“Recognizing the Spiritual Battle” - Luke 8:26–39 - Aug 24, 2025 - Pastor Scotty Brown

All righty. Well, if you got a Bible, we're going to be in the gospel of Luke. Imagine that.

We were coming off of this storm on the Sea of Galilee there where Jesus speaks. And I think I shared with you,

remember being a 23-year-old dude, and maybe I was 22, I was 22. And hearing this guy,

I say, what manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him?

And quite possibly this is the precursor to what we're seeing in the passage this morning.

And you guys can kind of figure that out as we go along.

And so I'm just going to read verses 26 through 39, and I'll try to do it and not mess up too much.

But let's pray first. Lord, we do need you to open our understanding, Lord, our hearts.

And Lord, too, that we would be quick to self-examine ourselves and also to ask you to examine our hearts to see if there be any wicked way in us, Lord, that you would lead us in the way everlasting, Lord.

And we know that we need your word to give us that direction.

And so would you do that?

even this morning, Lord, as we look at this passage of scripture here in the gospel of Luke,

and we pray it in Jesus' name. Amen. Verse 26, then they sailed to the country of the Gatorines,

which is opposite Galilee, and when he stepped out on the land, there met him a certain man from the city

who had demons for a long time, and he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house, but in the tombs.

When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before him, and with a loud voice said,

What have I to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God?

I beg you, do not torment me, for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man,

for it had seized him, and he was under guard, because he was under guard, bound with chains and shackles,

and he broke the bonds as was.

and was driven by the demon into the wilderness.

And Jesus asked him saying, what is your name?

And he said, Legion, because many demons had entered him.

And they begged him that he would not command them to go into the abyss.

Now, a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain.

So they begged him that he would permit them to enter them,

and he permitted them.

And then the demons went out.

out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake

and drowned. When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city

and in the country, and then they went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus and found

the man from whom the demons had departed sitting at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right

mine and they were afraid and they also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been

demon possessed was healed and then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the

gatterines asked him to depart from them for they were they were seized with great fear and he got

into the boat and returned now the man from whom the demons had departed begged him that he might go

be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, return to your own house, and I, and tell what

great things God has done for you. And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city

what great things Jesus had done for him. So what a story, huh? And these demons, they're real things.

And you and I, we, Paul tells us in Ephesians chapter 6 that we wrestle not against flesh and blood,

Ephesians 6 · chapter mention

but against powers and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places, that there is this actual,

literal, spiritual battle that you and I are in.

And we're in it all the time, right?

And so I was wondering, as I was reading this, if this was really a precursor of a physical storm on Galilean,

that where Jesus told him to be still was a precursor to a spiritual storm that they were

going to experience as they got across the Sea of Galilee to the place of Godera.

Godera.

It was on the other side, so basically on the other side of the Jordan.

And we know that the tribe of Gad, when the children of Israel were on the other side of the

Jordan, they crossed into the promised land.

Do you remember the three tribes that didn't go in?

or I guess Manasseh was split in half.

There was Manassah, Gad, and...

Help me out.

Rubin.

I had a brain fade there, sorry.

Manasa, Gad, and Rubin, right?

And they were...

Basically, Manassah was straddling the Jordan.

Kind of like you straddle a fence, right?

Now, the promised land was the ground that God had promised them,

told them to go in and take every part of it. But staying on the east side of the Jordan would mean

that any invading army, they would first have to conquer Ruben, Gad, and Manasseh. And so these

Gatorines, the children of Gad, there they were. And it's appropriate that there's a spiritual

battle going on there when Jesus steps on the shore at Gaderra. And it was a spiritual,

storm for sure. And, you know, demons, this demon, or it's also called here an unclean spirit.

And it, they, they, their, their ploy is to torment and, um, still kill and destroy humanity.

And you and I are not immune to that, folks, right? We're not immune.

to that. They bring this misery, right? They bring this misery to people's lives,

even believers. And also they love company because this guy is not alone. Now, in the gospel of

Luke, it tells us just about this one guy. But in the gospel of Matthew, in Matthew chapter

eight, it talks about two men. There were two men, but this guy was doing most of the talking.

And, you know, his demon had a, had a, you know, had a blabbing problem, I guess. I don't know.

But he wanted to talk because he runs up to Jesus right off the bat. And so you don't know.

Was it the spirit that was driving the man to Jesus? Or was it, was it the, was it the,

the man's will that was he wanting to be delivered recognizing who and what Jesus was. I don't know for

sure. But I know that either or they were drawn to Jesus. And so, you know, you realize that sometimes

this happens in families, spiritual battle, right? Now, as Christians, we don't like to admit that.

we call it holy commotion.

When really it can be spiritual battle.

I remember when my wife and I were young and raising kids

and sometimes we get in the most brutal knock-down, drag-out fights right before church.

And she's going, what is going on here?

This is terrible.

And we both kind of came to our senses and we're, oh, I know what this is.

I mean, the world of darkness doesn't want you going to church for crying out loud,

because we would get frustrated and we would go, you know, the hand would go on the hip,

fine.

If you're not going, I'm not going, because I ain't going to go pretend and be some hypocrite.

Has anybody ever been there?

Come on, be honest.

Not only do we get in fights before church, but then we lie about it, right?

But it is, isn't it, how it can get stirred up in families when somebody gets in the flesh for a moment,

and then pretty soon everybody in your whole family stirred up, and it can travel great distances, right?

two, three hours away and family members are all stirred up.

And it's a spiritual battle, and we're not recognizing it for what it is.

And they're having a heyday.

They're getting glee out of these so-called believers in a tumult.

And it just happens.

And so what you've got to do is you've got to fight the good fight, right?

You've got to be quick to hear and slow to speak.

Because I don't know about you, but loose lips just.

come real easy for me. Right? I've learned you put that little muscle inside your mouth,

put it between your teeth and bite down. Right? Keep you from speaking when you know it's like that

toothpaste, right? Once it's out of the tube, there's no taking it back. No, just be quiet. Me and my

wife have learned that over the years. We're not perfect at it by no means, but we're not near as quick

engage as we used to be. A lot of times we'll just shut it up, turn around, walk out of the room,

right, get some fresh air, kick a dog, chuck a chicken. Just kidding. But you don't realize

you're entering into a spiritual battle. And the inside family sometimes it can just be horrendous.

And the thing about it is is because you say those things, your words are said to the people that you supposedly love the most.

And the most brutal words come out of our mouths towards one another.

It's a venomous.

It's demonic.

Okay?

Even for us Christians.

Now, I'm not saying people are demon possessed, but I'm saying you're a pet pressed and you can be terrorized by the demonic world as believers.

We can.

Pastor Chuck Smith said, you got to incorporate the three R's.

And Chuck's dead, so his word carries a little more weight nowadays.

Because the old thing is with Christian, you know, past Christians that were commentators and preachers, what have you.

If they're not dead, they're not red.

So, but Pastor Chuck said that you got to incorporate the three hours.

First, you have to recognize it for what it is.

Recognize the spiritual battle.

right? That it's, well, it's really not them. I think it's them, and I want to kill them right now,

but it's really not them. This is a, I'm getting stirred up spiritually here. So recognize it for

what it is. Once my wife and I recognized that for what it was, right, we started taking on

rolls for Sunday morning. And we started trying to head, headed off at the past and the morning.

And some of that was me being a lazy husband, not helping.

right and and so my my job especially when my boys were young she goes you get those boys ready

because i'll kill them if you don't right and and so so i kind of i had to start helping her

you know guys helping your wife has some really cool benefits i'm just saying if you can bring a smile

to her face and help her out right

she's much more easier to get along with.

But I think so often poor women feel left out and men are checked out.

And so if you can come together and kind of recognize what needs to be done and do it,

then that's the first step.

The second step is to refuse it.

Refuse to go there.

Okay, I'm not going to yell at her, right?

Or her, girls.

You're more wordy than we are. So snippet. Be quick to be slow to speak. Maybe that didn't make sense.

Be slow to speak, right? Quick to hear. Quick to hear, slow to speak. Refuse it, right? The Bible says,

resist the devil and he will flee from you. Resist that. That ban, do where you want to just, you want to fight.

And you feel like you're justified.

How often me and my bride have got into battles and we feel like we're justified.

And sometimes both of us just walk away, shaking our head, thinking, I don't think either one of us were right.

And then rejoice.

Once you recognize it, right, and you see it coming, I can see this is not going to go good.

Right.

Then you refuse to enter into that realm of chaos and torment and terrorism.

if you will, then you can rejoice.

The three hours.

It really does work.

I'm telling you.

And so here in this passage, we have this man, this demonized man, and it says there, right

off the bat in verse 27, had demons for a long time.

This man had been controlled by that spiritual world that maybe he was ignorant of.

I don't know, but it does nothing but spiral downward.

And people that you talk to who have been into the occult or dabbled with those things,

the deeper they get into it, the darker it gets, right?

Much like the cults, people who are involved in cults that appear to be good and righteous.

The deeper they get into it, the more understanding of it they have, the darker it is.

And so too, with the demonic world.

And so this man had been demonized for a long time.

And no doubt his buddy was with him.

But notice a few things about the demons that we see here in this passage, right?

He had had him for a long time, so he'd been spiritually harassed and tormented, right?

And no doubt was pretty good at stirring things up.

It sounds like he could stir up the whole community.

there, that he was a fierce man, so had been spiritually influenced for a long time for the

world of darkness. Secondly, he was naked. Right? He was naked. And the Bible says a lot about

nakedness. Just read through the Old Testament. And it was condemned by the law, right?

That there, it goes clear, went clear back to the garden. What was the first thing they recognized

when they had sent? They were naked.

and what God do. He covered them. And so they were uncovered. He was uncovered and naked. And, you know,

I'm convinced that this whole thing with pornography, the looking at the nakedness of humans, is demonic.

It's demonic. And if that's got a hold of you, do whatever it takes to get rid of it.

if you need to come talk to me, there's some things you can do, measures you can take,

that will release you from that bondage because it is a bondage.

It gets its hooks in you and it will destroy your life.

And so get rid of it.

If you got a phone, if you're hooked on it somehow, do whatever it takes to put it behind you.

Because that's part of recognizing the problem.

Oh, I don't got a problem.

every man looks at pornography. No, they don't.

Every man doesn't look at pornography.

I looked at pornography when I was younger, and I realized what it was doing to me.

I realized if I look at pornography and I'm married to my wife, I'm committing adultery.

Do you know what the penalty for adultery was?

Death. I'm committing adultery on my wife, because Jesus said,

for a man to look and lust in his heart, he's committed adultery.

And so this guy, no doubt, was just anything goes in that demonic world.

I just listened to a podcast from Jeffrey Epstein's niece, who were bail worshipers.

And in bail worship, they do sexual abuse to children on the altar of bail.

She says they were Jewish in name, but they were Bayo-worshippers, and she was ritualistically abused sexually from the time she was three years old.

It's just perverse, and it's wicked, and it's obviously demonic.

And so he's naked.

Thirdly, he has no home or place.

He has no place to rest.

Where does he find himself resting?

In the tombs, right?

That there's this, he's drawn towards death.

Now, I know people have accused me, well, Pastor Scott,

you talk about death quite a bit.

Yeah, but I talk about the one who conquered death, right?

He overcame death.

He swallowed death up with his victorious resurrection.

And yes, that day when we take our last breath and we're face to face with our Lord,

that is going to be a glorious death, but death still is an enemy.

So, but you know that it's demonic when people are fascinated with death.

I see it a lot within the ink world, the things that people get tattooed on their bodies.

That's death.

That's pointing towards death.

People fascinated with those who have died.

Try to contact them.

Do you realize that's totally opposed to what God's.

word says, it is demonic to do the seances and the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the fascination or the

romanticizing of death, you know, I know I'm going to probably get in trouble for this, but the

whole twilight thing. What are vampires? They're, they're a type or a picture of death.

And oh, no, but it's so, it's so romantic.

Take you.

Okay, Peter Pan's cool.

There's alternatives, right?

But to have nothing to do, when the Bible condemns tattooing in the Bible, if you got ink,

I'm not condemning you now, and I don't know that this is, but when it condemning,

tattooing in the Bible, it is connected to the death of a loved one. That's what the Bible says,

don't do that. Right? They're gone. Leave that alone. Don't go there. You don't need to be

marking up your body with the death of a loved one. Just leave it there. And hopefully you're

going to see your loved one again. And so,

So it's in Deuteronomy that we see what the law says about.

It says, there shall not be found among you.

This is Deuteronomy chapter 18, verses 10 through 12.

Deuteronomy 18:10–12

Says, there shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering.

We know that was Tumulik.

Anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens or a sorcerer,

or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead.

For whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord.

It's just like, no, you don't have to go there.

The world says you should, right?

The world will put that horoscope out every week for you to kind of play with and read.

Actually, when you look at the 12 signs in the, or the constellations in the zodiac,

it all points back to God's creation.

It's not a good luck charm.

Like, all right, you cancers, don't make any bad business deals today.

Right?

Like you're purposely getting to go make bad business deals?

But in America and in Christendom,

we've kind of let all this stuff kind of infiltrate.

Stay away from it.

Right.

Have some discipline.

Read God's word.

Let it minister to you.

Right?

It's going to speak truth to your heart

where your horoscope is just going to lie to you.

Make you, it will.

will make you think more highly of yourself than you ought to.

And so this guy, he's isolated.

He's not rubbing shoulders with people who can encourage him to walk in the way of righteousness.

Proverbs 1228 says, in the way of righteousness is life.

And in its pathway, there is no death.

In its pathway, there is no death.

These demons kept him isolated.

Satan wants to keep you isolated.

He wants to make you think that you're the only one.

You're the only one struggling with this.

Nobody understands you.

Are we not all men of like passion?

Right?

I think that's what James said.

We're all alike.

We all have this sinful bent.

We've all got a past.

Some of our past might need some therapy and some counseling to get through and to think about it rightly.

But God, I promise you, well, he'll use it all together for good.

Even the dark stuff.

And so he's driven into the wilderness, like a wolf that drives its prey out away from the herd so it can devour them.

That's what the enemy wants to do.

Proverbs 181 says that a man who isolates himself seeks his own desire.

He rages against all wise judgment.

It's not a good place to be isolated.

If there's ever a time that someone needs counseling and a friend,

it's when they're going through hard things,

when they're in a spiritual battle.

Mark, in his version of this, tells us that he was cutting himself.

They were cutting themselves with sharp rocks.

I think the whole cutting thing is normal?

No, it's demonic.

Right? It's demonic.

And maybe there's some of you in here that you've actually done that.

Just go to the Lord.

Repend of it.

Ask him to help you.

And he will.

He'll deliver you from that.

These demons had a very strong hold on this man.

And because Jesus right there in, I believe it's verse 28, isn't it?

When Jesus saw, he cried out and when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him.

And with a loud voice, what have I to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God?

I beg you, do not torment me.

For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of him.

It's like that unclean spirit was going, well, not yet.

We need to talk.

So he's in a conversation.

And it reminds me of the one that the disciples couldn't cast out and they asked Jesus,

what's with this?

We couldn't cast this demon out.

He said, this type only comes out with prayer and fasting.

Right?

They want to hang on.

They don't want to give up easily.

They love this embodiment, this demonic.

world, the unclean spirits. And so in verse 30, the conversation, Jesus actually ask a question.

What's your name? What's your name? Obviously, he has authority to do this.

Because the demons there, notice what he recognized there in verse 28. He says, right,

you Jesus, son of the most high God. He recognized him.

And so he says, Legion, for many demons had injured him, this Legion.

In that wording in the Roman Empire, the Legion could be 4,000 to 6,000.

Now, I don't think that this guy had that many demons in him.

We don't know for sure.

But suffice it to say there were plenty to go around, right?

he wasn't lacking any demonic activity in his life.

And secondly, notice what the demons believe.

I think I got three things here.

First, they believe that he's a son of God.

They believe that Jesus is the son of God.

The most high God.

The one that they're subject to, the one that they have to obey.

They believe that that's who Jesus is.

And also they could believe that he could torment them.

Don't torment us before our time.

Don't bring judgment on us.

So demons believe that Jesus is the Son of God.

That's better than some people.

But a lot of people will tell me, oh, I believe in God.

What, you think that's going to get you to heaven?

That you believe that there's a God?

You're a fool if you don't believe there is.

God, just go outside and look.

Because the Bible says, every human is without excuse because of the things that are made.

You just look at creation and you're like, wow, that is wild.

I've been reading through that devotional when Bruce Malone was here, the creationist guy.

I've been reading through that.

And there's just some things that are fascinating in that book of God's creation.

It just didn't happen, right?

He spoke these things into existence, but it's not a big deal to believe in God, to recognize that they're a God.

Look at what James says. He says, you believe that there is one God. You do well. But even the demons believe and tremble.

They're scared to death because they know what their end is going to be. And so many people say they believe in God,

and they don't realize their end is going to be the lake of fire because they know there's a God there, but they don't want to serve him.

They don't want to surrender their life to him.

Secondly, demons believe in prayer.

These demons are praying to Jesus right here.

Did you catch that?

First, they beg him.

They beg him three times, right?

They beg him three times.

First, they beg him, okay, don't torment us.

Secondly, they say, okay, don't put us in the abyss.

And then thirdly, they begged him to go into the pigs.

They prayed three times.

Ring a bell.

Prayed three times.

Jesus prayed three times in the garden.

But he, they ask not to be tormented.

Then they say, please don't put us in the abyss.

Now, the abyss was that place of the bottomless pit.

It was thought to be at the course.

core of the earth. And the reason it was a bottomless pit was that when the earth rotated,

they would never find the bottom. It was a constant bottomless falling or turning. And we see it's called

the abyss and the bottomless pit, both in the book of Revelation, right? And that's where Satan's

cast for a thousand years. So it's a, it's a place of incarceration. Many believe that we, the demons that

we see released in the book of Revelation are those who were who were bound or in a place

incarcerated because of the whole Genesis 6 thing. Do we know that? We don't totally know that.

But it's it's pretty interesting this this abyss thing. But they pray. They make requests.

In fact, when you look that word beg up in the Greek, it's, it's,

Synonym is pray. They pray. They pray to God. Does that mean they're going to heaven? No. It doesn't mean they're going to heaven at all.

And so they believe there's one God. They believe Jesus is the son of God. They believe they believe in prayer.

Thirdly, they believe in what they deserve and they know.

where they are going. Can I ask you, do you know where you're going? Confident of that?

And so these demons, well, in 2nd Peter chapter 2, verse 4, it says,

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered

them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. That's in 2 Peter, chapter 2.

2 Peter 2 · chapter mention

Then in the book of Jude, verse 5, it says,

but I want to remind you, though you once knew this,

that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward,

destroyed those who did not believe.

And the angel who did not keep their proper domain,

but left their own abode,

he is reserved in everlasting chains under darkness

for the judgment of the great day.

This would be those in the abyss.

As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in the similar manner to these,

having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh,

are set forth as an example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.

The demons believe in eternity.

The demons believe so many things that people refuse to believe.

They refuse to believe in eternity.

Oh, no.

When you're dead, you're dead. That's it. Life's over. Not according to God's word.

And that's what you have to decide in your heart. Do you believe it or not? Do you believe God's word?

And we see some of these who are imprisoned. They're released. They're released in the book of Revelation.

It's scary.

You don't, I don't even want to be here.

Revelation 16, verses 13 and 14 says,

Revelation 16:13

And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of the dragon,

out of the mouth of the beast, out of the mouth of the false prophet.

For they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the earth

and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

So they believe in the deity of Christ.

actually demons and Satan have pretty good theology

they know God

so as you think about these demons

that believe in the authority

and the superiority of Christ and the future judgment in eternity

listen, you and I have nothing on these demons.

The only thing that we're to have that they don't is a surrendered life.

Are you surrendered to Christ?

I'm asking that question to myself too, folks.

I'm not trying to come down on anybody.

Because I'm telling you, there's stuff that gets in the way in my life that I'm not to be there.

that my life should be absolutely and completely and totally surrendered.

Jesus tells us, apart from me, you can do nothing.

I read stories like this and I've got to do some self-examination.

Where am I?

What kind of battle am I in?

Am I getting my tail kicked, spiritually speaking?

Let's read verse 33 through verse.

verse 37. And it says there,

then the demons went out

of the man and entered the swine

and the herd ran violently down the steep

place into the lake and drowned.

So Jesus answered their prayer.

No, don't, no, don't

just throw us out into nothingness.

Demons, unclean spirits

seek embodiment. They seek to be embodied.

Years ago, I used to, I rode bulls.

And there was this one bull.

He was mean, mean.

And I'm not so sure he didn't have a critter at him.

But they seek embodiment.

These demons.

He lets them go into the pigs.

And obviously, you know, first case of devil's

Well, it sounds like they flew off the cliff, so when pigs fly, huh?

How about this when the swine flew?

Now, it was funny, but it wasn't funny to the townspeople.

Two thousand hogs, you think about it.

That's a lot of bacon.

I mean.

And what is, I don't know what bacon is now.

$10 a pound?

Could you imagine?

No wonder these people were upset, right?

And so when those who fed them saw what had happened,

they fled and told it in the city and in the country.

And then they went out to see what had happened and came to Jesus and found the man

from whom the demons had depended.

departed sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid.

So here's the people. Here's what happens. No doubt there was a lot of squealing going on.

I remember I damaged Buster when he was about six years old. I had a bunch of little hogs that I got,

and I was going to castrate him. Well, he had never heard a pig squeal like that.

I don't know that I had either.

I actually had to put some stuff in my ears.

It was so loud.

But there was a lot of squealing going on, no doubt, from the demons and from the pigs.

And it created quite the row in the neighborhood there.

And so they had to come see what had happened.

And they see this man, clothed, and in his right mind.

That's one thing I love about the Lord.

is he just keeps our feet on the ground, right?

He gives us a sanity.

The world can't give you.

The world will drive you towards insanity.

The Lord brings a sanity to your life that otherwise,

there's nothing that can compare to it.

And because it can renew our mind.

It can renew the way we think.

His spirit gives us the power to take our thoughts captive

instead of the other way around.

And so here's this man.

He's in his right mind, and they were afraid.

And they also, who had seen it, told them by what means he who had been demon possessed was healed.

And then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the gatherings asked him to depart from them,

for they were seized with great fear, and he got into a boat and returned.

They were fearful.

what they've seen, no doubt they see this man,

they're scratching their head,

this can't be the same guy that we've seen.

He probably scared people to death this man.

Right?

It says he was fierce.

Probably nobody came into that region

without encountering this guy,

and he was crazy,

and no doubt the stories went out

where he just snapped change.

He had superhuman strength.

I've heard cases like that

in my Christian life over the years, people who are demon-possessed,

what they're able to do.

And it's just a fearful thing.

And so these people, I don't know who they were the most afraid of.

The most afraid of what happened to this man who's now healed,

or most afraid of the one who actually brings a sanity to his life.

What manner of man is that?

However, the Bible does say the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

So this may be, maybe this is part of that.

But they ask him to leave.

They didn't seek him.

They just ask him to leave.

You got to go.

Dude, you've cost us way too much already.

How much does Jesus cost you?

right so you think about that i'm i'm thinking clear back to verse 14 right these people that that the

the word of god has come and this man has been healed and and in verse 14 back and during the time of the

soar it says now the ones that fell among the thorns are those who when they had heard go out and

are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of life, bringing no fruit to maturity.

These are those people who, they're wrapped up in their own world and their own empire.

Can I just tell you your empire's going to burn?

Right? Your empire is going to burn.

My empire is going to burn.

It's just firewood.

It means nothing.

If I lose it all today.

I've got all I need.

I really do.

Now, if I lost it all today, I might be singing a different tune.

I don't know.

I would hope that the Lord has tempered me enough to realize that it's easy, come, easy go, no matter what you got.

It's here today and it's gone tomorrow, and that's okay.

Because our eternity is secure.

That's the thing that you and I have to make sure that is intact, is a secure eternity in Jesus.

So what's he do?

He gets in his boat.

He doesn't argue with him.

He doesn't beg with people, do you not know who I am?

He don't argue with him.

He doesn't have been telling him.

He doesn't appear that he even talks to him.

He goes, note to self, these guys don't want to have nothing to do with me.

God's a gentleman.

It's totally your decision.

It's people's decision.

Now, what's interesting is all the begging going on in this passage.

Let's finish up with the last.

two verses 38 and 39. Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged him that he might be with him.

But Jesus sent him away, saying, return to your own house and tell what great things God has done for you.

And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

So here the man's begging to go with Jesus. The townspeople are begging Jesus to go away.

And the demons are begging to go into the pigs.

What do you beg Jesus for?

Right?

I don't know how many times I say this throughout a week in my life, but, oh, Lord, you got to help me.

Oh, Lord, you got to help me.

That's my begging.

Please help me, Lord.

And so, Jesus let me.

This guy says, no, you can't come with me.

But you go and you tell what great things God has done for you.

The first missionary, he's commissioned right here.

You go and you tell him.

This guy's life was going to be a proclamation of the gospel to all of Godera.

Incredible.

You realize that no matter who you are, your life can be a witness to everyone

in your sphere.

But they want to know why you don't cuss when you hit your thumb with a hammer.

They want to know what is up with you.

They want to know why you don't laugh at their dirty jokes or you don't talk about about your

wife.

They want to know what's up with you.

And anybody can do that.

And this guy's witness, no doubt.

Notice what it says.

And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city, the great things.

What?

That Jesus, very specifically.

Jesus.

Isn't there something about that name?

It's just something about that name.

Jesus.

Jesus.

There's something about that name.

Master, Savior.

Who remembers that old hand?

Right?

That's where all the power is at.

Because at the name of Jesus, all these demons had to bow.

They had to leave the man and go into the pigs, right?

Every one of them is going to bow and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Just as everyone is sitting in this room is going to bow their knee and proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord,

whether you believe it or not, is another whole different story.

You will have to say it.

You'll be made to say it.

Why?

Because it's true.

It's true.

Now, some people think, well, what's so special about Jesus?

Now, if you don't want him to rule over your life, obviously these Gatterines didn't,

he will get into his boat and he'll just go.

He'll leave you alone.

He's a perfect gentleman.

Right, Revelation 320, he knocks.

He doesn't just kick the door in, though I wish he would in my life sometimes.

Lord, please just kick the door in and cause my neck to not be so stiff.

And maybe he'll come back and knock a few times in your life or not, but we decide.

Like I said earlier, the only thing that sets us apart from the demonic world,

in our eternal destiny is a surrendered life.

A surrendered life.

Lord, I surrender.

This thing's yours.

I remember telling him that those exact words,

Lord, Lord, my, at 23, I just said, Lord, my life's yours.

And boy, have I made some messes in the last 40 years.

But he's been faithful.

And he's used all of it.

And so if you want him, you just ask him.

If you want him, you just ask him.

And he will oblige you.

He's that kind of a God.

Just so kind and gentle, but so powerful and just and true, all at the same time.

Would you all stand with me?

And shall we pray?

Maybe you've never said yes to Jesus.

I want to give you that opportunity real quick,

and the prayer team's going to be down here,

and you'll be able to come pray.

But first I just want to offer up a just a sinner's prayer,

simple sinner's prayer.

If you've never prayed this prayer,

you can just pray it out to Jesus, just to make sure.

Just to make sure.

And you can come tell me, hey, Pastor Scotty,

I just prayed that prayer.

And that'll be your moment.

And then the work begins.

Right?

It's just walking with him every day.

Determining in your heart.

Right?

When evil comes your way that you're tempted by,

I pray that you get angry at it.

Right?

Get angry.

That's how I got away from pornography.

Every time I'd start to see it, I'd get angry.

Right?

I'd want to fight somebody.

And I realized my fight was against that

because I was tempted by it.

and I began to fight against it and fight against it and fight against it. And over time,

it's like anything, like any exercise, gets a little bit more tolerable. You can fight it and you can

fight it. You fight that when it comes your way. Might be thoughts. Might be a hatred toward somebody.

Fight it. Resist it. Recognize it, right? The three hours, recognize, resist, and rejoice.

So if you want Jesus, you pray this prayer with me. Pray it out loud right where you're

standing, Lord Jesus, I ask you to come into my heart.

Deliver me from anything that's binding me up.

Help me to quit running with the pigs.

Lord, I just love you.

Thank you for your blood that was shed for me.

I know that I'm clean because you're the son of God.

The one sent to set us free.

we love you we honor you we surrender to you in jesus holy name

lord i i praise you i praise you that it's a simple request from the words of our mouth

as you tell us that if we confess the lord jesus and believe in our heart that you have raised

him from the dead that we are saved people lord and we just thank you for those promises lord

May we rest in that this week.

Lord, may we have our head on a swivel and recognize the spiritual battles that there are sometimes optional.

May we opt not to do that and to enter into a thing that would just create all kinds of chaos in not only in our lives, but in others' people's lives.

So, Lord, would you go before us?

Fill us with your Holy Spirit.

Lord, we surrender this week to you, Lord.

We thank you, Lord.

We lift up our head knowing our redemption draws near, Lord.

When we see the tumults going on around the world, Lord, in different countries, Lord, with the things with Israel, the things with the United States and China and Russia and Ukraine, all these things, Lord, you tell us that when we see them happening to lift up our head because our redemption truly is near.

So may we walk in a way that is pleasing to our God, Lord, and is also very provocative to this world that they might come to know you.

as we have in Jesus' name. And all God's people said, amen, amen. God bless you guys. Have a great week.