The Demoniac: His Deliverance & Declaration, Part 2

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you so much for your wonderful love toward us who are so undeserving, and yet you are graceful, you are merciful, you are kind, and you are good. And so many times, Lord, we forget about that. We forget about that great love that redeemed our lives from the pit. As the psalmist would speak about in Psalm 103, he would say, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. All the benefits you have bestowed upon us, all the blessings you have given to us are innumerable.

Forgive us, Lord, for not thanking you for that great work of salvation. Forgive us, Lord, for not looking to you every moment of every day, trusting you to guide us and lead us through your spirit. Forgive us, Father, for not seeing that everything that we have comes from you, the great gift giver himself. Today, Lord, as we study your word, I pray that all of us would see once again the great delivering power of your character, and how it is you delivered us from our sin, that we might live for Jesus Christ our Lord.

We pray in Jesus name, Amen. Turn with me in your Bible to Luke chapter 8 as we continue our study in verses 26 to 39 about the maniac who became a missionary, the demoniac who was delivered from his sin and became a great declarer of the truth of God.

It's a wonderful story about the power of Almighty God. It shows us the purpose for why Jesus came to earth. The Bible says in 1 John chapter 3 verse number 8 that the Son of Man appeared for this purpose, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

That was the fulfillment of prophecy way back in Genesis chapter 3 verse number 15. After sin entered the world, the Lord made a prophecy, made a promise to Adam and Eve that the seed, the seed, the Messiah would crush the serpent's head. And true to his word, our Lord came to this earth and a calvary would render Satan ineffective when it comes to his work in the lives of people. God himself is that great deliverer, that great liberator of man. Satan is free to roam upon the earth. We know the Bible says that he is the prince of the power of the air in Ephesians chapter 2, 1 John 5 verse number 19 says the whole world lies in the lap of the evil one.

Peter says that Satan goes around like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. So we know that Satan is in full operation today, but we also know there's coming a day where Christ will bind him, Revelation chapter 20 verse number 2, temporarily for a thousand years. Ultimately, Revelation 20 verse number 10, throw him in the pit. Until that time, Satan has freedom to roam about the earth. Satan is not omnipresent. He is located to one specific area. He is not like God, although he is a spirit.

He is an angel, a fallen angel at that. And yet we realize that our Lord has ultimate power over Satan. With a single word, he dispels and disarms the power of the evil one. And what happens in Luke chapter 8 is a picture of what happens in the souls of men. We have told you on many occasions that every time there is a miracle in the Bible, in the physical realm, it is a symbol of what Christ does in the spiritual realm. And this man, this demoniac in Luke chapter 8, this man who lived in Gersa, this man who lived in the tombs, this man who was naked and would cut himself with stones, this man who was bound by chains by the people of the city, yet he would break those chains because of the power of demons that resided within him, this man who would torment people, this man who would run up and down scaring people, as Matthew's account would tell us.

This man is a picture of the way you and I are spiritually before we're saved. Here's a man who lived among the tombs. Here's a man who lived in the realm of uncleanness, and that's the way we were spiritually before we were saved. Ephesians 2 says that we are spiritually dead in our trespasses in sin. Here's a man who was physically unable to be controlled. There was nobody, humanly speaking, who could take care of his condition. The same is true of us spiritually. There is nothing that any man can do that will take care of our condition because we are separated from God.

Only God can do that. This man certainly was not in his right mind. We know that as we read the story in Luke 8, he ends up being in his right mind, and that's because mentally we are out of our minds. We are not in our right minds until Jesus Christ takes up residence in our lives. And the Bible says very clearly in John 12 verse number 31 that the ruler of this world shall be cast out.

Christ said in John 16 11, the ruler has been judged. In Romans 16 verse number 20, God will crush Satan quickly under your feet. Over in Colossians chapter 2 verse number 15, it speaks that at the time that Jesus was dying on the cross, he was triumphing over the forces of wickedness. And in Hebrews chapter 2 verses 14 and 15, it speaks about how it is Satan has been rendered powerless because of the work of Christ. Satan is powerful. He's not all powerful. His demons are powerful, but they are not all powerful.

The almighty one, the king of the world, is the only one who is all powerful. So Christ comes that he might save us from our sins, save us from Satan. And that is our story in Luke chapter 8 as it unfolds before us. Verse number 26 reads as follows, And they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when he had come out into the land, he was met by a certain man from the city who was possessed with demons, and who had not put on any clothing for a long time, and was not living in a house, but in the tombs.

And seeing Jesus, he cried out and fell before him and said in a loud voice, What do I have to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God? I beg you, do not torment me. For he had been commanding the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for it seized him many times. He was bound with chains and shackles and kept under guard. He would burst his fetters and be driven by the demon into the desert. Last week we noticed the demoniac himself. This week we looked at his deliverance, also his declaration.

We saw that this demonized man recognized the deity of Christ. What do I have to do with you, Jesus, son of the most high God? This man came running up to Jesus. He came crying out to Jesus because he has to. He's compelled to. He comes and falls down before him because he has to. Philippians 2 talks about how the rulers that are under the earth are subject to the power of God. And so he has to come and he has to bow down. He has to cry out to him. He can't keep silent because Jesus exposes him. It's interesting to note that Jesus never is attacked by demons.

He attacks the demons. Big difference. He attacks them. Excuse me. And so when they come, they come compelled to expose themselves. This is so important for you to understand. We told you last week that in the Old Testament, the only place we read of demon possession is in Genesis chapter 6. And that's the pre-flood era, which led to God himself destroying the world with the flood. We also told you that there is no account outside of Acts 16 and Acts 19 of demon possession in any of the epistles.

It doesn't come back on the scene until Revelation, where there is a plethora of demon influence in this world because Satan is cast down geographically to this world. That's important to understand. People say, well, where's Satan? Satan's in heaven. Well, how do you know that? Revelation 12, verse number 10 says that he accuses the brethren day and night before the throne of God. Satan is in heaven. That's where he is. We have an advocate, our Lord Jesus Christ, who stands up, who is our defense attorney.

But when we go home at the rapture of the church, that, Revelation 12, is when Satan geographically now is cast out of heaven because he has no one to accuse anymore because we are home with him. So geographically, he will be cast out in Revelation 12. Morally, he was cast out way before Genesis chapter 3. You need to understand that Satan has free realm on this earth. And yet, in the book of Revelation, because Satan is cast down to this earth, that becomes the most horrific time when it comes to demonic activity.

Why do I tell you that? I tell you that for this simple reason. Demons prefer to live in anonymity. They don't want to be exposed. In fact, they prefer to disguise themselves as angels of light. That's the best way for demons to disguise themselves. That's why demon activity is at its highest form in religion because Satan is looking to divert people away from the truth to get them to buy into a lie so that they will be in hell forever. But they don't readily expose themselves. They have to when Jesus is present because Jesus is the Holy One of Israel.

And so that's why during the time of Christ, demonic activity was so prevalent. It's because they had to expose themselves. Are people demon possessed today? Yes, they are. They are. Are demons running rampant all over the world today? Yes, they are. And yet, they are not easily exposed because they want to remain in obscurity. They don't want you to recognize them. With the presence of Christ, they scream out. They can't hide any longer. And so that's why in Luke 4, that man who was demon possessed cried out.

He couldn't contain himself any longer. Jesus is just preaching in the synagogue and the man cries out because that's what demons do. They shriek. They scream. What do we have to do with you, Jesus, son of the Most High God? Same way here. This man comes running down the hill to meet Jesus as he exits from the boat. Why didn't he just stay up in his tomb? Why did he not hide himself? Because demons can't in the presence of Almighty God. He recognized his deity. And so he comes running up to Jesus.

And he had just come off the Sea of Galilee. He had just calmed the storm. And now as the disciples were embarking to this city there in the land of the Gerasenes, this demoniac, this man comes running down from the tombs stark naked, having cut himself, bloodied, having shackles hanging from him as he runs up to Jesus. And he says, what do I have to do with you, Jesus, son of the Most High God? He recognized his deity. He knew that Jesus was the son of El Elyon, the son of the Most High God, the one who is the possessor of heaven and earth.

The demon knew that. And not only did he recognize his deity, but he realized his authority. He realized because Jesus is God that Jesus has complete authority. And so he begs him not to be cast out into the abyss. He knows because he falls before him in submission. He's not worshiping Jesus. He is falling and bowing before him in utter submission because he stands before his judge. He stands before his executioner. So he bows before him. At the same time, he recalls his destiny. He recalls his destiny.

Have you come to torment us? Have you come to torment me? Matthew's account says, before the time. Well, what time is that? That time is at the end of the age in Revelation 20, where Satan and his demons are cast into the bottomless pit. See, they know that they have a great eschatology. They have a great Christology because they know all about Christ. Demons are fallen angels. They once worshiped Christ, but they fell with Satan, were cast out of heaven. And so they understand the authority and the deity of Jesus Christ.

And they understand their destiny. They know they are going to end up in the bottomless pit. And yet they continue to fight against that because of the wickedness that they possess. And so we come to our second point and that deals with the deliverance.

The deliverance of this man who was demon possessed. The Bible says in verse number 30, and Jesus asked him, what is your name?

And he said, legion for many demons had entered him. Now this is not Mary, like Mary Magdalene, who had seven demons cast out of her. This man had legion. So one demon would be the spokesperson for, listen, a minimum of 2,000 demons, possibly up to 6,000 demons. Now how do we know that? Because we know that a Roman legion consists of 6,000 foot soldiers. We know from Mark's account that there were 2,000 pigs there in the area. Okay. Because there were 2,000 pigs and the demons were cast into the swine or into the pigs, there had to be at least 2,000 demons in the man, possibly up to 6,000 demons in the man.

This becomes the greatest act of power by Christ over the supernatural forces during his time. This man was filled with demons. Christ asks him, what is your name? He wants that demon to speak. That demon must do what Christ says.

He's compelled to obey. He's compelled to follow. Christ had a divine appointment on this day. He had a divine appointment on the sea, and now he has a divine appointment with the supernatural world. Christ came to this man. Remember, he said in Luke 11 20, if I cast out demons with the finger of God, you know that the kingdom is upon you. And speaking of the fact that he does it with relatively ease. I mean, it's so simple for him to cast out demons because of his power. See, we have to realize that when Christ speaks, demons respond.

They have to respond. You see, we have no authority over demons. I know there's lots of books written about demonology and exorcisms and all that kind of stuff, but we have no authority over demons. None whatsoever. Remember in Acts chapter 16, the seven sons of Sceva were going around trying to cast out demons and the demon said to them, you know, we know who Jesus is. We know who Paul is, but who are you guys? Who do you guys think you are? Because you see, the ability to exorcise demons, to cast them out was a gift of miracles designed by Christ, his apostles, and the 70 that were sent out.

That's why you see no demon exorcisms in the epistles. We forget about that. We have no power over demons. We have no authority over demons. None whatsoever. They don't even care who we are. They don't care who we are. And you see, the point is, is that we don't worry about them because greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world. We are possessed by Christ and a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ cannot be possessed by demons. So we have Christ in us, but we forget about the power of demons.

How foolish is that, is it for us to go and speak to demons? That's foolishness. That's folly on our part. We have no authority over them. We have no authority to bind demons. That's God's job. He does that in Revelation 20. That's the Lord Jesus' job. That's not our job. There's nowhere in scripture where we are told to go around binding Satan and binding demons. We are told to resist him steadfast in the faith and he will flee. Satan runs from us because we resist him steadfast in the faith. That's our responsibility to stand strong on the gospel, to stand strong on the truth of Almighty God, and Satan himself will run and flee from us.

But we have forgotten the supernatural power of angels and demons. The Bible says in 2 Peter chapter 2 verse number 11 that angels are greater in power and in might than we are.

Psalm 103 verse number 20 says that angels excel in strength. In 2 Kings 19, one angel slew 185,000 Assyrians. In Daniel 10 verse number 13, a holy angel was despatched with a message from God to Daniel. But that holy angel was held up for three weeks by a demon until Michael was able to come and release that holy angel so it could get to Daniel. We are talking about the power of the supernatural, my friends, something that we have no idea about in the realm of our human bodies. We have no idea. And the only way that we can handle the satanic powers that infiltrate this world is because we have the armor of our God in Ephesians chapter 6.

And we stand strong on the truth of God's holy word. That is our defense. That is our armor. And that is how we handle the wiles of the devil, the principalities, and the powers of the air. It all comes through the truth of God's holy word and the faith that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ to protect us from the one who is the evil one that he saved us from. So important to understand that. And so Christ comes and says to the man, what is your name? Well, my name is Legion, he says, indicating that this man was filled with demons.

And then look at verse 31. And they were entreating him not to command them to depart into the abyss, the bottomless pit. Lord, we entreat you, don't send us to the place of torment. Don't send us there now.

You see, we know that in Jude and in second Peter, we know that there are some angels, some fallen angels, excuse me, some demons that are held in everlasting chains in that abyss.

We know that. We also know from Revelation chapter 9 that there are some demons in that abyss that are not chained because they are released upon this earth in Revelation chapter 9 at the middle of the tribulation. So we do know that. We also know that the abyss is referenced to the bottomless pit that Satan and his demons will be cast into. Remember, Matthew 25, 41 tells us that hell was prepared for Satan and his angels. And so there is a time where they will be cast into that bottomless pit, into the abyss.

And they plead with Christ, don't send us there. Send us anywhere, but don't send us there. They understand they are subject to Christ. They understand that they must do whatever He says. And so they beg Him, don't send us there now.

Now, why wouldn't Christ send them there now? Why wouldn't He just deal with them right then and there and say, sorry, I'm in charge. You're going to the abyss. Be gone. Then do that. Because He wants something to happen. So everybody around will know what He did. And clearly understand this man's demonic possession. And then to clearly understand this man's divine salvation. And so they come, verse 31, entreating Him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Verse 32, now there was a herd of many swine, 2,000 according to Mark's account, feeding there on the mountain.

And the demons entreated Him to permit them to enter the swine. And He gave them permission. Gave them permission. Well, how about the swine? How about we go into those guys? Now, why is this so significant? Now, remember, this is Gentile country. This is not Jewish country. People have written sermons on this about why these Jews had all these pigs in the land of Israel. This is Gentile country. These were Gentiles. These were not Jewish people. And so these swine were there on the side of the hill, and they would beg Christ.

They would entreat Him, how about sending us into the swine? And Christ gives them permission. He grants them permission because, you see, He has an object lesson that needs to be clearly seen. He wants the people of that city to realize His power. You see, demons just have to be involved in the physical realm. They have to, in order for them to have influence, they must function in the realm of sight and sound, or they have no influence. To do that, they must function in the realm of animals or humans so that they can do their demonic activity.

That's why the Bible says, I think it's Matthew chapter 12, that when a demon's cast out of an individual, he searches and looks for a place to come so he can find himself another home to do his demonic work.

So they are looking to go into someone else. Maybe they knew that Christ had compassion for people, and Christ wasn't about to cast them out of one man and send them into a whole group of other people. They knew that. So they asked and begged that maybe, maybe how about the swine? Send us there, and Christ gives them permission. Christ gives them permission. Listen to this. It says, verse 33, and the demons came out from the man and entered the swine, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and were drowned.

One author said they ran down the hill and took a swine dive. Another author said they went down and committed suicide. A little bit of humor there on Sunday morning. Needless to say, by the way, pigs can swim, in case you were wondering. They can swim, and yet in this case, they weren't able to swim. They were all drowned. This is important because you see, Christ takes a man who was filled with demons and cast those demons into the swine who were just sitting there, and all of a sudden, they took on the personality of the man, and all at once, all 2,000 of them ran off the cliff into the sea.

You see, Christ was giving them a visible demonstration of what he was doing. They were out of their mind, and the man then becomes right in his mind, as we will see in the text. Mark's account, Matthew's account, give a direct command. Go. Christ just says go. They have to go. They can't stay. They can't linger. They must obey. They must obey immediately, and they do. They take off down the hill. They're drowned in the sea, and the Bible says this.

Verse 34, and when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they ran away and reported it in the city and out in the country, and the people went out to see what had happened, and they came with Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus, clothed in his right mind, and they became frightened. You see, they became frightened. Why? What Jesus did was take a man that everybody feared, take a man who was filled with demons and caused him to be in his right mind, completely clothed, while these swine then were filled with the demons, and they in an erratic manner, all of a sudden, flew off the cliff into the water and were drowned.

Well, news about this went everywhere. You can imagine the scene. News about this went everywhere in that village and in the surrounding area, and the herdsmen went around talking about what took place. Can you imagine the stories that must have happened or must have been said concerning this event there in the land of the Gerasenes? These herdsmen were eyewitnesses, and so they couldn't stop talking about what had taken place with their swine. Matthew's account says that the whole city came out to see what had taken place and to see this man who had once tormented them in his right mind, completely clothed, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

This becomes that perfect picture of what God does in the life of an individual when he transfers him from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear son, when Christ overrules and overpowers Satan's domain and sets you free to be placed in the kingdom of his dear son. And here sits this man at the feet of Jesus, and the people were traumatized. They were in fear. Same word used of the disciples in the earlier story on the sea when Christ calmed the sea. They were traumatized as well. They too were in great fear because of the presence of God, the supernatural, the supernatural presence of God and his force traumatized this man.

Now think about this. You'd think that once people saw what took place and heard about the swine and this man, that there would be a great revival in the land of the Gerasenes. That people would say, come up to Christ and say, wow, man, you are amazing. How did you do that? Who are you? Instead, the Bible says this, and the people went out to see what had happened.

And they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting down at the feet of Jesus clothed and in his right mind. And they became frightened. And those who had seen it reported to them how the man who was demon possessed had been made well, from the word which means saved. And all the people of the country of the Gerasenes and the surrounding district asked him to depart from them for they were gripped with great fear. What? What? Leave. You need to go now, Jesus. You need to move on.

Get back in your boat, Jesus, and go back to where you came from. You need to leave our land. Well, wait a minute. Didn't he just deliver them from this one who terrorized their families? Didn't he just demonstrate to them the great supernatural power of God over the supernatural forces of evil? Would they not want the holy one to be in their presence rather than the unholy one? Answer? No, they didn't. If God is in my presence, he knows me. He sees my sin. I'm not sure I want him around my town.

I'm not sure I want him in my family. I'm not sure I want him hanging around my friends. You go now, Jesus. You did your thing. You move on now.

They preferred the demonic, tormented man over Jesus Christ, the son of God. They liked things the way they used to be over the presence of Almighty God. Can you believe that? See, we think that once Christ does this great miracle that thousands of people will come to saving faith. When we get to Luke 16, we'll talk a lot about that because, you know, it's like the Lord said, if they don't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe the one will be raised from the dead. Miracles never saved anybody.

They just never did. There are lots of miracles that Christ performed, but none of those miracles ever saved anybody. They proved that he was God. They showed his messianic credentials, but those miracles never saved anybody. In fact, those miracles made people even angrier at Christ. They became infuriated with Christ. So many times we hear people say, wow, boy, if the Lord would just do some kind of supernatural work, boy, my family would get saved. No, they wouldn't. No, they won't. Because they have the word of the Lord.

And if they don't hear that and obey that, they won't be saved. They won't be raised from the dead. And Christ, we know, performed resurrections. And you'd think that with all those resurrections, people would be flocking to the kingdom, but they didn't. Why? Because the holy presence of God is a terrifying experience. These people were traumatized. God was in their presence. And they did not want him there. He brought peace to their town. He brought safety to their town. And yet they were intimidated by his holiness.

Instead of saying, Jesus, thank you. Thank you so much for your delivering power. Thank you now that my children can go outside and play. Thank you, Lord, that you allowed us to go to the market without fear. Thank you, Lord, for what you... None of that. No thankfulness. No gratitude. Nobody's saying, oh, this man is in his right mind. This man has been saved. Lord, tell us how we can be forgiven. Tell us how we can be saved. How come nobody said that? Show us how we can be delivered. Show us how we can be redeemed.

Show us how we can be set free. Show us how we can live a life that honors you. None of that either, is there? It's an amazing encounter. They saw Jesus as a greater danger than the man who was demon possessed. Because simply he is the Holy One of Israel. They preferred the tomb dweller over the Lord of life. They preferred the presence of Satan over the presence of a Savior. This is the damning power of sin. That's the way sin is. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are... Why is it people don't get saved?

Because they love their sin. That's why. Why don't they beg for deliverance and beg for forgiveness? Because they don't want to be delivered from their sinful behavior. They love their sin. And God was among them. Christ was present. And they didn't want the holiness of God because he would expose all their sin. And they didn't want that to happen. This man had been delivered, saved from his sin. They didn't want to be exposed to the light of life. They were gripped with fear. Verse 37. What's the next phrase?

And he got to a boat and returned. Can you imagine that? Shows up one time in your city. Does a great miracle. He's there just for a brief moment. Everybody sees what takes place. It is absolutely amazing to the eyes of those who saw. They're traumatized. They're terrified. They say, go back. Leave. And Jesus doesn't say, you know what? Why don't you give me another chance? Let me do another miracle for you.

Let me show you something else. Or, hey, you know what? Let me preach to you a sermon. You might like this one. He turns around, gets in his boat, and leaves. Never to return again. Never to return again. You know, a lot of people are like that. They go to church. They hear the gospel. They say, I don't want that. I'm not interested in that. And they, in essence, say, Jesus, leave me alone. And Jesus does. Never to come back. Never hear the call of God ever again. And maybe you're here today and you don't know Christ.

You are entombed with the demons. You live a dead, unclean life because of your sinful behavior. Never been washed from your sins. And you hear the gospel. And you understand that Christ is present among you. And you say, you know what? I don't want that. Go away, Jesus. Go away. Jesus did. Got in his boat. And he left. One time, one day, one occasion, one moment is all they had to hear the gospel. And they rejected it. And Jesus turned and left. His great delivering power shows us the damning power of sin in the lives of people.

They love their sin. They wanted to remain in their sin. But let's move on to our third point. That's the declaration. Look at this.

But the man from whom the demons had gone out was was begging him that he might accompany him. But he sent him away saying, return to your house and describe what things or what great things God has done for you. So here's this man sitting at the feet of Jesus in his right mind and everything is in his mind. He's the happy camper. I mean, after where he's been and what's happened in his life, he is absolutely ecstatic, sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to the conversation, people coming, hearing the testimony of the people, what took place.

And he hears the words, go away, Jesus. He's thinking, go away. Where do you want him to go? And Jesus turns and goes away, gets back into his boat. And here sits this man in his right mind, looking around. Jesus, wait a minute. I want to go with you. You can't leave me here. I mean, after all, they're going to blame me because all the pigs died. I don't want to stay here. I mean, take me with you. Let me be a part of your ministry.

I mean, can you imagine the kind of testimony I would be for your traveling ministry? Put me on stage. Let me give my testimony.

Everybody would come to saving faith that they heard that I was filled with legion and how I cut myself and how I lived a life of trauma because of that satanic influence. And now you've redeemed my soul. I'm saved. I've given my life to you, Lord. Let me go.

Let me tell everybody what you did for me. And Jesus says, no, you stay here. Wow. And that just shows me the grace, the goodness and kindness and mercy of God. In the midst of rejection, he still left them a living testimony of his saving grace. Did he not? He still left them a testimony of his saving grace. He says, no, I want you to stay here and I want you to tell everybody what great things God has done for you. That's what I want you to do. So he says, verse 39, return to your house, go home first.

Why? Those closest to you must know what great things God has done for you. Those in your family, those closest to you, they must see and know of the saving power of God. Go back to your house and describe what great things God has done for you. Now notice this.

And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city, what great things, what's the next word? Jesus. Jesus had done for him. What great things? Jesus. Jesus says, you tell them what great things God has done for you.

And he goes and says what great things Jesus has done for him because he knows Jesus is who? Is God. Great proof of the deity of Christ, is it not? He went away proclaiming what great things that Jesus had done for him. You see, if you're saved, you know all you need to know to be a missionary for Christ. Because all you have to do is tell somebody how you got saved. That's it. And that's all this man had to do. This man's life was so revolutionized that all he had to do was go tell people how it is Christ revolutionized his life.

And you know what? I bet you it wouldn't be too hard to prove to people around him that God had transformed his life. Because there was a total transformation from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of his dear son, the kingdom of light. He went proclaiming his desire was to be with his God. Is that not that true? Is that not true with those who who have been saved by Christ? Their desire is to be with him. Oh Lord, let me go with you.

Let me be with you. And Christ says, no, you stay. And you make this declaration. You go to your house and you tell what great things God has done for you. And he went to the whole city telling everybody what great things that Jesus had done for him. I wonder if there are any, any converts in his ministry. Baba didn't tell us. When we get to heaven, we can ask him, can't we? How and who did he impact with the gospel of Christ? It is so important for us to tell people about the great things Christ has done for us.

Have you been delivered from the domain of Satan? Have you been transferred into the kingdom of his dear son? Who are you telling? Are you telling people what great things Jesus has done for you? Let's know what the Bible says in Psalm 107.

Psalm 107 verse one, oh, give thanks to the Lord for his good, for his loving kindness is everlasting. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from the hand of the adversary. Those who have been redeemed from the hand of the adversary, you are the ones who are to say so. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, let the redeemed be the ones who praise their God, celebrate their God and communicate that God because you have been saved. You've been delivered from the hand of your adversary.

First Peter tells us, first Peter two nine, that we are to declare the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light to declare those excellencies, those praises.

This man becomes a testimony to you and me in the physical realm. What God did shows us what he does in our lives spiritually. And when he commissions us and compels us to do to tell people about the great things that God has done. Let me challenge you with this, this Thanksgiving season, this Christmas season, make sure that you tell people what great things Jesus has done for you.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this glorious day, the opportunity you give us to praise your name and thank you for the saving work of almighty God. And we pray Lord that for those of us who are here today, we would come to grips with the realization of your holy presence and your desire to release those in bondage, that they might be set free to serve and worship Jesus Christ. We love you Lord and thank you for this day. We pray for the one among us who's not saved, the two among us, the three among us, however many there may be.

We ask Lord that you would save those today. Like you saved this man filled with demons, that they too might declare what great things you have done for them. We pray in Jesus name. Amen.