want to remind the choir that we're going to be meeting following this service to prepare for next Sunday night which is of course Easter Sunday night now sit back and let me read to you a story if there seems to be any connection with the message of this morning it is not accidental. And Balaam rose up in the morning and saddled his ass. And he went with the princes of Moab. And God's anger was kindled because he went. And the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against him. Now he was riding upon his ass, and his two servants were with him. And the ass saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand. And the ass turned aside out of the way, and went into the field. And Balaam smote the ass to turn her into the way. But the angel of the Lord stood in a path of the vineyards, a wall being on this side, and a wall on that side. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she thrust herself unto the wall, and crushed Balaam's foot against the wall. And he smote her again. And the angel of the Lord went further. and stood in a narrow place where was no way to turn either to the right or to the left. And when the ass saw the angel of the Lord, she fell down under Balaam, and Balaam's anger was kindled, and he smote the ass with a staff. And the Lord opened the mouth of the ass, and she said unto Balaam, What have I done unto thee, that thou hast smitten me these three times? And Balaam said unto the ass, Because thou hast mocked me. I would that there were a sword in mine hand, for now I would kill thee. And the ass said unto Balaam, Am I not thine ass, upon which thou hast ridden? ever since I was thine unto this day. Was I ever want so to do unto thee? And he said, Nay. Then the Lord opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the way, and his sword drawn in his hand, and he bowed his head and fell flat. on his face and I don't intend to preach on Balaam's ass tonight. But I was very struck with this thought that the beast saw the angel of the Lord and the prophet didn't. I sometimes think that we are very Please somebody, give me the right word. We are very insensitive to the fact that there is a spirit world. Now what we've been reading about may well have been a theophany. The angel of the Lord may well have been the Lord himself because that is a title that is given to him on other occasions when there is no doubt at all about his identity. But isn't it strange that the ass should recognize, should sense and see into the spirit world while Balaam was blind? I think that we sometimes forget that we are surrounded by spirits because God is so gracious to us. that God has given to us an angel to especially guard our lives, that God has surrounded us with other angels who have a concern about our well-being. Angels you'll remember minister to the Lord Jesus in his times of greatest need. You may not realize it, but in your times of greatest need, they also minister to you. When you wonder where the strength came to meet that crisis that you had so much dreaded and yet faced very bravely and successfully, you probably didn't realize that angelic succor was the reason. We wouldn't get so discouraged as we do if we could only see the angelic host that surrounds us. We wouldn't so often wonder whether we can get through the day if we could only see the many who care about us of the angelic host that surround our lives. By the same token, I think that sometimes we would tremble if we realized how much of angelic, that is evil angelic, better called demonic activity, also goes on around us. Sometimes we are like Balaam. and we are not sensitive to any of these things, good or bad. If we are wise, we will pray that God will make us ass-like so that we do become sensitive and appreciate what is good and be on our guard concerning that which is bad. Let's turn together to a story in Mark chapter one. And there are several others we could read which carry the same message as this one. Mark chapter one and verse twenty one. And I'm going to read it very deliberately because there are many phrases here, many words here that are important to the story. verse twenty-one of St. Mark and they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and taught. Now we don't need to go any further than that verse in order to take up the rest of the time for this evening. Are we going to go further? Because the thought that I want to impress upon you is found later on in the story. And they were astonished at his doctrine. For he taught them as one that had authority, and not as a scribes. And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, 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. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the unclean spirit had torn him, and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him. And they were all amazed in so much that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commandeth even the unclean spirit And they do obey him. And immediately his fame spread abroad throughout the region round about Galilee. And forthwith, when they were come out of the synagogue, they entered into the house of Simon and Andrew with James and John. I don't know whether that brings back some memories to those of you who were in Israel with us. who not only visited the site of the synagogue, but also the newly excavated area of fishermen's homes, with one of them surrounded by five separate ruins of churches that had been built around that spot, which it is believed, and I think quite logically, was Peter's house. Whereas the story goes on to say his wife's mother lay sick of a fever. Now it's the thought of the demon activity and subservience to the Lord Jesus that I want to talk about this evening. This morning we were listening to the cry of the crowds that startled the donkey. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the kingdom of our Father David in the name of the Lord. And they spoke of those wondrous things that he had accomplished among them. The power of the Lord Jesus was probably never more adequately and strikingly demonstrated than in his contact with demons. Yes, demons are very real. I've mentioned to some of our folk in the past about an occasion when I was having special meetings in Guelph in Ontario and in order to advertise the meetings We had taken a cavalcade of cars and we had put a single word on the roof of each car so that people would have to stop and read the message advertising the meetings. Then on the last car there was a complete announcement and added to that a loud speaker assistance just telling the folk as the cavalcade passed. And there was a girl on the streets of Guelph that evening, and she was shopping with her mother. She was a Church of England girl, and she was a Christian, a very lovely Christian. But her mother wasn't saved. And so an idea struck her, and she said, Mother, would you like to go to those meetings? And her mother said, I think I would. And since the first one was that very night, they turned up in the service and she became the very first convert of that crusade. But she had a husband and June had a father who was a spiritist. used with regularity the Ouija board, communed with regularity with the spirits, had his own demon guide, and who had no time for fundamental Christianity, as he called it. But on the Saturday night when we had a special rally, I announced my message for the next Sunday night in the Gospel Chapel in Guelph. That was the next day. I said, I'm going to speak about a voice from the dead. Now at this time I hadn't even discovered June Terry's attendance of the meetings or her mothers. I had no idea that her father was a Spiritist, but she went home and she said, Daddy, you simply have to come to the Gospel Chapel on Saturday night because the preacher is going to preach about a voice from the dead. And he came to that service. We had an after-church service in one of the bigger churches in Guelph, and he came to that service. And the next day he had a very strange seizure. He was so strong that he literally, and I'm not exaggerating, picked up his wife and flung her at the wall. When the medical authorities were called, it took six men to hold that man down. I firmly believe that the demons were trying to take his life. I really believe that. They took him to the hospital and they sedated him, calmed him down, and then took a spinal tap, suspecting spinal meningitis. There was no evidence of that. The doctors were puzzled and then one of them took aside his wife and said to her, What in the world has your husband been dabbling with? If there is such a thing as demon possession, this surely must be it. And that man was not a Christian. I didn't know what was going on until I got a message that night. Would I go and see him in the hospital? I went and I found a very calm man, but I found a very disillusioned man. He said, I took out my cigarette pack and I took out a pen and I asked my spirit from what am I suffering? And he said, the spirit wrote spinal meningitis. But he said the spirit was wrong. And if the spirit was wrong in that, he may well have been wrong in a lot of other things. And lying in his hospital bed, I had the joy of leading him to Christ. Now it wasn't until after that experience that he discovered that he had a voice. And that man used to sing beautifully in the services. Whenever I was in that area, I used to love to get him as my soloist. The Lord has taken him home. The Lord has taken his wife home. But the daughter June is one of our assembly missionaries on our missionary list. And her name is June Terry. T-E-R-I. And they are in Argentina. But I say again, I really believe the Spirit. or the spirits made a determined effort to take that man's life. But God wouldn't let them. Now mark you. Again we can go to extremes in these things. I just read to you a story about a man who was torn by the Spirit. or by the demon that eventually came out of him. Now that word torn is a Greek word, it's only used three times in this form and twice in a related form. It's a word that means convulsion and Bible scholars are convinced that this was an epileptic seizure for which the demon was responsible. Now I'm an epileptic and I wouldn't like to think that every time I took a seizure somebody is trying to cast a demon out of me. We can go to very great extremes. We can even become obsessed with these kind of things. I believe that if the demons were responsible, Dylanton wouldn't make any difference. If it can be controlled chemically, then I don't think that we can give the discredit. I can never understand when they talk about terrorist attacks and they say that terrorists claimed credit for this and they claimed credit for that. That's not credit. It's discredit. And we have to be very, very careful that we don't go overboard in these matters. But there is no question here that a demon was responsible for bringing on this epileptic seizure. It may well have been also an attempt on his part to take the life of this man. Now I want you to look at the circumstances surrounding this incident. It says they went into Capernaum and straightway on the Sabbath day He entered into the synagogue. It was at Capernaum, it was in the synagogue, and it was on the Sabbath day. Now Capernaum is the city of wonders. In their day it was the city of wonders. Let me prove that to you. Let me read to you from Luke chapter four. where the Lord Jesus is challenged, and they say unto him, or he says unto them first, ye will surely say unto me this proverb, Physician, heal thyself, whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. That, of course, was the region of Nazareth. Why? Because in Capernaum, wonderful things had happened. It was the city of wonder. But still the demons were busy there. It was in the synagogue, which was a place of worship. And the demons were busy there. It was on the Sabbath day, and still they didn't take a holiday. They never do. Satan and his minions never take a holiday, never count on his being too busy. He knows our weak points better than we know them ourselves. He knows when the moments of opportunity come his way and he is not slow to seize them. But the marvel of this story is, of course, that the Lord Jesus is able to completely banish and destroy and certainly nullify the power of the demons. It took place at Capernaum in the synagogue on the Sabbath when all of the circumstances seemed to suggest Well, not here, not here, some other place. You know, it's sometimes the fact that when we begin to grow satisfied with the spiritual plateau upon which we find ourselves, with the measure of our own spirituality, if you please, with the measure of our walk with the Lord Jesus. It at times like that, when satisfied with that level, we throw ourselves open to a great big crash. Balaam fell flat on his face. It's happened better to better men than I am. It could happen to me. That's why the word of God says, Let he that thinketh he standeth. Take heed lest he fall. Evil forces are not bound by any kind of circumstances. And we would do well never to grow complacent. Never to grow complacent. but to remain sensitive to these things. Now under those circumstances there comes a confrontation and I want you to notice that it's the demons that provoke it. There was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and he cried out, of course the demon was using his voice. I had an aunt who was a spiritist medium. And sometimes the demons would speak through her voice. And sometimes they would speak through a voice that was entirely different. And yet her throat was uttering it. I used as a boy to be fascinated with that aunt. I'm glad I didn't get too fascinated with her. I didn't understand the dangers then. When we come to the confrontation, we find first of all that the Master is teaching. He went into the synagogue at Capernaum on the Sabbath day and says the verse here, and taught. Now here is the Lord Jesus. Here is the Master. Here is the Creator of the universe. and he's teaching. Can you imagine the audacity of this demon to break into the message of the Lord Jesus and say, 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. The audacity of the demon. The audacity of the evil forces of Satan. He's not only a being who is very, very cognizant of an opportunity when it comes. He's going to make an opportunity even if it means interrupting a work of God in your life. so necessary to remember these things. But not only was the master teaching, but the multitudes were astonished. And they were astonished for two reasons. Because the Lord Jesus was different. He's not like a scribes, they said. What doctrine is this? We don't understand these things. He speaks with authority. He not only was different, he was direct and he called a spade a spade. I was talking with Mr. Wodenberg a little earlier on today about some of their activities on one of their Christian cruises and how that they were granted an opportunity to preach and the person who was a young man said afterwards oh that man is too strong is too direct you can never be too direct and you never need to apologize for being direct when it's the word of God you're placing before the people the multitude was astonished in fact there's a there's a sort of little addition here a prefix in the Greek that that means they were intensively astonished they were astonished beyond word it really means they were exceedingly struck in their minds and yet against that brown against that background appears the man who was possessed the demon sought the confrontation and they got it the ministry of the Lord Jesus was so effective that the demon got more and more and more stirred up you know this word here this phrase let us alone actually in the Greek is a two-letter word and it's not even a word. It's actually an expletive. What the demon is saying is that which is the cry of one that is suddenly surprised. It's the cry of one that is mortally afraid. And it is the cry of one who is mad with anger. And the demon cannot hold himself in he cannot hold his peace and he blurt out what have we to do with thee or if you will ah an expletive we know thee who thou art now after the confrontation comes the consequence you have the masters teaching interrupted by the demons You have the demon challenging the Lord Jesus to leave them alone. What have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who art, thou art the Holy One of God. Oh, take and analyze what the demon is saying. It's absolutely astounding that these words should have fallen from the lips of a man demon-possessed as the expression of the demon that possessed him. There is a murmur of anxiety here. Art thou come to destroy us. There's no question as to whether he could. But was this what was about to happen? That was the concern of the demon. In what he says, there is that murmur of anxiety. There's also the voice of recognition. I know thee. I know thee. Who thou art? The Holy One of God. And then there's a loud scream of utter defeat because it says when the unclean spirit had torn him and cried with a loud voice, that was a scream and it was a scream of utter defeat. I am so glad that the Lord Jesus is the conqueror. and that we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. This is the reaction of the demon. But then there comes a rebuke from the Lord Jesus. When he says, I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God, it says Jesus rebuked him saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him. The Lord Jesus needs no witness from the demons. The Lord Jesus will brook no witness from the demons. The Lord Jesus commands him. Be quiet. And if you read some of these other stories, you'll find exactly the same thing happens. Be quiet. Be quiet. I don't want you witnessing about me. I just wonder in passing are there times when perhaps the Lord Jesus says to us be quiet because somehow our lives are not measuring up to the things that we say I just wonder it's a thought that maybe we should ponder the Lord Jesus needs no witness from the wicked then comes the command come out of him and so the spirit has one last fling and throws this man into a severe convulsion scream at his defeat and then comes out that's the end of the story not quite They were all amazed in so much that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? What new doctrine is this? For with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they obey him. And immediately his fame spread abroad. Now this would have been one of the things, one of the many things that happened in Capernaum. that caused the Lord Jesus to say in the region of Nazareth, you're going to say to me, Do the same things here that you did in Capernaum. But you'll remember the Lord Jesus said, or it was said of him, He could do no great thing there because of their unbelief. the power of the Lord Jesus goes without saying the fact of his conquest cannot be challenged but it isn't always that the power of the Lord Jesus can flow into our lives and bring us deliverance This was a very momentous occasion. This was something big in the life of this man. And it's a story that if we read it very carefully, will leave us almost breathless. If we picture the scene and just what is happening. But sometimes we get into the habit of only thinking about big things. Satan likes to take advantage of little things. And that is invariably where he starts. That's why the poet said, so a thought. Reap an action. So an action. Reap a habit. Reap a character. So a character. And reap a destiny. All beginning with thinking. My what a heyday. The devil has in the minds of some of his... of the Lord's people. What a heyday from time to time in my own mind. When we think about others and think thoughts that are not worthy of the Lord Jesus. Or there are so many areas in which we can pave the way for Satan's activity in our lives. This man was demon possessed. Don't ever worry about demon possessions. I do not believe it can happen to a child of God. How in the world can a demon live with the Spirit of God? When you are saved by the grace of God, your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost. And whatever the devil does, he has to do from the outside because he has no entrance to the inside to take up his abode in demon form. But nevertheless, you've already lived long enough to learn from the outside. He can wreak havoc. What's the lesson then that we are to take home with us tonight? It's this thought that we ought to pray for a real sensitivity to the spirit activity that goes on around us. concentrating on that which is good, that which the Lord Jesus is responsible for, and rejoicing in the fact that what is not good, the Lord Jesus is more than well able to take care of and control and dismiss. We are more than conquerors through Him that loved us. Remember Balaam's donkey, and remember that he is a beast, saw in the spiritual realm what was hidden from the eyes of Balaam. Don't ask me to explain that to you. I only know he saw, and Balaam didn't until later. If an ask can do it, then certainly it's not impossible. us let's pray shall we just a quiet moment of