Tell How Much Jesus has Done for You

[00:00:01] In the name of Jesus. Amen. [00:00:08] The collect of the day. The prayer of the day. [00:00:11] Today would have us read this gospel reading as though the demoniac, he's sometimes called, as though this man possessed by demons reflects the experience, the reality of humanity, of us. [00:00:32] Here's how the prayer of the day goes. O God, you have prepared for those who love you such good things as surpass our understanding. Cast out all sins and evil desires from us. You hear that language? Cast out all sins and evil desires from us and pour into our hearts your Holy Spirit to guide us into all blessedness. [00:00:59] Thanks be to God. [00:01:03] All right, so you see this man possessed by demons, and it seems like kind of an extreme case. [00:01:10] Here he is governed, led by evil forces. [00:01:16] It's like, oh, no, that. [00:01:18] That's never been me. That couldn't be me. It seems so strange and extreme. [00:01:25] But as this prayer is, well, suggesting sins and evil desires are just that my sins are not unique. It's not like I thought up desiring the wrong things and following the wrong impulses and getting angry over the wrong things, being centered on myself and concerned with myself instead of those around me. [00:01:54] Whatever it is, it's not like those patterns are new or like I thought them up. [00:02:01] Those are patterns. [00:02:04] They're patterns. They're above me. They're patterns that you share in as fallen human beings, as those who have turned away from God's word, All of us together, going back to the fall into sin, we all participate in patterns of sin, patterns of rebellion against God, patterns of resistance to his word, patterns of turning away from him. [00:02:32] And so in that sense, we are bound. [00:02:36] We're slaves. [00:02:40] You, as I, have probably experienced the difficulty of being caught in a habit or a pattern of improper behavior that's hard to free yourself from. [00:02:55] Or maybe you find that you just can't get a hold of your anger, or you just, ah, I did it again. [00:03:03] I lost control of myself. [00:03:07] You hear that language? [00:03:09] Well, then, what was I controlled by? [00:03:14] And so all sin is like this. Jesus says, if anyone sins, he's a slave to sin. [00:03:24] And so we see this man controlled by demons, and he doesn't have power to rescue himself from the demons that are controlling him. In fact, nobody does. The people around him try to bind him with chains and shackles, and they can't control him because he's led by someone greater than them. [00:03:48] Nobody can rescue this man from his situation except for Jesus. [00:03:56] Then comes Jesus, the one whose name is above all names, the one who has power over all. He has all authority in heaven and on earth, nothing can stop him. [00:04:09] And so he comes to this man, to this region to bring life. It's interesting. He comes to the wilderness. He comes to the desert where this man is. Did you catch that? That the demons would often drive him out of the city into the desert. [00:04:25] Like that's where the desert. That's where the demons wanted to be, and that's where they wanted to drive. [00:04:31] The desert is a waterless place. [00:04:37] We just sang in the hymn Praise the one who brings cool water to the desert's burning sand. [00:04:48] From this well of water comes living water, quenching thirst in every land. [00:04:57] Jesus comes to bring water and the demons say, don't torment us. [00:05:05] They're in a waterless place for a reason. We saw a few weeks ago in Psalm 1. The water is the word, the water by which the tree is planted and is therefore strong. It's drawing water from the stream. That stream is God's word. [00:05:20] Throughout the Old Testament, water is used for the preaching of God's word. Like the the prophets are clouds that bring rain and then that rain brings fruit. It's Jesus Christ bringing growth and life, bringing water into a dry land. [00:05:37] Second Peter, two Peter, in two Peter two he calls the false prophets waterless springs. [00:05:46] It's like they promise life, but there's no water in them. [00:05:51] And Jesus says that a demon, when he leaves somebody goes through waterless places. It's like they just got to get away from the preaching of God's word, from the hearing of God's word. [00:06:04] And so there they are in the desert. And Jesus, he's come to bring life and refreshment, to bring exactly what this man needs. [00:06:13] And he does. [00:06:16] The man ends up clothed and in his right mind and sitting at Jesus feet. [00:06:23] Lord, give us the same. Give us your mind, Jesus Christ. [00:06:28] We have the mind of Christ. [00:06:31] Ah, what freedom compared to slavery, to the sins and evil desires that plague us and control us apart from Christ. [00:06:44] But in Christ they don't have any power. [00:06:49] That's the key in Christ. [00:06:52] Where does freedom from sin come from? Only in Jesus Christ. [00:06:58] Who brings water and life to dry and barren me. [00:07:05] Only Jesus, who has all power and authority in heaven and on earth, who alone can fight our enemies. Enemies which are the forces of evil in the heavenly places. [00:07:20] These are enemies above our pay grade. But Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ comes to bring freedom, healing life. [00:07:32] And so what a gift that our life is in Jesus we've been baptized into Jesus Christ, united to him, so that in him we have all these gifts. [00:07:45] Now I mentioned second Peter two, where Peter talks about the false prophets as waterless springs. [00:07:55] The false prophets are around. [00:07:59] You could think of them as people or you could think of them. [00:08:03] You just think of the influences in our culture that would draw us in. Or even just the. I mean, we assume a lot of them to be true already, I guess we could say, right? [00:08:17] Like the idea that pleasure or wealth, security, that those things are to be sought above all things. What do we hope for our children? Do we hope that they'll like, grow up and be able to take care of themselves and have the good life? [00:08:35] What do we think is the good life? Is the good life not having financial difficulties or. [00:08:43] I mean, Jesus tells us what the good life is. [00:08:50] He says, don't seek treasure on earth where moth and rust destroyed. Seek treasure in heaven where they don't destroy, where thieves don't break in and steal. Nothing can touch that treasure. [00:09:01] Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. [00:09:05] Jesus points us to, well, to what's truly valuable, right? [00:09:13] So the false prophets, I guess, what are the voices that call us to something other than Jesus Christ? To put our trust somewhere else than than in Jesus Christ. [00:09:27] Because evil desires. [00:09:29] They're desired for a reason. [00:09:31] They draw us. [00:09:34] Don't go back. [00:09:36] Don't leave the gracious lordship of Jesus Christ. [00:09:42] Jesus Christ has given us new life in Himself. He's drawn us to Himself, united us to Himself, given us his life. He's given us forgiveness of sins. He's defeated our enemies. We can turn to him in prayer. And there he is with us, within us, living so that we can say, I don't live, but Christ lives in me. [00:10:03] Don't give that up. [00:10:09] Peter talks about those who have given up lordship of Jesus Christ, who knew Jesus Christ and experienced his peace and freedom from bondage, but then turned back to the defilements of the flesh. He calls them, made themselves dirty again after having been made clean gladly, like meant to. [00:10:30] He uses the image of a pig, he says. He quotes a proverb and says that the sow after washing goes back to the mud. [00:10:42] Lord, don't let that be us. Keep us in the faith. Keep us turned toward you, receptive to all that you have to give. That's our prayer. [00:10:54] The ancient church saw the pigs on the hillside as representing that reality that they're the ones who have, well, having known Jesus Christ, having been under his power, under his rulership and governance, turned back to the desires of the flesh, said, ah, I don't really care about that. I don't need that. I'm going to return to what I was before, which is to submit again to the forces of evil in the heavenly places, to give ourselves up to whatever might come in to the patterns of sin and disobedience and rebellion and, well, you know what happens then. The demons enter the pigs. [00:11:44] And the demons are not kind rulers. [00:11:48] Jesus rules us to give us peace and life. [00:11:52] He says to give us life and life to the full. [00:12:00] The false prophets, the demons, the forces of evil, they promise life but don't give it. [00:12:09] They give a desert, they give death. [00:12:13] So you see the pigs run down into the sea. [00:12:20] Jesus Christ is Lord. [00:12:24] That's our faith. [00:12:27] We sit at Jesus feet, having been brought into his kingdom and looking to him to govern us and to rule our hearts and minds, to give us his mind. [00:12:39] And that is freedom. [00:12:42] See, it's actually a kind of bondage, right, Like. To have a master is to be bound. In a sense. [00:12:51] We're his servants and the proper shape of our life is to obey him in everything, to hang on to his word no matter what. [00:13:03] But that's the best kind of freedom, to be servants of a good and gracious king. The King who's over all and yet gives everything that he has for our sake. [00:13:17] What a gift. In Jesus name, amen.