TROUBLE ON THE INSIDE
TEXT: Luke 8:27--And when he went forth to land, there met him out
of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and
wore no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs."
This man who possessed devils, and whom Jesus healed, seems to
tell us the striking need of our time. For indeed, we live in a sin maddened world. As, times have changed; customs have changed, people have changed. Everyone seems to be tense "up tight." The former spirit of neighborliness seems to have vanished. People seem to be going about with chips on their shoulders.
Many have lost respect for law and order. It is far safer to be on
the firing line in our major cities. And not only, but many have lost respect for The Lord's Day. We seem to hold the Church in extreme disregard. Materialism has become the order of the day; the more we get, the more we want; we are never satisfied.
Violence is undermining our nation, and our young people, trying
to seek a way out, are becoming decadent in their morals, and by the use of drugs, liquor, crime, and immorality try to lose themselves and their identity. And in a vain effort to excuse their debauched behavior; they blame the generation gap the power structure. /Therefore, more crimes are committed by our youth than all of the adults put together.
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Many Parents have become derelict in parental responsibility; more and more, they are permitting children to have their own way, and as a result, children have lost respect for parents and parents have lost respect for children.
Why is a nation founded upon the principles, of Christianity; a
nation which has on its currency "In God We Trust,-" Why is it in such an age of scientific development and discovery, has America fallen so low?
The man of the text, can answer all of these questions. _ "THE
TROUBLE IS ON THE INSIDE." You see, before an individual can act
right; think right; walke right or talk right he/she must be right on the inside. You hear a lot of talk about ghettos and rat infested dwellings.
Many legislators are seeking the enactment of laws to develop adequate housing for the underprivileged, at rent prices they can afford to pay. Their philosophy is: if you move a man out of the ghetto environment, crime will decrease, as such a move would rid such ghetto victims of their inferiority complex, and feeling of helplessness. But let me tell you; ghettos are bad. People ought to be given decent, clean, well arranged housing. But this alone will not blot out
the ghetto, or slums in America. You see you can tear down the ghetto and construct the proper type of housing, and if something is not done on the inside of the ghetto dweller, it wont be long before the new housing project becomes a ghetto itself. You see, to destroy the ghetto; you have got to destroy the ghetto thinking in a man's heart. The trouble is on the inside .
I used to wonder about people; you meet them on one day, and they
are talkative genial and jolly and you can meet the same folks the very next day, and they will appear so angry, that it seems they don 't want their clothes to touch them. But I understand better now; something is wrong on the inside. You see, a man just can't act good on the outside, when he is bad on the inside.
One day the Pharisees criticized Jesus and His Disciples for eating
with unwashed hands, but Jesus knew how to defend Himself. He told them in effect: that it wasn't what went from the outside in, that was harmful; but what came from the inside out, that did the damage. The trouble is on the inside.
You can get a filthy dirty, ragged bum out of the gutter; take him
to the store and buy him silk ^underwear ; silk sox; Stacy Adams shoes,a $250.00 suit; a $35.00 Dobbs hat; and a $20.00 shirt, and then shave him up; wash hi m up; clean him up; and dress him up; but it won't help a bit, until he gets a sense of pride and cleanliness on the inside; without which he will wear the clothes you bought until they too, become ragged. The trouble is on the inside. I don't care how many schools you attend or how many diplomas you may have on the wall; if you don't have it on the inside, it will do you no good. You see, education is just like opening a can of food; you can't get out of that can, nothing that wasn't already in that can.
We have been using the wrong axioms, the wrong rules on our many
problems; we've been trying to clean up the outside; when it has been the inside which needed God's Spiritual detergent.
If we could realize our utter insufficiency, if we could in our own pride realize that we are in need of something new and clean and lasting on the inside. Here is the remedy. You see before a sick man can become well; he must first realize that he is sick.
The Pharisees were sick; yes sin-sick, and didn't recognize the
symptoms. They walked around in long white robes, thinking that the
white robes made them spotless./ They proudly displayed Scriptures in little boxes tied to their heads and wrapped about their arms; thinking this made them acceptable to God. But it is not the one that reads God's word, or carries the word around in his pocket that gains the approval of God; it is the one who puts God's word to work in their everyday life that has the guarantee of God's presence on his side. Let us look at the solution to demonized lives: Jesus had been very busily engaged in His ministry; and the multitudes pressed upon Him from every side; and being both God and man He grew tired and weary and said to the disciples; let us go to the other side. And while the Master was asleep in the vessel, a storm arose, and the ship was being swamped with water, and the disciples aroused Jesus from sleep saying "Carest thou not that we perish?" Evidently they did not know that they were never in danger as long as Jesus was aboard.
Jesus calmed the storm and entered the land of the Gadarenes where
lived the man with the legion of devils. The man lived in the graveyard. He was a wretched man. The devils seemed to want to terrify the man continually with the mournful spectacle of death. They cut him off from the society of men. You see, devils have no power unless they can possess the bodies of something or someone.
Jesus asked the man his name, and he answered legion, for we are many. You see when the devil is on the inside he takes complete control, and they wanted to know why it was that they were being tormented before the actual judgment. But even devils are subject to the commands of Jesus.
And as the swine were feeding nearby; the devil prayed that Jesus would not send them into the emptiness of space, but that He would
permit them to enter the swine. You see, out in space the devil has no power; he must get on the inside of somebody. And you know, if devils will pray to God; what about you and me.
But the answered prayer of the devils did them no good. For the
swine were reluctant to have devils within them on the inside, and seeming they preferred death by drowning themselves in the sea; than to permit the rule of devils in their beings. And that same man which only a short while before was ferocious; when
Jesus had worked on his insides, and had ridden him of the devils was clothed and in his right mind.
My friends if you are troubled on the inside; Jesus is the only one
that can help you through the power of His Holy Spirit, by cleaning you up on the inside. '
