FBC Daily Devotional – April 13, 2021

Well, a good Tuesday to you. I hope your day went well yesterday. You've gotten your week off to a good start and here we are in the second day of the week. And as we get into the day today, I want us to just think about this scene in Mark chapter 5 where we read about one of Jesus' incredibly important miracles.

He came to this region, crossed the sea, came to this region, and there was this poor guy that was just, his life was absolutely controlled by the demonic. In fact, when Jesus confronted the demons in this guy, they told him they were legion.

There was a legion of demons. And you've read the story, I trust, if you're following the scripture reading plan. You read the story today and how Jesus cast these demons out. They went into a herd of swine and the swine went rushing headlong down into the, over a cliff into the sea, and were drowned.

And you know, you read that and for one thing, it's so remarkable in that it is not something that any of us, I would assume, in our culture have experienced. I have heard of stories from missionaries on mission fields where there's a great deal of darkness.

Where.

There's evident demonic activity of controlling people, violently controlling people, like this man was controlled. We don't experience much of this, but we do experience people who are severely, severely controlled or in need and and hurting and it seems like nothing, nothing helps, nothing anybody can do for them really helps.

And you would think if somebody could come along and really help them and deliver them from their malady or their affliction for for good, for the rest of their lives. They were completely free from it.

You would think that we would highly appreciate that person and greatly esteem that individual that was so helpful to deliver that one. Well, so Jesus came on the scene and he was confronted by this violent man, man violent because of the demons controlling him and Jesus cast the demons out, the demons are destroyed, at least not able to afflict anybody in that region again, and the news spread, the news spread of what Jesus did for this guy and everybody knew who he was.

Because nobody wanted to get in his way, especially when he was controlled by the demons. They just want to stay away from this guy and they knew his reputation. But the word spread, Jesus got rid of the demons.

Hey, this guy's, this guy is sane, he's in his right mind and and a lot of people come out to see him and they come out and they find this guy and the Bible tells us he's clothed and he's in his right mind and he's, he's at peace.

No more, no more demonism is controlling him.

And.

How do the people respond? Well, verse 17 tells us of chapter 5, they began, then they began to plead with him to depart from their region, to get out of here. We don't want you around. They found Jesus to be, the presence of Jesus, to be scarier than the presence of a demonically possessed man.

Isn't that fascinating? Isn't that incredible? Well, when you think about it, it probably really shouldn't. Is it any, really, is it any different today in the culture in which we live? Are we not experiencing a greater hostility to the, to the values, the teaching of Jesus and to the person of Jesus?

I mean, who he really is, not the distorted Jesus of the the crowd that thinks he was just a good man. No, I'm talking about who Jesus really is, the Savior who died on a cross, who rose again from the dead, who calls people to himself to be saved and only to himself and who says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man comes to the Father but by me.

How popular is that Jesus around here, around these days in our culture? How, how well is he received in the Hollywood crowd, among the political elite? How about in our schools, our public schools? They're in the halls of government, in the entertainment industry, in the office.

It seems like, it seems like the only place that Jesus is welcome is in the church building and maybe in one's own private residence, but leave him there, is the cult, is this, is the sentiment of the culture.

Leave him there. Leave him in your church. Leave him in your home. Don't bring him here. We don't want him here. So, you know, when you think about it, we can get pretty harsh on these people who, who witnessed Jesus casting out the demons from this, from this guy.

And yet, it's not much different today, is it? That doesn't change us and should not hinder us in the least bit from proclaiming Jesus. He is the good news, and his message of salvation is the good news, and like it or not, he's the only news.

He's the only good news, and people need to hear it. So let's not be intimidated by the crowd that doesn't want to hear of him. Let's nevertheless hold forth the word of life. It's our Father and our God.

Our hearts are grieved when we see the rejection of Jesus in our own culture, and we see it, we see it exemplified in the, the people of Gadara who didn't want Jesus around in their region. We realize not much has changed in the culture, in our own day, and we can be intimidated by that.

But Father, I pray that we wouldn't be. I pray that we would be faithful nevertheless to hold forth the word of life. Hold forth the truth of the gospel, whether it's liked or not. And this we pray in Jesus' name and for his sake.

Amen. All right. Well, have a good rest of your Tuesday, and I hope that God's Word is a blessing and an encouragement to you.

Good day.