Well, good morning, it's a privilege to be with you all once again and to see you and have the privilege of opening God's Word. Please turn in your copies of God's Word to Luke chapter eight, Luke chapter eight, and we'll read verses 26 to 39. This is God's Word. Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house, but among the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the most high God? I beg you, do not torment me. for he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert. Jesus then asked him, what is your name? And he said, Legion, for many demons had entered him. And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these, so he gave them permission. Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. Then people went out to see what had happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. Then all the people of the surrounding country of the Gerasenes asked him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with Jesus. But Jesus sent him away saying, return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. So in God's word, let us pray together. Our holy triune God, we thank you for your great plan of salvation revealed to us in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do pray that even now in our midst that you would be working by your Holy Spirit, convicting of sin, drawing our eyes to our only hope, our only Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Give us the same experience as this man who was freed from captivity to sin and bondage. Remove our doubts, our fears, have us place our confidence in you and in your holy word. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Well, one of the great celebrations of our nation every year is, of course, the 4th of July. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence. This announcement, this declaration, declared the colony's separation from Great Britain. It's today that marks really the birth of American independence from foreign tyrannical power. However, the kind of tyranny that the American colonists faced pales in comparison to what the man in our passage faced as he was tyrannized by the kingdom of darkness. This man not only had a portion of his livelihood stolen from him through taxation, rather these demons took all of him. He became their slave, their puppet. The colonists protested having to house British soldiers who were arguably there protecting them from the French and the Indians. But this man has become the barracks of thousands upon thousands of demons who collectively go by the military name Legion. This man was so dominated and tyrannized by demons that he was hardly even recognizable as a man. They stripped away his dignity. They turned him into some kind of creature of the crypts, almost a mere animal. He was surely a man who was in a state of desperation and isolation. He must have felt completely helpless, being tormented by these forces beyond his control. But amidst the bleak backdrop of this demonic oppression, a glimmer of hope emerges as Jesus steps off the boat and onto the scene here of this side of the Sea of Galilee. Christ is, of course, continuing his mission first announced in Luke chapter 4 where he went into the synagogue and he declared that he was coming to fulfill the prophecies and the promises of Isaiah. He went into the synagogue, he unrolled the scroll and he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives. And here in our passage we see some of Jesus' power and his ability to liberate captives from the tyrannizing grip of Satan. These miracles show us that Christ's kingdom has indeed come in power and that Christ has the power to free us from Satan's tyranny. Christ, as the king and ruler of all creation, has the power both to free us and to bind the evil one. In the words of our catechism, Christ executes the office of a king in subduing us to himself, in ruling and defending us, and in restraining and conquering all his and our enemies. And we see him do that in our passage here this morning. And therefore, beloved, this passage gives you hope that you can trust in this same powerful king, this savior, this Lord who releases captives from their enslavement to Satan. trust in the Savior, whether it's in your situation in the workplace, or maybe difficulties in the home, whether it's your ongoing battle with indwelling sin, or it's a conscience that accuses you of past sins that you've long since repented of, or it's the doubts and fears that Satan sows in our hearts and minds. This passage loudly proclaims that he that is in you is greater than he that is in the world. And that is reason to trust him and to tell others about him. Let's see how this scene unfolds as we consider a cruel captivity, a powerful liberator, and a grateful testimony. Well, first we see a cruel captivity, the cruel captivity of this man who is possessed by so many demons. But first let's recall some of the events that lead us up to this moment. Well, previously Jesus had been preaching around Galilee and he decided that it was time to cross the Sea of Galilee to visit the East Coast and announce his gospel there. So as they crossed the lake, they were met with this violent storm that seemed to come out of nowhere. And the disciples truly believed they were going to die. And they feared that Jesus, who was sleeping, would allow them to die. However, in that passage, we saw that Jesus stands in the midst of the storm, and he calms it, and he says, tells the sea to be still, and it is still. And in this episode, we see that Jesus is no mere moral teacher or prophet. No, he is the Yahweh of the Old Testament. He is the same God who delivered Israel from Egypt, who led them through a stormy sea and into deliverance. So the disciples have just experienced this marvelous power of the Lord, but they also went through a rather terrifying experience, thinking that they'd be drowned at sea. You can imagine that their nerves maybe were still a little bit on edge. So here the disciples are now. They've crossed the sea. They're pulling the boats onto dry land. Maybe they're thinking about breakfast at this point, maybe catching a quick nap before Jesus moves on to the next town to preach in the synagogue. But then, as they're pulling the boats onto dry land, out of nowhere, this wild, naked, demon-possessed man runs towards them, full sprint. It must have been terrifying. Luke tells us that this man was possessed by many demons. This is a man who, at some point, probably had a job. He probably lived in the local city. He probably had a family at some point, a wife, children. But this man probably is not completely innocent. At some point, it's very likely that he opened himself up to some kind of demonic activity, and they infested him. And now here he is as their slave, such that they have control over his faculties, causing him even to act and to speak according to their wishes. And they make him do some terrible things. They're so malicious. Look at what they've done to him. Luke tells us that he wears no clothes. Clothing, of course, is something that separates us from animals. Clothing protects our bodies from harm. But clothing does more than that, doesn't it? It guards our dignity. But the demons have stripped this man of clothing, and thus also of his dignity. Next, notice that he does not live in a house, but he lives among the tombs. I mean, certainly to think of someone who lives in a graveyard, we would say that's rather creepy today. It certainly was creepy back then as well. And in fact, under the old covenant, living among the tombs would also make you ritually unclean. If you were ritually unclean, that meant you couldn't attend worship in the temple, and so you were separated from God's covenant people. Further, Luke tells us in verse 29, for many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert. Somehow the demons who had possessed this man had given him incredible strength such that he was able even to break these chains and bonds. He was so feral that the locals had tried to shackle him like a beast, but he was able to liberate himself and break these chains. And clearly the demons have reduced him to the status of a wild beast that men might chain and bind. The overall picture is that this man is indwelt by satanic forces that want nothing more than to eradicate the image of God in this man. Satan, you see, hates God. And because we have been made in the image of God, he hates us. And he wants nothing more than to destroy us and eradicate that image. We've been made to reflect God's glory as image-bearers, and Satan wants nothing more than for us to not reflect God's glory, to be maybe slabs of stone rather than mirrors reflecting the light of God's glory. And certainly we see these demons have done all in their power to eclipse the image of God in this man, reducing him to some kind of creature, their own personal fighting beast, if you will. Now as we think about demon possession, like we see here and in the Gospels, it can raise certain questions about maybe why we don't see as much or any demon possession today, or why it's less prevalent in other parts of Scripture. Well, one of the reasons you don't see demon possession in the Old Testament, one of the reasons we don't see it referenced in any of the New Testament epistles, is because when Jesus came, there was a unique level of concentrated demonic activity released into the world. When Christ came into the world, he launched an invasion. He launched an attack against Satan's kingdom. Isaiah describes Jesus as entering into a land dwelling in darkness. During this time, God had permitted Satan to exercise an increased level of power on the earth. That's why Satan is often referred to in terms that almost should make us feel uncomfortable. He's described as the god of this age and as the prince of the power of the air. And of course, Satan doesn't operate autonomously. Still, he's operating under God's sovereignty. But yet, operating under God's sovereignty, Satan was unleashed. And Satan unleashed all of the powers of hell against our Lord and Savior, seen particularly in Christ's temptation. We don't see the same level of demonic activity and possession today because Satan has been bound for a time. Paul writes in Colossians 2, verse 15, how Christ disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them in him. So I think we can say that Satan's activity is more limited now. And yet, we must also admit that he is still active. And while demon possession might not be so common, demon activity certainly is. And all the ways that demon possession destroys and oppresses, I think we can say the same about the life that's controlled and dominated by sin. Joe read earlier for us from 1 John chapter 3, where the Apostle John even makes that connection, doesn't he? He says, whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. Well, like demon possession, sin is captivating. The Bible frequently describes sin with that kind of imagery and language of slavery, doesn't it? It uses language of bondage and chains and death. In Romans 6, Paul speaks of life outside of Christ as being enslaved to sin, where death is our master, having dominion over us, being slaves of our passions and lusts. I think so often in times that we sin, what we think we're doing, we know that we're sinning against God, but we think what we're doing is we're going our own way. We're being free agents. We're autonomous at that point. Scripture has a different portrayal of what's happening in that moment. If we're not serving the Lord our God, we're just in service to another king, a false king. To rebel against Christ is to be a servant of the devil, one who is cruel and captivating. Sin is captivating. Sin is also separating. Luke tells us that this man had formerly lived in the city, but now he lives naked and alone by the tombs, sometimes even being driven out to the desert. Sin has so separated this man from community and even from the people of God through his ritual uncleanness by dwelling among the tombs. And sin can do that, can't it? Sin ruptures relationships. Sin burns bridges. It nurtures grudges. Sin separates husbands from wives, fathers from their children, church members from other church members. As James even writes, what causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions were at war within you? And worst of all, sin separates us from God. God who is our creator, who made us in his image, and made us to have communion with him. Think of the very first sin, inspired and aggravated by the devil himself, where Adam and Eve threw off the law of God, and they ate of that forbidden fruit. What happened? They were cast out of the garden, out of God's presence. Their relationship with God was ruptured, and sin does that. Sin is also degrading. So whatever dignity this man had, it was robbed from him by these demons. And sin does that. Of course, the mantra today is that we're to be authentic, and to be authentic is to be your true self. It's to listen to that inner voice that comes within. It's to throw off the voice of certainly the Bible and religion and the wisdom that comes from outside of us. No, we're to listen to our inner voice, and we're to follow our own impulses. We're to be who we want to be. And the promise is that this then leads to the good life, the authentic life. We might even say the dignified life. Well, this too is false. Because sin doesn't fulfill us. Sin, rather, leaves us empty. Sin doesn't lead us into a better version of ourselves. Sin doesn't make us more human. If anything, just like the man we see in our passage, it makes us less human. It degrades our humanity. Think of those poor women who, in believing this lie, abort their own babies. are those who distort and mutilate their bodies and are cheered on as brave and authentic. But in reality, all the while, they are being degraded and they're being destroyed. They're destroying the body that God has given them. Sin is cruel. Sin is like a demonic master that is cruel to those it holds captive. But however powerful the forces of Satan are and however cruel and destructive they are, we're about to meet a powerful liberator. And that's our second point. Whatever power these demons have over this man, they have absolutely no power over the Lord Jesus. As soon as the man approaches Jesus, the demons bring this man to their knees and they're begging for mercy. In verse 28, the demons through the man cry out, what have you to do with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me. You know, it's interesting how many times in Luke's Gospel that Jesus performs some miracle, or he preaches in a synagogue, and you see the response of the disciples, of the crowds, even of Herod at times, and they wonder at times, who is this man? Is he a prophet? Is he a prophet of old, come from the past? Well, notice there's none of that with the demons. The demons know exactly who Jesus is. He is the Son of the Most High God. As James says, quite rightly, even the demons believe, and they shudder. And these demons certainly are shuddering, aren't they? And the force of their question essentially is, why are you here, Jesus? They just want Jesus to leave them alone. They beg Jesus not to torment them. This word for torment is the same word used to describe the torment of the everlasting lake of fire. So by begging Jesus not to torment them, they're asking Jesus essentially to show them mercy. They're saying, Jesus, we do not want to be judged. We do not want the judgment that is coming. I think this brings up an interesting question. Should Jesus show them mercy? Jesus shows mercy to many sinners. Should Jesus show mercy to these demons? Will he show them mercy? Well, these demons know Jesus' name. In verse 30, Jesus asked them, what is your name? And they respond, legion, for many demons had entered him. The word legion, of course, is a military term. It's used to describe the largest division of troops in a Roman army. The exact number of soldiers that were in a legion changed as different Roman emperors brought in different reforms to the Roman army. But at one time, it was made up of 6,000 soldiers. The point being made is that this man is absolutely infested with demons. So this term legion connotes number I think it also introduces a kind of a military air to the whole episode. Maybe to put it this way, you might say that these are not your worker demons, these are your soldier demons. Their job is to tyrannize and dominate their wicked agents of the enemy. And so if you could picture this man's soul, as it were, you would see a wasp's nest of thousands of demons actively gnawing away and destroying this man. So here, the battle lines are drawn between Jesus, who has just come from the sea, having shown himself as the divine warrior who's able to silence the storm, and now you have him against 6,000 demons. And yet, of course, there is no battle, because before the fighting even begins, these demons are already on their knees, begging for mercy. Notice how they try to negotiate with Jesus. As we saw, they beg Him not to torment them, not to judge them. And so they're asking for mercy. And in verse 31 in particular, they beg Him not to command them to depart into the abyss. Notice that the demons are specifically asking Jesus not to send them into this place called the abyss. What is the abyss that these demons dread so much? Well, the abyss is used in the Old Testament to describe a kind of a watery underworld. The abyss is pictured as a compartment within Sheol, the place of the dead, that is a watery dungeon where demons are held. In the book of Revelation, the abyss, or the pit as it's sometimes called, is described as this place where demons are held for a time until the final judgment, when then they're taken from the abyss and they're cast into the lake of fire in the final judgment. John writes this in Revelation chapter 9, how Christ came and he bound Satan and his hordes and he placed them in this place, the abyss. But then how on the final day they'll be taken from the abyss and cast into the lake of fire. So again, the abyss is this kind of watery holding tank. Keep that imagery in your mind. And Legion says, don't send me there. Don't send me to this watery dungeon. Instead, Legion spies some pigs over on a hillside and he says, send me instead into this herd of pigs feeding on the hillside. Well, demons apparently are like parasites, and so they need some kind of host. And these pigs seem ideal to demon. Pigs were considered unclean animals that Israelites were to have nothing to do with. And so perhaps these demons are reasoning thus. Jesus is the Messiah sent by God to Israel. He has power within Israel. These pigs are outside of the realm of Israel, as it were, and thus they must be outside of Christ's power. And so if Christ sends us demons to these pigs, we'll be sort of outside of Christ's authority. And so essentially their proposal is, look, you leave us alone, we'll leave you alone. Don't judge us, don't send us into the abyss, this watery dungeon. Instead, send us into these pigs and we'll go and we'll do our own thing. And amazingly, Jesus grants their request. This request made by the demons, Jesus says, okay. And he allows the demons to leave the man and enter the pigs. What's happening here? Is Jesus showing mercy to Legion? Or was Legion that good of a salesman that he was able to convince Jesus and kind of outmaneuver him and get Jesus to, you know, put them into those pigs so that they could be free from any kind of judgment? Is that what's happening here? Well, that's kind of how it looks at first. That is, until the pigs do something that pigs don't do. You see, pigs are not herd animals like sheep. You've all seen sheep, how if they get startled, one of them bolts a certain direction, and the whole flock of sheep kind of follow them. That's how herd animals operate. If there's danger, they move as a cohesive unit. But if pigs get startled, they don't move as a cohesive unit. They all just kind of scatter to the four winds, or else they just freeze up in the spot. They don't run as a herd. And in the Bible, whenever animals do something that is contrary to their nature, God is always the one directing them. Donkeys don't talk, ravens don't bring you bread and meat, fish don't swallow you up and spit you out in dry land, and pigs don't herd together and run off a cliff like lemmings. But that's what happens. As soon as the demons enter the pigs, the pigs run down the slope, off the cliff, and cannonball into the water and drown. What's happening? Well, remember how Legion begged not to be sent into the abyss, that watery grave? Well, here, God is directing these pigs down the cliff and sending these pigs right into the lake, using them, as it were, to send these demons straight into the abyss. In other words, Jesus is giving to his disciples and to all around and to us now a visible picture of what's happening in spiritual realms. No, legion, you will be sent to the abyss. And here's this imagery of you being sent through these pigs into this watery grave. Likewise, legion was not allowed to roam free. Rather, Jesus judged legion, sending him to this unseen spiritual realm of the abyss. And so what this means is that, no, Jesus did not show legion mercy. Legion did not outmaneuver or outdo Jesus in a battle of the wits. Instead, he bound those evil, evil spirits in the deep, watery abyss, and he used the pigs as his executioners. The demons thought that those unclean pigs were perhaps outside the realm of Jesus' authority. But those pigs knew who their true master was, and they willingly gave their lives in service to him. And so, children, forget about Babe and Wilbur. These are pigs worth celebrating, for they lived and died in service to Christ and his kingdom. Well, after the final pig has plopped into the lake, the camera turns, as it were, from that scene now to this man who's sitting there, having been released from this legion of demons. Luke tells us that he's there now, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. It's a complete reversal, isn't there? Before he was naked, now he's clothed. Before he was wild and feral, now he's just sitting still. before his mind was controlled by demons. Now his mind is restored, even sanctified. And dear Christian, this is a glorious picture of what Christ has done for you. You may not have been demon-possessed, but you have all been like this. We all have been like this and we would all be like this were it not for the grace of Christ. This man was alienated and hostile. And as Paul says in Colossians, you once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds. And you were powerless to help yourself. You were a captive of Satan, one of the walking dead, as Paul writes in Ephesians 2. And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. This is what we were. And what we deserved was to be cast into the abyss or into that place of final torment because of our sin. But Christ came to be the liberator, not only of this man, but of all of us elect in Christ, to liberate us from sin's clutches and Satan's dominion and from the punishment that we deserve. And if you have repented and you've turned to Christ, Know that for certain that this is true of you, that Christ has taken you and he's bought you for himself. As Paul says, he has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved son in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. That word redemption is key. To be redeemed means that you've been purchased. It means that a transaction has taken place. It means that someone has bought you. In this context, it means that God has bought you. What that also means is that you no longer belong to sin. You no longer belong to Satan. Satan, sin, death, the grave, even the law has no hold on you, for you belong to your Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Like this man, you've been taken by Christ, and he has clothed you, and he has restored you, and clothed you in his righteousness. And so take comfort, dear Christian, in your liberation. both from the tyranny of sin and from the punishment that your sins deserve. But not only dwell on this, not only take comfort from this, but live this out in your life. Because it is a fact that you have died with Christ. It's a fact that you've been crucified with him, in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. As Paul says, therefore let not sin, therefore reign in your mortal body. Now of course, living this side of grace, living in grace, this side of glory, we all still wrestle with sin. We battle with sin. Each of us knows our own besetting sins that constantly plague us and at times we stumble, we slip, at times we may fall. And we will all wrestle with sin until the last day, until we are fully glorified. But until that last day, be sure that your relationship with sin is one of a wrestle and not one of submission. Make sure that you are not living as a captive. Now for those of us who belong to Christ, who are united to Christ by faith, Satan cannot own us, he does not own us, he cannot possess us. But maybe for a time he can make us ineffective. Maybe for a time he can rob from us the joy of our salvation, the peace of our salvation. the confidence that we can have in Christ. And so you need to ask yourself, are there sins in your life that you're unrepentant of? Maybe sins that are eating and gnawing away at your soul, as it were. Sins that, like with this demon-possessed man, are driving others away from you. Sins that are causing you to be a poor reflector of the glory of God. And worst of all, distancing you from communion with God himself. Again, through Christ, you can repent. Through Christ, you can confess your sins and you can know freedom from this level of tyranny. Go to the one who has power over Satan and sin. And if you feel powerless in the face of your besetting sins, remember your savior. Remember the words of this hymn that go, he breaks the power of reigning sin. He sets the prisoner free. His blood can make the foulest clean. His blood availed for me. Well, there's the cruel captivity. There's the powerful liberator. And third, there's the grateful testimony. Well, whenever Jesus acts in the Gospels, whenever he performs a miracle, whenever he teaches, Luke is always very careful to show us the responses, the response of the Pharisees, the response of the crowds, the response of his disciples, the response of Herod. And in this instance, Luke makes no exception. He's very careful to show us the various responses. And in doing so, he wants us to consider our response. Well, the first response is that of the herdsmen, They see all that has happened, and then they run back and they tell everyone in the city, and the whole city then flocks out for themselves to see what's going on. And what they see is verse 35. They came to Jesus and found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. And those who had seen it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed. So they find this man who had been a terror to everybody, and now he's restored. I mean, this man truly was a terror. This is the guy that the parents told their children stories about maybe for them to comply. If you get out of bed in the middle of the night, he'll grab your ankles, so stay in your beds. This was the town boogeyman, as it were. He was a terror. Now here he is. He's sitting peacefully, he's dignified, he's fully restored. You might even have him over for lunch now. He's a new creation. And you would think that the townspeople would just marvel and rejoice and say, Jesus, would you come to our town? Would you do this for us? Would you do this in my life? Would you do this for my son, my daughter, my father, my unbelieving relative? But instead, They respond in a way that is the complete opposite. They're terrified by Jesus. They're now apparently more afraid of Jesus than they were of these demons. And they demand that Jesus leave their country. And he does. It's interesting how initially it was Legion who was begging Jesus to leave. Now it's the townspeople who are begging Jesus to leave. And Jesus grants their request. He gets back in the boat. and he returns home. You know, it's so sad. I've heard so many testimonies, and maybe you've heard testimonies like this, too, where you have someone who, before coming to Christ, lived a very, maybe exceptionally destructive life, a life of drunkenness, a life of promiscuity, a life of maybe drug abuse. But then they hear the gospel, and they're converted, and they come to Christ. Then they go to maybe their old group of friends, or they go to their family. and the response that they get is just like the response of these herdsmen. We preferred you the way you were before. We kind of preferred you when you got drunk and you just had a good time. We preferred you when you weren't really talking about this Jesus stuff. So sad, so sad. It shows the darkness of men's hearts and certainly this rejection of what Christ has done in this man's life by the townspeople show the hardness of their hearts. We preferred you the way you were before. But that's not the only response. There's also the response of the man himself. Again, whereas before this man was begging through the demons, begging Jesus to leave, now this man is begging to follow Jesus. What surer sign of regeneration than this love for the Lord Jesus and a desire to follow him? But surprisingly, unlike maybe every other time in the gospel so far where Jesus is delighted to have more and more followers following him, Jesus tells the man, no, that's not my plan for you. You're not going to get in the boat and come to the next place. No, Jesus has a particular mission for him. He instructs the man, return to your home and declare how much God has done for you. Jesus is sending him as a witness to who he is and what he has done in this man's life. But notice where he's sending this man to. He's sending this man back into this city full of the townspeople who just rejected Jesus. This city who is so hard of heart, and yet Jesus is placing this man right back there. And you can't miss the end of the section where Jesus tells him, go and tell the people what God has done for you. But Luke tells us, and he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Luke here, of course, is again testifying to who Jesus is as God incarnate. And the instructions that Jesus gives to this man are the very same instructions that he gives to us today, to each one of us. He calls us first from darkness into light. He saves us, he restores us, he transfers us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light. And although we have not been possessed, as Paul said, we were dead in sin, following the prince of the power of the air, but now Christ has saved us. By his goodness and mercy, he's closed us and given us a right mind. And having saved us, he then gives us a story to tell. And like this man, as much as perhaps some of us, maybe more than others, would love to be transferred immediately into glory, to bypass the pain and the suffering of this life, and the suffering that comes through our own sin against others and being sinned against, and yet that isn't God's immediate plan for us. Yes, there is glory, but first there is suffering. and even suffering for the name and cause of Christ. And that's Christ's plan for this man's life. He is to go back into this town that has just rejected Jesus, and he is to be a witness, and he is to tell of all that Christ has done for him. He is to tell of this newfound faith and life and restoration that he has found in Christ. He is to be a witness in a hostile world. And hasn't Christ given each one of us the very same mission? What's your mission? What is the place that Christ has saved you from? And what is the place that he has saved you to and placed you to be a witness? That family, that workplace, wherever it is, to tell of how Christ has freed you from the captivity of sin and the punishment your sins deserve. And so, beloved, let us hear Jesus' call to go and to tell what God has done for each one of us, and then let us obey by proclaiming how much Jesus has done for us. Let's pray. Our great God and Savior, we thank you for your work in each of our lives. We thank you for saving us from our sins. We thank you for sending Christ to be the sin-atoning sacrifice, the payment that ransomed us from death, from the grave, and from the punishment that our sins deserved. And we ask that you would cause us in gratitude to the Gospel, like this man who was restored, to now go and to tell of what Christ has done. Help us to be a people ready and willing to give an answer for the hope that is within us. And Lord, would you save those among us who do not know you, especially those who are our children? We thank you for the blessing that they have to sit under your word. Would you work by your spirit mightily in their lives, in their hearts, that we might all together know fully the joys of your salvation. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen.