The passage this message was preached from, in full, with every other passage it reached for.
Matthew 8First gospel account of the Gadarene demoniac, read and expounded as part of the harmony of the gospels
1 When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2 Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, “Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean.”
3 Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, “I want to. Be made clean.” Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4 Jesus said to him, “See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
5 When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,
6 and saying, “Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented.”
7 Jesus said to him, “I will come and heal him.”
8 The centurion answered, “Lord, I’m not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9 For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and tell another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and tell my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”
10 When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, “Most certainly I tell you, I haven’t found so great a faith, not even in Israel.
11 I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,
12 but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
13 Jesus said to the centurion, “Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed.” His servant was healed in that hour.
14 When Jesus came into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother lying sick with a fever.
15 He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and served him.
16 When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick;
17 that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying, “He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases.”
18 Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
19 A scribe came, and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 Jesus said to him, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21 Another of his disciples said to him, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.”
22 But Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
23 When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24 Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.
25 They came to him, and woke him up, saying, “Save us, Lord! We are dying!”
26 He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27 The men marveled, saying, “What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”
28 When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.
29 Behold, they cried out, saying, “What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?”
30 Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them.
31 The demons begged him, saying, “If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs.”
32 He said to them, “Go!” They came out, and went into the herd of pigs: and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea, and died in the water.
33 Those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.
34 Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
Third gospel account of the Gadarene demoniac, read and expounded with additional details including the herd of about 2,000 pigs
1 They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes.
2 When he had come out of the boat, immediately a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs.
3 He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him any more, not even with chains,
4 because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. Nobody had the strength to tame him.
5 Always, night and day, in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out, and cutting himself with stones.
6 When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and bowed down to him,
7 and crying out with a loud voice, he said, “What have I to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I adjure you by God, don’t torment me.”
8 For he said to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!”
9 He asked him, “What is your name?” He said to him, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”
10 He begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country.
11 Now on the mountainside there was a great herd of pigs feeding.
12 All the demons begged him, saying, “Send us into the pigs, that we may enter into them.”
13 At once Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs. The herd of about two thousand rushed down the steep bank into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea.
14 Those who fed them fled, and told it in the city and in the country. The people came to see what it was that had happened.
15 They came to Jesus, and saw him who had been possessed by demons sitting, clothed, and in his right mind, even him who had the legion; and they were afraid.
16 Those who saw it declared to them what happened to him who was possessed by demons, and about the pigs.
17 They began to beg him to depart from their region.
18 As he was entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.
19 He didn’t allow him, but said to him, “Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he had mercy on you.”
20 He went his way, and began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him, and everyone marveled.
21 When Jesus had crossed back over in the boat to the other side, a great multitude was gathered to him; and he was by the sea.
22 Behold, one of the rulers of the synagogue, Jairus by name, came; and seeing him, he fell at his feet,
23 and begged him much, saying, “My little daughter is at the point of death. Please come and lay your hands on her, that she may be made healthy, and live.”
24 He went with him, and a great multitude followed him, and they pressed upon him on all sides.
25 A certain woman, who had an issue of blood for twelve years,
26 and had suffered many things by many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better, but rather grew worse,
27 having heard the things concerning Jesus, came up behind him in the crowd, and touched his clothes.
28 For she said, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be made well.”
29 Immediately the flow of her blood was dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her affliction.
30 Immediately Jesus, perceiving in himself that the power had gone out from him, turned around in the crowd, and asked, “Who touched my clothes?”
31 His disciples said to him, “You see the multitude pressing against you, and you say, ‘Who touched me?’”
32 He looked around to see her who had done this thing.
33 But the woman, fearing and trembling, knowing what had been done to her, came and fell down before him, and told him all the truth.
34 He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well. Go in peace, and be cured of your disease.”
35 While he was still speaking, people came from the synagogue ruler’s house saying, “Your daughter is dead. Why bother the Teacher any more?”
36 But Jesus, when he heard the message spoken, immediately said to the ruler of the synagogue, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.”
37 He allowed no one to follow him, except Peter, James, and John the brother of James.
38 He came to the synagogue ruler’s house, and he saw an uproar, weeping, and great wailing.
39 When he had entered in, he said to them, “Why do you make an uproar and weep? The child is not dead, but is asleep.”
40 They ridiculed him. But he, having put them all out, took the father of the child, her mother, and those who were with him, and went in where the child was lying.
41 Taking the child by the hand, he said to her, “Talitha cumi!” which means, being interpreted, “Girl, I tell you, get up!”
42 Immediately the girl rose up and walked, for she was twelve years old. They were amazed with great amazement.
43 He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and commanded that something should be given to her to eat.
Second gospel account of the Gadarene demoniac, read and expounded as part of the harmony of the gospels
1 Soon afterwards, he went about through cities and villages, preaching and bringing the good news of God’s Kingdom. With him were the twelve,
2 and certain women who had been healed of evil spirits and infirmities: Mary who was called Magdalene, from whom seven demons had gone out;
3 and Joanna, the wife of Chuzas, Herod’s steward; Susanna; and many others; who served them from their possessions.
4 When a great multitude came together, and people from every city were coming to him, he spoke by a parable.
5 “The farmer went out to sow his seed. As he sowed, some fell along the road, and it was trampled under foot, and the birds of the sky devoured it.
6 Other seed fell on the rock, and as soon as it grew, it withered away, because it had no moisture.
7 Other fell amid the thorns, and the thorns grew with it, and choked it.
8 Other fell into the good ground, and grew, and produced one hundred times as much fruit.” As he said these things, he called out, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!”
9 Then his disciples asked him, “What does this parable mean?”
10 He said, “To you it is given to know the mysteries of God’s Kingdom, but to the rest in parables; that ‘seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand.’
11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12 Those along the road are those who hear, then the devil comes, and takes away the word from their heart, that they may not believe and be saved.
13 Those on the rock are they who, when they hear, receive the word with joy; but these have no root, who believe for a while, then fall away in time of temptation.
14 That which fell among the thorns, these are those who have heard, and as they go on their way they are choked with cares, riches, and pleasures of life, and bring no fruit to maturity.
15 Those in the good ground, these are those who with an honest and good heart, having heard the word, hold it tightly, and produce fruit with perseverance.
16 “No one, when he has lit a lamp, covers it with a container, or puts it under a bed; but puts it on a stand, that those who enter in may see the light.
17 For nothing is hidden, that will not be revealed; nor anything secret, that will not be known and come to light.
18 Be careful therefore how you hear. For whoever has, to him will be given; and whoever doesn’t have, from him will be taken away even that which he thinks he has.”
19 His mother and brothers came to him, and they could not come near him for the crowd.
20 Some people told him, “Your mother and your brothers stand outside, desiring to see you.”
21 But he answered them, “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God, and do it.”
22 Now on one of those days, he entered into a boat, himself and his disciples, and he said to them, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they launched out.
23 But as they sailed, he fell asleep. A wind storm came down on the lake, and they were taking on dangerous amounts of water.
24 They came to him, and awoke him, saying, “Master, master, we are dying!” He awoke, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased, and it was calm.
25 He said to them, “Where is your faith?” Being afraid they marveled, saying to one another, “Who is this then, that he commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him?”
26 They arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee.
27 When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. He wore no clothes, and didn’t live in a house, but in the tombs.
28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, “What do I have to do with you, Jesus, you Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torment me!”
29 For Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized the man. He was kept under guard, and bound with chains and fetters. Breaking the bonds apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert.
30 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered into him.
31 They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.
32 Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. He allowed them.
33 The demons came out of the man, and entered into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake, and were drowned.
34 When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled, and told it in the city and in the country.
35 People went out to see what had happened. They came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, clothed and in his right mind; and they were afraid.
36 Those who saw it told them how he who had been possessed by demons was healed.
37 All the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them, for they were very much afraid. He entered into the boat, and returned.
38 But the man from whom the demons had gone out begged him that he might go with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying,
39 “Return to your house, and declare what great things God has done for you.” He went his way, proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.
40 When Jesus returned, the multitude welcomed him, for they were all waiting for him.
41 Behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. He fell down at Jesus’ feet, and begged him to come into his house,
42 for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. But as he went, the multitudes pressed against him.
43 A woman who had a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her living on physicians, and could not be healed by any,
44 came behind him, and touched the fringe of his cloak, and immediately the flow of her blood stopped.
45 Jesus said, “Who touched me?” When all denied it, Peter and those with him said, “Master, the…
Paraphrased as 'resist him firm in your faith, and God will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish', cited the prior week
9 Withstand him steadfast in your faith, knowing that your brothers who are in the world are undergoing the same sufferings.
10 But may the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a little while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.
The message in order, in a few minutes of reading.
This message came from the account of the Gadarene demoniac, examined through the parallel accounts in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Pastor Mark walked the congregation through all three versions of the story, letting the details build on one another, as the church continues its chronological harmony of the gospels. The sermon asked whether the power Jesus displayed over the supernatural realm is something we take seriously, or something we keep at a comfortable distance.
What was said
Last week the text showed Jesus calming a storm on the Sea of Galilee, power over the natural world. This week the scene picks up the moment the boat lands on the other side. In Matthew, two men possessed by demons come rushing out of the tombs. Mark and Luke narrow the focus to the one who became the spokesman, the man who had been chained, had broken the chains, had been driven naked into the desert, and was cutting himself with stones. The contrast between that picture and the one at the end of the story, the same man sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed and in his right mind, is the center of everything Pastor Mark wanted the congregation to sit with.
Matthew's short account establishes the basics. When the demons encounter Jesus, they do not argue or ignore him. They beg. They call him Son of God, they acknowledge that a time of torment is coming for them, and they ask only that they be sent into the pigs rather than into the abyss ahead of schedule. Pastor Mark noted that this recognition of Jesus' authority by the demonic is consistent throughout the New Testament. The demons know who is in charge. A yin-yang picture of God and the devil as rough equals is not what the Bible presents.
Luke and Mark add the detail that matters most to the sermon's argument. When Jesus asks the man's name, the answer is Legion, because many demons had entered into him. Pastor Mark put a number to that: a Roman legion ran from roughly a thousand soldiers up to six thousand. Whatever the exact count, the man was completely overwhelmed, isolated, unable to be helped by anything his community had tried. Jesus sent the demons into a herd of about two thousand pigs, which ran immediately down the bank into the sea and drowned. Pastor Mark read that as an illustration for the disciples, and for the congregation, of what demonic forces actually do. Left to their own end, they destroy.
The response of the townspeople is the part that stopped the sermon. They came out, they saw the man healed, they saw the pigs gone, and they begged Jesus to leave. Pastor Mark said the first question he got that morning when he walked through the door was exactly that: why would they ask him to leave? His answer was that these were Gentiles without the history of Israel, without the prophets, without any framework for the power they had just witnessed. They were not wrong to recognize the power as real. But their response to power they could not control was to ask it to go away, rather than to follow it.
The healed man wanted to do the opposite. He begged Jesus to let him come along. Jesus told him no, and sent him home to tell his friends what God had done for him. Pastor Mark pointed out that the man went and told it throughout the whole Decapolis, and that by the time the disciples later traveled through that region, there was already a community of believers who knew the story. The Holy Spirit, Pastor Mark said, goes ahead of us.
Pastor Mark was careful not to leave the supernatural framing as something ancient and foreign. He described a man he and Mahindra Singh encountered on a road in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, naked and cutting himself with stones, whom they stopped to help and could not reach. He described conversations he has regularly with people in this congregation who wonder whether what they are fighting is something more than a bad habit. He said he does not believe a demon can possess a Christian, but that demonic oppression is real, and that whether someone uses the word literally or metaphorically, anyone who has broken free from an addiction has been set free from something that had a hold on them that they could not break on their own. The story of the Gadarene demoniac, he said, is not a fairy tale from a distant time. It is a picture of what God's authority over the spiritual realm looks like when it shows up.
Doing a Bible study?
Here is a guide we have prepared for you: the passages
in order, questions for the group, and room to write.
Pastor Mark described Rembrandt painting himself into scenes from the life of Christ, and invited the congregation to put themselves into these stories. When you read the account of the Gadarene demoniac, where do you find yourself in the scene, and why?
The townspeople saw a man completely restored, yet they begged Jesus to leave because they were afraid of his power. Have you ever found yourself pulling back from what God was doing because it felt costly or out of your control? What did that look like?
Speaker 1Amen. How are y'all this morning? How are you doing? I said howdy to most of you but not all of you. Would you stand with us?
We're gonna sing this. Wonderful grace of Jesus. Sing your part if you know it. Your words may not appear on the screen. Okay?
But then most of them will. But I'm gonna sing what I know from from the past. Sing sing whatever you can. Grab a part and sing it like you mean it. The wonderful grace of Jesus.
We'll see it illustrated in the text today.
Speaker 2Wonderful grace of Jesus, greater than all my sin. How shall my tongue describe it? Jesus reaches me. Wonderful, the matchless grace of Jesus, deeper than the mighty rolling sea. Higher than the mountains, sparkling like a fountain, all sufficient grace for even being.
Broader than the scope of my transgressions, sing it greater far than all thy sin and shame. To all the lost. By it, I have been pardoned, save to the uttermost. Chains have been torn us under, all sufficient grace for even me. Broader than the scope of my transgressions, seeing it greater and far than all my sin and shame.
Oh, magnify the precious name of
Speaker 1Amen. Well, y'all did sing it like you mean it. That's good. There's power in the blood. Let's sing this one.
Speaker 2Would you be whiter, much whiter than smoke? There's power in the blood, power in the blood. Since stains are lost in its life giving flow, there's wonderful power in the blood.
Speaker 1Amen. Wait a second. We got another one. Let's do it. Let's do service for Jesus our king.
Alright. Y'all can have a seat now. I I have pretty deep baptist roots, I suppose, because I was just gonna sing three or four. That's the way we always did it. First, second, last is the norm.
I I appreciate every verse in that song. The announcements today. For one, there Merry Christmas, by the way. Merry Christmas. This might have been a jolt for some of you on vacation.
This is not what it looks like outside at Christmas time here. But inside, we are celebrating vacation Bible school and we're calling it Christmas in July. So June 27 up to July 1. So Christmas in July. They're working towards Friday.
There it is. That's why it looks like this around here. There's still time to sign up. There's no cost. Donations are accepted, but there's no cost to get somebody signed up.
And if you wanted to volunteer, I'm sure that they would be able to put you to work, although we have the bases covered. Tomorrow night, we don't have the little Monday nights at first b, but home sweet home up there means that Monday nights at first b at 06:00, there'll be meal music and a message down the hall. And the meal tomorrow night, I think Natalie and Brad Yates are handling the meal. Brad is going to be speaking. Carl is out of town for today and tomorrow.
Brad will be speaking on Monday night. I'd say, come come see it. Come be there. It's an alternative worship time and it's a really good time. So the band from the first service will be the band for tomorrow night.
Meal, music, and a message. The meal starts at six. Music's usually about 06:45 and the message is after that. We have a prayer group that meets every Wednesday morning at 07:30AM, and that's a little core group of people that have been doing this for many, many years, like twenty plus years. But if you want to join in, you're already a part of that group.
So please, 07:30AM, feel free, gather in the church office right there and pray. Sunday school for kids like children's church will be taking a break during July. Middle school and high school, boys and girls will still be meeting, but children's church is on break during July. Anything else? There is an upcoming I don't have a slide for it, but there is an upcoming sort of a fundraiser gala type event for Turning Point Pregnancy Resource Center on July 12.
That's coming. I don't have a slide for it. More information to come. Check your email for the bulletins on that. And it'll be at the end of High School Road in South Park Loop in the grassy area right there.
Anybody else? Anything else? I'm peering out. Are you glad to be here this morning? I am.
The Wonder of It All. Now, if you know this song, sing it like you mean it because I'm sight reading this song even though I know I've sung it here before. It's not one I grew up with. Would you stand and sing with me? It's a great song, The Wonder of It All.
Speaker 2Amen.
Speaker 1Thank you, Judy, for doing such a good job with these. That's perfect for today. Perfect. Why should he love me so is the next one we're gonna sing. Judy actually got a call from another church in town and said they're missing a piano player.
And so they asked her if she would join in and she said, Well, sure. She actually texted me and said, Can I? I'm like, Can you? I can't stop you from doing anything. She's always ministering 100% of the time and she's been doing this close to fifty years, the piano over there.
But she helped out another thank you. She helped out another church in between. And I said, did you play the same songs? And she said, no, theirs was weird. So anyway, you can ask her who it was later.
Alright. Why should he love me so? We'll sing that. Hymn number three twenty five.
Speaker 2Love sent my savior to die in my stead. Why should he love me so? Beakly to Calvary's cross he was led. Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so?
Why
Speaker 1love me so? Why
Speaker 2should should my savior to Calvary go? Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so? Why should my savior to Calvary go?
Why should he love me so? On the third verse. Oh, how he agonized there in my place. Why should he love me so? Nothing withholding my sin to evase.
Why should he love me so? Why should he love me so? Why should my savior to Calvary Amen.
Speaker 1And y'all can have a seat. Have a and the ushers are coming forward. This is what we call the worship through giving or the offering time. And would you just pray with me for God's blessing? Lord, I thank you for all that you have given us, Lord, for the amazing beauty of this place and this time of year, for the renewal that we feel in our very souls, to look around and see your creation just on display.
Lord, I thank you for all of the gifts that you have given, whether it be time or talent, conversations with loved ones, conversations with strangers. Lord, I thank you for every opportunity that you give and for all of the resources, for the financial resources as well as everything else you've given. I pray, Lord, that we would be metaphorically putting ourselves in these plates as they pass. But Lord, would you take all of the financial resources that are placed in and would you multiply them to do your kingdom's work, Lord, from here to the very uttermost parts. And we ask, Lord, that we would be working in this building, but also across the street, in this neighborhood, in this county, this state, and also to the very ends of the earth.
I thank you, Lord, that you have made us your witnesses. I pray specifically today for a friend back home in Georgia who is actively dying and for my wife sitting bedside. I pray, Lord, that you would be with Claudia and with Tanya and her sister Taiz, with Linda, her best friend who is here and not able to make the trip. In Jesus' name, Lord, I ask you to bless this time to do your kingdom's work. May we be about your business, Lord.
Your will done in your way. Amen. Amen. Thank you, Judy. So, we have been going through for quite some time actually, a chronological study of the New Testament.
We're up to a harmony of the gospels, and so we're now chronologically walking through the life of Jesus as it's given in the synoptic gospels. Matthew, Mark, and Luke. We covered John way way back when, but I'm going to go to that today. Actually, this is from Monday. Monday, this is up across from Molten Barn looking towards what way would that be?
East, I guess. And it rained like crazy during the wedding, but man, isn't that rainbow pretty? It was beautiful. And they were starting their path together and I took that picture. I did three memorials the week before and I did four weddings this week.
And so I love that I get the opportunity. I think marriage is God's greatest gift to society and I'd like to be a part of kicking them off. So, I really enjoyed that. But that has nothing to do with the message, don't think. Matthew eight, Mark five, and Luke eight is where we're gonna be in our harmony today.
And last week, when we looked at this, we saw Jesus display his power over the natural realm when he calmed the Sea Of Galilee during a pretty torrential storm. This week we're gonna look at Jesus displaying his power over the supernatural realm. Last week, Rembrandt had painted himself into the boat. This is a self portrait of Rembrandt von Renn, the Dutch painter. And in the boat with Jesus, there were 13 people.
So 14 total, Jesus and 13 other people. And Rembrandt had put himself in there with all the disciples. He was putting himself into the scene and so I asked you all to metaphorically do that. In the 09:00 service last week, I was going through and saying, Put yourself in the boat. And had gone through and said, Imagine the wind and the waves and lightning struck right then.
Yeah. Wow. I couldn't do that in the second service, but the first service was pretty crazy. It was like, boom, shook the building, like that drove the point home. But when I'm thinking about Rembrandt and him putting himself into the paint, he does this more often.
I mean, he does it fairly often and he did scenes of the life of Christ a lot and he, a lot of times, will put himself in there. This is a self portrait of me. It looks more like the Gadarene demoniac that we're gonna be talking about today. But actually, I did it the first night when we moved to Costa Rica in 2003. I said, I'm gonna do a self portrait every single day.
And just a sketch, you know, do it in five minutes or so. And I saw that and I didn't do another one the whole time we were there. So anyway, that looks more like the demoniac like I said. This is another self portrait of me from 1992. It's a fairly common thing for artists and art majors to do self portraits because it kind of holds you to book, you know.
It keeps you. But mine were less literal in a lot of cases. I've done an oil painting or two as an assignment. But this one is one that I did. It's a self portrait.
You might look at that and say, Man, he's a divided man. He's unstable in all his ways. But at the time, my hair looked more like the guy on the right than the left And looked more like a businessman or a Mormon missionary. And the guy on the left was a very big part of who I am too though. Kind of a pacifist.
That is a flower not a gun if you're looking and wondering. This is an intaglio print. So it's something you can make multiples off of. And I think it's important to be able to empathize with both sides on most issues. And I know that that's a rare individual that can kind of hold that tension.
But I still kind of feel that way. And so the right and the left have gotten to be further and further apart in the intervening thirty years. But, I still feel like we need to hold on to some compassion for people that we don't quite understand. So anyway, that's a self portrait too. We saw him display the power over the natural last week.
And this is all we're going to cover today. This is the amount of text we're going through. I know you can't read it but you can see that Matthew is much shorter than Luke. And Luke is a little shorter than Mark and we're going to go through them in Matthew, Luke and Mark is where we're going to go. So Matthew starts off.
It's a fairly common story and if I were to ask any one of you who's been in church your whole life to tell me this story, you would hit all the major points that each of these is gonna hit. You'd probably tell me more than Matthew. So Matthew's the shortest one. He starts off, when he came to the other side, that's Jesus. The version of the Bible that I used for this, is the should be the New American Standard.
I think that that's what I used. But they don't always capitalize the H's. I'm just saying it should be a capital H there. When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesians. In Matthew it says Gergesians, in Mark it says Gaterines, In Luke it says Gaterines or Garracines depending on your translation and the textual, tradition they're following.
But Gergesians, Gaterines or Garracines are all the same place. If you ask me where I'm from and I hear your accent and it sounds like you're from the Southeast, I'd probably say, Shiloh, Georgia, just North of Columbus. But if you ask me and you sound like you're from out here, you got nasal cowboy going on, I'd probably say the Southeast, right? So the country of the Gergesenes is a wide area. It's pretty big.
It's near the Decapolis. In fact, this guy at the end will mention the Decapolis. I know the print is too small for this. But this is the Dead Sea down here, the Sea Of Galilee up there. And Capernaum is at about 10:30 on the clock face on the Sea Of Galilee.
And Gadara is directly across the Sea Of Galilee. It's about 30 miles to Gadara from the Sea Of Galilee. Gerassah is even further, but it's the country of. So that's kind of the county seat. Maybe think of it that way.
That's the map. So Matthew tells the story. He's got slightly different details. But when he came to the other side, Jesus, into the country of the Gergesians, two people possessed by demons, it's two people in Matthew, possessed by demons met him there. It's like they've been through the storm.
Jesus has calmed the storm and they arrive and they're met immediately by two people possessed by demons coming out of the tombs exceedingly fierce such that nobody could pass that way. This is quite the scene. Behold, they cried out saying, what do we have to do with you Jesus? Now if you're reading just Matthew and you see two people and they say, what do we have to do with you? And you only read Matthew.
It's the only version of this story you've read. You'd say, what do we have to do with you? Makes sense. Two people. That's the we.
Have you come to torment us before the time? So that seems like an odd response from human beings upon meeting somebody that they don't know that's from the other side of the lake. What do you have to do with us? Jesus, son of God, they know who he is. The we there, it's obvious from the other gospels.
And it's obvious from Matthew in a couple of verses that it is demons that are speaking and there's more than one of them. Behold, they cried out saying, what do we have to do with you, Jesus, son of God? May Have you come here to torment us before the time? They have an understanding of who Jesus is and where they're headed. They're headed towards torment.
And there's a time coming and they know that it's not yet. They're doing everything they can to tear down and destroy, in this case, these two guys, until that time, which is coming. And though it tarry, wait for it. It's coming. Have you come here, Jesus, son of God, to torment us before the time?
Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them. And the demons begged him, wait a second, demons. A lot of times today when we see a representation of demons, they are absolutely obstinate and don't seem to recognize any authority. Period. But in the Bible, whenever a demon is present, it recognizes the authority of God.
It recognizes the authority of Jesus. In this case, the demons begged him saying, If you cast us out, you certainly can because we can't stop you, if you cast us out, permit us to go into the herd of pigs. And he said to him, go. Get. They came out.
They went into the herd of pigs. And behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea and died in the water. Wow. A whole herd of pigs. We'll hear exactly how many or near how many in a little bit.
But those who fled or those who fed them, so the pig herders, the pig farmers, those who fed them fled. And they went away into the city and they told everything including what happened to those who were possessed with demons. These guys had a livelihood there on that hillside and they were paid. Whether exactly how, we don't know. But this is not Judea.
So it's not a big herd of pigs in Judea, the land of the Jews where pigs were an unclean animal. This is in Gentile territory, no doubt about it. The Decapolis. And including what happened to those who are possessed with demons. So they went in and said, the pigs are dead and the two guys out in the tombs are made whole.
Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. Now this sounds like quite an opportunity, right? You you get this many people together, it's time for a crusade. We're going to walk, you know, sing just as I am and have them all walk the aisle. It's behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus because they heard what had happened.
It's a spectacular thing, probably the biggest thing that happened in a long time. And when they saw him, Jesus, they begged that he would depart from their borders. Does that strike you as weird? Yeah. Because we look at it and we say, he helped those people.
Look at those people. But these folks were looking at it going, but he sure killed our economy. So it depends on your point of view. They did see the power that he had used, but for them it was scary. When they saw him, they begged him that they would that he would depart from their borders.
That's the end of the story of Matthew. Okay. We'll go to Luke. And if you look at it and you go, well, I don't know why there's two of them in Matthew and there's only one of them in Luke. Anytime you tell a story, depends on the audience as to say where you say, what you say, how you say it.
And since one was the spokesman for them, Luke and Mark just mentioned one of the guys. Luke says they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes. So the Gadarenes, is opposite Galilee. If you drew a line directly through the Sea Of Galilee, right down the middle point, it would go from Capernaum where they were to Galilee. Didn't put the map in there, but trust me, it is that case.
Okay? Northwest, Southeast, that's the way it goes. So if you were to draw a line, this is something else. If you were to dig a hole, people always say, I'm going to dig a hole. How deep does it need to be?
Just keep on going till you hit China. That's a normal kind of a thing when I'm in the Southeast. That's what I grew up with. Just I'll tell you when to stop, all right? If you were to go straight through the globe from here, what's directly on the other side of the globe from us?
Does anybody know? Somebody who was in the first service knows. India. In sorry, Indian Ocean. The Indian Ocean.
But Antarctica has this is how far north we are. Antarctica has a little island. That's the closest but it's not inhabited. The closest inhabited spot is Durban, South Africa. Durban, South Africa.
So when I got here, we had a missionary that was serving in Durban, South Africa. We were literally going to the uttermost parts as far as we could. And we still support a ministry from there. In fact, that ministry is Crossroads International and this is the head guy for that ministry. His name is Mahindra Singh.
I met him in 2010 at a Christian conference where we were both serving as stewards. And we became good friends. And he is in charge of Crossroads Humanitarian Aid Mission. He teaches people to do agriculture. I just wanted to get a better shot of him.
That's him and he's holding up, I think that's an eggplant, but I'm not agricultural. He also has schools for young kids and in those schools they feed the young kids who are not very well taken care of. He said, They come here sad. Yeah. That's a self portrait right there too of one of the kids when they arrived.
There's another one of them happy. I did not put it in the slideshow. As we're riding around the area around it, people are cooking outside on open fires. And it's a different place. Spiritually speaking, it's very charged.
I would say here in Jackson is a very charged spiritual place. So is the other side of the hill. Some of y'all are from over in Victor and Driggs. And I would say that this kind of a spiritual activity, they deal with different stuff. Poverty and spiritually charged place and affluence in a spiritually charged place.
They're different. It's different. So the I would say the demons, whether metaphorical or literal, may be very different from there to here. But as we're riding along, let's get back to the text. I'll tell you a story in a minute.
When Jesus stepped ashore. So it's opposite Galilee. They've been all the way across the lake all night. When Jesus stepped ashore, a certain man out of the city who had demons for a long time met him. That's a little bit more detail.
So a certain man who had demons for a long time met up with him. This man wore no clothes, and he didn't live in a house. So he's a naked man and he's a homeless man, but he lived in the tombs. So he had found a spot where nobody would bother him or where he wouldn't bother anybody maybe. He's tormented by these demons wearing no clothes and didn't live in a house but in the tombs.
When we were riding delivering bread and porridge to different villages, we when we drove up, I didn't take the full shot of getting there, but this man was walking down the road. He is completely naked. He's cut all over his front side from stones. And he's got stones in his hand, and he's been cutting himself. And there, when we stopped, El Mahendra is an AG pastor.
He's an Assembly of God guy. And so he immediately started casting out the demons when we saw him. That was his first inclination and mine was extreme. I was brokenhearted for the guy just because he's obviously not in his right mind, you know. And he's out wandering the desert roads of this neighborhood and everybody just drives past, you know.
We stopped. We had, I don't know, 1,500 loaves of bread with us and a bunch of porridge. We stopped and tried to offer him a meal which he wouldn't take. And he was muttering and speaking in a language that neither one of us understood. But I would love to have a I'd love to have a picture of this guy where he was in his right mind and clothed and giving glory to God.
I don't have that picture. I don't know what happened to him. I still pray for him. But this is still happening. Okay?
It's real. It's different than what our experiences is or most of our experience. I have people come in all the time, all the time here that are saying, I am suffering, and I think it might be a demon. I think I've let something into my life. And now I had a lot of folks talk between the services about, whether or not a demon can possess or oppress a Christian.
And I honestly, I skipped over that completely in the first service, but I do not believe that a demon can possess a Christian. They don't have any authority to do that. But there is certainly demonic oppression. And if it's literal or metaphorical, I honestly don't care which it is. To me, it does not matter.
The Bible does recognize that there is physical illness, and we're gonna see that in two weeks when we see the lady with an issue of blood. Hers was physical. There's no doubt about it. And then it recognizes that there are demons. Now today when we use the word demons, we're usually talking about alcoholism or substance abuse or rage aholism, something along those lines.
That it's something that someone just, I had someone come in two weeks ago that said, I need for you to pray for me because I have the demon of unforgiveness. I will not let this go. And I said, are you a believer? Yes. And how are you supposed to forgive?
The same way that God forgave me. Right. What's the problem? I have a demon. If you're using a demon as an excuse, that's a bad deal.
I mean but there is some oppression there. There is certainly, especially something that you entertain, and if you hold on to it and you keep on persisting in it, it will oppress you. Now resist the devil and he'll flee from you we had two weeks ago. Resist him firm in your faith, and God will perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish. We had that last week, week before.
It's real. There is a spiritual realm, and we have the physical realm here, let's say, and we have the spiritual realm here. All of us know that both of them exist. But that overlapping part where the spiritual realm has an effect on the physical realm, we all pray for people to get better. But man, is it scary to think that there might be evil spiritual forces.
We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers. I don't spend time on it a lot. The scripture doesn't spend time on it a lot. But we cannot say it does not exist. So in this story, with this man, we're trying to offer food.
We're trying to offer prayer. We're trying to offer everything, and he was rejecting it out of hand. We're not. Jesus. We can't do everything that he did.
So where were we? Where were we in the text? I mean, when he saw Jesus. When he saw Jesus. When this guy saw Jesus, a certain man who had been possessed with demons for a long time, naked, homeless, dwelling among the tombs, which for Jews was unthinkable.
I mean, that's the dirtiest dirty place. It's the most unclean place and it causes a ritual impurity that nobody wants. When this guy saw Jesus, he cried out. He fell down before him recognizing his authority. He with a loud voice said, what do I have to do with you Jesus, you son of the most high God?
The most high is what a Gentile would call the Jewish God. What do I have to do with you Jesus? You, son of the most high God. I beg you, don't torment me. Isn't that ironic?
He was tormenting this guy. He, I say he, they, were tormenting this guy. Please don't torment me. And Jesus was commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For the unclean spirit had often seized this man.
Seems like there were times where it was worse than other times. He was kept under guard and he was bound with chains and fetters, but breaking the bonds again apart, he was driven by the demon into the desert. He had gotten into a place of isolation. Jesus asked him, what is your name? And he said, legion.
For many demons had entered into him. Legion. A legion of Roman soldiers, depending on who you listen to, it's at least a thousand, probably more than, and up to 6,000 is the norm for a legion of Roman soldiers. 6,000. What's your name?
6,000. Many demons had entered into him, and they begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss. Now when it said, please don't to menace. In in Matthew, it said before the time. We all know where we're bound and that's the abyss.
And we know that that time is coming. Please don't send us into the outer darkness separated completely from God and his activity. They begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss. It's not mentioned very often in the New Testament. The abyss, that's the word here, but it is mentioned here.
Now there was there a herd of many pigs feeding on the mountain, and they begged him that he would allow them to enter into those. Is it strange to you that Jesus allowed them? It it does seem a little weird. He listened to them. That that seems crazy, but is that compassion?
I mean, he knows where they're bound to. I think he wanted to use this opportunity to show his disciples, first of all, that he is lord over the spiritual realm, but also what demons do. Now this tormented man who had cut himself with stones and lived naked out in the tombs, he allowed those pigs to I mean, allowed those demons to leave that man and go into the pigs. And it says, and the demons came out of the man and they entered into the pigs. And the herd, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the steep bank into the lake and they were drowned.
So the man was doing self harm with stones and cutting himself. And then immediately when they were released from him, those pigs began to do self harm. You don't see animals do self harm very often. That's not something that's common. It's not common for humans.
It's not common for I mean, it's not common for animals. In the present day, I actually do deal, and a lot of you all do deal. I had a psychiatric professional here in the first service and he said Friday he dealt with someone who was doing self harm on a regular basis. And he was helping him through all appropriate means. We're doing the best that we can.
As believers, we have to open ourselves up to the possibility that it might be both mental illness or physical ailment or that the spiritual might have something to do with it. The demons came out of the man, entered into the pigs, herd rushed down steep bank into the lake, and they were drowned. And when those who fed them saw what had happened, so this is pig farmers. Seeing what happened, they fled and they told it in the city and in the country. They saw it firsthand.
They knew exactly what happened and the people went out to see what happened. Big deal. They came to Jesus and they found the man from whom the demons had gone out. He was sitting at Jesus' feet. Oh, just hearing that sitting at Jesus' feet, does that remind you of Mary and Martha?
Martha, Martha, you're working but Mary's found the greater thing sitting at my feet and listening. So he was sitting at Jesus' feet. He was clothed and in his right mind. And they were, it says, afraid. That's power.
It's a power over the supernatural that they had tried everything in their means and could not do anything for this man and he was completely isolated. Jesus comes along and sets him free, but also ruins their economy. Those who saw it told him how he who had been possessed by demons was healed. That's good. That's what their report is.
This guy's set free. And all the people of the surrounding country of the Gadarenes asked him to depart from them for they were very much afraid. When I walked through the door this morning, the first question that I got was, why in the world would they ask him to leave? If you saw that kind of power and I think that we're in a New Testament church kind of situation where we know the power of God, we attribute it to Jesus. We saw something like this, man, you couldn't stop us from being the missionaries and telling it.
But what they saw as Gentiles not having had the law, not having had the prophets, not having had all of the exposure to the mighty hand of God, seeing this, it scared them to death. And they didn't know what to do with that kind of power. And if he was willing to ruin an economy for one guy, you know, imagine what he might do for me. He might require something of me. I can't take that kind of power.
Please get thee away from me. Get thee hence. But the man from whom the demons had gone out I love that line. The man from whom the demons had gone out, he's been set free. He begged him, Jesus, that he, the former demoniac, might go with him, Jesus.
The man from whom the demons had gone out begged Jesus that Jesus would allow him to go with them. But Jesus sent him away saying, what? You just returned to your house. Go home. You've been out here in the tombs homeless and naked for a long time.
Go back home and declare what great things God has done for you. Isn't that good? And then he went his way. He was proclaiming throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him. He was not afraid to go back into town speaking in his right mind and clothed and able to tell people what God had done for him.
Actually, says what Jesus had done for him. He knows who God is. He knows who Jesus is. That's good. So that's Mark Luke's story.
Let's go to Mark. He gives a couple more details and just has a slightly different way of telling the story. It's pretty similar to Luke, but I'm going see if I can hit a few other notes here too. They came to the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. Different ways of saying it.
Garrisones, Gergesians, Gadarenes or the Decapolis. When he had come out of the boat, immediately. Oh, love Mark. Pascal has done various translations over the years. She's a student of Latin and the Latin Vulgate, when you translate, Mark is a common assignment.
We looked for it but didn't find it yesterday. But Mark is always starting his sentences with either and or and immediately. It was like something they were in the storm and immediately he said, peace, be still, and it was still. And when they came to the other side, into the country of the Gadarenes when he had come out of the boat, immediately, there's a moving forward that's taken place. Immediately, a man with an unclean spirit met him out of the tombs.
He lived in the tombs. Nobody could bind him anymore, not even with chains. They had tried fetters of hair and rope, And now not even with chains because he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and chains had been torn apart by him and the fetters broken in pieces. We have a policeman that goes to church here that had a fellow here one night, and he said, I'm we got to be on alert. This fellow, it took six of us to arrest him.
It took six of us to get him in the police car. Took six of us to get him out of jail. He had definitely done wrong. There were plenty of witnesses, no doubt about it. And he's now done the time for that, but he's back out again.
He'd often been bound with fetters and chains and the chains had been torn apart by him and the fetters broken in pieces. I keep mentioning modern day stuff because I don't want you to think this is just an isolated kind of example of a fairy tale that happened way back when, if it happened at all. There are a lot of skeptics that look at this and say, that's not the way it is. From my point of view, it seems to be the way it is. Nobody has the strength to tame him.
Always night and day in the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and he was cutting himself with stones. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and he bowed down to him. Recognized the authority of Jesus. That it seems like when you put your hand to the work and you are seeking to do something for God under the direction of the Holy Spirit and you go forward trusting in him and he's providing and you're doing the work that he's called you to do, it seems that the spiritual activity heats up. Do you agree with that?
I think so. When he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and he bowed down to him. And crying out with a loud voice, he said, what have I to do with you, Jesus? You son of the most high God. I adjure you by God.
Don't torment me. They recognize the authority of God, and they recognize the authority of Jesus, and they do not want to be tormented, although that's all they do to other people. I adjure you by God. Don't torment me. For he said to him, come out of the man, you unclean spirit.
And he asked him, what is your name? And he said to him, my name is Legion for we are many. And he begged him much that he would not send them away out of the country. Just looking over the details of this thing, it's amazing to me. He begged them that they would not send them away out of the country.
Now on the mountainside, there was a great herd of pigs feeding and Mark says, all the demons begged him saying, send us into the pigs that we may enter into them. And at that point, Jesus gave them permission. The unclean spirits came out and entered into the pigs and the herd of about 2,000, Mark says. That's a lot of pigs. I mean, for me, a lot of pigs is just a little handful of pigs.
More than one is getting to be too many for me. But 2,002 pigs. Goodness gracious. The herd of about 2,000 rushed down the steep bank and into the sea, and they were drowned in the sea. Again, I think that it was an illustration of what demons do.
They destroy. Now the human being that they had been indwelling was able to resist and was still alive when Jesus got there. But as soon as it was, as they were set out of the man, cast out of the man, and set into the pigs, immediately they ran down the hill and killed themselves. I mentioned William Cowper last week who struggled with depression his whole life. He was a believer, conscientious believer, but he was oppressed with a feeling that he was damned, that he couldn't break free from damnation.
He knew that God was good, but he had a hard time trusting that for himself. And it was something that was an oppression that he felt. And John Newton, the writer of Amazing Grace, said, Come on William. Let's write some songs together about the goodness of God. And William Cowper's probably most famous song is There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunge beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
He had to take God at his word. He has the authority to forgive sins. Anyway, at once Jesus gave them permission. Unclean spirits came out, entered in the pigs. A herd of 2,000 ran into the sea and they were drowning in the sea.
And those who fed them fled and they told it in the city and in the country. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. Biggest news ever. They came to Jesus and they saw him who had been possessed by demons. Again, I just love that.
Anytime it says the man who had been blind, the man who had been deaf, the man who had been possessed by demons, I just think, God changes our reality. He can transform our reality. They came to Jesus. They saw him who had been possessed by demons and he was sitting. Now it has said raving.
It has said that he was fiercely approaching people. But now he's sitting. Luke said sitting at Jesus' feet. Clothed, not naked, clothed and in his right mind. Wow.
That's a very different picture than when Jesus arrived on the scene. Even him who had the legion. No. Really. It's it's like Mark goes back and says, even no.
Really. I'm talking about the same guy here. I know it doesn't sound like the same guy, but even that guy who had the whole legion of demons, he is sitting, clothed in his right mind, and it scared those people. And they were afraid. Now in the last in the last sermon, I said they were afraid when the boat was pitching and yawing and going under.
And then Jesus said calm down and their fear went from being afraid of the waves to being afraid of Jesus and his power. And these were his disciples. But when this happens among Gentiles, they really don't have a frame of reference for what to think about that. The man being sane and the pigs being gone, they were afraid. And those who saw it, the pig farmers, declared to them what had happened to him who was possessed by the demons.
For the pig farmers, it was less about the pigs and more about what what happened to that guy. And about the pigs. They did mention the pigs, but it's not the first thing it says. They began to beg him to depart from their region. So I guess the question that the guy asked when I walked through the door this morning is the question that I'm asking you.
Why is it that we people in general are afraid of the power of God? He is almighty. So it's not a duality. I understand people being afraid if it's a yin yang and there's equal amounts of good and equal amounts of evil and you don't know who's gonna win. Sometimes it's, you know, God and sometimes it's the devil.
That's not true though. The demons know who's in charge. The devil knows who's in charge. And they do the tormenting, but they don't want the torment that is coming. They began to beg him to depart from their region.
We do not have a yin yang, a duality. We have an almighty God, and that's who we want to turn our attention towards. I didn't mention in the first service, but I think that especially since metaphorical versus literal demons is a thing that people get hung up on, if anybody ever breaks free from addiction, they've been set free from a demon. If anybody ever does. And I think the 12 steps of AA is a fantastic way to get set free.
It is meeting the higher power. Recognizing you have a problem. This story tells us a problem that man couldn't do anything about. Recognizing that there is a higher power. What have I to do with you?
Please. I have a problem I can't solve. There is a power who could restore me to sanity. I'm gonna let him is the third step. Fourth is a fearless and searching moral inventory.
Fifth is turning over all your junk to God. And that's how people get set free. In the modern times, that's the most common route that I know of. I certainly pray for evil spirits to be bound. I certainly pray for people to be set free.
But I also try to give them a way under God that they can be. They began to beg him to depart from the region. Don't be scared of the process. The program works if you work it. As he was entering into the boat, this is Jesus entering into the boat, he who had been possessed by demons begged him that he might be with him.
Just let me stay with you, Jesus. You're the one who set me free. I wanna go with you. I wanna be one of your disciples, and I wanna tell everybody what you've done. And he didn't allow it.
Oh my goodness. Have y'all ever prayed for Jesus to allow something and he doesn't allow it? Yeah. He didn't allow him. Well, God knows better than we know.
Right? He didn't allow him. But he said to him, you go to your house. Go back home and go to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you. That's that's cool.
So I know that whenever we have a missionary speak and whenever I speak about being a missionary, a lot of times I'll have people come forward at the end or meet me sometime the next week and say, I want to do that. I want to do some amazing, great, wonderful, amazing thing for God on the other side of the world. Tell me, what what we can do. You know, Florine's headed to Romania eventually, and we've got a lot of people that are out. But I think that oftentimes God says, you go home and you tell your friends and you tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you.
Now I haven't mentioned any culpability whatsoever so far in this because the man who had a demon had a demon. How he got the demon, I don't know. I don't know if he invited it in, if he entertained it on a regular basis, I don't know. But there seems to have been some culpability on his part because Jesus says to him, tell him what the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you. Mercy is when you do not get a bad consequence that you deserve.
Grace is when you do get a blessing that you don't deserve. Does that make sense? It's opposite sides of the same coin, but since he uses mercy, there may have been may have been some culpability at some point with that guy. But Jesus looks at that and has mercy on him and compassion. He's moved with it.
Go to your house, to your friends, and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you. And it says, he went his way, that guy. Left the tombs, walked back to town and he began to proclaim in Decapolis. Decapolis is the 10 cities. That's the whole area of the Gadarenes and the Garracines or the Gergesians.
He went his way. He began to proclaim in Decapolis how Jesus had done great things for him. And everyone marveled. Did you catch that? Jesus told him, go.
Tell him what God did for you. And he went and told him everything Jesus did for him. Isn't that good? It's powerful. And everyone marveled.
Now I didn't include Paul Harvey's rest of the story here. When the disciples go out and they go into Decapolis, there's already a church there. Isn't that cool? Isn't that awesome? Like, when they go out into Decapolis, it's like, yeah, we've heard this story before.
We know that guy. So the Holy Spirit goes ahead of us. I want to introduce one more thing before I close out. This is the Nduna of a little area called Olwasini in South Africa. KwaZulu Natal, South Africa.
And this guy was calling for peace in his neighborhood. That was one of the reasons why I got to go to South Africa in the first place and why I met up with Mahindra. And Mahindra knows the culture, understands he's ethnically Indian in South Africa, and he ministers among Zulu people all the time. And when we went in, we got to talking to this guy and he says what he's seeking is peace. What he's seeking is peace.
And we knew he meant peace among his people and peace among the people working among his people. We knew that. But before long, he was praying that God would remove all of the evil spirits of ancestor worship and that he would come into his life. He prayed to receive Jesus. Like he prayed and I'm not an evangelist.
I don't do this all the time. I do it sometimes. I'm a preacher. Do the work of an evangelist like Paul told Timothy. But this guy accepted Christ.
Now there was all kinds of turmoil in the neighborhood, but that invited in to the situation God's presence. And you know, in Mark a lot of times they'll say, and God's spirit was present to heal. That guy recognized that. Actually, Mahinja had the presence of mind to take a picture of the moment and recorded it. I think every once in while, this couldn't be real.
I go back and listen to the recording and listen to the guy's words. It's amazing. God help us. The spiritual realm exists. We don't know what to do with it.
It's the neglected middle. Lord, show us. Would you give us the ability to discern exactly what's going on in our own heart? And when we do, Lord, may we recognize your authority and call out to you from a human place, not not like the demons, Lord. We are not bound for the abyss.
As we bow the knee humbly before you, Lord, I pray that you just save us and begin to use us to serve you. In Jesus' name, I pray that you
Speaker 2would
Speaker 1be continually, Lord, cleansing us from all unrighteousness because we are confessing humbly before you. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. In this text, Jesus displays his power over the supernatural.
And next week so it's kind of a triptych. We'll see this one is the center point. We had the storm on the Sea Of Galilee and then we have this Gadarene demoniac story of being made well. And then we'll see Jairus' daughter who was actually dead, brought back to life. And we'll see the woman with the issue of blood on his way that just touched the hem of his garment.
That'll be in two weeks. Next week, Carl has a word for you. But I think that that's it. Would you stand with me? And we're gonna sing Cleanse Me.
And I love this transformation. So when we see Jesus do something and it's so immediate and so amazingly, displayed, sometimes I think that we can be discouraged by that because we don't see huge things happen immediately in our life. But pay attention to each verse of the song. We're gonna sing four verses, and it starts off with search me, o God, like Psalm one thirty nine. Search me, o God, and see if there's any wicked way in me.
Know my thoughts. Know me all the way down, Lord, and then cleanse me. And it moves from cleanse me to I praise you for doing that. And it moves from that to take my life and make it matter, and then it changes down to, oh, Holy Ghost, revival comes from me. It's a it's a really, really good kind of closing invitation.
The hymn is gonna be for an invitation. If you want to come down, you're welcome to talk to me. I'll turn the mic off, or you can come and pray at the front if you'd like to. Cleanse me. Amen.
In the first service, we're probably going to hear a testimony from this guy in a couple of weeks, but, there was a young man named Justin. He's been here for about a year working for Macy's services and he's been coming to church here about eight months. And he got custody of his son yesterday or day before yesterday. And he had him with him the first time and he stood up and just said, God set me free. That's his testimony.
And for the benediction, I sought the Lord and he answered me and he delivered me from all my fears. In Jesus' name, Lord, I pray that we'd be walking in freedom today, able to tell what God has done for us through Christ. Amen.
