How Has Christ Changed You Life

¡§How Has Christ Changed You Life?¡¨

Luke 8:26-39

OPENING JOKE: ¡§Getting a Dress for the Revival¡¨ A poor country pastor was livid when he confronted his wife with the receipt for a $250 dress she had bought for a revival that was coming up. "How could you do this!" he exclaimed.

"I don’t know," she wailed, "I was standing in the store looking at the dress. Then I found myself trying it on. It was like the Devil was whispering to me, "Gee, you look great in that dress. You should buy it."

"Well," the pastor persisted, "You know how to deal with him! Just tell him, "Get behind me, Satan!"

"I did," replied his wife, "but then he said "It looks great from back here, too."

INTRODUCTION: Welcome to the first night of our Revival, I hope your all excited and plan to be here all of the nights of this event ¡V we are going to end on Wednesday evening

Tonight I am preaching on the subject: ¡§How Has Christ Changed Your Life?¡¨

It is amazing how much Jesus can change a life

„« He can take an old, poor, wretched sinner like me and put a desire in my heart for Him

„« And if you¡¦re saved tonight, He has done the same for you

In our text we see proof positive how Jesus can make a difference in a life

„« Here we have a man, totally under the control of a legion of evil Spirits

„« Running around naked in a graveyard, scaring folks and carrying on

„« Jesus comes to him and ¡¥immediately¡¦ his life is changed!

„« He goes from being the most crazy person in town to (likely) being the most righteous, because if we read on we see how the others in the town reacted coldly towards Christ

***Tonight we are going to learn about his change, and how it mirrors the change Christ makes in our lives when we come to Him in faith

I. Jesus gave him new clothes

a. Luke 8:35a ¡§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¡K¡¨

b. You will remember that he was naked while he was under the power of Satan

i. Verse 27 says ¡§he wore no clothes¡¨

ii. But here we see, after his encounter with Jesus, that he had clothes on

1. Question: Where did they come from?

2. Jesus had given them to him

c. Likewise, when we are saved, Christ gives us a new garment to wear

i. Isaiah 61:10 ¡§I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.¡¨

ii. Notice how Isaiah likens righteousness to a robe we would wear

iii. Christ¡¦s blood is the robe of righteousness that we put on

d. When Christ gives us His righteousness it is like a perfectly white garment that completely covers our sins

i. Illustration: ¡§Changing of the guard¡¨ In England they have the changing of the guard, where the men in the red coats all change for the day. It is an event that tourists all flock to see. One day as a man and his son watched, the father said, look at all those ¡¥red coats¡¦ son. The boy was confused. ¡§Those coats are white, dad¡¨ said the little boy. ¡§No son, your mistaken, they are red¡¨. ¡§But dad, I see white coats¡¨. Just then the father noticed that the window the boy was looking out of was tinted red, making everything red appear white.

ii. When God looks at our sins through the precious blood of Christ, we appear as white as snow

iii. God does not see our sins, because they have been ¡¥blotted out¡¦

iv. Acts 3:19 ¡§Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord¡¨

e. Some people are relying on their own righteousness to get into Heaven

i. They believe in their own minds that God judges us based on a scale of goodness

ii. And their good will outweigh the bad

iii. So they are relying on their own righteousness

f. Question: What does the Bible say about our righteousness?

i. Isaiah 64:6 ¡§But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags¡¨

ii. If we are relying on our own righteousness, we are relying on filthy rags

iii. God says that we are to be clothed with His righteousness ¡V which comes through faith in Christ