Sermon Tone Analysis

“From Maniac to Missionary”

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I love the story about Harry Ironside when he gave his testimony at a Salvation Army meeting.

Standing in the crowd as he gave his testimony was a well-known agnostic, who had made a name for himself lecturing against Christianity.

The man came up to Ironside after he gave his testimony, and handed him his business card, and on the back of the card he had written,” Sir, I challenge you to debate with me agnosticism versus Christianity, in the academic science Hall next Sunday afternoon at 4 o’clock, I will pay all expenses.”

Ironside stepped back up to the mic and read the card out loud, and then said this:

I’ll be glad to debate you on the following conditions.

In order for you to prove that you have something worth debating about, you must promise to bring with you next Sunday two people whose lives have been changed as proof that agnosticism is of real value in changing human lives and building true character.

The first person to bring with you is a man whose life was wrecked, and he had been an outcast from society.

A man who was a drunkard, or a criminal, or a drug addict, or a man given to sexual sin.

A man who for years was under the power of evil habits, from which no one could deliver him from.

But he entered into one of your meetings and heard you speaking on the greatness of agnosticism, and heard you rejecting the Bible and Christ.

And after listening to you was so deeply stirred that he went away from your meeting saying, from now on I too am an agnostic!

And I found a new power in my life, and the sins I once loved, I now hate, and righteousness and goodness are now the passions of my life.

Bring a man who has been made entirely new, and has become a credit to himself, an asset to society all because he is an agnostic.

The second person you are to bring is a woman, whose life was once controlled by sin, who was once a slave to alcohol, drugs, and abusive relationships.

A woman who lived for years lost in her sin.

But this woman also entered into one of your meetings and heard you proclaiming the message of agnosticism and ridiculing the word of God.

As she listened hope was born in her heart and she said, this is just what I need to be delivered.

She followed your teaching until she became an agnostic herself, and as a result her life has been totally changed.

And she is now living a life that is clean, virtuous, and happy, all because she is an agnostic.

Then he said to the man; if you a promise to bring these two people with you as examples of what agnosticism can do, I’ll promise to meet you next Sunday at 4 o’clock, and I will bring with me at least 100 men and women who for years lived in such a sinful, wicked, depraved, ungodly life as I have tried to describe.

But they have been gloriously saved through believing the gospel which you ridiculed.

I will have these men and women with me on the platform as witnesses to the miraculous saving power of Jesus Christ, and as a present day proof of the truths of the Bible.

Will you agree to these conditions?

The man smiled and waved his hand and said, nothing doing!

And turned and walked out on the crowd.

The gospel of the Jesus Christ transforms people’s lives!

Jesus rescues the perishing, cares for the dying, Jesus is merciful, mighty to save!

The man were going to meet this morning experienced the transforming power of the Lord Jesus Christ!

He is a man that goes from being a maniac to a missionary!

There are several great facts about sin and salvation in the story of the man who goes from a maniac to a missionary.

Fact #1:

1. Satan Wants to Destroy You!

V:26-28.

When we first meet this man we learn that his life is a wreck; Satan is controlling this man, and seeking to destroy him.

Jesus and his disciples have sailed through a storm to get to the other side of the Sea of Galilee into Gentile territory.

This is the first time that Jesus has ventured into Gentile territory.

Jesus is not only the savior of the Jews, he is the savior of the world.

As soon as Jesus stepped out the boat he is met by this man who has been possessed by demons for a long time.

This was somebody’s son, somebody’s brother, maybe somebody’s husband and father.

This man’s life is under the dominion of Satan.

Obviously this man’s condition is extreme; but he gives us a living picture of what Satan desires to do in people’s lives.

This man was lost in his sin, and had opened himself up to the control of Satan.

This man is being controlled by Satan morally, spiritually and physically.

Satan wants to blind people’s minds to the truth of the gospel, keep them from spiritual life in Jesus Christ, and destroy them physically and damn them to hell.

When this maniac came running up to Jesus and his disciples, I’m sure the disciples were freaked out, I know I would’ve been.

I can see him with his eyes darting back and forth, his hair matted and caked down; he has no clothes on, he smells like dead decomposing bodies; he looks more like a wild animal than a person.

We don’t know how this man had opened himself up to demons; but he had, and he was possessed with demons.

You say pastor, there is no one possessed by demons and in this condition today.

But I want to remind you this morning that if your life is not under the control of the Lord Jesus, your life is under the control of Satan and sin.

I am aware that there are different manifestations of the control of Satan and his demons.

And that Satan often masquerades himself as an angel of light, .

But Satan’s intentions are the same for the person who is in high society and the person who has been driven to the depths of derogation.

Satan’s desire is the same: To destroying the image of God in man, and leading man to be separated from God for all eternity.

Satan’s single purpose is to twist, mar, distort and destroy your life!

And he doesn’t care what he uses to do it; whether it’s a dollar bill, a bottle of Jack Daniels, a beautiful woman, handsome man, pride, power, popularity, pornography, possessions or pleasure.

Jesus said that Satan has come to kill, steal and destroy!

There are two extreme views on demons today:

The first extreme is to deny the existence of demons; a writer for Newsweek said, “The idea of a devil is merely a trivial personification, hardly adequate to symbolize the mystery of evil”.

I’m sure the devil approved of that; because the devil and his demons like to operate undercover, incognito, pushing their agenda of sin and destruction.

But the Bible clearly teaches that there is a devil, and demons.

The devil and demons are no joke; their desire is to blind people’s minds to the gospel and damn their soul to Hell! Don’t believe the picture off the devil in some red onesie with a long tail and a pitchfork sitting on someone’s shoulder.

The Bible tells us the devil is a sinister, diabolical, powerful enemy; who transforms himself into an angel of light, to attract, deceive and destroy people!

The first extreme is to deny the existence and reality of the devil and demons, and their agenda.

The second extreme, is to become obsessed with the devil and demons.

To make more of demons than you ought to.

Some people think that every problem they have is from the devil.

They are the flip Wilson's of this world –"the devil made me do it" and anything and everything that happens they blame on the devil and demons.

I heard about this brother and sister who got in a fight, the little boy hit his little sister, and pushed her, and spit on her.

The mother broke up the fight and said to the little boy, the devil made you hit, push and spit on your sister.

The little boy said, the devil may have made me hit her and push her, but spitting on her was my own idea.

A lot of things we blame on the devil, are our own ideas.

Some people make too much of the devil.

We need to avoid both of these extremes; the devil and his demons are real, but they are not all-powerful, only God is all-powerful!

This man had opened himself up to the devil, and the spirit of disobedience, the spirit of Satan was controlling this man’s life.

Everyone is going to be occupied by something or someone.

God’s plan is for your heart to be occupied by the Lord Jesus!

But if you don’t open your heart up to Jesus, you leave yourself open to the influence of Satan and sin.

Don’t open yourself up to the spirit world of demons.

Don’t mess with witchcraft, séances,

Ouija boards, fortune-telling, palm-reading, astrology, or the occult.

Satan is real, don’t open your mind up to Satan!

He is a liar and a loser!

The Bible is the only source of accurate knowledge about spiritual, supernatural things, and life after death.

It is foolish to seek knowledge anywhere else! Get a good look at this man who has opened himself up to Satan; and see how Satan is destroying his life!

When Satan and sin is controlling your life here are some things that will happen:

· You want to take your clothes off, in the wrong place.

V:27-“Wore no clothes…

This guy had taken his clothes off in public; Satan is the one pushing nudity and immorality in our society.

Satan is behind the lust of the flesh!

Satan wants you to be filled with lust, pornography, and sex outside of marriage.

The devil wants to lead you to be immodest, shameless, and show yourself to the opposite sex.

So, this guy was running around in the graveyards, cutting himself, breaking chains, and he was doing it all naked!

God is not against you getting naked; God brought the first man and woman together, in a beautiful garden, with no clothes on!

You can’t get any better than that!

But they were husband and wife!

Don’t take your clothes off for anyone except your husband or your wife!

And don’t look at anyone with their clothes off except your husband or wife!

· He lived among the dead.

V:27-“Lived in the tombs…