Power Over Evil

Good morning. My name is Matthew Capone and I'm the pastor here at Cheyenne Mountain Presbyterian Church.

And it's my joy to bring God's word to you. A special welcome if you're new or visiting with us.

We're glad that you're here. And we're glad that you're here not because we're trying to fill seats,

but because we're following Jesus together as one community.

And as we follow Jesus together, we become convinced that there's no one so good.

They don't need God's grace and no one so bad that they can't have it.

That's why we come back week after week to hear what God has to say to us in his word.

We're continuing our series in the Gospel of Mark.

You'll remember that the Gospels tell the story of Jesus and his life and his death and his resurrection.

And our stories from last week and this week serve as a pair. They're meant to go together.

Last week showed that Jesus is the one who has power and control over nature.

We're following that up with this week's story, which shows that he has power and control over evil and demonic forces.

And so these two stories are meant to pair together as twins to demonstrate that Jesus' control and power is over everything.

It's over nature and the world. It's over evil and the demons.

As we come to the Gospel, we're continuing to ask the same two questions.

We ask over and over. Question one, who is Jesus?

And question two, how do we respond to him?

As we saw last week, and we'll see again in chapter 8, these are not questions that we are bringing outside and imposing them on the text.

They're actually questions that are coming from inside the Gospel that we're bringing out.

We saw that last week in verse 41 when they ask this question,

Who then is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

That's the question they ask.

That's the question Jesus will ask in Mark chapter 8.

Mark 8 · chapter mention

He'll say, Who do you say that I am?

As we come to this passage, we're in Mark chapter 5, verses 1 through 20.

Mark 5:1–20

I just want to say there is a lot going on in this passage.

And I'm going to stay focused.

I'm going to try to stay focused on our two questions.

Which is another way of saying I'm going to say something, not everything.

And I'm going to warn you in advance, I'm not going to talk a lot about the pigs.

Okay? Sorry.

Everyone has theories about the pigs.

I'm not sure if anyone knows quite what's going on.

If we have any extra time, it's going to be time that I spend talking about demon possession.

Okay?

With that, we're going to jump in together.

I invite you to turn with me to Mark chapter 5.

Mark 5 · chapter mention

You can turn in your worship guide.

You can turn in your Bible.

You can turn in your phone.

No matter where you turn, remember that this is God's Word.

And God tells us that His Word is more precious than gold, even the finest gold.

And it's sweeter than honey, even honey that comes straight from the honeycomb.

And that's why we read now chapter 5, starting at verse 1.

They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes.

And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met Him out of the tombs,

a man with an unclean spirit.

He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind Him anymore, not even with a chain.

For He had often been bound with shackles and chains,

but He wrenched the chains apart, and He broke the shackles in pieces.

No one had the strength to subdue Him.

Verse 5.

Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains He was always crying out

and cutting Himself with stones.

And when He saw Jesus from afar, He ran and fell down before Him.

And crying out with a loud voice, He said,

What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God?

I adjure you by God, do not torment me.

For He was saying to him, Come out of the man, you unclean spirit.

Verse 9.

And Jesus asked him, What is your name?

He replied, My name is Legion, for we are many.

And He begged Him earnestly not to send them out of the country.

Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside.

And they begged Him, saying, Send us to the pigs.

Let us enter them.

So He gave them permission.

And the unclean spirits came out and entered the pigs.

And the herd, numbering about two thousand,

rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the sea.

Verse 14.

As he was getting into the boat,

the man who had been possessed with demons begged Him that he might be with him.

And he did not permit him, but said to him,

Go home to your friends and tell them how much the Lord has done for you

and how He has had mercy on you.

And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis

how much Jesus had done for him.

And everyone marveled.

I invite you to pray with me as we come to this portion of God's Word.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank You again that You speak to us.

You don't speak to us in a foreign language,

but You speak to us in words that we can understand and comprehend.

We ask that You would do that.

This morning, we're aware of how weak and feeble we are,

that we can't hear clearly from You without Your help.

And so we ask that You would send Your Spirit to us now,

that You'd honor Your promise.

In Isaiah 55, that Your Word will not return to you empty,

but it will accomplish what You have for it.

We ask that You would use it to accomplish Your purposes in our lives,

that You would challenge us,

You'd encourage us,

and most of all, You would show us Jesus.

We ask these things in the mighty name of Jesus Christ.

Amen.

So they say that hindsight is 20-20,

and it turns out it was a really good idea for Jesus to take a nap last week,

because as soon as He gets out of the boat after the storm,

picking up from our previous story,

things do not stop for Him.

It is this sort of non-stop action.

We see in verse 1, they come to the other side of the sea.

That's where they headed out at the end of chapter 4.

And so we're just quickly finishing last week's story

and beginning the new story for this one.

Verse 1, we see the region they're in there in the Gerasenes,

which helps us understand that Jesus is no longer in Jewish territory.

You'll remember that we were in Capernaum in the region of Galilee.

Capernaum had a synagogue in it because it was a place with lots of Jews.

Now Jesus is in this place, not with lots of Jews, but lots of Gentiles.

And He's just moving.

We see this word that's come again and again in the Gospel of Mark,

which is immediately.

It also appears here, verse 2.

Jesus steps out of the boat immediately.

There met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit.

And so Jesus is still in the same day

that started at least in the beginning of chapter 4.

He's been teaching.

He's calmed this storm.

He's taken a nap.

It's the evening.

He lands.

And the very next thing He knows,

He encounters this man with an unclean spirit.

Now I want us to pause for a minute

because we need to understand

what we are talking about when we talk about demon possession.

There are two errors that we can run into

when we start talking about demons in this world.

The first error is to believe that everything is demonic.

There's a demon hiding behind every door and in every corner.

You know, you need to say a prayer before you go

to the bathroom in the church

because there might be a demon hiding there.

That's one error.

There are just demons all over the place

and they're doing everything.

The other error that we can fall into

is to believe nothing is demonic.

There are no evil forces in the world.

Anyone who believes something like that is a little bit weird.

As Christians, we believe not in a closed universe,

but in an open universe,

which is to say we believe

there are supernatural forces in the world.

There are powerful things that we cannot see.

First error then is saying that demons always happen.

The second error is to say they never happen.

C.S. Lewis talks about this in his preface

to the Screwtape Letters when he says,

there are two equal and opposite errors

in which our race can fall about the devils.

One is to disbelieve in their existence.

The other is to believe and to feel an excessive

and unhealthy interest in them.

They themselves are equally pleased by both errors

and hail a materialist or a magician

with the same delight.

Materialist being a person who only believes

in the world that we can see.

A magician, someone who believes

that everything is magical all the time.

Okay, those are our two errors.

That doesn't answer the important question though,

which is what are we talking about

when we discuss demon possession?

People probably have all kinds of different ideas,

vague theories about what's going on,

and we need to have clarity about this.

So one man presents it this way.

When the New Testament talks about demon possession,

it is talking about not a psychological problem

of the one afflicted,

but as a matter of alien occupation.

Okay, not a psychological problem,

a matter of alien occupation.

And we've seen that already as we read this passage.

These demons are in a sense aliens

from outside this man.

I don't mean space aliens.

I mean they don't belong to him,

that live inside of him.

They have occupied his body.

It is not simply that he has

some sort of psychological problem.

It is that there is a real,

powerful, demonic presence

that has taken him over.

So when we talk about demon possession,

one of the ways we prevent

believing demons are everywhere

is understanding this definition

that it is an alien occupation.

If it's a psychological problem,

then probably all of us are demon possessed, right?

And so it's with that then

we can begin to understand

what's going on in this story.

It's not just an alien occupation,

but there are certain characteristics

that we can recognize

go along with demon possession.

I had a seminary professor

whose name was Chris Florence,

and he taught us about some of this,

and he talked about the characteristic

that we see in the Bible

of demons having this supernatural,

superhuman strength.

And he told us about his time

before he'd become a pastor

when he worked in a psych ward,

and he would meet people

who met this criteria.

They would have this basically

unexplainable strength.

That's one of the ways we know

we can suspect that we're dealing

with someone who is actually possessed.

And it's not just,

doesn't just come from this one man.

Other sources confirm this.

We see this other places in the Bible.

So for example, in Acts chapter 19,

Acts 19 · chapter mention

there's a man who's demon possessed.

He single-handedly fights seven brothers,

and he sends them away running and naked.

There is a superhuman,

unexplainable supernatural strength.

With that understanding in mind,

we're gonna jump right back into the story

because this helps us know what's going on.

If you remember from chapter four,

our previous story,

we were told, verse 35,

when Jesus sat out on the sea,

evening had already come,

which reminds us that it is nighttime now

when Jesus lands and encounters this demon.

In verses two and three,

there's this spooky setting.

The word tombs is repeated twice

to remind us we're in a place

that's filled with death and decay and despair.

That's meant to give us a feel

and in a sense, some symbolism as well

for what Jesus is encountering here.

He is in a sense in entering into the land of the dead.

He is encountering a man

who for all practical purposes might as well be dead.

He's living among the tombs, isolated and alone.

We find out verse five that he cries out night and day.

And so that might also explain

why Jesus is encountering this demon-possessed man at night.

It sounds like he never sleeps.

Maybe that's it.

No, I'm just kidding.

And so there's high tension here in the story.

We, if we're familiar with the Bible,

may know how this ends,

but I want you to think for a second

how you would feel

if you were reading this for the first time.

One of your questions might be this,

what is going to happen to Jesus?

Here's this man.

We've heard, we've learned he can't be bound.

Is Jesus going to get hurt?

And in fact, we know here this sign

checks out for this man

because he does have this supernatural strength.

Verse three,

no one could bind him anymore,

not even with a chain.

So he's strong enough.

He's able to break chains.

Verse four,

he had often been bound with shackles and chains,

but he wrenched the chains apart

and he broke the shackles in pieces.

No one had the strength to subdue him.

And so what we're discussing here

is a type of strength

that's at least a few standard deviations higher

than ripping a phone book, right?

He is beyond that strong man territory.

This is a man who rips,

not phone books, but chains.

No one is able to bind him.

That is the tension that we feel in this story

because Jesus is coming up

against this extremely dangerous and volatile man.

In fact, it sounds like from the story

that Jesus does not cast out this demon immediately.

We jump here, verses seven and eight,

we're actually not told the beginning of the story.

We come into it at the middle of the story

because we're told Jesus, verse eight,

was saying to him,

come out of the man, you unclean spirit.

In other words,

Jesus seems to be having this process

of saying to this man,

perhaps multiple times,

that the spirit needs to come out.

In verse seven,

he names Jesus as the son of the most high God.

Let's pause for a second.

Remember when we talked about

the last time this happened in chapter one,

one of the power of the demonic struggle

is to know someone's name.

And so in calling Jesus by name,

this demon is probably trying to gain

some sort of advantage over him.

Jesus, however, is much more powerful than that.

It does not work on him

in the same way it did not work in chapter one.

But it helps us understand why,

verse nine, Jesus asks him his name.

And he replies,

my name is Legion, for we are many.

Now this isn't a coincidence.

Legion would have been a military unit.

Reminds us that Jesus is in

a sort of military struggle here.

He is taking part in the cosmic war

between good and evil.

He is in a very serious battle

with demonic forces.

And they know that Jesus is more powerful.

And so as he tells them to get out,

verses 10 through 13,

the demons enter into these peace talks with Jesus.

They know they're not going to win.

And so they want to at least

have a surrender that helps them.

Verse 10, they don't want to go out of the country.

And so they present this solution.

If you let us go into the pigs,

that will be satisfactory for us.

And so Jesus here,

he finds that to be a good compromise.

He lets them go into the pigs.

The pigs rush into the sea and they're drowned.

That's verse 13.

Now we could get caught up in the pigs.

Lots of people have lots of different ideas

about what's going on with the pigs.

If we focus on the pigs,

we have missed the point of this passage.

The point is not the pigs.

The point is this man who Jesus meets

frees from the power and forces of evil

and sets in his right mind.

In other words,

the point here is not verse 13.

It is verse 15.

Verse 15, we find out why this is such

an incredible and supernatural event.

Because the people from the surrounding towns

come in to see what's been happening with Jesus

and this man as word spreads

and they see something frightening.

The demon-possessed man,

the one who had the legion sitting there,

clothed and in his right mind.

The pigs, in a sense, are a minor detail.

The major theme is that Jesus has taken this man

who was living among tombs,

isolated and alone,

who might have otherwise been dead,

unable to be bound,

and a pariah in the culture around him.

And he has made him to sit calm,

not crying out day and night,

clothed, finally, rather than naked,

and in his right mind.

Verse 15 is the point of this passage.

As we ask our question,

who is Jesus,

we see Jesus is not just the one

who controls the world.

Jesus is also the one who restores people.

His power is not just for the calming of storms

on seas from last week.

It is also taking people and restoring them

to bear the image of God more and more.

He is taking people and restoring them

to what we read in Genesis chapter one,

that they were made in the image of God

with dominion over the creation.

This man, more than ever before,

is able to image God in a powerful way.

And we can assume as he moves forward,

he will be able more and more

to exercise dominion in this world.

Jesus is the one with power,

not just over creation.

Jesus is the one who restores

and reconciles and redeems individual people.

Jesus takes people and sets them

that they are clothed and in their right mind.

I want you to see, though,

not just Jesus' power,

as incredible as it is,

also Jesus' compassion.

In his divinity,

we see his compassion

simply in the fact

that he moves towards the oppressed

and those in bondage.

Yes, Jesus has the power to free this man.

No, he doesn't have to.

And he does.

In Jesus' humanity,

we also see his compassion.

Remember that this has all happened in one day.

Jesus has been teaching

probably since early in the morning

out in a boat all through chapter four.

Then he gets into the boat.

He's trying to take a nap

and there's a great storm

and his disciples are frustrated with him.

They wake him up

and he has to control nature.

Then he makes it to this other shore

at the evening.

It's probably dark at this point.

And Jesus chooses to then,

after all of that,

engage with this demon.

Jesus' compassion,

both in his divinity

and his humanity,

as he stretches his humanity

to the breaking point.

Jesus doesn't just have the power

to restore people.

Jesus actually does it.

Jesus comes to those

who are in bondage,

those who are filled with shame,

those who are isolated and alone,

and he sets them free.

Now, there's a question for us

about what we're gonna do

with this passage,

and we have a problem,

which is that,

on the one hand,

this is a true story, right?

This is not just some kind

of metaphor or analogy.

Jesus actually healed a man.

He cast out demons

from someone who is possessed.

And I am not currently aware

of anyone in our church community

at Cheyenne Mountain

who is possessed by a demon.

Even more than that,

I'm not aware of anyone right now

outside of our community

who's possessed by a demon.

What in the world

does this passage

have to do with us?

This is actually a question

that I'm asking about

how do we read the Bible?

How do we read stories

that don't directly talk

about our context

and our situation?

I believe you talked

about this a little bit,

those of you who are with

Jim Franks in Sunday School,

about how we come

to these sorts of passages.

And here's what we do.

We look at a specific situation,

we draw out a general principle,

we apply that general principle

to our specific situation.

There's a bridge in other words.

We do not frequently share

the exact situation

of the characters in the Bible,

especially in the Old Testament.

And so we're always pulling out principles

and reapplying them

to new situations.

Principle here.

However,

there is this controlling power

of evil in the world,

Jesus is more powerful.

There are real evil

and demonic forces

in this world

and we don't have to fear them

because of Jesus' power

and his compassion.

Not all people

are demon-possessed

and all people

are slaves to evil

apart from Christ.

Not all people

are demon-possessed

and all people

are slaves to evil

apart from Christ.

This is what Ephesians 2,

Ephesians 2:1

verse 1 tells us.

We're dead

in our sins

and our trespasses,

which is a way of saying

that outside of God

and his intervention

in our lives,

we are spiritually dead.

We might as well

be possessed

by many demons

living among tombs,

crying out night and day

by ourselves.

There are places

where we are not

in our right minds

because of sin.

And so, yes,

not everyone

is demon-possessed.

Everyone lives

in a world

with evil

and evil forces.

And Jesus comes

to you and me

as people

who would otherwise

be in the bondage

of sin,

spiritually dead,

and he also

exercises his power

and authority

and control over evil.

He also comes

and sets us

to be clothed

and free

in our right minds.

We are also freed

from the power

and bondage of sin.

For some of us,

that's the freedom

of being able

to finally say

that we are sober.

That is a form

of being in your right mind,

whether it is being

addicted to a substance,

whether it's sobriety

that comes from a time

when you were enslaved

to sexual sin,

whether it's pornography

or something else.

You've had seasons

of fighting

in community

with others,

confessing sin

in transparency,

working forward

as God is at work

in your life

with his people

and by his spirit.

And you know

the peace

and the joy

that comes

from being free

from the bondage

of addiction.

And if you've experienced

that,

you know exactly

what I'm talking about.

You know what it's like

to feel like

you are finally clothed

and in your right mind.

Maybe for you,

it's not sobriety

and addiction,

but you have been

a person who's enmeshed

in relationships

with no boundaries

and you've found

that the fear

of God

is what shrinks

and weakens

the fear

and the love

of man.

Maybe it's being freed

from the power

of evil

that makes you

feel like you

always have

to justify

yourself.

You're the sort

of person

who always

has the last word

in every discussion

because of your

insecurity

and your shame.

You have to control

every situation.

You can never

be at rest

or at peace.

You think

that it makes

you strong,

but instead

it reveals

how fragile

and weak

you actually are

and you don't

realize the toll

that it's taken

on you

and your relationships.

You believe

you have to hold

the world together

and there's a pile

of bodies behind you

to prove it.

And so sitting

clothed

and in your right mind

is being able

to sit still

and be at peace

even when being

misunderstood.

It's being able

to have the relief

and breathing room

that comes

from being willing

to repent

and know

and admit

when you're wrong.

Not occasionally

wrong,

but frequently wrong.

It's the ability

to say that you

messed things up,

especially to those

who have less power

than you.

It's the ability

to say you don't

know everything.

When we come

together every Sunday

morning and we

confess our sins,

when we confess

our sins throughout

the week and in

worship,

the invitation is

for you to come

and to finally be

in your right mind.

It is to finally

be in touch

with reality.

When we speak

our sins out loud

to God

and one another,

there is a sense

in which it breaks

the power

and the bondage

of that sin

in our lives.

It is one of the

tools that God

has given us

to restore us

to our right minds.

This man,

despite his possession,

is coming

to admit

his need

to God.

We're in our right

minds

and as we

understand

God's reality

and his power.

We're in our

right minds

as we understand

the twins

of grief

and relief

that go together.

On the one hand,

we grieve

recognizing our sin

and letting go

of the lies

that we've believed.

And on the other hand,

we have the relief

that comes

from knowing

that we're not

the ones

who hold

the world together,

but God does.

We have the relief

that comes

from knowing

that we can be

human and admit

our imperfections

and sin

and rebellion.

We have the relief

from no longer

having to keep

the game

and charade

and act together

of being always

perfect

and always competent.

We have the relief

that comes

from struggling

with sin

and our appetites,

not being a slave

to sin

and our appetites.

Jesus comes.

He sets us

so that we can be

clothed

and in our right minds.

I had a friend

in college

who had a

radical

transformation

and in his encounter

with Jesus

and afterwards,

he went back

on his computer

and he looked

at the old list

of all the bookmarks,

all the sites

that he had gone through.

Now, I don't think

there was anything

salacious there,

but he was shocked

by his previous self

because there were

ideologies

and communities

that had been

so attractive

to him

and now

in his right mind,

they didn't even

make sense.

He wasn't even sure

why it was

that those things

had appealed

to him

so much

because Jesus

had come

and transformed him.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is not

just the one

who changes.

He is the one

who changes

our hearts

and minds

and lives.

Christianity

is not simply

a different

mental map,

although it is.

Christianity

is a complete

and absolute

change

and transformation

in our hearts

and our minds

and our lives.

Christianity

does not just

change the periphery

of our lives,

it changes

the center.

This is what we

talked about

a few weeks ago.

It is not an

accessory commitment,

it is a keystone

commitment.

It is something

that comes

and changes

everything.

It changes

our values

and our beliefs

and our lives.

And so this passage

tells us

that when Jesus

comes,

he gives

all of us

a radical

change.

change.

You may not

be possessed

by a demon.

And in fact,

I hope you're not.

And if you are

a Christian,

your transformation

is no less

miraculous.

Jesus has taken

you from

spiritual death

to spiritual life

by the power

of his word.

the change

that Jesus

brings in

your life

may seem

more mundane

from a worldly

perspective.

It is no

less radical.

It is no

less powerful

than what we

see here.

And if you're

a Christian,

you have had

this sort of

interaction

with Jesus

whether you

realize it

or not,

whether you

admit it

or not.

it is a

miracle

to take

someone

from spiritual

death

to spiritual

life.

Jesus

sets this

man free

from bondage

that is

no less

true of you

if you're

in him.

Jesus

has also

made you

clothed

and in your

right mind.

Jesus

and only

Jesus

is the

one who

has the

power

to do

that.

So how

do we

respond to

him?

Just like

we've seen

before,

we have

some positive

examples

and some

negative

examples.

Our negative

example here

are the

locals

who in

verse 17

after seeing

Jesus'

power,

his ability

to cast

out evil

in this

world,

ask him

to live

among them

for years

and transform

them as

well.

or not.

Verse 17,

they are

desperate for

Jesus to

leave.

Why?

Well,

Jesus

has severely

disrupted

the bacon

industry

in the

country

of the

Gerasenes.

God

has

done.

It's

time for

Jesus to

leave

before

things

get worse.

That is

all these

people are

able to

see.

They have

this

extremely

narrow

field

of vision.

They can

only see

what's

right in

front of

them.

This is

what C.S.

Lewis talks

about in

The Weight

of Glory.

He says,

It would

seem

that our

Lord finds

our desires

not too

strong but

too weak.

We are

half-hearted

creatures fooling

about with

drink and

sex and

ambition when

infinite joy is

offered us.

Like an

ignorant child who

wants to go on

making mud pies in

a slum because

he cannot imagine

what is meant by

the offer of a

holiday at the

sea.

We are far

too easily

pleased.

These folks

want to go on

making mud pies

in a slum

because that's

all they can

see.

They don't

realize that

Jesus' power is

showing them that

he's the one who

can actually bring

a holiday at the

sea.

They have let

proximate things

eclipse ultimate

things.

They have let

good things

replace the

best things.

And so they

miss out.

Jesus to them

is merely

an inconvenience.

Jesus gets in

the way of

what they want

most right

now.

The man on the

other hand gives

us a positive

example and not

just a positive

example.

He goes above

and beyond.

Jesus tells him

verse 19 he's

supposed to go

home and tell

his friends how

much the Lord has

done for you and

how he's had

mercy on you.

And so we would

expect if he's good

and obedient he

would go home.

He'd tell his

friends how much

the Lord had

done for him,

how much mercy

he had on him.

Except he

doesn't do that.

19 home and

friends.

Verse 20 he

goes throughout

the entire

Decapolis.

Decapolis is a

term deca ten

polis city.

He goes

throughout the

entire ten

city region on

a tour to

explain to

people in these

ten cities how

much Jesus has

done for him.

It is not

enough for this

man to simply

go home and

share with a

few of his

friends how

good Jesus

is.

No, he is

preparing the

way for Jesus

later in the

gospel of Mark

by going around

to ten different

cities spreading

the word to

everyone he

meets about

Jesus' goodness

and mercy and

grace.

Reminds us of

Jesus' words that

he who has been

forgiven little

loves little.

He who has been

forgiven much

loves much.

This man has

been so affected

and transformed

by Jesus' love

and power in

his life that

he can't help

himself from

going around

and telling

everyone how

good Jesus

is.

Where were

you when

Jesus found

you?

If we have

good news of

transformation

of Jesus in

our lives, we

have to remember

one of two

things.

Either where we

were when Jesus

found us.

Or if we can't

remember that, if

you never knew a

day when you

weren't following

after Jesus, ask

this, where would

you be without

him?

If you wonder

why you don't

have more joy in

your spiritual

life, this is

one of the

answers.

Joy comes

through repentance,

joy comes as

and when we

recognize our

need.

Joy comes when

we realize how

bad things were

without Jesus and

how far he's

taken us and

transformed us.

Joy comes when

we see how

great and

powerful God is

in our lives.

And so the

application here is

not to lay

guilt on us and

say we must go

and share like

this man.

man.

The application

is this, when

we know and

see and

understand how

much God has

done for us,

when we experience

the depth of his

transformation in

our lives, we

will have no

choice but to

share what he

has done.

I doubt that

this man went

home and had to

psych himself up

to go out to the

ten cities.

strategies.

I doubt that he

had to read a

book about

evangelistic strategies

so that he could

convict himself to

go out and share

about Jesus.

No, his life

transformation was

so joyful and

radical and

complete that there

was no other

option for him.

Brothers and

sisters, the same

is true for us.

We must understand

how much God has

changed us in

Christ.

we must know

that his love and

joy and

transformation, his

power over evil

and demonic forces

has come and is

true for us as

well.

If you have lived

as a Christian

your entire life,

it is easy to

forget where you

would be without

him.

And Jesus'

power, his

transformation are

no less real and

no less miraculous

for you.

Jesus has changed

your life.

we see Jesus'

power over evil

ultimately in his

death and his

resurrection.

Because it's in

Jesus' death and his

resurrection that he

puts the greatest

form of evil to

death.

He puts death to

death.

That's what 1

1 Corinthians 15 · chapter mention

Corinthians chapter 15

tells us.

For as by a man

came death, by a

man has come also

the resurrection of

the dead.

For as in Adam

all die, so also

in Christ shall all

be made alive.

For he must reign

until he has put all

his enemies under

his feet.

The last enemy to be

destroyed is death.

Who is Jesus?

Jesus is the one who

has power over evil.

And so, Jesus is the

one who frees and

restores you and

me.

How do we respond to

him?

We know what Jesus

has done for us

so that we can share

what Jesus has done

for us.

Verse 15.

And they came to

Jesus and saw the

demon-possessed man,

the one who had had

the legion sitting

there, clothed, and

in his right mind.

Let's pray.

Our Father in

heaven, we praise you

and thank you again

for the reminder from

your word of your

power, and not just

your power, but also

your compassion.

We thank you that you

use your power to set

us free.

We ask that you would

remind us this week of

the glory and the

grace of your

transformation in our

lives, that we would

be filled with the joy

that comes from that

knowledge, and we would

share it with those

around us.

We ask these things in

the mighty name of

Jesus Christ.

Amen.