And it's around me You locked that in with my society. Thank you, Sherry. Now all the
old writers, reformers, they knew something about this struggle. They sure did, by lack of help.
The struggle that every true believer goes through. We're
going to look tonight at another miraculous healing by our Lord. And like all of the others, this
too is a picture of salvation, how God saves sinners. And that is why these accounts
are given. And that's what the whole Bible is about. How Christ
saves sinners. Though his power to heal clearly
reveals that he is the Christ, yet his redeeming power is greater
proof of that. This is the story of the Lord
healing the lunatic. You read it with me. He's not
called a lunatic in this gospel, yet he is in Matthew's account,
Matthew 17. And in Matthew chapter 4, it
mentions that there were other who had lunatic called. He healed other lunatics. What's a lunatic? Well, break
the word down, and it means what you think it means. Moon. Tick means struck. Moon struck. That's exactly what it means.
Someone who has been influenced, insanity, craziness, brought
on by the moon. That's what it means. It's biblical,
Psalm 104, Genesis 1, in the beginning, the Lord established
the sun and the moon, it says, for seasons. It's biblical how
that the moon has some influence on this earth. That's obvious
from the scripture. This insanity of lunacy is an
influence from the moon. Now, before you think I'm crazy,
that's what this means, but I'll tell you, I've known many such
lunatics. I've been one myself. In fact, most of the madness,
think about it now, most of the madness and the wickedness and
the insanity that goes on, when does it come? From the light of the moon. It
takes place at night time under what men think is cover of darkness.
Men turn into beasts and howl at the moon. Don't they? Literally. Yes, they do. Now,
this lunacy or insanity, this is the case with all who
are without the mind of Christ. And I won't explain this being
influenced by the moon. Nancy looked at me like, where
in the world are you going with this? Well, any without the mind
of Christ, any without the knowledge of Christ, is a lunatic, a lunatic. A man is influenced by anything
and everything, whether it be natural or celestial. Paul talked about many forms
of life. But now listen, Romans 1. is a great commentary on the
depravity of man. You want to find the answer to
the depravity of man and all manner of things that men do. is found in Romans 1, all right?
And the results of these things are that they, after they knew
God, they didn't acknowledge God, and neither were thankful. But in their own vain imagination,
they made up all sorts of things, and so it says God gave them
over to be influenced by anything. You understand that? The men
and women who have not the mind of Christ are influenced by everything. Wizards of peace and mother,
familiar spirits, things terrestrial, celestial, anything and everything. They're literally influenced
by it. All right, I'm not going to delve into astronomy here. But men and women who do not
acknowledge God and are not thankful, God gives them over and they're
driven mad by anything and everything, even the moon. Now, this is real. That's what
it means. That's what it means. Madness brought on by the moon. Young people are especially susceptible
to this kind of madness. Let's look at verse 38 and 39.
It says, Behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master,
I beseech thee, look upon my son, he is my only child. This
man had a young boy, one son. And he says in verse 39, Lo,
a spirit taketh him, and he suddenly crieth out, and teareth him,
and foameth at the mouth, abusing him, and he hardly departs from
him. Don't seem to leave him. Says, my son is a lunatic. He's a lunatic. I'm sure he was
out at all hours of the night. Look over 2 Timothy chapter 2
with me. 2 Timothy 2. It says the Spirit's
take of him. It's the first thing he said
about his son. The Spirit's got a hold of him. We've been looking at this, haven't
we? Demon possession, satanic influence
is real, it's biblical. But now, wait a minute, it's
not like Hollywood portrays it. It's someone sitting in bed with
their head spinning around, you know, and looking like a gargoyle. That's not it at all. Satan's
too, he's too subtle for that. He's too crafty. We sung that
in Martin Luther's hymn, didn't we? It's not so dramatic either,
but it's very subtle. Satanic influence, demonic possession
is subtle. And it doesn't always take the
form of, we looked at this too, it doesn't always take the form
of open immorality or wickedness. His chief work is in religion. But like I said, it's not like
Hollywood depicts it, but yet there are evil spirits. And I
know everyone in here has heard of exorcism. You know the Lord uses men to
do some sort of something like that? That's what the disciples
did. Look at it. 2 Timothy 2, he says
this, verses 25 and 26. And the servant of the Lord,
verse 24, servant of the Lord, preacher of the gospel, must
not strive, but be gentle and are apt to teach, patient in
meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves. fight with
themselves, their own worst enemy, and don't know it. Read on. If
God, peradventure, will give them repentance, or turn them
to the acknowledging of the truth, that they may recover themselves
out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him
of his will. So you see, this is, this is
scriptural, this is, and it still goes on, satanic captives. Well, how are they recovered?
How does this say they're recovered? Well, it says, by the acknowledgment
of the truth, the gospel, that's how, the gospel. And so it is,
people are taken captive at his, at Satan's will, yet It's not like Hollywood, not
at all. But let me say this to you young
people. If you follow this world, its thoughts, its opinions, its
ways, its styles, its manners, if you are influenced by it and
you go the direction it's going, you're a lunatic. Because Satan is called the God
of this world. All right? He's called the God
of this world, and you'll be captive to him. If you don't
acknowledge the truth the right way, the good way, stand, seek,
and search for the old paths, the narrow, straight and narrow
way, wherein is the good way and what therein, you'll find
rest for your soul. But if you go the broad road
that the world's heading, you're a lunatic. And you'll be held captive at
his will, my son. Well, look at this young man.
He was, that's what he was. He was held captive. And it says,
he suddenly cried back. He suddenly cried back. And the
Spirit says, tear at him, and he falls at the mouth. You shouldn't have left 2 Timothy,
but look at 2 Timothy 3. What this young man was doing
is a commentary on most young people today, crying out and
screaming, hair torn and falling. Isn't it? Crying out, crying
out about and against anything and everything, quick to shout obscenities and
blasphemies at the slightest provocation. This is a loud,
boisterous, Look at 2 Timothy 3, you know
these verses, 1 through 3. Perilous times in the last days,
men should be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,
proud, loud and proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy. Verse 3 says they're fierce,
fierce. Or this young man suddenly crieth
out and says the evil spirit teareth in and foams at the mouth.
This is the talk generation. Men talk so much they foam at
the mouth. You can't talk fast enough. That's
the reason talk shows are the most popular things on television.
You've watched them as you've seen them. Boy, don't make a
habit of it, and you'll be a lunatic. Well, and his phone's at the
mouth. It says he bruises him, verse
39. It says he bruises him and hardly
departs from him. Bruises. When you take a foul,
you're bruised, bruised by the foul. We sing that song. You're left black and blue. And
many fouls, the more fouls you take, the more bruised you'll
become. And bruises are slow to go away. Bruises take a long time to heal. I remember my wife one time fell
down the stairs and bruised her hip, and it was a hideous looking
thing, a horrible mark of pain. And it was, you know how if a
bruise is deep enough, it's extremely painful. It takes a long time
to go away. Well, what's the point here?
Well, if you take many falls, a young person especially, keeps
falling into more and more sin. And then you try to help them.
And they get sore itchy. to try to help them in the slightest
attempt to help them, they get sore at you, bruised by a fire. It seems their bitterness and
soreness won't ever go away. And it won't of its own. And
no man can cure this incurable bruise by this fire. No mere man can do it. Well,
look at verse 40. So this young man says he was
bruised, and the devil hardly departed from him. And he said
in verse 40, I have assault thy disciples to cast them out. And
they could not. Now, the Lord did give the disciples
power, didn't he? He studied earlier on how that
he sent them out to preach the gospel. and to heal and to cast
out devils. They did have a commission from
the Lord to cast out devil. And even today, the Lord has
given men, when he led captivity captive,
he gave gifts unto men for the perfecting of the saints. And
we'd be wise to consult such men at times. But now wait a
minute, in desperate cases. Hardly bruised. Desperate cases
take desperate measures, they will say. They are found in one
place. Found in one place. No mere man.
Look at verse forty-one. So he was, and Jesus answered
and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I
be with you and suffer you? Bring thy son to me. One of the other Gospels says,
Bring him to me. That's where the man was burning, he was burning
in the blacklight. And you do well, Paris, you do
well. As long as your children are
under your roof. Under your roof. You're doing
the right thing, you're doing the only thing. Really, but you
can do something other than pray for them and speak of these things
whenever you're able. But you're doing the right thing
to bring them where Christ said he would be. This is their only
hope, as long as they're within your power to bring them. To
bring them where the gospel is preached, to bring them where
you know that other lunatics have been healed. Other boys
just like that boy. Other girls just like your girl
have been healed of lunacy. I know. I lost one. A lunatic. A man howling at the moon. And
you know, the Lord, in Matthew's account, it says that he rebuked
his disciples. And he said the same thing. Here, how long shall I be with
you and suffer you? And later on, the disciples asked
him, Lord, why couldn't we cast him out? Remember that? Why couldn't
we cast him out? And he said, do you remember
his answer? He said, This kind, this desperate kind, this seemingly
helpless case, through all means of fails, cometh not out but
by prayer and fasting. Go and learn what that means.
However desperate is the case is what the person is willing
to do. What are you willing to forego? All right, so this man
brought his boy to the right place. Brought him to cry. And look at verse 41. It says, "...bring my son Hibben,"
verse 42, "...and as he was yet a coming, While he was being
brought, while he was coming to cry, it says, a devil threw
him down and tore him. Now, this applies to all of you
who don't know and love the gospel. Young people, you think I'm picking
on you. I'm not. I am preaching to you. This is especially applicable
to young people who think it's, for the most part, it's cruel
torture to bring them, spend their time off in this place. The flesh lusts against the Spirit.
The flesh lusts against the Spirit. It applies to all who don't know
and love the gospel. They don't want to come. They
don't want to come here, do they? And what about you? The old lunatic
in you rises up. The old man in you rises up on
occasion and tries to prevent you from coming to hear the gospel.
Right? That's the old lunatic in you. And you're a lunatic if you let
him. And it says, it tore him. It tore him. threw him down while
he was yet coming, threw him down, tore him. You know, Satan
knows where salvation is found. He knows. He knows that salvation
is in Christ. He's lost too many of his captives. He knows what the power of God
is, the gospel and the truth. And we turn to 2 Corinthians
4. This is maybe the last one you'll
have to turn to. And Satan doesn't mind someone
going to church, so to speak. As a matter of fact, if the gospel's
not there, why, he'll encourage you to. He's very heavily involved in
the youth movement. Yeah, he is. As long as the gospel's
not preached, he'll entertain your children on the road to
hell. Yes, he will. In fact, he likes it. Self-righteousness,
if you make a false profession, if your children do, boy, he's
got you then. Scripture calls it double darkness. And he'll use every ploy, but
he'll use every ploy to keep you from hearing the gospel.
Here is Satan's grand design. Look at it, 2 Corinthians 4,
verse 3. If our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost.
In whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them
which believe not. Blind them to what? The gospel. Lest the light, now here's the
gospel, the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the
image of God, should shine on them. So he'll use every ploy to keep
one from coming to where the truth, where the true gospel
is preached. But if I hear this, if I've heard
this once, I've heard it a hundred times, you know, what are you
doing for your youth? Man, we're doing the greatest
thing we could possibly do to do what the thing that nobody
else is doing for their youth, preaching the gospel to them.
I talked to a woman the other day, you know, and she was talking
about her church. And what she had to say about
it? Her whole commentary on how she, why she liked the church
was because there was, they had a good youth program. Like I
said, he sure didn't mind the children going to these places. Young life, his summer vacation Bible school, Oh, boy. Well, he'll do everything
to keep them from coming to hear the gospel. Now, notice it says
the Spirit in the text. It says the Spirit teareth him. Verse 39 it said that. It says
it teareth him. Verse 42. It says while he was
coming, it threw him down and tore him. It tore him. Have you ever... And like I said,
does that lunatic ever... Rise up in you and you feel like
you're torn? Like you're torn between this
and torn between that? Huh? The world has pulled it. Sure does. Pulled from one direction
and from another. You ever feel like that? That's the case with every unbeliever.
Every unbeliever. is torn by Satan, hardly fooled. Now listen now. Although we,
although believers go through these struggles, and the world
to some degree tugs on us, but it's not, people, it's not the
believer. Now listen to me now. The believer
is not torn between the world and God. No, no, uh-uh. If there's an option, or if there's
a choice to be made, there is no choice, believe or have no
choice. You see, there's no strong... Let me ask you, this is a good
question to ask ourselves. Does the world have a strong
attraction for you? That's a good question. That
reveals, really that reveals what's in the heart. Does the
world really have a strong attraction for you? No, not the believer. Not the
believer, the little tubs maybe. You know, little possessions
and little promises of happiness tug a little bit, but now wait
a minute. We're not drawn by them, but
we are drawn with cords of love, Scripture, cords of man, who
is much stronger than the God of this world. There's a tug
of war here. Play tug of war? Huh? If we had a tug of war in here,
I'll tell you who I want on my side. I want Steve Parks on my
side, and I want, let me see, Joseph and Marlon and Bill Nelson
out. You want me to match with them? Huh? You see, the stronger—Martin
Luther wrote about it, didn't he? He said, if we and our own
strength confide, if there's a tug-of-war going on, you know,
Our striving would be losing. We're not the right man on our
side. The man of God's own choosing.
Just ask who that may be. Well, Christ Jesus, it is He.
Lord of Sabbath is His name, from age to age the same. And
He must win the battle. And He will every time. If there's
a drawing or a pulling, He wins every time. If you're drawn with
cords, and the cords of a man, Christ—people talk about believing. You say, you believe sovereign
grace. Well, you just make man out to
be a puppet. Isn't that fine with you? Don't you want your
Lord and Master to have hold of your strings? Huh? The lions are drawn unto me in
pleasant places. Don't you want Him controlling
your every move? Yes, you do. Yes, I'll be the
Lord's puppet. I sure will. And so these cords
that are much stronger than he that is in the world pulls us,
and there's no match. There's no match. The yoke of
Christ is much stronger, much stronger than the little
pulls and tugs of this world. Now, I admit there are little
things, you know, I'm driving down the road and I say, wow,
but I don't even know, you know, I've got to have that. No, uh-uh. The yoke of Christ is much stronger. When the master rides the wild
ass's coat, he's broke for life. And anybody can get on that ride.
He's broken. Whoever the master rides, he's
broken and he gives to the bigs. He gives to the bigs. Let me
explain that to you. There's Pop. He knows something
about that. We have a horse, an older horse, that was obviously
abused early on, misused and mishandled by those who did not
know how to handle her. And she's wild. And I've been working with her
and trying to bulk her. No, she's okay. She, you know,
the former owner broke her, but she hadn't given it to the bed.
I mean, I'm talking about the slightest fool would lean toward
you, give her head to you. That's what I'm talking about,
a soft mouth, easy to be entreated. That's what a soft mouth means,
easy to be entreated. You don't have to just, like,
ride in a wild ass' coat. That's the way she is right now.
And you know the way you do that? Not like the old days, where
you rope them and tie them and get them down on the ground,
you know, and rough them up. No, not any more. Well, it's
true. You win her. You win that horse's
confidence and trust. And the way it's done is you,
I've got her in a round pen, and I'm moving her around. What I'm looking for in that
horse, and I've got this from knowledgeable, very knowledgeable
people, what I'm looking for in that horse, first thing I'm
looking for, You see, a wild horse is distracted by and taken
up with everything that's going on around them. Okay? It's just... It's the first thing, the first
step in breaking one of these wild horses. They've got to,
you've got to get their ear. You can tell everything by a
horse's ears. You know, when they're laid back, they're mad.
And when one's forward and one's back, they're curious. Both of
them forward, they're real interested. Well, and you can see it. I've been seeing her. She turned
that one ear. I said, one ear is turning this way. She said,
everything is going on out here. That one ear. He's listening to me, all right? And I've got both ears. And then,
now a wild coat, a wild horse, runs with his head up in the
air, snorting at the wind. The next thing you want, Barbara,
is to drop his head. You want to drop his head in
submission, turn that ear, and then they start chewing. You
get the picture? When I got to thinking about
that, I thought, what a beautiful picture of how the Lord rides
wild asses and how He breaks them. First thing He does is
He gets that sinner's ear. A wild ass has got an ear and
an eye for everything that goes on. Wild as a buck. A stallion. But the Lord tunes that ear to
hear something. And as time goes on, he gets
both ears to hear the gospel. And what the gospel does is rolls
the man's head. You're not so proud of him, you
know. And then they start chewing on that gospel. And you know
how, when you really got that, and I've seen this done, when
you really got that horse, finally, when it finally drops your head,
And it takes time. It takes a long time. Patience
on the part of the handler. When she finally tunes those
ears and you've got her ear and drops that head down and starts
chewing like that, you can stop what you're doing and turn your
back and walk off. And you know what that horse
will do? He'll fumble you. Every time I've seen it, like
a puppy dog, Father, you come over and stick his nose on your
back. Where are you going, Master?" When the Lord rides, when he
trains and breaks, the wild ass is cold. He doesn't do it by
force, or coercion, or love, or confidence, or hearing of
the gospel, or breaking of the hand of the will, or chewing
on the truth. Follow the Master. And you're
His from then on. That horse knows that there's
nothing to fear in that Master, but good things. You don't even
need a bit. You don't even need a bit. I've seen it. And that's exactly what the Lord
does. The wild ass is cold now. It sure does. Any amount of threatenings
and so forth won't do it. Hell, scaring them into hell,
or trying to scare them out of hell won't do it. But a wise
master through the preaching of the
gospel will do it. But look at this. We've got to get to these
verses. This is important. It says, Well, he was yet a coming.
The devil threw him down and tore him, and Jesus rebuked. The unclean spirit healed the
child and delivered him again to his father. What a picture
of the gospel we see. Christ rebuked the spirit. How
did Christ rebuke sin, Satan, and hell for us? by taking our
rebukes, by being made sin for us. That's how he rebuked sin
and the unclean spirit. He himself was attacked and took
this attack. And in doing so, he was bruised,
but we were healed. By His stripes we're healed.
He was wounded and bruised for our transgression, but by His
stripes we're healed and delivered us to the Father. It's the only
way He's going to deliver us to the Father. It's the only
way He's going to present us thoughtless, wholly unblamed,
unreproved, and thoughtless in God's sight, is by Him being
bruised for us. He's going to present us without
a bruise. without a spot, without blemish. No, he himself was made
bloody and bruised from head to toe. See, we were nothing
but wounds and bruises and putrefying souls, lepers. But Christ became
us, that we might be made his spotless self, to present us
to the Father. And you know, every one, every
son, every daughter whom Christ delivers to his Father He delivers them to their earthly
parents. They get a child. They get a
true child. They get an obedient child. They
get a child the way a child should be, don't they? Look at these
sayings. This is important. The Lord says
this right after that. Verse 43, They were all amazed
at the mighty power of God. Now, this is all. This is not
just the disciples. This is everybody. Remember, there was a crowd.
Remember, there was a crowd of people, this man was in that
crowd, that came at the foot of the mountain where Christ
came down from the mountain. And he says, all this big crowd of
people were all amazed, look at it, at the mighty power of
God, and while they wondered, everyone had all the things which
Jesus did. They were wondering, they were
beholding this miracle and the sign, this wonder. The mighty
power of God, isn't God powerful? And look what Jesus did, you
know, the things that Jesus was doing, when he turned to his
disciples. Now look at it, verse 43. He said to his disciples, privately, Jane, John, Peter,
Andrew, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas and so on. apart from
the maddening crowd, the sign of wonder and miracles crowd.
He turned to his disciples now and said to them privately, look
at this, verse 44, Let these sayings sink down into your ears. Now, you listen a bit. Let me
have your ears. Let these sayings, my words,
sink down into your ear. Now, they've got this sign. They're
all taking up the signs and wonders, aren't they, and the things that
Jesus is doing. But you let this Word sink down
into your ear, you disciple of His. Listen to it. The Son of
Man shall be delivered into the hands of men. That's what he's
saying in short, Brother Joe, to his disciples. Now while everybody
else is taking up with all this stuff, you be taking up with
this, this one thing, this marvel of marvel, this wonder of wonders,
this mystery of mysteries, this miracle of miracles, is that
the Holy Spirit, the Son of God, was made man and dwelt among
us without sin, yet God made him, delivered him up for us
all. Why was Christ delivered into the hands? God did it. By the determinate counsel and
foreknowledge of God, he delivered him into the wicked, into the
hands of wicked men. Why? That we might not be delivered
unto Satan, sin, hell, and death. That we might be delivered. He
was delivered up for us all, that we might be delivered from
it all. See, what if these saints sit
down and hear it? Well, everybody else has taken
up with that. But they didn't understand, did they? Verse 45. They understood not
this saying. Did you understand? Did you understand? Blessed are your ears. He's got
your ears. It's hid from them, hid from
them, that they perceived it not. And they feared to ask him
of that saying. Oh, he's going to reveal it to them clearly
later on. And that's all we're going to
talk about, isn't it? And that's all we're going to
write about when they start writing their epistles. Peter said, hey,
we were up on the mountain with him. This is no cunningly devised
favor. We were up there, we beheld His
glory and His majesty and all that, but this is a more sure
way to prophesy. Here's something greater than
that. We have a greater, a more sure way to prophesy, something
more to be taken up with than signs and wonders. Peter said,
this is the way which by the gospel is precepted. Let those
say, let this gospel sink down into your ears. Because if it's
so, you won't be moonstruck. a world influx or anything. See,
if the Word of Christ dwelt in you richly, nothing the world
has to say will replace you or influence you. You see that?
You see how important the Word being planted in the heart, in the mind, more
than anything else. All right, let's stand. Our Heavenly Father, once again
we thank you for this Word, this incorruptible seed which liveth
and abideth forever. Not one word of yours shall fail,
he said. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
but not one word of yours shall fail. He said the Word would
never return void. and the unbelieving live and
walk by sight. Lord, give us faith, and we know
where faith cometh from. It's a gift of God, and cometh
through hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So, open our eyes to behold wondrous
things from thy word, and let these sayings sink down into
our ears and into our very hearts, and let us be grounded and settled
in the truth Lord, we pray for our lost loved ones, particularly
our young people. Lord, let not the madness of
this world get hold of them. Deliver them from lunacy, we
pray. You're the only one who can.
We pray, don't let the world get a hold of them. Deliver them
from the evil one. Bring them, oh Lord, we bring
them to you. speak to them. May they hear
the shepherd's voice. In Christ's name, for his glory.
Amen.