CHURCH IN THE PARK JULY 28, 2024

 

July 28, 2024                NOTES NOT EDITED
Church In The Park
Living Under God While Surrounded By Evil
Daniel 1:1-21, esp. 8-20

SIS— Living Under the Influence of God requires a deep determination and commitment to risk whatevery it takes to give the gospel of salvation to the world.

I’ve been saying the Pledge of Allegiance from at least the age of 6. That year I started first grade and every day started with the Pledge of Allegiance and the prayer of the teacher.

The most memorable phrase in that Pledge (added in 1952) are the words, “One Nation Under God.” I remember I would often get a “tingly feeling” when I came to those words. I didn’t really know what it meant at first to live “Under God,” but I knew it was the key to everything good in life—including “Liberty and Justice for all.”

Nothing is clearer from the writings of our Founding the Fathers, and even the rulings from our Supreme Court—America is a Christian nation. You can dislike that fact, but you cannot deny it. Yet, I can see the foundation of our nation—AND EVEN THE WORLD—beginning to crumble as more and more people—even in America—begin to openly rebel against God—and even blaspheme Him publicly and proudly.

What we have come to accept as “Gay Pride” was on clear and demonstrative display at the opening ceremonies of the Olympics last Friday.

If you haven’t heard, the ceremony opened with the likes of the singer, “Lady Gaga,” and even “Celine Dion.” But what really it getting the press is a bizarre display of debauchery involving Drag Queens, a Naked Blue Man, and what appeared to many people as the Drag Queens reenacting a version of the Last Supper by DaVinci.

The Drag Queen part of the ceremony clearly invoked the worship of the Greek God, Bacchus, or also known as the Greek counterpart,  Dionysius. Here’s one description of Bacchus (or Bacchanalia the festival): Bacchus is the Roman god of wine, agriculture, fertility, revelry, and intoxication. “Revelry” is the code word for, “sexual activity and lude behavior.  Drunkenness and elicit sex are celebrated.
So, this is what our world has come to when at the Global Sports event in history elicit sex and open mockery of the faith of 2.4 billion Christians are the “opening ceremony.”

This made me think of the phrase which became the title of this sermon: “How do I live “under God” while surrounded by a world that is blatantly and increasingly evil. The answer is very simple; one word in fact: INFLUENCE! Who and/or what will I let influence my mind and heart?

I am boycotting the Olympics. I’m not going to watch a single day of it. I do not want to be complicit, or supportive, of any celebration of a Roman God promoting “drunkenness and fornication while mocking the sacred Last Supper of the Lord.” I don’t want that garbage in my house and certainly not in my head.

One Christian magazine has warned the church saying, “Many of us who are Christians have gotten caught up in this increasingly bankrupt culture.  We have adopted many of the values of the world around us.” And I would add: most of us don’t even realize it.

The essence of godliness is determine Who or what will influence our lives.  Culture is constantly seeking to “assimilate us” into the ways of the world.  We must resist being so assimilated to the world that our faith in God is obliterated.  Today, we are looking at the life of Daniel and three of his friends.  King Nebuchadnezzar, the leader of the Babylonian Empire (including modern day Iraq and regions to the west), invaded Israel about 605 BC.  The City of Jerusalem was completely destroyed and Nebuchadnezzar carried of the treasures of the temple of God.  The King also carried off the very best of the young men of Jerusalem to be trained in the ways of his pagan kingdom, including the “Chaldean language and literature.”  Among these young Israelite men were Daniel, Haniah, Mishael, and Azariah.  We know Daniel’s friends by their Babylonian names, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.  (see Dan. 1:1-6).

We will pick up the story of the stand for righteousness taken by Daniel and his friends.  READ Daniel 1:8-20

Living under the influence of God has three components.

1.  Living Under the Influence of God Requires RESOLVE (8a)

⁸ Daniel determined that he would not defile himself
with the king’s food or with the wine he drank. 

Scholars are divided on the reason that Daniel “determined” (“resolved,” NIV, ESV) not to eat the king’s food or drink his wine.  The most common reason is the fact that ancient people would dedicate the food in the markets to the pagan gods.  Some scholars suggest that we continue this same basic idea by saying a “blessing” before our meals.

In Daniel’s case, eating this food would “defile” him by eating this food dedicated to gods that Daniel did not recognize as God.  This is probably not a sufficient answer for what Daniel was doing because in verse 12 David asked permission to “be given vegetables and water.”  It is quite possible, almost certain that these vegetables would have also been dedicated to the pagan gods.  A more likely reason is that Daniel was rejecting the extravagant and luxurious lifestyle of the king.  In other words, Daniel was making a statement against the culture in general, not necessarily just the pagan gods of the culture.  Whatever Daniel and his friends’ reason, it is clear they were very conscious of how easy it is to become accustomed to the ways of the world, without even knowing it.

There’s a legendary story about a frog in a kettle that illustrates how easy it is to become accustomed to things that are actually harmful, even deadly, to us.  The story goes that a frog was placed into a pot of boiling water.  Immediately the frog started kicking his legs and waving his hands.  The frog did everything it could do to get out of that pot of boiling water.  The kind lab technician conducting the experiment rescued the frog before he became soup.  The technician took another frog and placed it in a pot of water at room temperature.  The pot was sitting on the burner of a stove.  The frog just swam around seemingly not having a care in the world.  The technician continued to raise the temperature of the water slowly.  The frog did not even notice the change in temperature.  Finally, the water was boiling and this frog did become frog soup.

This is how it is with so many Christian.  Christians do not usually jump right into worldliness in one big step, but it happens slowly over time.  Worldliness influences what we think is funny;  it influences what we find entertaining; it influences how we spend our time and money; worldliness begins to influence how we speak; and, before long, we are living under the influence of the world instead of living under the influence of God.  We become “intoxicated” by culture and culture, not God, directs our lives.

Daniel rejected the ways of the world represented by the feast that the king wished to provide in order to “influence” Daniel and his friends into the ways of Babylon.  Daniel “resolved” to “not defile himself” by letting the pagan culture influence him.

The word, “resolved” (“determined,” HCSB), in English means to “take a strong stand.”  The Hebrew word has that same idea but also has an element of “planning” associated it.  It means that Daniel “put in place in his heart boundaries” to guide his decisions when issues arise where culture fights for influence in his life. 

Beginning in our youth: we need to “put in place in our heart holy boundaries” and never allow yourself to be put into a position where you will be tempted needlessly.  One such boundary would be to “never drink or try drugs.”  If you make that resolution, I absolutely guarantee you will never become an alcoholic or drug addict.

Bad influences in our lives usually develop over time. We don’t always immediately see the consequences of bad behavior. No drunk starts drinking down on Skid Row but ends up there one bottle at a time. Sin is like cancer, it spends 80% of its time in your body and only 20% being treated or killing you. Don’t let the world’s influence start you down a path of depravity, despair, and finally death.

There are many areas in our lives where we need to “put in place holy boundaries in our hearts” so that we can influence culture and not be influenced by it. Have the resolve and determination of Daniel to “build boundaries for your heart and mind” against worldly influences.  Also, Living Under God requires

2. COMMITMENT AND RISK (8B-10)

David’s resolve to live a godly life would come at great risk. 

So he asked permission from the chief official not to defile himself.  ⁹ God had granted Daniel favor and compassion from the chief official, ¹⁰ yet he said to Daniel, “My lord the king assigned your food and drink. I’m afraid of what would happen if he saw your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age. You would endanger my life with the king.” 

Living Under the Influence of God requires the deepest commitment, sacrifice, and even risk.  What Daniel was proposing is to “defy the king’s directive.”  At the very least Daniel risked insulting the king.  Kings were tyrants.  They did not deal well with insults.  The king’s supervisor over Daniel and the others realized the danger involved

¹⁰ yet he said to Daniel, “My lord the king assigned your food and drink. I’m afraid of what would happen if he saw your faces looking thinner than those of the other young men your age. You would endanger my life with the king.” 

The words, “endanger my life,” literally mean, “make me guilty of my head” or “cause me to forfeit my head.”  We have become all too familiar with how tyrants in the Middle East deal with those that offend them.  Almost daily in Syria and other Muslim countries, Christians are being beheaded for their commitment to God.
Daniel’s decision not to “live under the influence” of God required a significant commitment which brought a great deal of risk. 

Someone has said, “That which we attain too easily, we esteem to lightly.”  Perhaps Christians in American have so little influence on our culture because it is “too easy” to be a Christian in America.  Christians in America have never really been challenged in regard to living in a way that “does not defile ourselves by living like pagans.”  There’s little cost to being a church member in the typical Christian church.  Members can do almost anything, or do nothing, and there is seldom any consequences.  True Christianity takes real commitment and sacrifice, often with great risk. 

In a message on Daniel 1, Pastor Greg Groeschel declared, “We can’t halfway follow Jesus.”  He went on to point out that we can’t get in shape by going to the gym once a week; we can’t get healthy by eating one healthy meal a week and junk food all the rest; and we are never going to be devoted followers of Jesus with one hour of church every week.

Devotion to God is costly and dangerous.  I can’t think of anything more often demonstrated in Scripture by both example and exhortation than the idea that living under the influence of God takes significant commitment.  I think we take the words of Jesus too lightly when He said in Luke 14:26:

²⁷ Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 

This is such a critical issue in discipleship that the Lord spoke even more bluntly a few verses later saying (v33):

Therefore, every one of you who does not say good-bye to all his possessions cannot be My disciple. 

Daniel’s “overseer” was in danger of losing his head. Daniel and his friends were likely in danger of losing their lives. Following Jesus takes commitment and sacrifice like nothing else we do in life.

Sadly, too many believer’s lack the kind of commitment to the Church of Our Lord to take any risks to see the Kingdom of God flourish. LIKE A WOMAN ONE THANKSGIVING: Paul Harvey reported that during the 1995 Thanksgiving Season, a woman purportedly called up the Butterball Turkey Company's hotline and asked whether it was advisable to cook a turkey that had been in her freezer for 23 years. The customer service rep advised her that as long as the freezer had maintained a below-zero temperature, it would probably be ok. However, she was warned that the turkey would be less than tasty. The woman responded, "Oh, that's what we thought. We'll just donate it to the church."

Everybody eventually says “good-bye” to all his possessions—a devout follower of Jesus just does it while we are still alive!  It is not so much “how many things does a person possesses, as it is, how much the things possess the person.”  I can tell you one thing I know for sure:  “No matter how much any of us is giving of our time, talents, and treasures to the work of the kingdom of God—it ain’t enough!”  What Daniel did involved a significant amount of commitment and risk.  Another component to Living Under the Influence of God is that it

3.  Yields GOD’S FAVOR (11-16; 17-20)

What is the second greatest opportunity than being the king?  It is being favored by the king.  In verses 11-16 we see Daniel’s proposal:

¹¹ So Daniel said to the guard whom the chief official had assigned to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, ¹² “Please test your servants for 10 days. Let us be given vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then examine our appearance and the appearance of the young men who are eating the king’s food, and deal with your servants based on what you see.” ¹⁴ He agreed with them about this and tested them for 10 days. ¹⁵ At the end of 10 days they looked better and healthier than all the young men who were eating the king’s food.  ¹⁶ So the guard continued to remove their food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables.

Let me sum up the benefits to Living Under the Influence of God instead of living under the influence of the world:  “it is better and healthier.”  It’s good to be the king—but it is also good to be favored by the king.

Now, look at the results of gaining the favor of God in your life:

¹⁷ God gave these four young men knowledge and understanding in every kind of literature and wisdom. Daniel also understood visions and dreams of every kind. ¹⁸ At the end of the time that the king had said to present them, the chief official presented them to Nebuchadnezzar. ¹⁹ The king interviewed them, and among all of them, no one was found equal to Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.  So they began to serve in the king’s court. ²⁰ In every matter of wisdom and understanding that the king consulted them about, he found them 10 times better than all the diviner-priests and mediums  in his entire kingdom.

First of all, the only true “education” is founded upon devotion.  As the writer of Proverbs declared so long ago:  ^1:7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.  Notice that there education in “every kind of literature and wisdom” (v17), did not come from reading literature but from “loving the Lord.”  “God gave it to them.” 

Second, notice that the pathway to understanding was not limited to just what they could read in a book.  There was a supernatural element to their knowledge.  Verse 17 also says, “They could see what eyes could not see.”  The default setting for what most people count for truth and knowledge is limited to the five senses:  what they can see, what they can hear, what they can smell, what they can taste, or what they can touch.  But, so much of what is “real” in our world cannot be accessed through the human faculties.  You cannot see beauty.  You cannot smell love.  You cannot touch mercy.  You cannot taste hope.  You cannot touch peace.  So much of what is most “real” and what is of the highest value can only be accessed by God’s revelation. 

Our highest understanding comes from only one Book, the Bible, and our Greatest Teacher is the Holy Spirit. 

I think most Christians are unwilling to make the decision to Live Under the Influence of God, not because they do NOT UNDERSTAND the significance of commitment and the degree of risk, but because they DO UNDERSTAND!  They do a cost/profit analysis and simply do not place a high value on the favor of God.

Psalm 1 offers a cost/profit analysis of it’s own in regard to the value of resolving in one’s heart to Live Under the Influence of God:

¹ How happy is the manwho does not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path of sinnersor join a group of mockers! ² Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. ³ He is like a tree planted beside streams of water

that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither.

Whatever he does prospers.

 

Living Under the Influence of God GAINS GOD’S FAVOR, which is the second best thing to being God—something we can never be.

 

I was really saddened to see the debauchery paraded BEFORE THE WORLD by deviant people who hate God. The Olympics had a reputation as “high as the peak of Mt. Olympus itself.” But, deviant people and a defiant, woke lifestyle has completely infected the entire globe. Our world is literally dying before our eyes.

 

The only hope for our world—for the lost souls wallowing in the muck of sin—the followers of Christ living Under the Influence of God—a holy nation, a royal priesthood.   

Daniel and his friends “resolved to Live Under the Influence of God.”  This resolve, or determination, led them to take a stand, and pay whatever price had to be paid, trusting that gaining God’s favor meant more than all the riches in the world.  Will you make such a resolution today not to defile your life with worldly living?  I think of that great hymn of the church:

 

I am resolved no longer to linger,

Charmed by the world’s delight,

Things that are higher, things that are nobler,

These have allured my sight.

 

Daniel would not defile himself by letting the world influence his character.  He was willing to risk even his life to serve the One True God.  We should follow Daniel’s example and Live Under the Influence of God.

                                                                                       

The Story of Jesus According to Mark, Pt 12: Demon Possession x3

 

July 14, 2024    NOTES NOT EDITED
God Among Men:  Demon Possession, x3
Mark 5:1-20

SIS – Everybody is either possessed by the Spirit of God or the spirit of Satan, but it can’t be both.

 When people find out I was a submariner who spent three months at a time underwater, a common question they asked, second only to what we did with bathroom waste, was, “what did you do for entertainment.?” This was before iphones, ipads, or even DVD’s. Before every patrol we would load 70 or so full length motion pictures. They came usually in two 14 inch reels in a heavy green container. These would be shown nightly (or what was our nightly) on the mess deck.

 The mess deck or dining area was just above the sleeping area. I remember one night I was sleeping after my work shift. I was awakened by an ear-piercing scream coming from the mess deck. They were playing the movie, “The Exorcist” about a young girl who was possessed by the Devil. This was the “Bed Shaking Scene” showing the violent display of the Devil’s evil powers. The movie was violent, bizarre, and vulgar—a good depiction of the demonic.

 The whole idea of “demons” and demon possession raises skeptical groans in the Western World—especially America.  Here’s a bold statement: Everybody is “possessed,” either by the Spirit of God or by the Spirit of the Devil, but not both.” There are no empty souls!

In the Western World, especially, Satan and His evil entourage have become almost “invisible.”  Like a cancer lurking unnoticed in a person’s body silently destroying tissues and organs, often until it is too late, so the Devil and His Demons are lurking in the hearts of unsaved people destroying their souls.

Do you want to know why there is so much evil in our world, today? It is because of “mass demon possession.” Never before in the history of mankind has the Devil been so active in our world on such a massive, global scale—WITHOUT HARDLY ANYBODY EVEN NOTICING! Sure, we all noticed the evil released when Hitler rose to power. Sure, we all noticed the evil of Islamic fanaticism when the Twin Towers came crashing down. But, today, the Devil is “Alive and Well on Planet Earth” in a global scale and hardly anyone—NOT EVEN THE CHURCH—notices.

We do err greatly when we fail to recognize the truth that Devil is real and his affect upon the unwary and unprotected are disastrous.  C.S. Lewis described a healthy understanding of the Devil better than any I’ve ever heard when he said,

"There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves are equally pleased by both errors.”

The Bible says much about the Devil and His work in both the Old and New Testaments. When God was creating the earth, we are told that angels (and those who would become demons) were present. In Job 38:4-7 God calls them:  “morning stars” and “sons of God” who “sang in chorus and shouted for joy” during creation.

The creation of angels, and the ones who became demons, is not described in detail in the Bible. Job mentions them and Satan just shows up in the Garden of Eden and has been creating chaos, death, and destruction ever since.

Today, Mark is going to give us a personal introduction to the Devil and demonstrate the awful, horrible, terrible, destructive force that the Devil and his demons can bring when they possess human beings.

As we approach our text today, it becomes very evident that Mark is continuing the theme of Christ’s authority—a major theme in the Gospel of Mark. Even the Devil and demons are under His feet.

Last week we saw the miraculous power of God at work in Christ as He calmed the raging storm.  This week, we will see the miraculous power of God at work as Christ calms a raging man.

For the most part, most sermons on this passage focus on the wild, superhumanly strong, and downright scary person called the “Demoniac of the Gerasenes (or Gadarenes. Gerasene is the city. Gadara is the region.”  But, the truth of this story is much deeper than the deliverance of the demon-possessed man (or men, there were actually two as we learn from Matthew, but only one spoke to Jesus).

The greatest truth is revealed not in what takes place in the demoniac’s heart, but what does not take place in the heart of the people in the area.  You see, there is more to this story than the one (or 2) demon possessed individuals.  This is “Demon Possession  x3!”

There are three separate cases of demon possession: The Obvious Case; The Unusual Case; The Worst Case.

Let’s read our text together.   MARK 5:1-10

Mark 5:1–10 (NIV84)

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. 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.

1.  The Obvious Case (1-10)

Perhaps nothing is more terrifyingly graphic than to see someone totally possessed by the dark, devilish, destructive power of hell.  Such a man is this Gadarene Demoniac.  He is in a horrible—a hellish—state, more horrible than hellish than anything depicted in movies like, The Exorcist, which I spoke of a moment ago.

We are not told the circumstances by which the Devil so completely took up residence in this man.  Such OBVIOUS demon possession was rare, and is rare today, but when it happens, anybody can see something has gone horribly wrong. 

An OBVIOUS case of demon-possession has some unmistakable markers.  We are told that the man “came out of the tombs.”  (v2). An obsession with death and anti-social behavior are common themes with demon-possessed individuals.  In fact, many eventually take their own lives.

We are told, also, that the Demoniac was uncontrollable.  “No one could bind him” (v3). Rage, violence and superhuman strength are common with demon-possessed individuals.  They tried to bind him with chains, but it did not work.

Today, we do not use chains to bind people afflicted with demons.  We use drugs.  We use straight-jackets.  We use whatever means we can to isolate demon possessed people because they are a danger to others.  Horrible crimes have been committed by “so-called schizophrenics.” 

We are told that the demoniac “mutilated himself.” (v5). Many people who fall under the devil’s total control cut themselves.  They not only are a danger to others, they are a danger to themselves.

As you will no doubt recognize, these symptoms are classified in our modern day as “mental illness.”  They are treated as “mental problems” by medicine and psychiatrists.  All mental illness has a demonic component.  Either it is being caused directly by the devil who has overtaken a person, or the Devil will exploit the condition to bring chaos and destruction to individuals and families.

This Gadarene man was not crazy—he was possessed.  He was in a horrible state utterly without hope and nobody could help him.  In fact, he was not just possessed by one demon—but by many.  Look at verse 9.  Jesus asked the demon to give Him his name.  The demon replied, “My name is Legion, because we are many.”

The word Legion is a Latin word referring to a regiment of Roman soldiers numbering about 6000.  The reference to a Roman Legion probably was meant to instill fear.  Roman soldiers were known to be cruel and brutal to residents of the Empire.  One preacher described the Roman Legion by saying, “The legions, at their wildest and most irresponsible, could sometimes be guilty of atrocities that would make the blood run cold.”  The preacher went on to summarize the demoniacs situation as being in “a perilous place and a perilous hour, and a dangerous man.”

This man’s case of demon possession can be categorized as OBVIOUS. The reason for the man’s possession is the same as it always is in every case:  “the man’s spirit was unprotected because Jesus Christ was not the Lord of his life.”  Look at verses 6-7:

⁶ When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and knelt down before Him. ⁷ And he cried out with a loud voice, “What do You have to do with me,  Jesus, Son  of the Most High God?  I beg You before God, don’t torment  me!”

God is Absolutely Sovereign. The demon (or demons) knew perfectly well that Jesus Christ was God, the Son, the Creator and Sustainer of the Universe.  They knew all about Jesus . . . but they did not “know” Jesus. Demons are ORTHODOX in CHRISTOLOGY.

Demons are also ORTHODOX in ESCHATOLOGY. They have a good understanding (limited) of the LAST TIMES.

Matthew 8:29 (NIV84) 29 “What do you want with us, Son of God?” they shouted. “Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?” 

Luke 8:31 (NIV84) And they begged him repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.

Revelation 20:3 (NIV84) 3 He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.

Demons are orthodox theologians: 1. CHRISTOLOGY; 2. ESCHATOLOGY. But orthodox religion can be a curse.

James tells us:  2:19 You believe that God is one; you do well. The demons also believe—and they shudder.

APPLICATION:  The issue is never a matter of “not knowing about” Jesus, the issue is “not submitting to the Lord’s authority.”  This lack of submission leaves one open to the same horrible plight experienced by the demoniac. 

One case of demon-possession is the OBVIOUS case—the earmarks of demon-possession are both remarkable and unmistakable.

That is Demon Possession X 1.  There is also

2.  The Unusual Case (11-13)

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.

This case with the Devil entering into the pigs is an UNUSUAL one.  Some scholars point out a couple of perceived moral problems with the action of the Lord.  For one, some object to Jesus hurting the pigs.  I find that interesting.  They apparently had little problem with a man living as an animal, hurting himself and hiding in tombs, but had great concern for pigs—which, under Jewish law at least it was illegal to (not to mention ritually unacceptable) to raise pigs.  These were probably pagans, so the Jewish law would not carry any weight with them—but it did with Jesus.  He was a Jew.  He was God and He was the One Who determined pigs were unclean. 

Here's a summary of the lessons from this UNUSUAL case of demon-possession.  1.This is a gentile area. Pagan people act like pagan people. 2. The herd was of high value (2000 head). Pagans worship St. Benjamin. 3. The demon was Legion. Never underestimate the power of evil people. 4. Jesus had a Jewish view of swine which further validated His identity as the Jewish Messiah. 5. Jesus was providing a “backdrop” for a coming “teaching moment” (v17)

This UNUSUAL CASE of demon-possession is a further demonstration of the absolute authority of Jesus. God is ABSOLUTELY SOVEREIGN The Bible tells us clearly:

^{Phil 2:10} so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow — of those who are in heaven  and on earth and under the earth — ¹¹ and every tongue  should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory  of God the Father.

So, this action of Jesus fits perfectly with the character of God and the issue of Christ’s SOVEREIGN authority.  While God loves all creatures, this demonstrates what the Bible has declared from the beginning:  “Mankind is created in God’s image.”  But sin UNIVERSALLY corrupted creation.  Romans 8:19–21 (NIV84)

19 The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

The point we can make is this:  all of creation, from lizards to lions, from rocks to rain forests, from the seas to the heavens—all creation has been affected by the sin of mankind.

This “Unusual Case” of demon possession demonstrates what I have stated:  anywhere the authority of Jesus is not recognized—the Devil rules.  As with the case of the Demon Possessed man, the demon possessed swine point to the havoc and destruction that arises where Christ’s rule is not acknowledged and accepted.

That is Demon Possession X2:  the Obvious, and the Unusual. And,

3.  The Oblivious Case (14-20, esp. 17)

 (NIV84) 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 word “oblivious” simply means, “not aware or concerned about what is happening.”

This last group of people exhibit the “worst case” of demon possession.  It probably sounds a bit odd to talk of a “worst case” of demon possession than we see in the demoniac at the start of this episode.  That man was, as we saw, in an extremely bad situation.  But, it was pretty obvious to others—and probably to the man himself—that he had a serious issue going on inside of him.

There is no way to describe the obvious plight of that man than to say it was “horrible.”  But, this last case of demon possession is much worse by far.  The worst that could happen to a person is not to be demon possessed, but to be demon possessed and to be oblivious or even unconcerned about it.

Here's the sad reality of our sin-sick, Satan possessed society:  “People would rather roll in the mud and muck of sin than bow at the feet to worship Jesus.” The reality is this: “people don’t sin because they HAVE to, but because they WANT to. Any person can be delivered just like this Gadarene Demoniac.

Hebrews 12:1 (NLT) 1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

The largest group of demon-possessed people in the world are not those in which it is OBVIOUS, but those who are possessed but OBLIVIOUS.

Deliverance from sin is as simple as “making a choice.” On the edge of being delivered from the Wilderness of Sin into the Promised Land of God’s Blessing Joshua admonished God’s people:

Jos. 2:15  “Choose you today who you will serve.

A few years ago,  the popular folk singer of the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s, Bob Dylan, received the Medal of Freedom Award  from President Obama.  One song that Bob Dylan wrote during a period of his life when he had surrendered to the Lord Jesus Christ says,

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed

You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody. 

This is the “UNTOLD STORY OF THE DEMONIAC.”  It’s about Demon Possession X3.  We see the OBVIOUS possession of the man from Gadara.  We see the UNUSUAL possession of the pigs.  We see the OBLIVIOUS case of demon possession in the townspeople who did not recognize they were children of the Devil.

Anywhere God is not ruling in a heart, the Devil is ruining lives. And, that could mean, “Your life.”   If the Holy Spirit is not ruling in your heart—you are in jeopardy of experiencing the same thing the Demoniac experienced—the Devil entering into your heart and wreaking havoc and bringing a taste of hell into your life. That may not be politically correct, as they say, but is it the absolute truth.

INVITATION:

Today, if you leave this place without the absolute assurance that the Holy Spirit has come into your life and protects you from the awful, horrible, terrifying effects of the Devil—for now and for all eternity—if you leave without that assurance you are in grave jeopardy.

You can have the assurance of God’s salvation, today.  You can be delivered from your sin as surely as the demoniac was delivered from his.  All you have to do is recognize the “authority of Jesus Christ as the Lord of Heaven and earth.”  All you have to do is surrender to the Lord, and He’ll become your Savior.

The only protection from the awful effects of the Devil,
is to surrender to the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ!

This is mankind’s only hope!

 

 

4th of July 2024, Declaration of Incompleteness

 

July 4^th, 2024         NOTES NOT EDITED
“The Declaration of Incompleteness”
Galatians 5:1; et. al.

SIS – No man or woman is completely  free until he or she is spiritually free.

The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence, the second sentence, is perhaps the most famous.  It states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 

Someone has referred to that sentence as, “One of the best known sentences in the English language.”  Freedom is that important. Freedom is not complicated. Einstein once remarked to the affect, “If your grand theories are not simple enough that you can explain them to a child, they are likely not true.”

Think of the greatest verse in the Bible: “God so loved the world.” Just 5 words. Think of one of the most profound theorems in geometry, the Pythagorean Theorem—as Biden would say, “You know, that thing, that hypotenuse thing.” It is only 24 words. The Ten Commandments. Just 179 words. The basis of American Freedom, the Declaration of Independence. A mere 1300 words. But, take the government’s instructions for the sale of cabbage: 26,911 words!

The Founding Fathers that gave us the Declaration knew that freedom is a profound concept and stated the matter simply. They were skeptical of government—contemptuous almost—because they knew government at best complicates freedom and at worst destroys it.

The freedom declared by those gathered in Congress that 4^th day of July in 1776 was a declaration of “complete and total freedom,” specifically for “all men.”  Yet, most of the Signers of that Declaration did NOT, in fact, extend freedom to “all” men.  The majority of the Signers owned other people.  Most of the Signers benefitted from the owning of human flesh which worked their farms and enterprises.  It would be many years, long past the death of every Signer before Abraham Lincoln would “free the slaves.” 

Still, freedom was”incomplete.”  There is a sense in which freedom is never complete, until a person who has surrendered to Christ as the King of King and Lord of Lord enters eternity at death. Until then, “freedom is a constant battle” against tyrants and apathy.

Freedom has many components:  national, political, moral, and spiritual.  A person is not completely free until he or she is spiritually free.  Therefore, I refer to this message as, “The Declaration of Incompleteness.”  Many people remain in bondage today, whether it is national, political, moral, spiritual, or a combination of one or more of these.

There are many “declarations of freedom” in the Bible.  I’d like us to read one of the most powerful together.  Let’s read Galatians 5:1. The majesty of the KJV is unmatched in this verse:

5 Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.

The word translated “stand fast” is a form Paul seemed to prefer over other alternatives and synonyms.  It is a particularly “strong” construction that indicates an ability to stand that is gained by a relationship with God.  It is in the imperative mood meaning it is a command. It is in the present tense meaning it is a “continuing” action. Our declaration of independence from sin is, like our declaration of independence from tyranny, also a Declaration of Incompleteness.  The battle continues.

There are several components that are necessary for a person, or people, to have true freedom.  In fact, as we examine these various components of freedom, we will come to understand why I feel God led me to entitle this message:  “The Declaration of Incompleteness.”

Absolute freedom is not something we attain, as much as it is something we are in constant pursuit of.  The moment we take our freedom for granted and are not constantly at the ready to defend it, we are in danger of losing it altogether.

This is what the writer meant when he wrote:  “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.”  It is only when we are pursuing and promoting all the components of freedom that we are, indeed, truly free.  At present, our freedom is neither complete in its composition nor its progression.  Each component requires daily diligence to keep it operating in our lives. The first component I want to examine this morning is:

1.  The NATIONAL component.

Let me state what I mean like this:  “We are not truly free if we ignore any threats from any nation, any group, or any despot who wishes to violate our borders and do us harm.

This past week, my nephew shipped off for the Middle East to take up the defense of our freedom here at home.  Now, most Americans do not live as if we are at war.  Most Americans have forgotten the terrifying images of 9 1 1 – now nearly a decade and a half ago. We have tucked them away into the closed closet of our collective national conscience.  Because we do not hear the bullets whiz by our heads or feel the concussion from an live IED (Improvised Explosive Device), we do not even realize we are still at war.  The lesson of 9 1 1 is lost to most Americans, today. This endangers our freedom.

But, I want to remind us that we are in a war to secure our national borders.  There are those that would do us harm, and we are not truly free if we ignore this threat. No great chains can be forged than the chains of apathy.

Most people do not acknowledge that in the economy of God, He established the right to national borders.  He did this when He, Himself, set forth the borders for Israel.  The Book of Numbers says,

34 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Command the Israelites and say to them: ‘When you enter Canaan, the land that will be allotted to you as an inheritance will have these boundaries: 

Actually, The Book of Numbers does not completely outline all of Israel’s borders.  Genesis 15:18 gives a more comprehensive survey:

⁸ On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates. 

That’s a border stretching from Egypt to Iraq, north to Syria and South down into the Sinai Peninsula. 

I won’t go into all the arguments concerning how America’s borders were established.  They are now established.  Israel is God’s “visual aid” for all nations.  Just as God expects Israel’s borders to be recognized – and one day they will be recognized in toto – we have a right as a nation – no, a responsibility as a nation – to secure our borders and defend our citizenry.

Much more could be said, but for our purposes today it is sufficient to say that the Bible recognizes the right of national borders.  Freedom has a national component.  I am a Christian, but I am an American, too. This is my God-ordained nationality (Acts 17:26).

The battle for our national borders remains incomplete.

2.  Freedom has a POLITICAL component

Let me say it like this: “We are not truly free as long as we let tyrants rule from the bench of OUR high court or act like kings in the halls of OUR congress.

I think it could be argued that our most dangerous foe does not lie beyond our borders, but has taken up residence in our politics.

 In the 40’s one of the most famous comic strip writers of all time came onto the scene.  His name was Walt Kelly and his strip starred a swamp possum by the name of Pogo and Pogo’s very animated swamp buddies. 

Kelly used his strip to promote his political point of view through satire.  The most famous line ever spoken by Pogo came in a strip promoting the Earth Day Anti-pollution campaign in 1970.  Pogo, lamenting all the trash they were bringing to the swamp said, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”

How true this political comment is today.  Our greatest enemy in the on-going struggle to protect and promote our freedom, is “apathy.”  When we don’t care what they do in Washington, we get what evil, fallen, men and women of sin will give us:   t r o u b l e!

At least in part, the Founders of our Nation and the framers of our Constitution, took their cue of how to form a government from the Bible.  They proactively and distinctively rejected the corruptible form of government commonly called a “democracy” – the rule of the majority.  Instead, they chose a form of government, Benjamin Franklin, called a “Republic” – the rule of law.  And the “law” they saw as the rule was mentioned in the Declaration: “the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.”

Some try to make of this that the Founding Fathers wanted a “godless” nation ruled by the laws of nature.  However, the term “Nature’s God” is capitalized for a purpose because it refers to the “Creator,” the God of the Bible.  It was a rhetorical device of the Founder’s choosing to show great reverence for God and establish Him as the Only True Sovereign.

So, where in the Bible would they get an idea for a “representative republic?”  This idea is mentioned several times in both the old and the N.T.  One such time is in Exodus 18:19-23.  It is repeated to a new generation in Deu. 1:6-13. 

¹⁹ Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. ²⁰ Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. ²¹ But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²² Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. ²³ If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.” 

Deuteronomy uses a key phrase that shows the beauty of “representative government”:

⁹ At that time I said to you, “You are too heavy a burden for me to carry alone. ¹⁰ The Lord your God has increased your numbers so that today you are as many as the stars in the sky. ¹¹ May the Lord, the God of your fathers, increase you a thousand times and bless you as he has promised! ¹² But how can I bear your problems and your burdens and your disputes all by myself? ¹³ Choose some wise, understanding and respected men from each of your tribes, and I will set them over you.” 

Notice the command in verse 13: “You choose,” meaning “you choose for yourselves.” The people who are responsible for government are not the leaders who are chosen, but the people that choose them.

It would be – and is – foolish for any American to think that we can send someone to Washington to work on our behalf and then not hold them accountable.  BUT – that is exactly what we have done on a large scale since at least as early as the 60’s.

And, what have we received in return for our apathy?  We are a nation in crisis by about any form of measure you wish to apply:  economically, socially, physically, educationally, or spiritually.  We are a nation that cannot even unequivocally decide on whether the only valid arrangement for a marriage is between a “woman and a man.”  As a nation, culture has even abandoned the distinction between male and female. 

Until we reestablish the principles of Christ upon which any nation is “exalted,” we will continue to slide further and further into the dust bin of history.  Christians must always fight in the political arena.

True freedom has a political component that we as Christian ignore to our own peril.  The political battle for our freedom remains incomplete.

3.  True Freedom has a MORAL component.

Let me say it like this:  “We are not truly free as long as we let a “pro-choice” agenda endanger our weakest citizens.”

Here I want to beat the drum for a “pro-life” agenda as the platform not only of the Republican Party, but as the platform upon which our entire body politic rests.  Only when our nation fully embraces the Biblical doctrine of the Sanctity of Human Life will we have any hope of revival in – and survival of – our nation.

This is not a “political issue.”  This is a moral issue.  Let me direct your attention to a very old story in the Bible.  This goes back to the very first conflict (at least recorded) in the history of man.  Turn to Genesis 4:9:

⁹ Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?” “I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” ¹⁰ The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. ¹¹ Now you are under a curse.” 

Just the blood spilled from one innocent life sent a cry up to God and brought a curse down to a man.  How much more does the blood of millions of innocents cry out to God and bring a curse upon our land?

If we do not have “liberty and just FOR ALL” we do not have “liberty and justice AT ALL!”

We have seen HISTORY’S SLIPPERY SLOPE regarding the devaluing of life. Consider Hitler. First, he went after the UNBORN. Then, he went after the UNABLE—people who were frail and non-productive. Finally, Hitler attacked those he felt were UNDESIRABLE—primarily the Jews and others that were not “his kind.” The fight for the UNBORN is the only political issue that really matters.

We simply cannot be blessed as a nation with the blood of one and one half million babies a year – or over 65 to 75 million innocent babies we know of since 1973 (We don’t know the exact numbers really).  We have blood on our hands as a nation and a curse upon our head like Cain.  That decision may have been the death blow to our nation, and embracing homosexuality may be the nails in our coffin.  Morality counts!  No political issue matters as much as the moral issue of “killing inconvenient children.”

None of us experiences true freedom when our weakest, most defenseless citizens are not even free to have “life and the pursuit of happiness.”  As I said, “If we do not have ‘liberty and justice FOR ALL, we do not have ‘liberty and justice AT ALL!’”

America has many other moral failings that threaten our freedom, but none is so important as the failure to protect the most innocent and vulnerable in our society – the unborn.

In Hitler’s Germany, the “stench of death from the black smoke pouring out” was a death sentence for the nation. It is no different for our nation today.

Freedom has a moral component.  Freedom has a national component and a political component as well.  But, the most important component – the only component that brings eternal freedom –

4.  is the SPIRITUAL component

Let me say it like this:  We are not truly free as a people or nation as long as there is one relative, friend, neighbor and fellow-citizen who has not been freed from the shackles of sin.

This brings us back to where we began this morning in our text of Galatians, chapter five:

5It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery. 

The slavery Paul is speaking of here is “slavery to sin.”  The jailer that imprisons us in sin is trying to get free by keeping the “Law” – by being religious.  Paul says in verse 2:

² Mark my words! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no value to you at all. 

There is absolutely NO VALUE in religion and it actually wraps more chains around your heart and makes it harder for you to “ever find freedom in Christ by God’s grace.” Religion is a “man-centered” approach to eternal life that will have you climbing the ladder of ritualism only to find the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall. Religion is a “slave-master” that exacts an eternal toll.

Salvation is the essence of “true salvation.”  The national component, the political component, and the moral component all contribute to what was declared to be a human beings inalienable right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

But, these three components:  national, political, and moral have no power by themselves or together to bring about the true freedom that only comes when we appropriate for ourselves what Jesus provided for us when He died in our place on the cross.

We still live in the freest, greatest, most abundant nation on the face of the earth, but unless we have personally been freed from the penalty of sin, we have nothing.  As the Bible reminds us (Mk 8:36f):

“What shall it profit a person to gain the whole world and yet forfeit [or lose] his or her soul? 

Paul goes on to say in Galations 5:13: 

¹³ You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. ¹⁴ The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 

Sin is a hard task master and wicked dictator.  You cannot be truly free until, by the grace of God, your old sinful nature is put to death and replaced by the nature of grace, which produces a spirit of deep love for others.  This battle will be “incomplete” until the Lord comes to take us home.  We must fight sin on a daily basis.

The story goes that as Benjamin Franklin emerged from Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia on September 18, 1787, a woman asked him, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”.   Mr. Franklin replied, “A republic, madam – if you can keep it.” 

Just a few short years after the initial Declaration of Independence, men like Franklin and other Founding Fathers (especially Jefferson) realized that “Independence” was not, and would never be, “complete.”  The same Declaration of Independence was also a “Declaration of Incompleteness.”  For Christians, this applies to our spiritual “freedom” as well.  While the victory may ultimately be assured, the fight is not, and never will be over, as long as we are in this flesh

My declaration to us as a people of God today is a Declaration of Incompleteness. 

I do not feel that we are as free today as we might be if we would turn in humble confession back to the God of our Founding Father, and to Jesus Christ, the Founder, or Author of our salvation.

On this, the birthday of our great Nation, may we resolve to be “truly free.”  May we say with sincere and longing hearts:  GOD BLESS AMERICA!, and really desire for a full and complete freedom for every man, woman, and child in America and around the world.