Should you turn back in your
Bibles to Luke chapter 8, as we consider this blessed portion
of Scripture. The text before us actually speaks
to the subject of missionary work. Missionary work is one
of the most heroic professions a person can engage in. But missionary
work is no joke. The man before us in our account
today is being saved and rescued by a glorious salvation through
the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. There is no doubt about
that. We are thankful of the effects
and the results of what occurred in this man's life, of which
we will take more of a specific observation next week. Today
I want us to consider just what it is that he was delivered from.
For us today, the primary focus, as I'm sure it was as a major
lesson given to the 12 who followed Jesus on this unique and specific
missionary journey, was for them to learn something about a work
that they had never ever imagined that they would be engaged in.
This was a, just like last week's message on their journey from
the shores of Galilee and Capernaum, an area in which they were very
familiar with, a people group which they were commonly among. They were taken out of their
comfort zone and brought into a whole nother region that had
nothing to do with their life experience. And we said this
last week too, when you are called by the grace of God, your life
is a journey It is never a boring day in Christ. If your day is
boring, it wasn't with Christ. It wasn't with God. And so with
these disciples, I guarantee you the moment that that boat
drifted from shore under the power of the wind by God's providence
to lead them to an area or region of the world that they had never
ever even remotely thought of going to. They never thought
of going to this little cove off the coast of the Galilean
Sea, which was part of Gentile country. The Decapolis was an
area of pure paganism, and particularly this one spot in which Jesus
is taking the disciples today The disciples would have never
even remotely thought about going here. But this is exactly what
we were saying last week with regards to the work of the gospel,
and we are still thinking this matter through. You profess to
be a Christian, And that is a wonderful thing. But do you not know that
the primary objective of the believer is to be part of the
great work that Christ has called us to, to see to it that sinners
from every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue hear the gospel? Do
you guys not know that that's our call? To be part of the great,
great missionary work of redemption. And the thing that ought to make
The idea of reaching sinners with the gospel so natural to
you and so apropos, something that is so congenial to your
soul is the fact that God saved you in the same way he saved
this man. without any difference whatsoever
when you begin to analyze all of the components that went into
the salvation of this man, of which, again, we will talk about
more specifically next week. But the work of the missionary,
there is no greater soldier for the souls of men than a true
missionary. He works with strange people. He works with foreigners. The missionary works with dirty
people, dying people, and dead people. True missionaries are
the heroes of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And these individuals
are called upon to change the souls of men and nations. Do you know the power of Christ
must be with an individual? To go into a pagan country Like
Papua New Guinea, one of the missionaries that we support,
been there for decades now, among a people group who only a few
decades ago would eat you up with barbecue sauce. Are you
listening to me? Now, come on now, you say you
have faith. Are you ready to go hang out
with somebody who sees you as part of the food chain? Your
mindset has to be completely revolutionized. you have to be
able to think God's thoughts after him you have to have a concern for
souls see missionary work is not like evangelism in particularly
evangelism in the 21st century where what it really amounts
to in American evangelism is goat swapping you notice I didn't
say sheep swapping goat swapping getting one group of religious
folk from over here another group of religious folk from over there
and they get to come to your church after being in 25 other
churches because your church has something unique that's entertaining
them and after they get tired of your church they'll go to
somebody else's church am I making some sense and you call that
evangelism that really isn't evangelism either that's just
kind of goat swapping but my point is missionary work is not
about going to people who've already heard the gospel It's
not about going to people who already have some semblance of
biblical truth and have been impacted even on an existential
level by the gospel so that their homeland, their culture is, as
it were, civilized by the gospel. Do you know Jesus is taking these
12 men into extremely dark, dark, dark territory? If you thought
that the storm that they had to face getting there was something
Can you imagine what they are thinking right now? So the first
point in your outline as we work our way through is this. When
you are dealing with missionary work, the missionary field, point
number one, is the place of the dead. See, a real knowledgeable
Christian And a man or woman or people who are called by God
to go reach the heathen, they really do understand what they
are about to get into. They aren't thinking that they
are going into a certain region of the world that has never heard
the gospel and, as it were, reform them. They're not thinking about
going in and, as it were, sitting down and having civil conversations
so that they can exchange worldviews, that they can take away from
these people sort of a cultural and traditional pattern of life
that they would suggest they have a better way. The real missionary
is not simply bringing you a better way of life. That would suggest
that everybody is halfway all right. They just need to get
their traditions and taboos rearranged from time to time. But a real
missionary knows this. When he goes into a territory
that has never heard the gospel before, he is going into a people
group who are spiritually dead. Dead. And because they are spiritually
dead, he's going into an environment that is completely defiled. It is a realm where God is not
present in his saving mercy and redemptive power and regenerating
grace. The multitude to whom he is speaking,
they are just as dead in bondage, in slavery, controlled by Satan
as we have in our account. With that type of perspective
on missionary work, doesn't a missionary have to be bold? Doesn't a missionary
have to be full of the power of God? Doesn't a missionary
have to understand that the only thing that's going to take this
Tasmanian devil and deliver him is the power of an omnipotent
God that's able to actually invade his life and do for that man
or that people group which nothing else has been able to do? And
it's interesting because what I want you to do is appreciate
what our Lord is doing. He's taking 12 men, is he not?
And he's training them. These 12 men are going to be
the men who turn the world upside down, with the exception of one.
He'll be replaced by the Apostle Paul, and they will be means
by which the whole world will come to know Jesus, right? But
in order for them to be prepared for what's going to take place
in a few years, they have to go to dark parts of the world.
And so as I, as we learned last week, you know, when the Lord's
teaching us things, he takes us through things by degrees,
doesn't he? He educates us on lower levels and then he takes
us to the next level. And then he takes us to the next
level. As we learned last week, he put his disciples in this
boat. He got in the boat with them. They went on the other
side together. Next time he'll be sending them on their own.
Isn't that how he does it? Let's see if you learn the lesson.
and ultimately they were just beside themselves when they finally
came to realize that the master was going to be crucified, not
coronated, killed, not lauded and applauded by the nation of
Israel, hung on a tree outside of Jerusalem, made to be the
ignominy and scorn of both the Jews and the Gentiles. When they
came to understand their master was going to be publicly announced
as the curse of the world, They couldn't reconcile what the net
consequences of that was going to be. They grieved and cried
in their soul. Jesus said in John chapter 16,
I know you are crying now because you can't understand what's going
to take place after this rejection, wholesale rejection by both the
Jews and the Gentiles. But it's necessary that I go
to Calvary because it's from Calvary that the resources are
going to come that will help you do what I'm calling you to
do. that is bring the world to a knowledge of the glory of God
in the person of Christ of which if I don't go to Calvary it won't
happen and I guarantee you you disciples you will never even
begin to do what I'm calling you to do isn't it interesting
when you go to the book of Acts the disciples are huddled in
the upper room now they were doing it out of obedience because
Christ said wait they received the Spirit of God on Pentecost
And then the command was to what? Go ye into all the world and
do what? Preach the gospel to what? Every nation. But do you
know those disciples didn't rush to do that? Here's my point. You and I really do default to
our comfort zones far more than wanting to step outside of our
boundaries and do what God has called us to do. I'm just telling
the truth. You can get mad all you want to. It's just true.
It's hard to share the gospel with somebody that you don't
have any affinity with. It's hard to share the gospel
with someone that doesn't look like you, sound like you, or
have some type of connection to you. You'd much rather wait
till you meet somebody like that to share the gospel with. And
yet, true, authentic missionary work is doing exactly the opposite. I'm so glad our elder said what
he said. I'll use that as a segue. But
you're willing to marry somebody just as opposite as you are.
Just as bona fide opposite. You're willing to marry somebody
that ain't got nothing equal to you at all in the name of
love but are you willing to be the means by which someone who
is totally opposite than you is betrothed to the savior see
what i'm getting at and so the point is is that i want you to
i want you to appreciate what the disciples are going through
here i'll tell you what they were thinking what on earth are
we doing in this area do you know why Because as Jewish men
under Jewish law, the whole territory was unclean. The whole Gadarene
area of which these Gentiles were in this tomb, where they
are is on a hillside, right by the shores of the Lake of Galilee. And it's nothing but a cemetery,
a mountainside filled with holes where you put bodies, tombs. Can you imagine as they were
coasting up to the shores, the disciples are saying, what in
the world are we getting into? Do you know what the law of God
says in the book of Leviticus and Deuteronomy? Leviticus 11,
Deuteronomy 14, you shall not approach unto nor touch anything
that is dead. To do so is to defile yourself
and to make you unclean. Seven days you shall abide outside
of the camp. Go through the ceremonial washing
before you are accepted again. Do you know in the mind of a
Jew that was anathema? It was detestable. The notion
that they were getting ready to get out of the boat and touch. You remember what Peter struggled
with in Acts chapter 10? When he was sitting on the top
of the house, hungry, but he fell asleep like he loves to
do. Hungry and sleep in it's in his sleep. He had a vision
remember that vision the Lord let down a great sheet and in
that sheet was hog balls and chitlins and and and pork rinds
and and you understand what I'm getting at all kinds of Formally
unclean things of which the Spirit of God said that Peter Peter.
I know you're hungry rise up and eat Peter said no, but I'm
not eating that and The vision came three times which means
God's purpose was for Peter to cross over from his religious
Jewish taboos of thinking he was clean and they were unclean.
When in fact that could not be the case after that christ went
to the cross and he had to overcome that Prejudice in order for him
to go to carnelius his house, right? And do you know how much
he struggled with that when he went to carnelius his house?
He was he was still negotiating in his mind. He came to carnelius
He said I gotta let you know how much of a struggle it is
for me to be in your house, brother Because us jews we don't even
we don't even talk to you guys let alone come into your house
See how he was struggling through that? And yet, as I've told you
before, when you do ministry with the Lord Jesus Christ and
you read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, here's what you learn.
You learn that Jesus did New Testament ministry in that Old
Testament context. that what Jesus did broke all
of the traditional taboos, even the restraints and the parameters
and the walls and barriers that the Old Testament law had established. Jesus broke those laws in this
sense. In the minds of the disciples,
it shouldn't have been done. They shouldn't have been eating
corn in the field on the Sabbath day. They shouldn't have been
healing on the Sabbath day as they suggested. Jesus shouldn't
be going to Gentile territory. Jesus shouldn't be letting women
with issues of blood touch Him. All of that is uncleanness ceremonially
in the Old Testament system. So they were having their whole
worldview in terms of their religious understanding challenged and
assaulted every day that they were with Christ. And the law
plainly tells us in Deuteronomy 14 and Leviticus 17, to touch
an unclean thing is to be yourselves unclean. And I remember how the
Old Testament put it in terms of that. In the book of Habakkuk,
Habakkuk raised that question. I'm sorry, Haggai. Haggai chapter
two, verse 13, go there. It raised this question. This
is toward the end of your Bible. Listen to how Haggai puts this
language as he challenges the children of Israel. Now remember
what I'm laying down before us is a tutoring system and catechism
of which Israel had a hard time overcoming then and even now. And that is the tutoring system
and catechism of the Old Testament Levitical code, which tells us
to distinguish between clean and unclean, holy and unholy. They had their whole discernment
on the level of what's right, wrong, ethical, unethical, moral,
immoral, spiritual, unspiritual, clean, unclean, holy, unholy,
according to the Levitical code. They were raised up that way.
They were taught these things as a Jew. You don't mix your
wool with the flax. You don't sow this kind of seed
with that kind of seed. You don't mingle these things.
You keep them distinct. And they were all designed to
teach us spiritual realities. So they were tutored under those
things. And now they are finding themselves hanging out with the
master who is indeed the Messiah. But their catechism is being
challenged. Listen to what it says in Haggai
chapter two, verse 13. Listen to the, listen to the
question. Listen to the question. I'm going to start at verse 11.
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, ask now the priest concerning
the law saying, if one bear holy flesh, the skirt of his garment
this is the priest who sanctified consecrated to the work of the
of the priesthood and he has on his holy garments and with
his skirt do touch what bread or pottage or wine or oil or
any meat shall it be holy and the priest answered and said
no then said Haggai if one that is what unclean by a dead body
Touch any of these shall it be unclean? Here's the answer and
the priest answered and said it shall be unclean And god concluded
that israel was unclean to him. Listen the answer Then answered
hegei said so is this people and so is this nation before
me said the lord and so is every work of their what? And that
which they offer there is unclean Oh the jewish people who thought
they were clean by their religious observances and observing of
the mosaic law and being we be the people of the of abraham
we be the holy seed of god god just indicted them for being
what unclean see god thinks differently than we do don't doesn't he you
might call yourself clean but god may call you unclean In any
event, what the disciples knew was where they are, go back to
our text, was a place that really challenged their understanding
of things. Now, if you know, if you are
like the disciples and you know the area in which you are going
is an area that's forbidden by the law, it's unclean, to be
among the dead is a detestable and abominable thing before the
Lord, what is the only motive? that would be even reasonably
legitimate for you to go in among the unclean and touch them? And
the answer is love. Working by faith, based upon
an objective greater than the externalities of the law. It
was love that caused Christ to say to the disciples, let us
go to the other side. it was love that endured the
storm that came against the ship last week remember that led them
to the shores it's love that's causing Christ to get out of
the boat and guess what he's teaching them he's teaching them
how to love sinners who are not like himself faith works by love
and what Paul said in 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 you can read it for
yourself verse 15 through 17 he says it's the love of Christ
that constrains us The fear of God motivates us. We want men
to know that there's a hell and if they die outside of Christ,
they're going there. But it's the love of God that constrains
us to tell every man that your only escape from your damnable
condition is in Jesus Christ. The disciples, therefore, are
sitting there being taught what the nature and role and purpose
and motive of the gospel is, what it requires for them to
be able to actually execute their calling. Now, I want you to mark
this. The disciples have nothing to do with this account. Last
time we heard them, they was crying, Master, do you care that
we perish? Remember that? And then they
stopped crying about perishing and start asking the question,
who is this man? that can cause the winds to stop and the seas
to calm at a word. And now they're sitting on the
shores of this Gentile country, wondering what they're about
to get into. But because our master is the teacher and they're
the disciples, all he wants them to do is watch. That's how you
learn. He wants them to watch. Point
number two in your outline. Listen to what it says. The work
of missionaries is the advancement of the gospel in its power to
assault the darkness of hell. Do you see that? Let that hit
you. Let that hit you, Saints. The
work of the missionary in the advancement of the gospel is
the advancement of the gospel in its power to assault the darkness
of hell. That's verse 27 verse 8.8. Look
at it in Luke chapter 8 verse 27. And when he went forth to
land, when he got out of the boat, there met him out of the
city a certain man, which had devils a long time, and wear
no clothes, neither a boat in any house, but in the tombs.
And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him
with a loud voice saying, what have I to do with thee? Now watch
this, say, Jesus wasn't scared. But I guarantee you those disciples
were. Because when you take all three narratives, Matthew, Mark,
Luke, and John together, what the other narratives say is this
demoniac man rushed up on them with fury. Rushed up on them
with fury. Now think about witnessing. You
go to a foreign country. Don't you really want the people
to receive you? But the reality is they're not going to receive
you. unless God prepares their heart to receive you. And sometimes
you're going to be faced with opposition and hostility to the
gospel. Is that true? What are you going
to do? Retreat? Well, the disciples, I'm sure,
they didn't even get out the boat. In fact, the text doesn't
imply that they got out the boat. There was only one person got
out the boat. That was Christ. What an event! You get to sit
there in the boat and watch the master. do what we said last
week the Lord is a man of war going to battle against the foes
of darkness in a region of which the disciples had no reference
point no ability to even handle or reconcile or even determine
how would we negotiate a situation like this all they could do is
watch the disciple or watch the master and I would suggest to
you watch the master and for the work of the master is to
advance the gospel in its power to assault the darkness of hell
remember what he told Peter in Matthew 16 which would also come
down the line in our account in Matthew 16 verse 18 and 19
after he said fellas who do men say uh the son of man is who
do they say that i am and they said they say you're a great
prophet that's what the muslims would say some said you're jeremiah
others said you this some said you're that every one of them
missed the point altogether Peter said, You are the Christ, the
Son of the living God. You are God manifested in the
flesh. You are equal with the Father,
equal with the Holy Ghost. You are sovereign, almighty,
eternal God. And the Lord Jesus said to Peter,
Peter, God revealed that to you. I just want you to understand
that God revealed that to you. And upon this revelation of who
I am. See, the revelation is essential
to a proper faith. which is essential to moving
in love to help men and women. If you have the wrong Jesus,
you can't save anybody. If you have the wrong Jesus,
you can't save anybody. If you have the wrong understanding
of Christ, you will never see a person converted under your
ministry. See, behind your faith is a lie. And lies never save
anyone. The only thing that can save
us is the truth. And the truth is in a person.
That person is who? I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No one comes unto the Father but by me. And so what
Jesus is doing with the disciples is showing them how critical
it is that they understand their mission. Jesus is doing what
his Father called him to do, isn't he? He's calling the lost. He's saving his sheep. What did
he say in John chapter 10? Other sheep have I that are not
of this Jewish fold. Them also must I bring in and
there will be how many foals one foal not two One church not
two One people group not two people group the Gentile who
are God's people and the Jews who are God's people no Jew and
Gentile one people group all God's people in the church and
They shall be one foal and they'll have one shepherd. You know what
that means. We'll all know the same Shepherd and We won't have
a different understanding of Jesus over here different understanding
of Jesus over there different understanding of Jesus down there
No, no, no, the Holy Ghost is fully capable of giving you clarity
on who Christ is Listen, I guarantee you this demoniac and we'll talk
about it next week when he went back home. He told people who
Christ was He didn't misinterpret the gospel Nor its power to liberate
The disciples are sitting watching Jesus do what Jesus said in Matthew
16, 18, and 19. You know what Jesus says? Unto
you do I give the keys, the keys, the keys of the kingdom of heaven.
You know what keys are? Authority. Keys are given to
dignitaries. They're given to rulers. They're
given to governors. They're given to men in power. Keys. Unto you
do I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you
bind on earth will have already been bound in heaven. Whatever
you loose on earth will have already been loosed in heaven.
Which means when we do what's right in the eyes of the Lord,
heaven has already done it. Heaven doesn't act on our word,
our decree. We act on heaven's decree. Am
I making some sense? This foolhardy notion that somehow
we can tell heaven what to do is anathema. Jesus says I never
do anything of myself not one time. I don't even think my own
thoughts I don't say my own words. I don't do my own will I only
do those things which my father hath revealed to me That's called
the will of God And so Jesus is acting on his father's will,
teaching his disciples what his father's will is. And if you
don't know what the will of the father is, here it is. And this
is the will of him that sent me, that all which seeth the
sun might have everlasting life. And I'll raise him up at the
last day. The goal for God is that the world would come to
see the glory of God in Christ. Are you about that will? See
the disciples now are having their parameters broaden aren't
they? Whoa, you mean we're about this business and then all of
a sudden they've got a serious case in front of them, don't
they? Because we're talking demonic possession Of which I want to
talk a little bit about as well today But here's what I want
you to fully understand I'm giving you the keys to the kingdom of
God you disciples and the gates of hell will not prevail. I Isn't
that what God said? So then the power that breaks
open the bars of death and lets the captives free and puts them
in a favorable state with God through Jesus Christ is the power
of the gospel. Are you guys hearing me? So then
the power that breaks the bars of death and sets the captives
free is the power the gospel. This is what the disciples are
going to learn. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation
to everyone that believes. The good news of the gospel of
the person and work of Jesus Christ. When Jesus got out of
that boat, the reason why that demoniac came rushing to him
is because Jesus said something while he was getting out of that
boat. Do you know what he said? Watch this. Come out! He was the one that exercised
the first assault on the kingdom of darkness. The devil, that
demon would have even come had Christ not demanded that he come
out. Now watch how this works. The work of the missionaries
is the advancement of the gospel and the power and assault of
the darkness of hell. Before I go to my second point and deal
with the bio of this lost sinner, can I ask you the question, do
you believe that our present world is in desperate need of
being saved? Do you believe that we're all
right? We're cool. You know, we're no Our present generation
is nowhere near as bad as it was in the days of Jesus Is that
the notion today because a lot of people will think that you
know what we're civilized and you know We we're we're all right.
And you know, we're smart far more intellectually savvy today.
We've got greater technology We know a whole lot more than
those backyard barbarian Ritualistic folks in the days of jesus. In
fact the way the liberal progressive theologian would talk jesus What
jesus is doing is nothing but pagan witchcraft The idea that
he would go and exorcise a demon out of a man is not even something
that is entertained in your intellectual school today. And I'm telling
you, a whole lot of common folks think that that whole realm is
passé, doesn't even have any place today. But I'm here to
tell you, it's more dark today than it was in the first century.
It's more demonically influenced today than it was in the first
century. Now, we'll be careful as we work through this not to
create any boogeyman. But here, I want you to understand
this. Men and women all over the world are slaves the devil
in so many areas that one it would it would just it would
cause you to fail to even try to count all the areas in which
many women are in bondage in slavery under the under the control
of the devil at the highest powers of government and in the lowest
areas of culture it is all a black darkness and if what was true
2,000 years ago is true today what is the power that's going
to deliver them It's the power of Christ, isn't it? All right,
let's contemplate this man and see if we can see ourselves in
him a little bit. Point number three, the biographical of the
lost sinner, the portfolio. of the lost sinner. I want to
use two accounts to develop that. Luke 8 and Mark's Gospel 2. I'll touch on Matthew down the
line because they all through give us a portfolio. Listen to
what it says in verse 27. And when he went forth to land,
there met him out of the city a certain man which had devils
a long time. Do you see that? His demon possession,
ladies and gentlemen, was not a short stint. He was demon possessed
for a long time. Secondly, he wore no clothes. Thirdly, neither did he abide
in any home, but his dwelling place for a long time was the
tombs. Do you see that? That's the portfolio
of this man. Isn't this man in a dark place?
He's in a very, very dark place. The text tells us that this man
is, he's dwelling by himself. He's not living with people in
the city. He's out there naked in the tombs, unclothed. That's a bad situation, isn't
it? You say, yeah, pastor, but I
kind of know some people like that. You do. You do know people like
that. Because what we're dealing with
is a symbol of a deeper spiritual problem. Go with me in your Bible
to Mark's gospel now, Mark chapter five, and listen to what it says
as we prepare to unpack condition and the status of the unsaved
person. In Mark's gospel, this is how
Mark puts it in chapter 5 verses 1 and 2. And they came over unto
the other side of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes.
And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him
out of the tombs a man with an, what's the phrase, unclean spirit. See it? Verse three, who had
his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could bind him, no,
not with chains, because that he had been often bound with
fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him. Do you know you are strong when
you break in chains? And the fetters broken in pieces,
neither could anyone tame him. Neither could anyone. Mark says
the people attempted to bind him so that they can control
him because he was harassing people. That's what you do when
you're demonically influenced. You are tormented and you want
to torment other people. And they sought to bind him so
that they can have some sense of normalcy in their culture.
But every time they bound him, they looked around and he was
free again, tormenting the citizens. Verse five. And always, always,
always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs
crying. Why? Because he's in conflict
and cutting himself with stones. Don't we know people like that?
Don't we know people like that? Don't we know people who live
in such torment and conflict that they actually take pleasure
in afflicting themselves? I can talk about it on a spiritual
level, psychological level, physical level. More than once have I
had people to come to me recently saying, and these are younger
people, because young people get into this, you know, I cut
myself in order to alleviate the pain. Because even though
there's a sort of pain in my cutting, that pain alleviates
the other pain, which is emotional and psychological, and I would
say spiritual. because the undergirding problem
of all psychosis is ultimately spiritual. It's not to say that
there's not psychological problems. There are. Like I said, I would
not dare entertain the idea that every problem is demonic or spiritual. Just because you have a cold
doesn't mean that it's a cold demon. It's utterly ridiculous. You
hear this crap, and this is the part that discredits Christianity.
You understand? However, as I will share in a
moment, demonism inevitably makes you sick physically. If you were to do
an assessment of all of the demon cases in the Gospels, you would
marshal them together and you would have a cohesive picture
of the afflictions and results of demonism. And they are certainly
everything from physical infirmities to lunacy. But it doesn't mean
because you are a lunatic, you demon possessed. You might just
be born a lunatic. Some of us are born lunatics.
Don't worry, God can save a lunatic too. So you have to be able to
distinguish between what's lunacy in its native sense and what
is the consequence of demonic influence. Certainly the disciples
had to work with that in the book of the acts I'm simply saying
to you that this is a real a real realm a real dimension of which
a whole lot of people Don't have understanding even though they
say they do be very careful about the people that want to take
you up into Areas where they want to cast out demons and devils.
Okay, be very careful about that Be very careful about that because
really all those atmospheres are most of the time particularly
where God is not present in the power of truth are realms by
which those demonic forces will penetrate your life and afflict
you in subtle ways that you have no notion of. Don't touch it
with a 10-foot pole. Be very careful to be simple
and evil. Do you hear me? Don't be wise and evil. Be simple
and evil. Most of the time concerning most
of that stuff other than praying for it and making sure that the
gospel is preached in that atmosphere, run from it. Don't you think
you can handle those demons? The bio of this lost sinner of
whom we are compelled to learn something about first tells us
that he's unclean. Do you see that in your outline?
Unclean. The man is unclean. And we must
understand something about that. I talked about that in our Friday
night study. When you are not saved, you're
unclean. When you are lost in your sins,
you are unclean. And you can examine yourself
as to what that means. To be unclean means to be unsanctified. It means to be unwashed. It means
to be filthy spiritually. It means to be without the presence
and favor and approval of God in your life. When a person is
unclean, it means that they don't know God. God hasn't touched
them by His grace. God hasn't washed them by His
Spirit. God hasn't claimed them as His covenant people. Everybody
outside of the covenant is unclean. Do you believe that? It's certainly
true. Now watch what we mean by this. When we say that a person
is unclean, what we are saying is that God has not taken them
out of their native unsafe state. We are still in our nature like
Gentiles, and Gentiles are unclean in their nature. We're unclean
in our attitude. We're unclean in our actions,
unclean in our conduct. And here are three manifestations
of the unclean state for which you and I can think this thing
through. In your outline, I make it clear that we are unclean,
unwashed, filthy spiritually in three places. Are you ready?
Your mind, your mouth, and your manners. Do you believe that? See, this is why Jesus said in
Matthew chapter 15 when he was teaching the disciples the distinction
between true regeneration and religious works. Remember when
the Pharisees got all bent up and out of shape because Jesus
didn't wash his hands before he ate dinner? Remember that?
That's how religious folk do. You know, they're going to watch
you to see if you keep external religious codes of ethics. How
come when you guys sit down, first of all, you're always eating
hamburgers. Now you know we Jews don't eat
hamburgers. But then on top of that, you don't even wash your
hands. And they were whispering this while the disciples were
putting barbecue sauce on their hamburgers and going at it. Remember
that account? They were wishing. See, now we
know he's not a rabbi because, listen, when you're a rabbi,
you wash very meticulously your hands, kind of like surgical
doctors wash their hands because you've been around unclean people. If you take the uncleanness from
them and put it on your food and you eat it now you become
unclean But you know what Jesus taught his disciples. He said
fellas. I want you to listen to me carefully It is not what
goes in your belly that makes you unclean It's what comes out
of your heart that defiles a man for out of the heart proceeds
all manner of wickedness Out of the heart proceeds fornication
and adultery and murder and theft and every kind of lust. It comes out of the heart. So
then watch this. Out of the abundance of the heart
that the mouth speak and the mouth will tell whether you are
clean or not. Am I making some sense? And so
listen, I know that this demon could cuss like a sailor. Right? Because the demon world is the
world that teaches you how to do that It's the dark demonic
world of chaotic language and speech that has nothing to do
with edification or clarity or building up or exalting God or
bringing men to a a Rational state of biblical truth. That's
that that unnecessary language that pours out of your mouth
when you break down Why am I cussing because you you had a meltdown?
You didn't have civil, rational words to use. So you use cuss
words. Because your heart's still corrupt. Am I making some sense? Because
you're just a little bit still too comfortable with dwelling
among the tombs. Even for saved people. Even for
saved people. Now you know we are simultaneously
righteous and sinful at the same time, right? But you better get
a hold of your sinfulness. because your righteous claim
might be a fraud. So it's very important to ask
yourself, am I unclean? Am I clean? Do I really authentically
know Jesus? See, next week we'll get a chance
to work through the effects, the effects of the gospel on
a man's life. The powerful, penetrating, Life-changing
effect of the gospel on a man's life. Is that a legitimate consideration
here? Jesus comes to save this man
So he's giving us a lesson to consider and this idea of being
unclean There is so much to work through with that because the
unclean status the New Testament warns us about Repetitively in
Romans chapter 1 verses 24 26 and 28. I The way Paul begins to develop
that category of behavior patterns consistent with people who don't
know God, people whom God has taken his hand off of, the word
is God gave them over. Romans 1 24, and God gave them
over. The Greek verb paradidomi means
that he was in control of them as their authority and he handed
them over to another authority. Paradidomi means to go from one
authority to another authority. Are you guys with me? Listen
to me. He gave them over to the power of darkness. None of us
are free from some authoritative influence. Either the devil is
controlling you or Christ is. Romans chapter 1 verse 24 says
and because they would not glorify God even though they knew him
they became vain in their imagination their foolish hearts would darken
and they turn the glory of the incorruptible God into an image
like under corruptible man and they started worshiping the creature
rather than the Creator who is blessed forever you know what
God did he gave them over to earth worship You know what the
text says and because he gave them over to earth worship watch
this They at that point were given over to the lust of their
heart Verse 24 says he gave them over to the lusts of their heart
verse 26 says he gave them over to the vile passions of their
body and verse 28 says he gave them over to a reprobate mind
Do you know what that means? That means the mind now cannot
reason through biblical truth. It is in a region of absolute
darkness. And thus the mind cannot reign
in the passions of the flesh. The flesh now leads you. And
I'll share with you a little formula if you want to know how
this works. Are you ready? If your soul, that is your fallen
nature, dominates you, it's going to do whatever your flesh calls
it to do. If your spirit rules, which is what it means to walk
in the spirit, then you are going to be able to bring your flesh
into subjection to the Spirit of God. Which one rules then? Your carnal soul man? If he does, he's going to seek
his satisfaction in the fulfillment of the lust of the flesh. If
the spirit rules, if the inner man rules, if the new man rules,
he's going to seek his satisfaction in those things that glorify
God. Am I telling the truth? That's
the battle we have to fight. So what did Paul say in all of
the epistles Romans chapter 8 Galatians chapter 5 Ephesians walk in the
What's the word? Spirit and you will not Fulfill
the lust of the flesh ladies and gentlemen, that's the heart
of the battle for the Christian Church right now What I'm talking
about is the heart of the battle. Can I get an honest Christian
in the house? That's the heart of the battle for you That's
the heart of the battle Now, I would encourage you to go find
out what it means to walk in the Spirit. Because religious
clichés have no power. Haven't you found out you can
quote all kind of religious clichés and it doesn't have one ability
to deliver you? It doesn't deliver you at all.
Just to know Bible verses doesn't deliver you? You have to have
a penetrating understanding of the truth, of the source of deliverance,
and that's Christ Himself. You have to know that the only
one that can deliver you is Christ. And therefore, your appeal is
not to knowing things, but knowing Him. Not things. Him. Not things. Him. Things. Words, doctrines,
teachings are facilitators. They're not an end in themselves.
See, the thing that I'm talking about concerning the condition
and bio of the sinner is remarkable because it does not confine itself
to the unsaved, that is, pagan world. It also speaks to the
condition of the church. Jesus knew this. Romans 1 24
26 through 28 Ephesians chapter 5 verse 3 in the book of Colossians
chapter 3 verse 5 in the book of Galatians chapter 5 You know
how Paul deals with every carnal manifestation. He actually undergirds
it with the word unclean Virtually everywhere fornication and adultery
and idolatry is you know how he sums it up. I'm playing At
the root then of this kind of behavior pattern is uncleanness
And I've said this before, don't think of uncleanness as a hygienal
thing. You're sitting over by a brother
in church right now and you go, unclean. No, that's not uncleanness. I mean, that might be physical
uncleanness, but that's not uncleanness. The uncleanness is your spiritual
condition before God. You're the fact that God has
abandoned you. that God hasn't touched you.
See, a sanctified person simply is someone that God has claimed,
owned, and set aside for himself. I, the Lord, your God, do sanctify
you. Did you guys get what I just
said? See, a sanctified person is a person who has passively
experienced the power presence of the grace of God God took
them out of an unclean state and put them in a clean state
of which we'll talk about more fully in other words you can't
clean yourself up haven't you tried you can't clean yourself
up haven't you tried to change your thinking haven't you tried
to change your manners haven't you tried to change your mouth
you can't do it it takes a revolutionary power from on high to change
how you think how you feel and how you act. And see, unless
Christianity maintains this posture, the forces of demonism that are
so dominant in our world, changing everybody's hypotheses, theses
and worldview, unless we think this way, unless we think this
way, we're going to fall prey to try to change people's lives
through politics, social programs, psychology and pragmatism. And all they are going to be
is whitewashed demons. Are you hearing me? It doesn't
change unless you do it the way the Master did it. Life doesn't
change unless it's done the way the Master did it. I'm with those
disciples sitting in the boat. You know what I'm watching? I'm
watching the Master get off the boat with a clear purpose in
view, with a clear determination in view, with a clear method
in view. He's not wasting any time. Do you know the Master
in this account, Matthew's account, Mark's account, didn't sit around
wrestling with the devil? You know, you go to some of these
churches where they're casting out devils and it's a show for 35,
45 minutes, isn't it? It's a show. They're wrestling
back and forth and stepping on the poor child that they're trying
to cast the devil out of it and making all kind of crazy noises
and the next thing you're doing is you're wrapped up in the so-called
exorcist rather than in the power of Christ. It is nothing but
in the front. Can I share something with you?
Whenever God wants to deliver a soul, he'll deliver it without
any resistance. Whenever God wants to deliver
a soul, there won't be any wrestling. You don't wrestle with omnipotence. You bow to omnipotence. This
is crazy. You don't wrestle with omnipotence. You don't see the disciples,
they weren't wrestling in the book of Acts. Get out. You know how your wife tell you,
you know, you thought you had the authority, but you were walking
in another authority, fellas, and you lost your ordained authority,
your biblical authority. And that little woman, four foot
eight, said, get out! And you found yourself out. There
wasn't no wrestling going on. Out! And you were really, that little
circle was going around in your head, that computer circle, because
you were stuck, stuck. You were stuck like, where did
that authority come from? Listen to me When God says come
out All they can do is come out see and and and I am going to
get into it in some specifics next week to show us the glory
of the gospel how it invades a person gets a hold of a person
and Transforms a person when we deal with the effects of it
But I want you to understand neither in Matthew Mark or Luke
Luke's account did Jesus wrestle with this demon He did two things
He said depart And then he said, which we don't have in Luke's
account because Luke's account is not Luke's account, but Matthew's
account is particularly looking at this demoniac in a certain
way. Jesus simply raised one question. What is your name? He just raised one question.
What is your name? And he was teaching his disciples
something. Before we go there, I just want you to understand
there's a sort of a nuance between unclean spirits and being naked.
Because if you notice in Mark's account, it says that the man
had an unclean spirit, right? But it didn't say that he didn't
have any clothes on. But in Luke's account, what does
it say? And he was what? Naked. Which means to be naked is to
be what? Unclean. Will you hear me? A
man or woman is naked when they don't have the righteousness
of God in Christ as their clothing. When a man or woman is outside
of the mercy and grace and covering of Christ's righteousness, you're
naked. And so long as you are naked in the eyes of God, you
are unclean. That's what the whole Levitical
code was about. you start in Luke Leviticus chapter
18 and go through 21 do you know how many times God says cover
the nakedness cover the nakedness cover the nakedness do not look
upon your daughter's nakedness do not look upon your father's
nakedness do not look upon this nakedness that nakedness and
the other nakedness do you know why because Gentile pagan Gentiles
like we are by nature are infatuated with nakedness our culture is dominated by today
dominated by nakedness it's flaunting everywhere the proposition that
we must be clothed. I've said it before. I can tell
whether or not you're sanctified in your mind by how you dress.
I can tell whether or not the Word of God has really penetrated
your thinking and helped you understand how that while our
position is perfect and righteous in Christ, my condition or my
practice or my conduct should correspond with my position,
that I should not find myself in a position where I'm causing
people to stumble by how I dress or not dress. And if I am more
inclined to not dress, maybe I'm unclean. Maybe I'm still
controlled by an unclean spirit. Maybe I am wanting to influence
people with my nakedness, which is what uncleanness is all about.
Are you hearing me? Maybe I don't understand that
there is a spiritual garment, that there is a spiritual fragrance,
that there is a spiritual character, a spiritual adornment that has
far more power to influence people than my outward body. So the
man was not only unclean, He was naked. And it's very important
for you and I to understand the danger of the nakedness. Can I talk about this just a
little bit? I'll get done with it here in a moment. Not only
does it fascinate me, but as a gospel preacher, I am bound
to understand my culture and my world and to understand the
methods and techniques of the devil. I am so fully persuaded
that the devil has sought to use our crass our brass, open,
debauched behavior as a form of possessing people's lives,
controlling people, influencing their thinking. And I really
do believe that the nakedness on the part of the human race
is a prophetic truth. Remember Genesis chapter 9, verses
22 through 25, where Abraham, not Abram, but Noah in his indiscretion
got drunk? He's in his tent. Now that's a place of exclusivity. I thank God for tents. That's
a home. We'll talk in a moment about
the demon not having a home, homelessness. I thank God for
tents, a home. You have your seclusion, your
privacy, your secrecy, where God expects certain things to
take place that are private. your own washing and cleansing
of yourself, which requires a temporary nakedness. The intimacy between
two covenant lovers, husbands and wives, in the protection
and privacy of their own space. Never ever to have had a camcorder
or video camera. Looking in on their nakedness
and projecting it to millions of people around the world Because
what God knew was for you to see their nakedness was to be
a vehicle of transference of that demonic spirit of uncleanness
to get ahold of you This is why he cursed the grant the son of
the one who pulled back the sheets and said to Shem and Japheth
Hey, come look at come look at daddy Do you guys remember that
come let's take a look at daddy and mama. I And you know what
they did? They went backwards with a garment
and covered their father's nakedness. That's all symbolic language
of those two boys understood the sanctity and sacredness of
the body. And when a man or woman are in
covenant relationship, the twain are how many flesh? One flesh.
One flesh. And that covering was essential
to their prolonging as a society under covenant blessings of God.
He cursed Canaan, which is the land that the children of Israel
had to go into and convert that whole land. Their job was to
enter into Canaan and demolish all of these idols that are erected
in the name of all these pagan gods, which manifest themselves
in all of what you read in Leviticus chapters 18 through 21. Polygamy. incest, fornication, adultery,
homosexuality, and every form of perverted uncovenantal sexual
activity that we read in Romans chapter 1, Colossians chapter
3, Ephesians chapter 5. It's all under the adumbration
unclean. Are you hearing me children of
God? Unclean! So I would suggest to you that
this demoniac that we are looking at represents prophetically in
our present world the whole human race. The whole human race is
unclean. The whole human race is naked.
Go with me in your Bible to Revelation chapter 16. I want to show you
one prophetic truth that God warns us about before we move
on to our next point. Revelation chapter 16. This demoniac
He doesn't wear clothes because he's unclean. He doesn't wear
clothes because he doesn't understand the significance of it. The demons
themselves are controlling him. Their name is Legion. Do you
know how many demons is in this man? Six thousand demons. Listen to me. Six thousand demons. That's the term legion. It is
a word, legio, from which the Roman Empire had 6,000 army soldiers
called a legion. Can you imagine that many demons
having that kind of control over one soul? Well, there is the possibility
of multiple demon possession, right? I mean, we know a sister
named Mary, out of whom Mary Magdalene, out of whom Jesus
cast out how many demons? Seven. Seven is bad enough, isn't
it? But when you think through the
biblical text and you take into consideration the literal word
of God and we believe every word of God don't we we believe every
word of God we may not be able to understand or fathom the notion
that one soul can be controlled by a legion of Demons, but you
know what they said to the master when he said what is your name?
He says our name is legion because we be many now we understand
the power that broke the chains and Now we understand the power
that broke the chains. And we also understand the omnipotent
surpassing power of the one that said, get out. And tying the two together, what
we understand is that when you come across a legion of demons,
ain't no way in the world you gonna negotiate with them. Only
Christ can deal with such a thing. Are you hearing me? Only Christ,
but I want you to continue listening. I want you to hear me. This is
so very important I know you think you're safe. You are not
safe revelation chapter 16 verse 13 through 15 This here is the
closing ethic of what I call the vile judgments right before
Christ comes in the destruction of the people groups. I There
are a number of implications that I only I only want to deal
with this by virtue of application verse 13 Notice how verse 13
opens up John says and I saw three what? unclean spirits Like
frogs come out of the mouth of the who now who is the dragon
the devil? see the metaphor where does uncleanness
proceed then out of the mouth of the devil and He's the origin,
the abyss, the whale out of which uncleanness is spewn unto the
masses. Do you see it? Watch the language. I saw three unclean spirits like
frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth
of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, that unholy
trinity that governs the world through politics and false religion,
right? The power source between false
religion and politics is the devil and all three of them are
operating on a unclean spirit, right? Are they unclean? Now
watch what verse 14 says, for they are the spirits of devils. Working what miracles and go
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather
them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty John gives
us a picture of of the power behind politics and false religion. And it's an ugly picture of demonic
spirits, unclean spirits, controlling their method, controlling their
message, controlling the masses of the people, bringing them
together to battle against God. Do you guys see the picture?
Never mind the timetable. Understand that what's taking
place is behind the control of the wicked one who dwells in
high places, controlling principalities and powers and uses them to shape
the mindset of the masses is a marshalling together of the
whole world. Isn't that what the text said?
Of the whole world against Christ. So I know that when you sit there
and you watch television, I know it. which is the greatest medium
in the world, that you are either being taught truth or lies. I know that and I know how powerful
it is. Can I share with you how powerful
it is? When you get through watching that program, You are changed
into its very image by what you get up and go and do in purchasing
the clothes or taking on the behavior pattern or adopting
a certain cultural practice or engaging in certain curriculum
that that box has instructed you to do. For God has given
him a gray mouth speaking blasphemies against God and he's taking the
whole world under his control. Child of God, are you under his
control? How much do you listen to him versus listening to God? How much do you read your Bible,
the truth of God's word versus walk after the dictates of this
fallen world system? I'm telling you the truth. I
know you don't like it, but I'm telling you the truth right now. I'm
telling you that without the transforming of your mind, without
the renewing of your mind, you cannot but help. You cannot help
but follow the dictates of this dark world system. You cannot
but help to follow the dictates of this world system. You can't
do anything. You don't have freedom from one
or the other. Either we walk in the light or we walk in darkness.
Am I telling the truth? You're in control. It's in control
of you. You find yourself doing things
that you really wouldn't do. Things last year you wouldn't
do, young ladies, young men. Ways of conduct you wouldn't
engage in. You said you wouldn't do this.
No, I'm not going to do that. But as you continue to imbibe
the whine of her fornication, it transforms your thinking.
It transforms your thinking and it broke through all of your
barriers, all of your parameters. That's how demon possession works.
Can I keep talking? Because that's how it works.
Listen, that's how it works. What is demon possession? It's
the individual who because of no protection, that's what we
mean by nakedness, no spiritual covering, no divine covering,
no covering of the mind by the word of God, no covering of the
heart and passions by the spirit of God, no covering of the soul
by the presence of the spirit of God. You are vulnerable. You
are wide open. You are susceptible to invasion.
through so many different carnal channels. Drugs. Alcohol. Music. Mind-altering stimuli. Movies. Perverse conversations. Picture images. Violence. Violence will break you down
and make you an object of possession. What do you mean, Pastor, violence?
Are you ready? Abuse. Not just the overt stuff
where thugs rob you. I'm talking about the violence
that goes on in the domestic quarters where there's no sanctification
because in the unclean realm, we saw this Leviticus 18 through
20. You know what's taking place when a man touches his daughter?
Violence. When a woman touches her son?
Violence. When a neighbor touches the boy?
Violence. You know what else is going on?
A spiritual war. So you take drugs, you take alcohol,
you take music, you take all this mind-altering stimuli, you
take perverse conversation, you take the violence we see in the
street, and I told you Friday, there's a thin line between anger
and overt sexual desire. Did you hear me? There's a thin
line between anger overt sexual desire. Haven't you guys noticed
that? That there's a thin line between
anger and violence. Wherever there's war, there's
abusive sexual behavior. Wherever there's war, there's
abusive sexual behavior. This is why in some of your relationships,
you are utterly fascinated at the extreme of illicit sexual
drive. On the one hand, and constant
fighting with that person on the other. These are psychological
tensions in the mind. The psychologist will tell you
that. If you can keep people angry, not knowing the peace
of God which is in Christ Jesus, you can set them up to become
vulnerable to anything. And see, this is why our culture
is such a dangerous place for you to be operating in without
being covered in the righteousness of God in Christ, without the
mind being renewed and transformed. Without it, you're going to be
under that influence. Listen to what Christ warns us in verse
15. Listen to what he says. Are you
there? Behold. I come as a thief. Blessed is
he that what? That's what we're doing today.
We're watching. Are we watching today? Blessed is he that watcheth,
watch this, and keepeth his garment. Whoa, isn't that powerful? Blessed is he that watcheth and
keepeth his garment, lest he walk, what? And they see his,
what? See, we're in the last book of
the Bible, and it's a commentary on some of the earlier books
of the Bible, and God is still saying If you stand before me
on the last day naked, you are gone. Do you remember what Revelation
chapter 22 says? Let him that is just remain just. Let him that is holy remain holy.
Let him that is filthy remain filthy still. And what we are
looking at with this demoniac is a picture of our condition
prior to a real authentic conversion. your outline not only are we
to deal with and reckon with a spiritual nakedness but in
your outline it talks about what next homelessness do you see
that all right so I need to talk about this a little bit now I
wonder what don't we have increased homelessness going on in our
world now what's the what's the cause behind homelessness is
it just that people just didn't get giving up on on the normal
traditional values of life no There are a number of antecedents
that causes a person to find themselves homeless. Homelessness
is the result of being uncivil. Lack of civility will put your
butt on the street. And it's rooted in not being
tamed. Not being controlled. Remember
what it says, and they tried to bind him and control him. Often but he broke through the
restraints, you know what the Bible tells us in the latter
days men shall be lovers of themselves having a love for pleasure more
than lovers of God and And and they will be bolsters. They will
be bolsters. They will be proud They will
be watchers. I want you to hear this. They
will be hateful of their parents Did you hear that? Watch this
now and as a consequence, they will have not unnatural affection
What do you mean by unnatural affection? I talked about this
when we were dealing with leadership class. Unnatural affection is
what happens when the culture is able to persuade you that
family values are not relative to your success. And that concept
is diametrically opposed to what the Bible teaches. that if a
man or a woman is going to be successful, they really do need
a mother and a father that is sound in their worldview, that
protects the child, raise the child up right, give them a home
with discipline, with restraints, with parameters, with boundaries,
with laws, chain those knuckleheads in until they learn the truth. then you unleash them little
by little as they demonstrate responsibility. This is why you have so much
homelessness. The children that are born to
children are raising themselves and therefore are not civil and
by the time they get old enough to exercise their testosterone-driven
powers, They're Tasmanian devils at 11, 12, and 13. They break
the ranks and you can't even reign them in anymore. Lord,
what did I have? Well, initially you had a human,
but because you didn't train them up right, now you got a
monkey. No, a gorilla. Some of y'all
King Kongs. You got to move from the region
where you birthed that child just to get away from them. I
got a King Kong in the jungle out there. I did it and I'm moving
now. I'm moving now to New Zealand or somewhere. I'm being satirical,
but I'm telling you the truth. See, God knows. See, you know
what we're being lied to about today? That the old way was not
right. We're being lied to today that
the old way was not right. Because the old way had difficulties. Because the old ways had some
flaws in it. What this lying, perverse, progressive
culture is suggesting is that the new way is better. But I'm
here to tell you there is no new way. The new way is really
the old way without God. It's really nothing but paganism. You are not going to make it,
you young couple. You are not going to make it.
You will not make it. You will be plagued with the
plagues of Egypt, you young couple. You will be controlled and tossed
to and fro, you young people who think you can play church.
You will not make it. You will not make it unless you
bow the knee to Christ and seek the grace of God. You will not
make it. Your peers are not going to help you. Your friends are
not going to help you. You're not going to have people
to come to tell you, you need to follow the book. If you want
to be blessed, you got to follow the book. Blessed is the man.
that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in
the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful,
but his delight is in the law of God's word. And in his law,
he meditates day and night until those precepts come into his
mind and transform him and renews him and gives him a conviction
of what's right. And then he's able to stand against
the whole world by himself, if need be. If need be. Do you? Listen, I can tell you
how I know I'm telling the truth. Christ is about to send this
man back into that demonic world all by himself. Only he will not be alone. He
will have the power of God's Spirit, the testimony of God's
redeeming grace, the message of redemption. He'll be able
to tell that dark pagan, well, Jesus is coming. As soon as he
goes back to his father's home, he'll dispatch the Spirit of
God, send the apostles, and we'll get to see Christ manifest His
glory in this dark pagan world that we are a part of. I'm here
to tell you the only solution to our cultural problems is the
gospel. The only solution. So long as
we are trying to do it some other way, listen to me now, we're
going to have homelessness. And homelessness, the term homeless
here, It's given in 2nd Timothy 3 3 is without families Unnatural
affection means to be without family and interestingly enough
Paul says it in Romans 1 and then he says it again in 2nd
Timothy 3 and I'm telling you That's what I'm looking at right
now. I'm sorry. I'm looking at our Presence in next generation
in the next generation after that. They're ready to do life
Without the traditional family structure They want to live shacking
up They want to crisscross in their gender. They want to have
sex any kind of way. And the thing that I'm preoccupied
with, I'm not so much preoccupied with the Gentiles doing that,
because that's what Gentile pagans do. That's what we did. You know,
what's amazing to me is they can dare to frame their lips
and call themselves redeemed people of God. Do you know the
audacity and the affront to sovereign God when you say, I'm saved,
but you still live in the caves? You still dwell among the dead.
You still cut and scratch yourself. You still walk around naked.
You still operate like homeless people do. You're still uncivilized.
You're still undisciplined. You're still unstructured. You're
still ignorant of the glory of God. You still think you can
make it without the righteousness of God in Christ. You still think
you can make it without the power of the gospel. But you're not
fooling me. You are still lost and on your
way to hell. If any man be in Christ Jesus,
he's a new creature. He's a new creature. This man
will leave the tombs this day. Are you hearing me? For good. For good. Nobody could do it,
but Christ did it. The other thing I need you to
stay with me a few more minutes. Not only was he unclean, not
only was he naked, Not only was he homeless and broke through
the reins of everything that home calls for, but he's fierce. See, this is the thing that's
scaring some of you folks. Go with me on your Bible to Immaculate.
Am I boring you? No. OK. You don't have to come
back next week. Matthew Shepard. I'll be done
here in a moment because I actually want you to come back. you to
find out. I want you to find out more particularly
what a saving experience does. We got all kind of people talking
about what it means to be saved. And it bears no resemblance to
the work of Christ. In Matthew chapter 8, this is
how Matthew's gospel renders it. And I don't want to have
to segue too much in explaining it, even though I can. In Matthew's
Gospel, chapter 8, verse 28, here's what he says. Are you
there? And when he was come to the other side into the country
of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils. Do you see that? Coming out of
the tombs, here's the clause I want you to get. Exceedingly
what? Fierce. So that no man might
pass by that way. We can take our time and we can
talk about why the narratives in scripture. Matthew will give
you these accounts where two people are being dealt with.
And in Mark's account, it'll be one person. We'll talk about
that later. There is no contradiction there.
You just have to slow down and learn how the Bible puts things
together. In Matthew's account, you will notice in Matthew's
account, Jesus is not talking. Matthew is doing the talking.
There's only one word in this whole discourse that Jesus used
and it's the word GO! That's powerful. The rest of it is a narrative
by Matthew about the condition and state of the demoniac. Listen
to it. Verse 29, and behold They cried
out saying what have we to do with thee Jesus thou son of God
art thou come hither to torment us before the time You know what
these demons knew that they had to go Do you hear me? They knew
that they had to go They knew that they had to go because Jesus
had already said depart before he got out of the boat and They're
now negotiating with Christ as to where to go Are you hearing
me? that speaks to the non-negotiable
sovereignty of God's omnipotent word. When he speaks, a thing
must be done. Do you notice they are not fighting
with Jesus? Do you notice they're not grabbing him by the legs?
Do you know that they're not taking the demoniac man and throwing
him up against the wall, turning his head around 50 times? Do
you notice that? That's movies. Those are movies
designed to enhance your fears to be a gateway for demons to
come in creating you more unbelief because a sound mind is part
of what conversion brings. God has not given us the spirit
of fear but of love and of power and a sound mind. I don't believe heads turn around
that many times. So rather than fear, I laugh.
I fall over my chair laughing. Look at these fools. Why do I call your attention
to this? Because in your culture today, this malady and manifestation
of demonic influence over our culture and it's droning sound
of we are one and we will prevail and we will overcome and you
who call yourselves Christians and you who hold to a biblical
worldview, you are the minority. We will stop you. Christians
hear that rhetoric and are retreating. from standing with Christ with
his glorious gospel against the ilks of hell. Because we're hearing
that voice because they are waxing fiercer and fiercer. See, this is how it works. They
start off by saying, please, won't you understand what I'm
going through? And we go, we do. We've been there. I know what it's like living
in the tombs. I grew up with my whole household attuned, filled
with demons and dark people everywhere, doing everything you can imagine.
And I was watching it from three years old all the way to 13 years
old, of which at 13, I had to run for my life with my mother
and my two brothers so we could live. I know what that's like.
And then I also know what it's like to be delivered by the power
of God at 18 years old from that darkness too. See, we know where
you are. You ain't gotta tell us where
you are. We know where you are. Your problem is you don't know where
we are. But the greater problem is professing
Christians don't know where they are. And the next thing you know
is they want you to compromise. They want you to know that, you
know, the way I am is the way I am. And what they mean by the
way I am is the way I am is that the way I am is the way God made
me. And as soon as they say that, as I've taught our men, you have
just lied on God. And you, Christian, if you buy
that notion that that's the way God made them, you make God a
liar, too. Did you hear me? As soon as you
say with them, oh, that's the way God made them. You make God
a liar and you have no foundation to stand on at that point. You
might as well join him. You have no foundation to stand
on. See, the battle here is between truth and lies, between the slavery
and deceptive control of demonic forces over eternity bound souls
and the liberation the soul by the power of Christ through the
gospel of the glory of God but will the church of Jesus Christ
understand that our job is to tell the truth in love and stand
on that truth and wait for the Spirit of God to deliver men
and women are we willing to go over on the other side with Jesus
Christ are we willing to have our Lord with us in the midst
of this type of Adversity as we tell men and women that the
word of the Lord is right and all of his works are done in
truth that what was written is written and it's gonna always
be that way and that your only hope for glory is That Christ
would invade your life with the truth of his gospel and change
your mind Will we be willing to tell them that or will we
continue to compromise? until as it was with Israel and See Jesus is taking his disciples
through what he's doing in Matthew chapter 8 Because and in Luke chapter 8
because in a few more years the whole nation of Israel Having
heard the master and watch the master cast out virtually every
demon in Galilee and Capernaum and and Nazareth so that the
whole place was clean. In a year and a half from now,
that horde of demons will come back with seven greater than
the ones that he cast out, and the whole nation will take Jesus
Christ with great fears and kill him. And the kingdom of God will
have to be taken from them and given to the Gentile churches,
of which the Gentile churches are in danger of facing the same
thing right now because we have failed to realize that the only
power that's going to change this world is the power of the
gospel or we were utter fools in telling men and women to become
missionaries and go to pagan countries and lay down your life
for hell-bound sinners give them one message redemption through
the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ when we could have
changed your life through politics and social programs and all these
other psychological methods what an abomination so next time we'll
get an opportunity to contemplate the power of God in the changing
of the life and the other thing we'll get to a chance to do is
contemplate why those pigs are Now watch this now, why those
pigs, when they got possessed by this demon, who possessed
a man, and that man let him possess him for years, as soon as this
legion of demons jumped on these 2,000 pigs, they said, oh no,
we're not having this. They ran and jumped in the, they
said, we'd rather die than to be possessed by demons. which
tells me something about how depraved the human race is. Another thing you get to contemplate
is whether or not your dog and cat is possessed. All right. We're going to have the offering
at this time. We'll have the offering at this
time, and then we'll close in a word of prayer.