Bible, for me personally, and I think for every Believer, ought to be the most powerful subject in your life, is just to stand back and look at who the Bible says Jesus Christ is and appreciate the fact that you’re in Him and that you’re complete in Him, and that it’s Him who is the source of all your blessings, and the source of your true, real identity, and He’s the one you have all your status in.

“You see, that’s the thing that’s so wonderful about the grace of God; it’s that it makes Jesus Christ everything. And the Bible says that ‘it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness dwell.’ If you ask God the Father what is the most exciting subject in all the universe, He’d say, ‘My Son.’

“Psalm 16 says ‘at my right hand are pleasures forever more.’ Well, who sits at the Father’s right hand? Any way you cut it, slice it, dice it, look at it, think about it, take it apart and put it back together, Jesus Christ is the apple of the Father’s eye. He’s the thing that causes the Father’s heart to rejoice. He’s the one.

“It’s mindboggling when you really look at what the Scripture says about who He is. It’s sort of numbs your mind. It’s SO big, and it just keeps getting bigger, and you can never just get your arms around it."

*****

“When Satan’s tempting Jesus Christ in the wilderness, he says, ‘If you be the Son of God, c’mon and do that! Let me see you do that!’ Well, He’s going to do it one day. But Satan says, ‘Do it now! C’mon, if you’re who you say you are! If you’re who God says you are, why are you down over here in the wilderness like a whipped pup hungry with no friends?! Why aren’t you in the glorious splendor that God says is yours?!’ Satan goes right to the heart of the thing.

“In Matthew 11, when John the Baptist was in prison, you remember he sent his disciples and said go ask Jesus, ‘Are you really the Messiah?’ Why would John do that? Well, he’s been preaching about the kingdom, and the Messiah coming and delivering them, but where is he? In jail fixing to have his head cut off.

“Do you think maybe he would be a little concerned that, ‘I want to be just real sure that what I’m preaching is right’? Yeah. That’s what the devil’s trying to do with Christ here. Just get Him to doubt.

“Jesus said unto him, ‘It is said thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. You don’t doubt God. You just trust what God said.

“When we’re dealing with the demons here, we’re dealing with the issue of the satanic attempt to hold the land. The kingdom of God and the kingdom of the power of darkness are coming in conflict here and this unclean spirit is in the synagogue, right in the middle of Israel’s religion.

“You see how polluted Israel’s religion had become? In the synagogue, where the Word of God, where the holy one of Israel is to be recognized, what do you have? Satan parading his victories and polluting Israel right before God’s face, as it were. You have this vain, apostate religion in Israel.

“What would Jesus would say in John 8? ‘You are of your father the devil!’ Literally carrying on Satan’s plan and purpose in the earth instead of God’s.

“Notice where this guy in Mark 5 lived. Verse 3 says he dwellest among the tombs, he’s in the mountains, he’s cutting himself and so forth. Come with me to Isaiah 65.

“You know what that guy in Mark 5 was doing? He was carrying on that pagan system back here in Isaiah 65, describing the demonic activity of Satan in Israel’s program—that guy in Mark 5 is possessed and doing exactly what the prophets said Israel would do. The picture of Israel possessed by the satanic policy of evil.

“That’s exactly what’s going on back here in Luke 4, only he’s right there doing it like Isaiah 65 says, ‘before God’s face.’ He’s in the synagogue where the Word of God is! Where you’d think you could go and find truth in the nation!

“Luke 4:33 says, ‘And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil, and cried out with a loud voice.’ Christ is going to demonstrate that He has the power to cast out the spirits of unclean devils. He comes and takes that which defiles the nation Israel and does away with it and cleanses them and sets them free from satanic captivity.

“Verse 34 says, ‘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.’

“He takes himself and the man and identifies them as one. He is so in control of the guy that he speaks of this man as one with himself. He’s POSSESSING him! And he’s come to possess and pollute Israel and possess and pollute Israel’s land.

“‘Let us alone,’ means ‘Leave us to our sinful captive state.’ Isn’t that what sin does? Think about that. ‘Leave us in the clutches of the satanic policy of evil! We don’t want anything to do with thee!’ Why? Well, Jesus said, ‘Men love darkness rather than light!’ ‘We’re happy in our sin; we’re happy in our darkness! Get away from us!’ Isn’t that what Israel just did to Christ?

“He’s the one who comes and says, ‘I’m the one who can deliver you; I’m the one who can come bring all the answers! And it will extend out to all of the nations of the earth! Come on, let’s go!’ and they say, ‘We don’t want anything to do with you; we think we’ll just throw you over the hill and just get rid of you!’ That’s exactly what’s going on in the nation Israel!

“ ‘Art thou come to destroy us?’ Yeah. He had! But this guy isn’t saying, ‘I know that’s what you come for.’ He’s questioning why Christ is there and he’s saying, ‘You’re not any better than I am. I’ve come to steal and to kill, and that’s what you’ve come to do. You think you’re better than me?! You’re not any better than I am! In fact, you’re not as good as I am. You profess to be a holy one. I know what I’m doing. Buzz off.’

“Notice how he acknowledges who the Lord is? James 2:19 says, ‘Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.’

“They’re ahead of you sometimes. ‘They don’t just know there’s a God—they tremble!’ Notice he calls him Jesus of Nazareth. There’s his humanity. ‘The holy one of God.’ There’s his Deity. This guy understands who he is; he just equates the Lord Jesus Christ as his enemy and he says, ‘We got a better plan than you do. You just want to come to destroy us. Well, I work for the REAL destroyer.’

“Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Hold thy peace and come out of him.’ The Lord Jesus Christ takes that demon’s self-justification and turns it into what it is—self-condemnation—and He silences him. He says, ‘Shut your mouth.’ That’s the justice of God.

“Romans 3:19 says, ‘Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.’

“You see the justice of God stops the mouth of rebellion! So Christ rebukes him. He says, ‘Hold thy peace and come out!’ and when the devil had fled him in the midst, he came out of him and hurt him not.

“In the account in Mark 1 it says, ‘after the devil had torn him.’ One last attempt by that demon that’s in him to try to render this man useless before he came out. Now, he had to come out because Christ told him to come out. Jesus Christ never had any trouble getting the demons out of anybody.”