In this sermon, Pastor Babij investigates Jesus’ interaction with the man possessed by a legion of demons in Mark 5. Pastor Babij explains that this account is really focused not on the demoniac, but on Jesus, showing the following about Jesus: His preeminence, His power, His mercy, and His mission. Jesus directly contrasts everything that a demon is.
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I’m often amazed that um the testimony that was given this morning by Duna right something like that was quite amazing uh he probably didn’t have a theological education like some would have and he was right on the money so that was amazing and he was saved out of a demon infested tribe that’s amazing and it’s also amazing that I’m preaching on what I’m preaching on this morning uh the Revelation Revelation on a dark and demonic Seashore Mark chapter 5 let’s take our Bibles there Mark chapter 5 and we’re going to be looking at this is a larger section chunk this morning 20 verses so I’ll not read all of it now because I’ll be going through the verses but let me just give you um some of the background of where we came from where we’re going Jesus and his disciples had been teaching remember in the open air and ministering to the crowds every day Jesus made a proposal in the evening of the day when he was preaching on Parables from the boat and his proposal was let’s go across to the other side of the lake of Galilee now last time we saw that Jesus looked a lot like the powerful God from the Old Testament he brought calm out of chaos by steing the storm in which the wind and the waves obeyed his voice of authority it was an event specifically and Pro providentially designed to increase the disciples Faith specifically in who Jesus is and that who is he he is The Sovereign all powerful Lord and remember the Lord is kind of leaking out information about who he is he’s not giving it to them all at once he’s been the disciples have been with him for quite a while now and so they’re they’re still processing that event in their mind and so we come to chapter 5 verse number one and if you notice what it says there it says and they came to the other side of the sea that’s the Sea of Galilee into the country of the Gans now this country some archaeologists will say we don’t know where this is um well they didn’t know where it was for a long time they were basing it on on the the word itself and you find that in other gospels they use a different word uh for this particular location uh but they did finally uh land on a place and of course the word the name of the place was was really gessa origin preferred that location long time ago because what surrounded the ethology of the word that gessa meant dwelling of those who have driven away now what does that mean in verse number 17 of chapter 5 it says and they began to implore him to leave their region after this event happened the people didn’t want Jesus sticking around in fact in 1970 a bulldozzer cutting a ran along the eastern shore of the lake of Galilee Unearthed the remains of an ancient Town immediately south of of the wadii samac of the valley of KY of course the local dialect would be gersa so probably KY or gessa was the place and so then they now know where it was because it uh was found within the administrative District of hipo hippos uh in the major city of decapus was which is right next to this uh that is going going on here right in the text all right the reason why I am bringing this to your attention is because this location has been found and this location lines up perfectly with our text about 2 miles south of gessa a ridge extends from the Eastern slopes of decapus practically to the lake of Galilee The Ridge terminates in a steep embankment and fits the the destion of Mark 5 verse number 13 because if the swine go Rush down the Steep Bank into the sea the swine have to be near the sea uh some of the other locations they found with that particular name where was five miles and sometimes 30 mil Inland that was that would not go along with the text so that’s why they think that um this is the place and I believe it is so they found it so second thing I want to bring up before I have a word of prayer is that this demon possessed man that we’re going to look at it says in verse number two when he got out of the boat immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean Spirit met him and he had been dwelling among the tombs and no one was able to bind him anymore even with a chain that this man was banished to the tombs because of uncleanness and tombs were chambers that had been yed out of rock walls or the sides of cliffs matter of fact if you go to the middle least you’ll find all over the place there’s all these holes in the mountain and that’s really tombs uh where they would bury the dead so this man uh was banished to that particular place by the lake uh from and of course because of that people would stay away from that area so certain tombs had been abandoned and provided the dens for the demoniacs to live in these unclean places of the dead so the Old Testament law said contact with a the dead would defile a person for seven days in fact Numbers Chapter 19 says the person shall be cut off from the nation of Israel who touches a corpse and shall be unclean for seven days and then they had to go through some cleansing ritual so again we’re looking at a place that is unclean we have a man filled that is a a demon who is unclean and so everything about this place is unclean another thing about this demon-possessed man is that he’s a ferocious he’s he’s pictured as a ferocious animal this man had Supernatural strength and insanely destructive Behavior avior attempts had been made to chain this dangerous de demoniac without success and the supernatural strength is expressed in negative terms like in verse number three where it says no one was able to bind him and then verse number four no one was strong enough to subdue him that the demoniac was free to ram wild and naked day and night amongst the tombs and in the mountains and human power was unable to do anything to control him he was an evil force that could not be tamed at all whatsoever it is possible it is possible that the demon was trying to get the man to commit suicide by cutting and bruising himself with stone in order to end his horrible existence if you notice what it tells us in the word of God at the end of verse verse number five constantly day and night he was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains and nashing himself with stones or cutting himself with stones you know people uh are involved with cutting themselves today uh while demon had a corner on that market so uh it comes from him because he wants to destroy human beings we already know from scripture that Satan has a dubious dangerous character and tries to deface and Destroy anything that bears the image of God or his creation that Satan is a murderer of human beings while Jesus is their savior in fact in John chter 8 Jesus said to a bunch of Jewish people you are of your father the devil and you want to do the desires of your father he was a murderer from the beginning and he does not stand in truth because there is no truth in him when he whenever he speaks he speaks a lie he speaks from his own nature for he is a liar and the father of Lies so the Bible reveals to us the character of of Satan himself now now almost all wild animals can be tamed but this man after many tries and many different restraints could not be brought under control naturally his ferocious action and destructive abusive Behavior struck Terror into anyone who came near him so the word was out in that region don’t go wandering in that area don’t take your boats and get off the beach in that area stay clear from it and that’s exactly what people did but it was to this very dangerous place that Jesus lands his vessel the Providence of God brought on this demonic Encounter With Jesus before the wide eyed disciples who were still processing the essential question that the storm had brought up in their mind who then verse number 41 of chapter 4 who then is this that even the wind and the Sea obey him they were still trying to think that through and they are pondering that Jesus is look looking a lot like the Old Testament how the Old Testament describes God and they’re thinking is Jesus God is he the anointed Messiah is he it sure looks like they haven’t concluded that yet but it sure looks like so the purpose this morning of this narrative is not about us it is about revealing the character of Jesus Christ in this narrative we will see the Majestic preeminence of Christ we will see the Magnificent power and authority of Christ we will see Christ as the merciful Miracle Worker and we will see Christ pushing His Marvelous Mission and getting the gospel out that’s what we’ll see and so let’s look at that this morning because we need to know more about Christ also today let’s pray Lord this morning I do ask you that you would enable us to be absorbed in the truth of this text so Lord we can understand who you are we can understand your power we can understand that only God can do these things and that we would we would worship you and we would praise you and we would follow you with great confidence that you are who you say you are and you have done everything that you said you would do and for for that Lord we want to praise you make us aware of these things in Christ’s name amen let’s look at the first thing and that is found in verse number six and that is the Majestic preeminence of Christ in verse six and seven it says in verse number six seeing Jesus from a distance well let me let me uh remind you that in verse number two when Jesus was not even out of the boat yet immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean Spirit met him and he had because he had been dwelling in the tombs no one could bind him verse number five constantly day and night he was screaming among nashing himself with stones and then verse six see seeing Jesus from a distance he ran up and bowed down before him now this is an incredible thing why is it incredible because this man could be bound by no human being by no strength by no kind of shackles that were formed in those days the demoniac knows who Jesus is this demonic encounter with jesus takes place in a place that is unclean and all the feeble efforts of trying to restrain him this Untamed man never happens but now something unparalleled happens he just sees Jesus and he runs up and bows down before him now the the demoniac for sure knows who Jesus is that the will and the power of Jesus did not allow him the demon to run away and hide but the demon came and Drew Drew near and prostrated himself before the feet of Jesus Christ it says that he bowed down before him now don’t mistake this for real adoration this is not adoration this is a mere bowing that is necessitated by the power and position of a superior the demons are recognizing that Jesus is superior to them Jesus is the Supreme Master of the Demon World demons must obey him he is the cre Creator and they are the creatures and creatures in fact creatures that are still in Rebellion to uh jesus’ Authority in fact the Demonic yelling with all his might at Jesus while he’s bowing down before him is not the conduct of honor and respect but a vicious Spirit if you look at verse 7 it says and shouting in the middle of the verse and shouting with a loud voice and said what business do we have with each other Jesus Son of the most high the demoniac expresses the humanity of Jesus by referring to his name Jesus and then he expresses the deity of Jesus by calling him the son of the most high God that is showing something very very important that Jesus is preeminent over the demons and the demons are definitely acting that way they have no power in the presence of Jesus they must bow down to him in fact the term used here in scripture is an Old Testament term that shows often shows the suprem the supremacy of Israel’s God over all pagan gods we find that one demon is speaking for all the other demons and the demons ask Jesus a question and the question is what business do we have with each other Jesus the son of the most high God and then the end of the verse it says I implore you I singular I implore you by God do not torment me now this is this is something that you don’t see everywhere the demons try to to get Jesus to swear because the very word I implore you is TR trying to get Jesus to swear that he’s going to do something for them so the spokesman for the demons tries very very hard to get Jesus to swear that he would not torment them now now did you get that the very presence of Jesus and him commanding the demons to leave in verse number eight it says for he had been saying to him that means soon as Jesus got out of the boat Jesus already was saying to the demon leave leave the man so now in verse number eight because it gave us some background it it says for he had been saying to him come out of the mount man you unclean Spirit see the very presence of Jesus caused the demon to be stricken with fear so he implores Jesus by appealing to God’s mercy for he says listen don’t he he it says in scripture here I implore you by God don’t torment me please you I know your mercy I know your compassion and so that’s what they do they appeal to his Mercy in a parallel passage of scripture if you’d like to turn there in Matthew back to Matthew chapter 8 verse 29 this is the same story in Matthew chapter 8 notice what it says in verse number excuse me ma Matthew 8:29 it says and they cried out saying what business do we have with each other Son of God have you come here to torment torment us before the time Matthew Matthew adds a little bit more information for us there all right so the demons feared that a part of jesus’ mission was to dismiss them to their place that jesus’ mission is not just to defeat one demon but to lay waste the entire demonic power structure that’s what the cross is going to do this is surely born out of other p mage of scripture that say God’s son appeared for this purpose that he might destroy the works of the devil so the demon understands in God’s Plan of Redemption God has appointed a day when Satan will be bound and all the forces of Hell will be crushed once and for all that day is coming his power is being curtailed all along but a day is coming where demons will be judged also and they will be sent away into the Lake of Fire forever and ever and all who did not believe in Christ will be sent there with him so their days are numbered and they know it but they know this too their days are not numbered yet that day is coming so the demons the demon spokeman actually negotiates for more time the preeminence of Jesus displayed in his ability to restrain violence and get demons to tremble remember what James says you believe in God you believe that God is one you do well the demons also believe and they what they shudder they tremble in fact the word means to be struck with extreme fear to be horrified that’s how they they are in the presence of Jesus Christ because Jesus reminds them of judgment he reminds them that they’re not going to get away with anything they will be judged completely and fully so the preeminence of Jesus Christ Rises to the top over all demons now second that brings us to the second characteristic of Jesus it’s the Magnificent power and authority of Jesus for in verse number eight it says Jesus command of course when Jesus commands the demons they must leave at once he says in verse eight for he had been saying come out of the man that’s a command you unclean spirit that the demons as created beings had no choice than to obey the voice and command of their creator and their judge that Jesus Christ Jesus the strong Son of God prevails over e evil and binds the strong man as already mentioned in mark chapter 3 and verse number 27 but in this section of scripture in verse number 9 and 10 we see the demonstration of a king’s Mastery and what do I mean by that ltic says it says he was asking him what is your name Jesus was asking and he said to him my name is Legion for we are many in verse number nine and he began to implore him earnestly not to send them out of the country in other words anybody who would have been a place to say what your name has Authority how many people go around asking you what’s your name with authority usually when you get stopped by a police officer they may ask you what is your name right and you give them your license and stuff and why can they do that because they have Authority or a judge in the courtroom will ask you what is your name and you tell him your name why because he has authority to ask that but how many people do that but in this case in that at that time if you had Authority you would ask someone what is your name and he says my name is Legion for we are many see for your information a legion that’s a number consisted of 6,000 men some say 5,600 or it would be considered a large host see it it’s a chilling reminder that the number and power and intention of demons is a reality demons are fallen angels and Powerful Spiritual Beings they are never up to anything good so in other words Jesus Takes full control the non-con conversation that is going on here and he intends to expose the demons before the disciples because Jesus knew he was not just dealing with one demon he was dealing with a legion of demons so again we have something that the disciples are beginning to see here wow Jesus has nobody can bind this they thought one demon now Jesus has authority over thousands of demons with no issue and no problem at all so the demons begged Jesus not to banish them to the abyss in verse 10 and he began to implore them erly not to send them out of the country now of course to send them out of the country is another way Luke chapter 8 says it this way we implore him not uh to send us away to the the abyss and the abyss was actually a place like hell and the abyss was the holding place is the holding place for demons before the final judgment hell is actually a holding place for human Souls before the final judgment when those places will be emptied out in the final judgment and the Lord will judge both demon and humans and then like in Revelation 20 then those who are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire that’s the second death that’s going to take place so the what’s interesting here is that Jesus did not command the demons to go into the abyss because they had a request he actually gave them permission to do what they asked at verse number 11 now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain the demons implored him saying send us into the swine so that we may enter them Jesus gave them permission and coming out the unclean spirits entered the swine and the herd rushed down the Steep BL Bank into the sea and about 2,000 of them and they were drowned or choked in the sea they were drowned in the sea so Jesus did not send them to the abyss he gave them the request to go enter into the pigs now just for your information this region would have been mostly Gentile a mixture of Jew and Gentile some assume that the country was Gentile and the owners of the Hogs were pagans however some have discovered that the Eastern shore of the lake was in the authority of Phillip and was part of the Jewish land the land of the Gans was some say Jewish territory that means the owners of the pigs could have been Jewish now if so what were Jews doing hurting pigs could it also be that the demoniac was being used by them as a deterrent to keep people out of the area so they would not find out about their forbidden hog raising business we cannot be sure but the evidence seems to lean that way in fact the Old Testament gives warning to Jews in both oral and written law that they are forbade of uh by of rearing swine the mishna outright says that’s the the the Jewish written uh law apart from the scripture none may rear swine anywhere so it was completely forbidden of for Jews to even of course eat let alone have a business providing food or work uh sacrifices for other Pagan religions and uh for others we don’t know though definitely so why did Jesus allow the demons to enter the heart of pigs well there’s two plausible reasons and I I believe both of them are are uh are included together the first one is that Jesus recognized that the time of the ultimate vanquishment of the Demonic principalities and Powers had not yet come Jesus must wait for the appointed time just like anyone a second thing is that Jesus allowed the demons to enter the swine to indicate Beyond question that their real purpose was the total Destruction of their Host this man if left in that condition would have died and most likely he would have pushed him to the brink to commit suicide Satan is behind suicide because he wants to kill God’s image he wants to bring people to the place where they see they have no hope that all the Avenues have been exhausted and he never brings in the light of the Gospel he would never do that see Jesus I mean Satan is about protecting his own territory he cares nothing about anything else he’s about building his kingdom and keeping his kingdom remember Jesus has come in and he is plundering the king om of Satan taking Souls from him so it is only Jesus who overpowers Satan and takes his possessions away Jesus then is the great disruption in a world controlled by Satan Jesus overcomes Satan’s kingdom plunders it and then enables Believers to be released from his captivity now don’t get me wrong not all people are demon possessed yet according to Ephesians 2 by Nature all people are ruled by dark and Sinister forces everyone is Satan is the ruler of this world principalities and Powers work behind the scenes behind government you think all the stuff that’s happening today all the rulings that coming out of uh our Supreme Court and and our non non you know our Congress that’s saying nothing you think that’s not him manipulating things he’s manipulating things he’s behind the scenes that’s what he’s doing and he he fears the church he fears Believers because Believers have the truth we are still plundering his kingdom but remember Satan’s Mission his goals in his mission is to destroy us because we bear God’s image he it is to overthrow the kingdom of God it is to regain control of what he still possesses it’s to regain lost territory his strategies are to Tice us to sin to in hinder our spiritual disciplines to misrepresent God and the truth to keep you from the truth to to oppose our sanctification that the spirit of God is producing and his devices are his devices are strategies but different devices and methods that he’s used like it says in Corinthians chapter 2 so that no Advantage would be taken of us by Satan for we are not ignorant of his schemes who are not ignorant of schemes the church the people who are following the word of God are not ignorant of it schemes because it’s only in the Bible that reveals who he is and what his schemes are and what his goals are so the church has to know its enemy and not be ignorant of the Unseen spiritual realm remember though Satan is not all knowing he cannot be present EV everywhere Satan is stronger than we are and is a form formidable en enemy against but us but he is not God he’s not equivalent to God he’s scared of us because we have the spirit of God in us and we have the word of God he cannot no longer get a hold of us he cannot get his hands on us we are protected by Christ it’s just like in the testimony of the man that spoke this morning he realized that he was delivered from Satan see the Devil is a slanderer who deliberately advances his false charges is against God and his people so what are Christians to do are they to cast him out no are they to rebuke him no are they to exercise him no are they to bind him no we have no power and authority to do that we are in scripture exhorted to resist him how do we do that we resist him only in the truth as we submit to God and stand in strength then the devil flees for a season until then we we get we we continue to grow in the truth and we become more skillful with the sword of the spirit to resist the attempts to oppose God’s word and to interject falsehoods into our mind don’t ever forget Believers we are no longer under the Dominion of Satan no matter and he wants us to think that we are still under his Dominion we are not so God’s recipe for right living begins with right thinking we are better equipped to thwart the adversary when we are nourished by sound Doctrine by scripture scripture Transforming Our mind scripture guiding our path scripture showing us the potholes scripture giving us the wisdom of God Scripture turning on the spotlights to everything that’s going on and giving us a world view that’s God’s view of the world so living in and for the truth does have a jagged Ed Edge to it God does not promises promise US health wealth and that everything will be fine because we are Kingdom Kids no living for and proclaiming the truth will put the World the Flesh and the Demonic Realm against the Disciples of Jesus Christ and that’s in a sense what Jesus is teaching his disciples here that demons are real and they’re against God’s people but we have won the victory in Jesus Christ all right now let’s go on to the third characteristic verse 14 to verse 17 and we see the merciful Miracle of Jesus and the people’s response now back up to verse well before I get to verse number 14 and we see the swine the swin herders report we will find that the the people saw this Untamed wild ferocious demon-possessed man now tame now calm now clothe now rational they saw a redeemed demoniac they saw the fruit of the Redemptive Touch of Christ Jesus brought calm to chaos and Sanity to Insanity you know according to the wisdom of Solomon insanity is an observable trait within the fabric of sinful humanity is it not in fact this is what Ecclesiastes says this is an evil in all that is done under the sun that there is one fate for all men furthermore the hearts of the sons of men are full of evil and insane insanity is in their hearts throughout their lives afterwards they go to the dead afterwards they die so in a very real sense a person can be considered somewhat insane until they come to Christ and they be begin to see more clearly what God has done and will continue to see more plainly as they are transformed by the word of God see The Narrative of the demoniac man from the country of the Gans surely demonstrates this look at verse number 14 it says this their herdsmen ran away and reported in the city and in the country and the people came to see what it was that had happened they came to Jesus and and observed the man who had been demon possessed sitting down clothed and in his right mind the very man who had had the legion and they became frightened so here it is Jesus Mercy to a demon possessed man a legion of demons Jesus comes into the area he commands the demons to leave they leave and what is left a man who’s sane spiritually sane he’s sitting down he’s clothed he’s in his right mind see jesus’ Mercy went out to a man who had been held captive in pain and Shame by evil spirits and for Jesus one man ‘s Deliverance is worth more than the loss of 2,000 pigs what Mercy is that for Jesus to go to such an extent to save one man this man like us are by Nature slaves to evil we are not free we are not bent we are actually bent towards self-destruction we’re in Inc capable of breaking the powers which have bound us it is Christ Alone who can break the power of sin and Satan in our lives and set us free to serve God and that’s the point he’s the only one who could do it so what is the response to God’s mercy to this man amongst the locals in verse number 15 it says this they became frightened remember After the Storm did the disciples become frightened yes they became frightened about what who the who is this guy see when the Holy is manifested in the midst of Unholy people the appropriate human response is dread when a holy God comes into the life of a person they don’t continue to do what they’re doing they tremble because they realize what Holiness is and then something else happened to these people they were actually quite angry now it could be they’re angry for several reasons Jesus messed up their lucrative industry they have no more pigs anymore to sell they have no more income so they’re angry look at verse number 16 and 17 those who had seen it described it to them how it had happened to the demon-possessed man and all about the swine verse 17 and they began to implore him to leave their region they did not want Jesus around that should that’s the case most of the time either you want Jesus around or you don’t you can’t have both you got that there’s no middle ground you have you got to have either Jesus and follow him and serve him or you don’t want him around and in a sense if you don’t want him here why would you want him after you die if you don’t want to follow him now why would you want to spend etern eternity with him in heaven why doesn’t make any sense if somebody thinks like that but that’s how people think I can live my life the way I want to live it I can sin the way I want to sin and I could go to heaven because I was a good person no sorry that’s not what Jesus says but that brings me to another characteristic of Jesus his mission the mission The Marvelous mission of Jesus look at verse number 18 see once the man is now sane what does he want to do the people don’t want Jesus but the man wants to go with Jesus that’s the natural thing I want to be with Christ right look what it says in verse number 15 or excuse me verse number 7 18 it says and he was getting into the boat and the man who had been demon possessed was imploring him that he might accompany him look at verse number 19 and he did not let him Jesus would not let this man go with them now let me just step back for a minute he was a first generation Christian matter of fact he was the first to be saved in his region could you imagine if you were the first saved in this whole country and you knew you were because you believed the truth and the spirit of God was in you and you it was the of God was already teaching you rapidly see he didn’t want to stay there amongst all this unclean stuff he wanted out of there he wanted to go with Jesus and that’s why a lot of people they they get saved out of a life of sin and immediately they they would rather be with Jesus but see Jesus doesn’t always take us right away does he most of the time he doesn’t he leaves us here why does he leave us here right sometimes it’s I think it’s easier to die for Christ than to live for Christ it’s hard to live a Christian Life not easy I I haven’t found it easy at all it’s getting harder every day there’s pressures all around us he doesn’t want want to be left alone amongst his countrymen he knows his countrymen but he saw Jesus and he didn’t see someone to fear he saw someone to love he saw saw the mercy of Christ he experienced conversion so it was a reasonable request however Jesus did not permit the man to go with him instead what did he do Jesus commanded him to go to your own people report to them what great things the Lord Has Done look at who it says in verse number 19 who is he who is he to report to that means redeemed people have a report to give they have a testimony to give and verse number 19 he said to them go home to your people and report to them see there is a group of people to go to and then secondly what is he to report in verse number 19 what great things the Lord has done for you and how he had mercy on you you know what Mercy is Right Mercy is is God not giving you what you do deserve that’s what Mercy is and what did he deserve he deserved to be killed by the demons and go to hell but God’s mercy snatched him God’s mercy rescued him because that’s what the Messiah does he rescues people he rescues people from the clutches of Satan and from the condemnation and bondage of their sin that’s what he does so there’s a there’s a basic principle that underlies these commands that Jesus gives to this this new converted demoniac the first is this a person is not delivered from bondage merely for his own enjoyment of god-given freedom and secondly the person is also delivered in order to give testimonies to others concerning the Divine deliverer Jesus Christ therefore this cured demoniac was urged to broadcast his story to his people in that region and not go with Jesus and what is amazing don’t have time to go there now what is amazing is that in Mark 15 and in Mark 7 that region of decapus look at verse number 20 of Mark chapter 5 it says and when he went away he began to Proclaim in decapus what great things Jesus Jus had done for him and everyone was amazed by time you get to the place where Jesus comes back around and goes into that area and has him and his disciples preach there’s great crowds following I wonder why why were the Great C crowds maybe because when this man went out with this message people began to get saved they began to repent and believe in Jesus Christ and to enter the kingdom of God they began to have the spirit of God indwell them in other words they became real Believers and they had something to say they had something to tell someone this is not oh I’m religious now no not at all this goes way deeper than that so how did how did you become a Christian please don’t tell me that you have always believed and so conclude that you have always been a Christian please don’t do that do you know that that cannot be true or the very thought of conversion loses its meaning in order for anyone to become a Christian something has to happen to them something has to take place in them so no matter what happens we cannot make ourselves Christians you cannot make yourself a Christian Christi no one can make themselves a Christian no one can deliver themselves from the condemnation of sin and the clutches of Satan people become Christians when the holy spirit of God comes in power and brings the truth of God’s word home to your hearts in a particular way in which the truth about Jesus Christ is expressed his death his burial his resurrection what he did on the cross and when you believe that well when that happens it’s when you realize your true condition and standing before God that all your accumulated righteousness and religiosity is useless it is garbage it cannot save you you realize how wrong you have been about Jesus and see how much you need to be saved by Jesus Christ the righteous one that the Holy Spirit shows you that Jesus Christ came into the world to save Sinners and that the world is in a state of sin and that include you and I you then realize you need to repent repent of your unbelief and turn to Jesus Christ in complete submission confessing your sin and sins to him then with childlike faith Faith a person receives Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior and you know what God does he saves you and the next thing you do you get ready for baptism that’s the next thing you do so see becoming a Christian means to undergo a complete change a change in thinking a change in Action a change in Direction you were dead you are now alive you were lost you are now found you were blind you now see you are an enemy of God now you are a born you are born again to God into God’s family you are insane now you’re sane that’s what a Christian is so have no fear jesus takes care of the Demonic realm and he does it by his Majestic preeminence over demons his M magnificent power and authority over demons and then he rescues those under demonic influence by his mercy and Grace found in the gospel and then he send you and I out into the world to tell our families and to tell our friends about Jesus Christ and to preach to them the gospel of the kingdom and then when we do that other people get born again other people come into the kingdom and the kingdom and the church grows and grows see that’s what he’s telling them but it’s not without a struggle it’s not without a fight and we’re in that battle we’re in that struggle but Jesus is the vi Victorious one I just ask has anyone here today not been rescued by him yet today may be the day you get rescued by Christ today is the day and if you are rescued by Christ you have everything to praise him about you realize that you have everything to give him glory every day every day you wake up you have something to thank God about because of what he’s done for you see we we are not without praise and without Thanksgiving and now without rejoicing we are not without any of those things in fact in the last verse of scripture it says when he gave testimony to the his family members and to the locals they were amazed amazement always brings some kind of result because they’ll say I want to hear more about this wow this is incredible but that’s Jesus Christ that’s who he is and if he’s your lord and savior thank him live for him serve him do it every day wherever you go you live under the eyes of God and I pray that you would live that way forever until you see him face to face and I see him face to face then we will really Rejoice so until then let’s pray Lord I Thank you this morning again for the incredible word of God thank you Lord how the word of God Bears testimony of who you are and it does it with Incredible accur accuracy it does it within narrative and real life situations it does it in a way that we still can Proclaim it with power and the demonstration of the spirit of God I pray Lord today that if there is someone here that has not been rescued by Christ today they would come and ask Christ to rescue them from the clutches of the enemy and from the condemnation of their sin and they I pray they would come and believe in you as their lord and savior and you would grant them eternal life you would grant them faith and repentance that they may believe and be saved I pray for that Lord and for those who are I pray Lord that you would not allow us to fall into despair of the things that are going on in the world but help us to be encouraged every day by what you’re doing in your plan and Lord please open our mouth to speak the gospel to our family and friends that we haven’t spoken to yet Lord don’t allow our tongue to be tied allow us to speak if we know you allow us to speak you left us to speak and I pray Lord that we would know the gospel to be able to speak and that we depend on the spirit of God In Prayer to give the message to people and I pray Lord that you would save our family and friends thank you for the ones you have saved Lord continue to use us till the day we die continue to allow us to speak forth the Gospel of Jesus Christ like like this man did and I pray when we do people would be amazed because they never heard it before and I pray as they are encouraged in that way they would come to ask more questions and we can answer them and they would become your disciples and come into your church and get baptized and make Proclamation about what the great things you have done thank you for your mercy and Grace and I pray it in Christ’s name amen