Deliverance

INTRO

Turn to Mark 5.

When you hear the word deliverance you probably either think of that Hollywood movie by that name or you think about the Hollywood film of The Exorcist. It is amazing how popular media and culture can influence our thinking.

In his book The Screwtape Letters, C. S. Lewis writes:

There are two equal and opposite errors into 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…

Lewis is right

Jesus believed demons were real, and that should settle for all of us the question of their existence. Yet beyond this fact, we see in our Lord’s encounter with the Gerasene demoniac the power, mercy, and authority of the Son of God, who commands the demon with merely a word. In this text we will see the purpose of Satan to destroy and the power of the Savior to deliver.

Wether it is deliverence from demons or decisions

We all have need for deliverance in one form or another !!

Big Idea of the Message: Jesus displays his divine power over the devil and evil by casting out a multitude of demons from a man who had been plagued and tormented for a long period of time—and restoring the man mentally and emotionally.

Application Point: We are engaged in a real battle with Satan and the kingdom of darkness; yet Jesus has triumphed over our spiritual enemies and empowers his disciples to overcome evil.

Main Idea: Jesus wields His absolute authority as King to liberate those enslaved in this fallen world.

PARYER

A - Almighty and glorious father in heaven we come before you firstly in recognition of your worthiness of our worship. We confess that you are Holy and there is none that compares with you oh God of Abraham.

C - We also come to confess our sin before you. You are Holy and we are not. We have broken your commands and rightly deserve your judgement.

T - But you oh God are rich in mercy and lovingkindness and you have sent your son to be our intercessor. It is by His blood that we are cleansed from our sin. We praise you for He has delivered our souls from bondage.

S - Lord God we pray that you would be with us now by your spirit to fill us to not only absorb what your word has for us but also to apply it to our lives in order to serve you as our glorious king.

MESSAGE

The Reality of Bondage

Mark 5:1–5 ESV

1 They came to the other side of the sea, to the country of the Gerasenes. 2 And when Jesus had stepped out of the boat, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. 3 He lived among the tombs. And no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain, 4 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. 5 Night and day among the tombs and on the mountains he was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.

If it were not for Jesus…

This man would have died in this condition

We would have no hope of freedom

He lived among the dead

This is the Seduction of sin

Romans 6:23 “23 For the wages of sin is death…

Ephesians 2:5“5 even when we were dead in our trespasses, …

Romans 7:5 ESV

5 For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death.

The Reality of Sin

What a place to live…

imagine

Nothing could bind Him

What is freedom ??…

John 8:34 ESV

34 Jesus answered them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.

He was indeed bound

He was not free… NF - work, family, hobbies, sing, dance, rejoice, love, hope

He was always in pain

self inflicted

inflicted by others

physical / emotional / spiritual / mental

Rom 6…

Romans 6:16–20 “16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? 17 But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, 18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness. 19 I am speaking in human terms, because of your natural limitations. For just as you once presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness leading to more lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness leading to sanctification. 20 For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”

Sin is bondage whether we recognize it or not.

Jesus Confronts Your Captor

Mark 5:6–9 ESV

6 And when he saw Jesus from afar, he ran and fell down before him. 7 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.” 8 For he was saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” He replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

Jesus is not intimidated by you.

Imagine this…

Yet Jesus does not recoil - he does not retreat - he does not ignore

You are never to far gone

You are not a lost cause

You are worth his attention !!

Jesus hates the sin not the sinner.

The Demons know punishment is due them

He does not punish this man !!

Romans 7:17 “17 So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.”

Jesus will name your sin.

Do not be deceived

The Ten Commandments…

Matthew 22:37–40 “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.””

James 2:10–11 “10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.”

What are you in bondage too?? What is the sin/demonic force oppressing you??

Lust

Greed

Gossip

Pride

Anger

Anxiety / Worry

Vanity

Gluttony

Sloth

Hypocrisy

NAME IT!!

1 Corinthians 11:31 “31 But if we judged ourselves truly, we would not be judged.”

1 John 1:8–10 “8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

James 5:16 “16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.”

Jesus Brings Deliverance

Mark 5:10–15 ESV

10 And he begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country. 11 Now a great herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, 12 and they begged him, saying, “Send us to the pigs; let us enter them.” 13 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. 14 The herdsmen fled and told it in the city and in the country. And people came to see what it was that had happened. 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, and they were afraid.

Jesus has all authority.

The spirts BEG Jesus

Jesus gives them permission

Think of Job

There are principalities and powers

Ephesians 6:12 “12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

Satan seeks to bind us unto death.

Unclean spirits desire unclean hosts

The Spirits killed the pigs

John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…

Think of Job

John 10:10 “10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

Jesus came to free us unto life.

Jesus loves people more then pigs

animals

stuff

Jesus loves people more then pennies

finances

wealth

Jesus loves you more than popularity

the farmers were not happy

the people were scared

True salvation is awesome.

Look at the contrast of this man

Think of the stories you have heard of deliverance…

illustrations

True Salvation is only in Jesus!!

It is because of His Life - Death - Burial - RESURRECTION - That we have Deliverance !!

Jesus Commissions The Cleansed

Mark 5:16–20 ESV

16 And those who had seen it described to them what had happened to the demon-possessed man and to the pigs. 17 And they began to beg Jesus to depart from their region. 18 As he was getting into the boat, the man who had been possessed with demons begged him that he might be with him. 19 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.” 20 And he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him, and everyone marveled.

Do you desire to be with Jesus?

They begged Jesus to leave

He begged Jesus to take him

Do you desire to obey Jesus?

Do you desire to share Jesus?

“He did not permit him”

he went away and proclaimed - how much Jesus had done for him !!

everyone marveled !!

Jesus grants deliverance so that we can be what we are created to be… fully used by and fully fulfilled in Him!!

CLOSE

Big Idea of the Message: Jesus displays his divine power over the devil and evil by casting out a multitude of demons from a man who had been plagued and tormented for a long period of time—and restoring the man mentally and emotionally.

Application Point: We are engaged in a real battle with Satan and the kingdom of darkness; yet Jesus has triumphed over our spiritual enemies and empowers his disciples to overcome evil.

Main Idea: Jesus wields His absolute authority as King to liberate those enslaved in this fallen world.

What are you longing for deliverance from?… Cry out to Jesus

Next week talking about Healing…

PRAYER

GROUP QUESTIONS

What stood out to you most from this weeks message?

How would you respond to a Christian who questions, in this modern day, whether we still need to believe in angels and demons?

What were some of the ways the Devil debased this man? How do people these days end up being disgraced when they listen to the Devil’s lies?

Why does demonic activity ultimately lead to suicidal despair? Why is Jesus the only decisive answer to such despair?

Why/How do the demons know precisely who Jesus is?

How is Jesus’ command to the demons different from the way exorcism is portrayed in the movies?

Have you ever seen someone come to Christ, and the people around him or her are more concerned with trivial matters than with the salvation of souls? How did you respond? How did that make you feel?

In what ways can someone who has just been saved be a better evangelist than someone who has been a Christian and studied the Bible for a long time? How can the latter improve his or her message?

Describe a scenario where Jesus might change someone you know so that they would once again be in their right mind and come home. Pray for that person.