Salvation From Sin's Effects

Salvation from Sin’s Effects

Rev. Sean Lester

September 7, 2003

Isaiah 35:3-7, Mark 7:24-37, Isaiah 25: 8-10

Introduction:

A. Let me tell you about my Jesus. He saves people, me and you.

1. Isaiah spoke of what the Messiah was to do, and God commanded him to say it.

2. In fact, Isaiah has long since gone into the presence of the Lord, and the Messiah has long since come and gone into heaven also.

3. But, for many people, maybe you, the Savior has not come to them. They live with fearful hearts. They are trapped by fear, and they are trapped in their bodies as a result of sin’s effect on them.

4. Trapped by fear: The old looking lady in Kosovo laid muttering on her cot because of the horrible acts she witnessed, trapped by fear of humiliation.

5. Trapped in their bodies: We Americans spend many billions of dollars on medicine and research in an attempt to not be trapped by the limitations of our physical bodies. But the flesh rebels against righteousness, and would rather shut down than obey.

B. The message God gave to Isaiah still must be preached today, by all those who have been born again.

1. Jesus has come to save you.

2. Only Jesus can save you.

3. If Jesus sets you free from sin, you are truly free from sin.

Proposition: Jesus sets people free from sin, and that freedom has an effect on your mind and body.

Interrogative: What kind of an effect does salvation on have on your mind and body?

Transition: We can see by what Jesus did while he was still on earth what will happen to people because of the Spirit of Jesus, the Holy Spirit, working through the saints.

I. Jesus heals the tormented soul.

A. A tormented soul is a person Isaiah said had a “liquid heart.”

1. A person who has seen the terrible things that people do to other people. Their innocence is gone and they know what kind of evil exists, and they fear that it could happen to them.

a. David’s son Amnon raped his half sister Tamar. The Bible says that she lived the rest of her life as a desolate woman.

2. Extreme, debilitating fear is the sign of demonic activity. It manifests itself in extreme behavior that is irrational, out of control, and harmful to the person with the tortured soul.

a. The fear is so intense that the person acts desperately, suicidal.

b. In the Bible, a young boy had a demon that caused him to try and faint into a fire or water in an attempt to kill himself.

c. Another man ran away from people altogether to live in the tombs. Whenever people tried to bring him back to society, he would break the chains and run back into the tombs. When Jesus cast out the demons into the pigs, the pigs committed suicide.

3. No counselor, psychiatrist, or psychologist can explain away or treat away the presence of demonic fear. The best they can do is to drug you into numbness to the fear, or give therapy to cope with the fear. But the fear does not go away, because it is a spiritual problem, a demonic one, and demons don’t go away as a result of therapy. They must be driven out by God himself.

B. Jesus drove out a demon from a little girl. (Mark 7:24-30, I Sam. 35:7)

1. The Bible does not say why the demon was there, only that it was there. The mother of the girl approached Jesus, who was trying to avoid doing any ministry because of his exhaustion. He told her no. It wasn’t time for people like her to have the blessing reserved, for the time, to Jews.

2. But, the mother persisted in her request. Jesus was clear when he said that it wasn’t right to throw the children’s food to the family pet. But, without a hesitation, she replied that the little children often sneak scraps of food to the family puppies who sit under the table.

3. The mother’s answer was “smart-alas.” Yet, Jesus grated her request, proving to us two truths about Jesus:

a. That Jesus notices the faith of those who approach him, and that

b. Jesus is by nature compassionate and is willing to grant the request of those who have put their faith in Him.

C. In the same way, Jesus still saves the tormented soul of those who come to him.

1. Those who come to him for salvation believe that He is good. He is good for you. He is good to you.

2. The very tact that your fear is out of control, that you have to drug yourself or get yourself on an emotional high proves your need to be saved from the effects of sin on your soul