Revision 2024 In The Ministry Of Christ

c. Why send into the pigs? I don’t know and don’t know a great explanation. Illust: J. Vernon McGee felt it was to rebuke the region of Gad. Shows how far had fallen by time of Christ. Not honoring dietary law of God and now in the pig business.

B. What is the Result of Christ’s Encounter with this Formerly Demon-Possessed Man?

1. There is an immediate change when this man comes to Christ.

a. Notice the transformation that takes place between v.3 and v. 15 – The Gadarene is a traumatized, terrifying, tortured tomb dweller. In v.15 he is calm, clothed, clean, and clear minded! Who or what was the agent of change? Jesus Christ! Jesus saves and Jesus restores.

b. Illust: I want to tell you that Christ is still changing people today. There’s a young man in our congregation today that is unrecognizable from who he was a few years ago. I have asked his permission to briefly share his story as an illustration. He was raised in a Christ loving home. He went to Christian school. But over time wrong crowd and wrong choices ruined his life. Addictions separated him from the Savior, the Church, and family and friends. He was firmly in the grip and grasp of the devil. His thinking became confused.

At a cabin in TN with “friends” who were all doing drugs. Had overwhelming feeling he was going to die. Scared. Terrified. On the window sill of his room there was a Bible! Locked self in room for next several hours pored over the WOG! And the WOG began to wash him! And there in that locked room in a cabin in TN Austin Tomash found freedom in Christ! He didn’t go there that weekend looking for Christ, but Praise God, Christ was looking for him!

2. This formerly demon possessed man has his life restored to him again!

a. Often the biblical meaning of the word “restoration” is to receive back more than has been lost to the point where the final state is greater than the original condition. The main point is that someone or something is improved beyond measure. Unlike the regular dictionary meaning of “restoration”, which is to return something back to its original condition, the biblical definition of the word has greater connotations that go above and beyond the typical everyday usage.

b. Illust: There are people who are sitting in our churches each week who are hooked into a sin or a circumstance, and although they pull hard to try and break free, they only tighten the chains themselves into the situation. Many times we want to help people out of a circumstance without identifying the spiritual root of the problem. But if the spiritual is the cause, the spiritual must be the cure. A snare is always rooted in a spiritual cause because the root of any snare is Satan, our flesh or both.

C. Applic: v.15 – Read – What is the response of the residents of the community? Frightened! Why? Jesus is more powerful than the man who had been terrorizing them. Shows us there’s always various responses people can have to the power of Christ. The demon possessed man surrenders to Christ and is restored entirely. The community rejects Christ out of fear and remain enslaved. May you are listening today. Afraid to give life to Christ…you will remain enslaved.