One Sabbath day while Christ was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum, a man possessed by an unclean spirit began to cry out loudly, “Leave us alone! What do we have to do with you, Jesus of Nazareth?” (Luke 4:34). Although this man found himself among the religious at a synagogue service, he himself was still unclean. He was morally corrupt and ceremonially unclean. The authority of Jesus’ teaching elicited a response from the unclean spirit. The spirit cried out for Jesus to go away. Instead of leaving, Jesus rebuked it and told it to leave the man. It obeyed instantly.
The demon recognized Jesus as “the Holy One of God.” It recognized Jesus’ authority to destroy it. The demon also recognized the authority of Christ to cast it out, and it had to leave on Christ’s command.
“Leave us alone!” is the cry of the world today in response to preaching the gospel. It is the cry of morally corrupt people when they sense presence of Christ and it makes them feel uncomfortable. “Don’t tell me how to live. Don’t tell me whom to love!” Rather than changing their corrupt behavior, they scream for Christ to go away. They do not recognize his authority to demand repentance. They do not recognize his authority to obey him. They simply want Christ to leave them alone.
As Noah was constructing the ark in his day, he preached to the people to repent. That preaching lasted one hundred and twenty years. No one repented, and the flood came and took them away (Matthew 24:38-40). In the end, no one was saved except Noah and his family (2 Peter 2:4-6). In the end times, great disasters will come upon the earth, but people will not repent (Revelation 16:9, 11). They will curse God instead. They will say, “Leave us alone!”
In John 3:19-20, Jesus said, “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.” People react to Christ in one of two ways. Sensing his presence may bring a sense of conviction that causes them to repent and turn to Christ in faith. Others feel conviction, but rather than repenting, they scream out for Christ to go away. They hate his light because they love their own darkness.
They may not be literally shouting at Christ, but they often shout at his followers. They want nothing to do with Christ. They would prefer to wallow in sin rather than repent. So, they want the church to go away. They want Christians to stop preaching the gospel because it induces guilt. They want to silence the church. In effect, they are saying, “Leave us alone!”
They want the church to remain silent, not to speak on political or moral issues. They like the church as long as it feeds the poor, shelters the homeless, or cares for children. They believe in Christ as long as he promises to give them health or wealth, but they want to be left alone when it comes to moral and ethical demands on personal behavior.
The time will come when they will get their way. People who cry out, “Leave us alone” will one day be left alone. Hebrews 9:27 states, “it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” All those people who wanted God to leave them alone will find themselves left alone for eternity. Rather than being in God’s presence with their loved ones, they will find themselves separated from God, friends and family for eternity. They will be utterly alone.
How will you respond to Christ? Will you say, “Leave me alone!” or “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner”? Will you come into the light? The choice is up to you.
Mike McGuire Ministries 