Resist the Christ and he will flee from you
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intro
intro
intresting title, it is of course bsed on the well known verse:
7 Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
It seems an odd thing to to do Jesus.
But lets first ask why we would resist the Devil?
You do not want him in your life.
You do not want his influence
You are sick of his schemes
He is a thief, a lier and a murder.
You look at the devil and at the terrible cost of having him in your life and you say NO! get out of here Satan.
Well believe it or not this is exacally the attitude some hve towards Jesus.
34 And behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus, and when they saw him, they begged him to leave their region.
They begged Jesus to leave their region, theiur life, their families. They resisted the Christ, and Jesus obliged - he left.
But why would anyone resist Jesus? Stop him from entering tyheir life?
Well for the same reasons we would resist the Devil: They believe he is trouble and do not want his influence to upset their lives.
In mat 8 i believe we se what it is these people were unhappy about. Jesus in Mat 8 sets out the condition that he requires for him to be welcomed. And if these conditions are to “interferring” to your comfortible life then you will not welcome him but resist him.
What are they?
1: You must have Faith
1: You must have Faith
In verse 5-13 we see the healing of the centurion’s servant. And in responce to this faith faith Jesus marvaled and said:
10 When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.
11 I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven,
12 while the sons of the kingdom will be thrown into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Those with faith will come and recline at the table but those without faith will be cast into outer darkness -Hell.
6 And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
We come to Jesus by fiath. We are saved by grace but grace is activated through faith.
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Faith is in competition with pride. Faith believes God, pride resists God.
The bible is the filter by which God sifts the huble from the proud.
The bible tells us that God made the Heavens and the earyth in 6 days.
That Noah built an ark and all the animals came to him to survive the flood.
That a man was swallowed by a whale and was spat out 3 days later.
All these bizzare and crazy stores act as a filter to sift out the proud.
Not many people have the faith to believe the Word of God and find it insulting to their inteligence to do so.
they resist the Christ.
2: The Cost is to High
2: The Cost is to High
in verses 18-22 Jesus tells us the high cost of beling a christian.
19 And a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.”
20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”
21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead.”
When you become a christian you make a decleration of war against the world. And in responce, the word will muister all its malace and hatred towards you.
18 “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
For many, they are not willing and they love the world to much.
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
As a result they resist the Messiah
3: His Authority
3: His Authority
in verses 23-27 we see a powerful display of Jesus authority as he calms the storm and the disciples said:
27 And the men marveled, saying, “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?”
Jesus will not be second to anyone. He will be mater and Lord or he will be nothing.
8 I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.
When Jesus comes into our lives he expects total devotion and submission from us. He will place himself as the king and Lord of our lives.
18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
That word preeminest means above all things. Nothing higher exists.
Education, experts, scientists, text books, personal experience, private opinions, personal goals and ambitions all fall away before the Lord ship of Jesus.
It it a case of, like Jesus in the garden:
42 saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.”
Many people are not willing to bown doewn in total submission to the Will of Jesus - as a result they reist him.
4: His demand for repentance
4: His demand for repentance
In verses 28-32 Jesus encounters 2 demon possesed men.
He comes and emmedietly casts them into a hred of pigs, which in turn throw themselves off a nearby cliff.
32 And he said to them, “Go.” So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters.
This is one of many examples of Jesus casting out evil.
And when he comes to each of us, he does the same. He commands us to cast off the sin that we enjoyed and repent.
30 The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
Jesus said:
3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
In fact the first thing Jesus every preached, the first word of minisry he ever uttered was repent.
2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
What is repentance?
It is the forsaking the old life of sinful pleasure and turnong towards God in a life of holiness.
It is when the woman caught in adultry asked Jesus for mercy and he gave it but afterward he commanded her:
11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more.”
Go and sin no more.
This is to much for many people. They enjoy their sin far to much.
They enjoy their fornication, they enjoy their substance abuse, cigaretts, weed or alchohol.
They enjoy gossiping about nother people.
They enjoy lying to make themselves look better.
But when we repent, we choose Jesus over sin and its pleasure.
25 choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin.
For many people their sin is to enjoyible to give up - so they resist the Savior.
conclusion.
conclusion.
These Galdarenes who resisted Jesus and tiold him to leave, got their wish.
Jesus got back into the boat he came from and left.
How glad they were to see him go.
No more did they have to lower their intelegence nd believe silly bible stories. No more did they have to worry about making enemies of their friends. No more did they have to bend their knee to this crazy jewish carpenter and they could go on enjoying their life of sin and debatchery.
When they saw the back of Jesus they through: Good riddence! and many still do.
Unfortinatly they will see him again. But he will not be coming in a boat to help them. The next time they see uim, he will be ri=ding a white horse to judge them.
And like the rich man in Hell they will cry for a drop of water to releave their buring throats.
but then, it will be to late.
Are you resisting Jesus today?