a Scary Story with a Happy Ending
A Scary Story with a Happy Ending
There are a lot of things that are scary in this world. One of which is the $ amount that is spent on the horror industry. Movies are just one part. The video gaming industry even with the difficult economy continues to grow and one big segment of that is the horror genre. One website tauts the enormous windfall that programmers can get by programming to the horror base. The prevailing attitude of our culture sees this as harmless. But the Bible declares it differently. From the fall of man in the garden to the present day, the Enemy of our souls has been active in opposing God and God’s people. Although the devil is not all-powerful, all-knowing or all-present, he is real and active.
C.S. Lewis, a Christian philosopher said there are 2 views that you can have about devils. One is to refuse to believe that they exist, the other is to have too much interest in them. The Bible is clear that there are not only demons but a Devil. Satan is described in Scripture as a roaring lion roaming to and fro seeking whom he may devour. But the Bible also says “Greater is HE that is in YOU, than He that is in the world” So we come to the Scripture this morning and discover here a story where good and evil make a classic confrontation, and we see the inevitable result.
PRAY
Mark 5:1-6:1
1. The Scary thing about Evil is the End Effect
5:1 They went across the lake to the region of the Gerasenes. 2 When Jesus got out of the boat, a man with an evil spirit came from the tombs to meet him. 3 This man lived in the tombs, and no one could bind him any more, not even with a chain. 4 For he had often been chained hand and foot, but he tore the chains apart and broke the irons on his feet. No one was strong enough to subdue him. 5 Night and day among the tombs and in the hills he would cry out and cut himself with stones.
The self-centered perspective of this world declares: “it’s all about me”. “look out for number one”. The philosophy of existentialism declares that “experience is good” “go for it”, Logically this leads to hedonism who’s signature attitude is “get pleasure, avoid pain”…Logical it seems….to the casual observer, but the end result is death. Jeremiah declared the heart is deceitful, and desperately wicked above all things, who can know it.” Hedonism however is not the end result. The pursuit of pleasure eventually leads to despair into Nihilism and the loss of meaning. As Solomon’s testimony declares in Ecclesiastes:
I denied myself nothing my eyes desired;
I refused my heart no pleasure.
My heart took delight in all my work,
and this was the reward for all my labor.
11 Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done
and what I had toiled to achieve,
everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind;
nothing was gained under the sun.
[1]
2. Evil gets Scared when Jesus Shows Up
6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and fell on his knees in front of him. 7 He shouted at the top of his voice, "What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? Swear to God that you won't torture me!" 8 For Jesus had said to him, "Come out of this man, you evil spirit!"
9 Then Jesus asked him, "What is your name?"
"My name is Legion," he replied, "for we are many." 10 And he begged Jesus again and again not to send them out of the area.
11 A large herd of pigs was feeding on the nearby hillside. 12 The demons begged Jesus, "Send us among the pigs; allow us to go into them." 13 He gave them permission, and the evil spirits came out and went into the pigs. The herd, about two thousand in number, rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.
The Devil will lie and tell you that God doesn’t hear your prayers. The world will question your faith and the time you spend in church attendance.
But Proverbs says: The Lord is far from the wicked
but he hears the prayer of the righteous.
[2]
The World will question the effectiveness of your faith when difficulty comes, trying to assert that God is either ineffective or unattentive to your situation, .
But the Apostle Paul declared: “no weapon formed against you will prosper” and at the Name of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.
3. The only alternative to believing is living in fear
14 Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened. 15 When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind; and they were afraid. 16 Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man-and told about the pigs as well. 17 Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region.
The Devil is described in Scripture as the accuser of the brethren. The lies of the Enemy are never-ending. The Devil is a historian, he delights in bringing up the past, but as the singer Carmen stated:
whenever the devil wants to remind you of your past, just remind him of his future.
4. Jesus can bring purpose to a scary past
18 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. 19 Jesus did not let him, but said, "Go home to your family and tell them how much the Lord has done for you, and how he has had mercy on you." 20 So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for him. And all the people were amazed.
He's the kind of Jesus that the elements, the wind and the storm had to obey.
He's the kind of Jesus that demons have to ask his permission to go places.
He's the kind of Jesus that diseases dry up right in front of him at his touch.
He's the kind of Jesus that death flees from the room he is in.
I don’t know if you are afraid today, afraid of the future, or what’s waiting for you from a circumstance, but Jesus said FEAR NOT for I am with you.
Jesus Christ is here today to welcome you into His family. Jesus said I stand at the door and knock, if anyone will open the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me,
Paul the apostle said if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, you will be saved.
You may say “I’ll wait, there is still time” Scripture encourages us, Now is the accepted time, now is the day of Salvation, we’re not promised tomorrow, but we can have a God that will be with us in all of our tomorrows.
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[1]The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Ec 2:10-11.
[2]The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984), Pr 15:29.