“Powerful Effects!” – FBC Morning Light (10/25/2024)

Good Friday morning to you. Here we are looking to wrap up another week going into the weekend. I hope you're looking forward to getting together with God's people on the Lord's Day this coming Sunday, wrapping up the month of October here very quickly, the last Sunday of October, this Lord's Day.

So I hope you'll plan to gather with God's people and worship the Lord together and hear from Him and respond to His Word in its preaching and teaching. Well today in our Bible reading we're reading, jumping back and forth quite a bit through Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

And rather than explain all of that, it's in the comments below, I think. Otherwise you can find the Bible reading plan on our church website. But I want to focus on this account of Jesus healing the maniac of Gadara.

And it's found in Matthew 8, verses 28 to 34, then in Mark 5, 1 to 20, and in Luke chapter 8, verses 26 to 39. And in this in this situation, you find four different expressions of power. And each of those expressions of power are very powerful.

There is, first of all, the power of evil that it has over people. This demon-possessed guy, the power of the demon possession is incredible. We read in verses 2 through 4 that this man had an unclean spirit, he was dwelling among the tombs, he was crazy, no one could bind him, not even with chains, he would break the chains, the shackles in the chains, and break these things apart, nor could anyone tame him.

The power of evil is an incredibly, incredibly destructive thing. Many people poo-poo demon possession in our day, but it's very real, and it may not show itself, the possession, the demons may not show themselves in exactly the same way as they did in this story.

But I'll tell you, I've seen some of the things that are posted online with people, that the stuff they've done to themselves, and the stuff they're doing in even a public way is just unbelievably evil, and it's just demonic.

So you've got the power of evil, but you also have the superseding power of Christ. Jesus sees this man who is tormented with the legion of demons, and Jesus casts these demons out. And again, you see the power of evil as they enter into the swine and they go running down the hill and into the sea, but it is the superseding power of Christ.

Here's this most severe case of demonic possession, but Jesus in his power is able to overcome, and these demonic, demon-possessed individuals are cured of their demon possession. So you have the power of the demonic, you have the power of Christ that is even greater still, and then you have the power of unbelief, the power of unbelief.

So news spreads throughout the area of what Jesus has done, and the townspeople hear about this, incredible thing that's happened, that these demon-possessed individuals are now cured, and they come running out to see whether or not this is so, and they find that there's actually two of these demon-possessed individuals, and one of the accounts here, especially Mark's Gospel, just focuses on one of them, and it says the people come out and they see this man who had been demon-possessed, verse 15, sitting and clothed and in his right mind.

And how did they respond to that? With faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ? No. They responded with unbelief. It says they were afraid, and they wanted Jesus out of their area. We don't want him around.

So this is the power of unbelief. Jesus is rejected regardless of the positive impact that he's had on lives. And we still see this today. We see the power of the evil one, we see the power of Christ, but then also the power of unbelief.

But there's also a fourth power that is evident here, and that's the power of faith. Here's this man who has lived there all his life, and he's been demon-possessed, but now Jesus heals him, and in response, he who had been demon-possessed says to Jesus, I want to go with you, I want to follow you wherever you go.

That's faith. Faith that is willing to leave everything behind and to follow Jesus. Jesus says, no, that's not how I want you to express your faith. Here's how I want you to express your faith, he says.

He says, go home to your friends and tell them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how he has had compassion on you. Will he do so? Well, yeah, because that's the power of faith. Verse 20 says, he departed and began to proclaim in Decapolis all that Jesus had done for him, and all marveled.

Oh, the power of faith is powerful. It is an incredibly impactful thing, when you can testify to others, this is what Jesus has done for me. I was lost in sin, but now I am found. I was a wretched sinner, a worm of a sinner, but Jesus has made me his own.

Oh, what great things the Lord has done for me. The power of faith. So, all four expressions of power exist in our day today, do they not? The power of evil, the power of Christ, the power of unbelief, and the power of faith.

To which power are you succumbing, surrendered, expressing in your life? Our Father and our God, I pray that you would have your will and way in us, and express your great power within us, and I pray that in response, our faith and trust in you would change our lives in powerful ways.

We thank you for that possibility, we thank you for that inevitability when you have truly worked. Bless these thoughts to our hearts today, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. All right, once again, have a great weekend, and trust you'll be blessed, especially on the Lord's Day.

Good day.