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Lighting Up the Darkness (Luke 8:26-39)
8 Plays16 hours ago
Sunday Message recorded 29 June 2025
by Senior Pastor Victor Morrison
First Baptist Church - Columbus, TX, USA
1700 Milam St.
Columbus, TX, USA 78934
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Humor
00:00:06
Speaker
Good morning. Would you turn with me to the Gospel of Luke? The Gospel of Luke to chapter 8, verses 26 through 39. through thirty nine <unk> had several people ask me, where's your glasses? And one Sunday school teacher didn't even recognize who I was. He thought I was a new guy.
00:00:25
Speaker
And so anyway, just so you know, I'm getting lenses, new lenses put in. And so he said, I need to take your glasses for two weeks. And I said, what am I supposed to do? And he said, good luck. And so anyway. So don't be making faces because I can't
Theme Introduction: Light in Darkness
00:00:42
Speaker
see.
00:00:42
Speaker
But my greatest fear is everybody might leave and I wouldn't even know it today. But anyway, I am so glad you're here today. I believe God does have a word for us about lighting up the darkness.
00:00:53
Speaker
You know, we were singing a song just a minute ago about this is where I lay it down. I encourage you to lay your burdens down at the feet of Jesus. You're going to see a man in the passage we're going to read today who did exactly that. He laid it down at the feet of Jesus and the Lord took it away. And you will see what a difference was made in his life. We're going to begin in verse 28 in a moment and read down through verse
Why Did Jesus Enter the World?
00:01:21
Speaker
39. But we're in Luke chapter 8.
00:01:23
Speaker
Why did Jesus leave the glorious light of heaven? to enter into this dark old world. Sometimes, you know, it makes you wonder. But then when I think about how lost I was, how I was in darkness, then then I know exactly why he did that.
00:01:40
Speaker
You know, Matthew tells us in his gospel, in Matthew 4, verses 12 through 16, that he came to light up the darkness. It says, the land of zephalon zebuon and the land of nafttali the way of the sea beyond the jordan galilee of the gentiles the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light.
00:02:05
Speaker
And for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned. That's why he came. He came to bring the light so that we did not have to continue to live in the darkness of our sin, in the darkness of a fallen world.
Encountering Darkness: Story in Luke
00:02:22
Speaker
You know, in John chapter one, verses one through 14, it describes how Jesus had always existed with the father in his holy presence. They were one, they were together.
00:02:33
Speaker
But then Jesus left the light of his glory, the light of God's grace and truth. He came and it says that in John chapter one, verse five, the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.
00:02:51
Speaker
The Lord Jesus Christ, his light can always overcome darkness. Oz Guinness reminds us in a book that he wrote called The Dust of Death that the early hunters on safari in Africa used to build their fires really high at night in order to keep the animals in the bush away.
00:03:14
Speaker
And when the fire was high, the wild beasts were far off, but when the fire was low, they approached the camp. You know, Guinness makes an unexpected application with what he has to say. Could we advance the slide one time, if
Cultural Influence and Erosion
00:03:31
Speaker
if you don't mind? Thank you.
00:03:33
Speaker
Oz Guinness says, as we have witnessed the erosion and the breakdown of Christian culture and influence in the West, so we have seen the vacuum filled by an upsurge of ideas that would have been unthinkable when the fires of the Christian worldview were high.
00:03:54
Speaker
You know, Christianity and the faith that we have in Christ, the Lord's presence will push back the darkness, but we have to build the fires high.
00:04:05
Speaker
So that's what I hope that this passage today will do. We can do it together right here in Columbus. Luke 8, 26 through 39 is the true account of the Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples who encountered and overcame spiritual darkness.
00:04:23
Speaker
If you wanted to read parallel passages, you could go to Matthew chapter 8, verses 28 through 34, or to Mark chapter 5, verses 1 through 20.
00:04:34
Speaker
But what we're going to do is we're going to read Luke 8, So if you would stand once again, let's stand in honor of God's word.
Reading and Reflection on Scripture
00:04:44
Speaker
This is the living, active, inspired, inerrant word of God. i love it. And I want to see God speak to us today from it.
00:04:54
Speaker
Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. And when Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.
00:05:08
Speaker
For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house, but among the tombs. And 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?
00:05:30
Speaker
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. It 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.
00:05:52
Speaker
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 enter, to depart into the abyss.
00:06:06
Speaker
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.
00:06:18
Speaker
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." And when the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.
Mission of Jesus: Bringing Light
00:06:34
Speaker
And 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.
00:06:49
Speaker
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.
00:07:08
Speaker
So he got into the boat and returned. The man from whom the demons had gone begged. that he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away saying, return to your home and declare how much God has done for you.
Overcoming Barriers to the Gospel
00:07:25
Speaker
And he went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Let's pray together. Oh Lord, we see an interesting passage here. There's a lot of things that perhaps we've never experienced.
00:07:40
Speaker
Perhaps some we have experienced. But I pray that you would so light a fire within us that we would want to share that light with other people across this city, across the county, across the country, and around the world.
00:07:57
Speaker
Help us, O Lord, to do what you want us to do, to be willing to say, Lord, help me to light up the darkness. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
00:08:09
Speaker
Thank you. You may be seated. Where would you say the darkest place on earth is? I think one of the darkest places on earth would have to be caves, especially Varyamkina cave that's located in the breakaway republic of Russia known as Georgia.
00:08:32
Speaker
Don't be singing who let the dogs out. This is not the Georgia that we know. But it's one of the deepest caves on record. It is the deepest. It's 7,257 feet deep.
00:08:45
Speaker
It takes the researchers that go down there to explore it. It takes them four days to reach the lowest point. As a matter of fact, if you were thinking, how deep is that? I did a little bit of research there and found out that would be like 24 football fields end to end all the way down.
00:09:03
Speaker
I mean, we're talking way down there where there's no light. That area, that region of Russia or Georgia is known for those caves. They have four of the deepest caves ever. But if you were ever going to repel down in there, you better take some equipment, right?
00:09:19
Speaker
You better have some training. You'll need a helmet. You'll need lots of lights. You'll need gloves and knee and elbow pads and oxygen, polyester ropes. You'll need carabiners, you'll need rappel racks and harnesses and so forth.
00:09:35
Speaker
But what will you and I need if we want to rappel into the dark spiritual areas of our community or of our country?
Personal Experiences of Darkness
00:09:44
Speaker
Well, I want to give you four things today that I hope you can take home and I hope this will be something you would apply in your own life.
00:09:52
Speaker
The first thing I notice is found in the first verse of our text. When you go to chapter 8 Luke and you look at verse 26.
00:10:01
Speaker
Then they sailed to the country of the Gerasenes, which is opposite Galilee. Do you remember when Jesus said in verse 22, let us go across to the other side of the lake?
00:10:13
Speaker
You know, whenever we take the gospel across those boundaries of lostness, the boundaries of light and darkness, we're going to have to do some cross-cultural outreach.
00:10:25
Speaker
Think about the geographical barrier. It was five miles across the lake. Maybe you'd say, that's not very far. But from scripture, if we look at all of this whole experience here, they'd never been over there before.
00:10:39
Speaker
So even though it was only five miles away, for some reason, the boundary of that lake was such a barrier to those guys ever having gone over there. But also you'll have to cross a cultural barrier.
00:10:51
Speaker
Everyone is not American. Everyone is not like you or like me. And so what we have to say is, Lord, I'd be willing to cross a cultural barrier if I could bring the light into that dark place.
00:11:04
Speaker
Also, I think you'd have to cross an experiential barrier. Perhaps God would call as you call you to go on the other side of your experience. Maybe you'd say, but I've never done that. I've never shared my faith. I've never once talked to my family or my friends about Christ.
00:11:22
Speaker
Get ready because somebody's gonna have to make a trip into the darkness if they're ever gonna see the light, if they're ever gonna even know that God loves them, that Jesus went to the cross for them.
Spiritual Warfare: Mission Trip Insights
00:11:34
Speaker
But of course, you're gonna have to cross a spiritual barrier. You know, this guy, says, had demons in his life You know, i remember when I went to Ethiopia, I was going to Ethiopia and Ethiopia is a place where people get saved by the hundreds or thousands.
00:11:53
Speaker
We were so amazed every single time how many. But then the the leaders and organizers of the trip said, we're going to make one side journey over into Sudan.
00:12:03
Speaker
And I remember thinking, okay, I didn't count on going into Sudan. So he said, make sure you bring your passport, make sure you bring your Bible. We're gonna go over there and we're gonna preach over there. We're gonna witness over there. So I was like, okay, so this will be a new experience.
00:12:19
Speaker
So we went over there and I wasn't prepared for it. There's spiritual darkness like I've never seen. Like whenever they were preaching the gospel, there were eight junior high girls that just began to yell out really loud in the crowd.
00:12:33
Speaker
And we all turned around and looked, it was so spooky. And then all of a sudden they would fall down into these seizures like this. There were about eight of them. And so then I saw some of the Sudanese men, Christians, pick them up and they would be taking them out on their shoulders and they were still shaking. They were still in the seizure.
00:12:53
Speaker
And I thought, what is going on there? And they would be over there and from that building where they took them, i heard weird sounds. I heard shrieks and I heard sounds that were like dogs and cows and chickens and it was it was spooky.
00:13:10
Speaker
But then they came back and they were fine. They came out and they sat back in the in the congregation there. We were just under a big tree and they were fine. And I thought to myself, what's going on? And so later they told me they had to pray over them, that they were demon possessed.
00:13:28
Speaker
And I was like, I have never seen anything like this. So you can imagine for these disciples that they also probably had to cross a motivational barrier.
00:13:39
Speaker
Let's say that there's a wild man where you and Jesus and some other Christians, just some other disciples, you come up on the shore. and a wild man comes running at you, and he doesn't have any clothes on, and he's yelling, would you say, maybe we could dock in another place, and maybe we should put back out to the water? i mean, can you imagine? I'm going to tell you what it's like.
00:14:06
Speaker
Whenever you go to the dark places around our world, I've been to a lot of them. I've been to them in the Philippines. I've been to them different other places. And I just want to tell you something. We don't realize there's so many Christians here in our country. We don't know the light that we have here.
00:14:23
Speaker
But you step over there into some of those dark places and they're suffering like you cannot imagine. And so we have to
Reflecting on Spiritual Callings
00:14:31
Speaker
bring the good news to them, but just get ready because when you go over there, it's not always comfortable.
00:14:37
Speaker
Sometimes it's very uncomfortable. So you have to have an incentive. Here's the thing. Why did Jesus say, i want us to go over there?
00:14:48
Speaker
Well, it doesn't say this part of it in our Luke text, but if you were to look at Mark chapter five and verse five, You know what it says about this same man? It's the same passage. It's just, you know, a different angle on it.
00:15:03
Speaker
But in Mark chapter 5, verse 5, it says, "...night and day among the tombs and on the mountains this guy." He was always crying out and cutting himself with stones.
00:15:19
Speaker
You know why I think Jesus said, let's go to the other side. He could hear it. I believe he can hear you. Have you been crying out? Perhaps it's at night when no one else knows. Perhaps it's sometime when you're in the car going to Katie or going somewhere else.
00:15:35
Speaker
And suddenly it's like you realize how empty your life is. You're realizing how cold the darkness is. and you begin to cry out. You say, God, god there's gotta be something better.
00:15:48
Speaker
Maybe in your home there's dysfunction. Maybe there's abuse. Maybe there's hard things that you've been through. And you're saying, it's gotta be something better. Well, I just want you to know that There's a God in heaven who sent his son down here for you.
00:16:05
Speaker
He sent him into this dark place with the light so that things could be different in your life. He made the trip first. But what gets me sometimes, I get under conviction. i don't know about you, but I get under conviction sometimes when I think, am I making the trip over into the dark places that he would want me to make?
Life of the Demon-Possessed Man
00:16:26
Speaker
Are you willing to take the gospel over there? We'll talk more about that at the end. But whenever I say that he could hear him, i think it brings me to the second thing I wanted you to be aware of.
00:16:38
Speaker
Maybe didn't know this, but over there in the dark places, people without Jesus Christ, there's tears. There are tears being shed. You see, this man was miserable.
00:16:50
Speaker
That's why Mark said he was crying out day and night. It just could not improve. It did not let up because evil was making his life miserable. And he was moaning and he was groaning. And what was he saying?
00:17:05
Speaker
What was going on in his life? Well, I want us to look closer at this text and I want to give you some things about this man's life that I hope will help you understand not just where he was, but will help you understand where your neighbor is maybe.
00:17:21
Speaker
Maybe your neighbor knows Christ, but maybe they don't know Christ. Someone you work with may not know Christ. And so I want you to know that they may be able to tell you that's where I am.
00:17:33
Speaker
That's where I live. I believe this man was miserable. He was shedding tears first because he was an unstable man. He was an unstable man. It says that he had demons.
00:17:46
Speaker
Did you catch that? It's plural. It's plural there in verse 27. This man had demons that were pulling him this way and pulling him that way. And he was thinking, i don't want to do that again.
00:17:58
Speaker
And yet the demons would pull him in that direction. And so he was unstable. It meant that he was controlled by them. But not only was he an unstable man, of course, he was an an unclothed man.
00:18:11
Speaker
It says for a long time he had worn no clothes. Mark 5.15 says later at the end of this story, and Luke says the same thing in verse 35.
00:18:23
Speaker
But Mark and Luke both make sure you don't miss it, that the man who once was unclothed Now, after Jesus cast the demons out, it says he was clothed.
00:18:34
Speaker
He was clothed. Listen, the Lord, no matter how dirty your sins are, the Lord, if you will come to him, he will clothe you in a robe of righteousness. It's his righteousness.
00:18:45
Speaker
It's not ours. It's his. And I believe this man, it's sort of like when he was clothed with whatever they gave him, ah a cape, a blanket or whatever it was, I believe it felt so
Transformation Through Jesus
00:18:56
Speaker
good to him. Maybe there's the first time in his whole life he ever felt warm But he was definitely unstable and unclothed. But I believe perhaps one of the key things, he was an unhappy man, wasn't he?
00:19:08
Speaker
That's why he was crying out. That's why he was moaning. You know, the demons knew who Jesus was, right? Did you catch that? Whenever the demons say through the man's mouth, Jesus, son of the most high God, I beg you, do not torment me.
00:19:27
Speaker
You see, I believe this guy, he was living in torment, but they respected Jesus. See, they didn't have a relationship with Jesus. And of course they were not going to repent, you know, and turn to Jesus.
00:19:42
Speaker
But they knew, they knew who he was. That may be you. You know who he is. You're just not willing to repent. And so I want you to know it's far better if you'll turn it over to him and lay your burden down there.
00:19:56
Speaker
But also notice he was an unclean man, wasn't he? He was an unclean man because verse 29 says that Jesus commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
Chains of Addiction and Sin
00:20:10
Speaker
You know, I love America. I love the 4th of July. i love Jesus more than I love America, but I love America deeply. And you know what makes America have the filth, the moral filth?
00:20:24
Speaker
The moral filth, spiritual filth, this is it. It's evil. It's darkness. It's the devil. The moral and the spiritual filth that we see in our society, it comes from the same place.
00:20:38
Speaker
So we have to say, I don't want that. But speaking of want, I think we see a fourth thing here that he was unwanted. He was an unwanted man. Did you see in verse 29, it says that he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles.
00:20:57
Speaker
What do you do when someone is controlled and driven by demon? You don't want them to be loose. You have to say, wait a minute, they have to be shackled or chained or confined.
00:21:09
Speaker
But he was also an unruly man because it says in this guy's case, he'd break the bonds. And then what happened when he would break the bonds? Would he be free? It's like now he doesn't have any chains.
00:21:22
Speaker
No, he was still not free because the very last part of verse 29 says he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.
Triumph and Authority of Jesus
00:21:34
Speaker
Wow. You know, I think that sometimes addiction can be like chains. that's why I appreciate so much a Christian entertainer named Zach Williams, who wrote a song called Chain Breaker.
00:21:48
Speaker
Maybe you've heard that song before on the Christian radio station. But the chorus of that song says it over and over in the song. He says, if you've got pain, he's a pain taker.
00:22:01
Speaker
If you feel lost, he's a way maker. If you need freedom or saving, he's a prison-shaken savior. If you got chains, he's a chain breaker.
00:22:13
Speaker
You know, it reminds me so much of what Jesus said about truth and about the son. You know, the truth will set you free. Biblical truth will not bind you up. Biblical truth will really help you experience true freedom.
00:22:29
Speaker
But also it says, who the son sets free is free indeed. So biblical truth and Jesus Christ, the son of God, the savior of the world, those two can help you experience freedom on a whole nother level.
Commanding Demons: Jesus' Power
00:22:47
Speaker
Well, let me go to the third thing that I noticed in this passage, verses 29 through 37. I like this part. The triumphs. The triumphs over darkness. If you ever put a demon against the Son of God, the Son of God's going to win every single time. There's no contest.
00:23:07
Speaker
There's no contest. He wins every time. As a matter of fact, if you want to do a study on that subject topic or subject, you could go to Matthew. Mark and Luke.
00:23:18
Speaker
Sometimes they overlap whenever they're talking about how he set somebody free from a demon like this. But if you look at Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they recorded 12 different encounters that Jesus had with someone who was demon-possessed.
00:23:34
Speaker
And all 12 times, he overpowered the demon. All 12 times, he said, time for you to leave. That's what he can do in your life. He can win. He can He can win.
00:23:47
Speaker
You know, why can he win? I'll tell you why he can win. Paul put it this way in Ephesians 1, 19 through 23, because of the immeasurable greatness of power.
00:24:01
Speaker
It says of Jesus Christ that he is far above all rule and authority and power and dominion. That's why he can win.
00:24:12
Speaker
So I want us to look at his winning, his victories. Let's look at his victory in this text. There's other things in other passages that we could learn, but I want us to learn from this text and see what does this text have to say? What does God want you and me to know from this text about Christ's triumph, how he can win in your life?
Experiencing Peace After Transformation
00:24:34
Speaker
Well, let me give you these things. First, Notice that he commanded the unclean spirit. If you look at verse 29 and verse 31, what you'll see is that twice it says that Jesus commanded.
00:24:49
Speaker
You know, really, are you comfortable with him commanding? You know, when I was a college student, a freshman in college, you know what I did? i laid it all down, like the song said, I laid it all down at Jesus' feet.
00:25:01
Speaker
And I said, I want you to forgive me my sins. And I want you, Lord, to be the Lord of my life. And since that time, I'm comfortable with him commanding me to do different things.
00:25:15
Speaker
But with this demon, it says he commanded the demon to leave. And so I thought, wow. You know, once again, verse 28, the demons knew that he's the son of God.
00:25:29
Speaker
But you know what they also knew? They also knew their place, the place where they belong. The place where they belong here in verse 28, verse 31, it's called the abyss.
00:25:40
Speaker
And they did not want to go to the abyss because it's a bottomless pit described in Revelation 9, 1 and Revelation 20, verses one through three.
00:25:50
Speaker
And so they were like, I don't want to go to that cage called the bottomless pit. But Jesus had command and he can tell the demon when it's time to go.
00:26:01
Speaker
Second thing is he conquered the unclean spirit despite the legion. He asked him, what's your name? And he says, legion.
00:26:13
Speaker
And it said legion. And then it, you know, it's like Luke wants you to understand. It says, and he said legion for many demons had entered him. So Jesus is outnumbered.
00:26:24
Speaker
Jesus is well, outgunned, right? But there's one thing that you can't say. even with all those demons, he's not outranked. And so Jesus says, time for you to go.
00:26:36
Speaker
And they can't do a thing to stop it. And so I thought, wow, this is amazing.
Community's Reaction to Miracles
00:26:41
Speaker
you know But also when I was looking through here, I thought, you know, You can see the calm that this man experienced without the demon.
00:26:52
Speaker
There was a calm without the demon in his life. Maybe that's what's giving you trouble. that's That's the harassment. That's the torment in your life. And I want you to know that Jesus has the the victory that you're looking for.
00:27:07
Speaker
You know it's strange how the the former demoniac was now at peace, and yet what was the herdsmen doing? They weren't at peace. The herdsmen were like in panic mode.
00:27:20
Speaker
You know why I think they were in panic mode? Because it says they were herdsmen. It doesn't really say they were the owners of all those pigs. And so it's like they're saying, how are we going to explain this when we get back to the owner of the of the herd of pigs, you know, that went over the edge?
00:27:37
Speaker
And if you read in Mark, it says there was 2,000 of them. Can you imagine what 2,000 pigs dying? Don't try to visualize it. It could be kind of bizarre, you know.
00:27:48
Speaker
But you know what happens whenever unbelievers see Jesus accomplish something they couldn't do in the flesh? I think there's different possibilities, you know, but if you look at verse 29, they will either panic or they'll go tell people, they'll proclaim it, or maybe they'll be petrified by it.
00:28:10
Speaker
Or like we're going to see in a moment, maybe they'll just push against And they'll say, I don't know what this is, but I'm not religious. And I don't know how to explain that, but just stay away from me.
00:28:22
Speaker
What did the local people see? I'll tell you what they saw. They saw victory. They saw this guy sitting there. He's at peace. They saw this guy sitting there clothed and he's in his right mind. He's not out of his mind. He's in his right mind.
00:28:39
Speaker
And I thought to myself, wow, these guys should be saying, thank you.
New Mission: Sharing Testimonies
00:28:44
Speaker
Whatever you did, this guy has been a real problem in our community. But you know what? That's not what they did, did they?
00:28:52
Speaker
You know, it's like they became outraged. They became outraged over the loss. You know, compared to losing an and unclean spirit, that's what they should have been rejoicing over. the spirit is gone.
00:29:08
Speaker
No, they focused on losing livestock, verse 27. So basically what they're saying is, we would Jesus, we would rather have 2,000 pigs than have you here casting out 6,000 demons out of that guy.
00:29:25
Speaker
Can you imagine how irrational that is? That doesn't even make sense. It says they were seized with great fear. Notice the text says they ask Jesus to depart from them.
00:29:40
Speaker
I mean, you're not going to go toe-to-toe with Jesus and command him to do anything. You can try But listen, he doesn't answer to us. We answer to him. And so they just ask him, would you please leave?
00:29:54
Speaker
We don't want your kind around here. And the saddest words I can think of anywhere it would be, so he got into the boat and returned. Wow, isn't that amazing that the same son of God, Jesus, who can calm a storm when they're in the boat, who can cast out demons, that same Jesus says, okay, people, you're human. I made you in my likeness.
00:30:22
Speaker
I'm gonna give you a special gift. You're gonna have the gift of a free will. So you can either invite me to be in charge or you can resist and reject me.
00:30:33
Speaker
And this community said, We reject Go back. We don't want you around here. You know what's really sad? Not only had they never been there before, but from the New Testament, there's no record that he ever went back.
00:30:49
Speaker
He never went back.
Spreading Christ's Light
00:30:51
Speaker
So you would say, well, that's a sad ending to the story. No, actually, i got one more point. Remember, there's four of them. And it starts with a T. I know you're surprised at that, but it starts with a T. The torches, of course.
00:31:05
Speaker
This guy's like a torch. The light has come into his life. His life has changed. And so these people, will they never get another opportunity to choose light over darkness?
00:31:19
Speaker
Well, the Lord has another way. And he says, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to take this guy who is transformed by the light. I'm going to send him over there into the darkness because obviously they're not ready for me to go walking into their community.
00:31:35
Speaker
So I thought about these things about us, all of us in this room, not just that guy. but all of us being torches, torches that are sent into the darkness. And so here's some of the things I noticed. One is verse 38, the man from whom the demons had gone.
00:31:55
Speaker
Did you have demons before? I know you had sinned before. The Bible says all have sinned and fall short of the part of God. But you know what happened this guy? You know what happened in your life? He changed it, didn't he?
Reflecting Light: A Call to Action
00:32:07
Speaker
Transformation. This guy was transformed by the light. And I believe this guy was so thankful. You know what he said? It says he he begged him, please, Jesus, I don't know where you're going. I don't even care where you're going.
00:32:23
Speaker
Wherever you're going, whatever you're going to do, I'm staying with you. I do not want to be in this dark place anymore. There's too many bad memories here. You see, I think this guy was so thankful. He begged that he might be with Jesus.
00:32:38
Speaker
Is that you? You ever just get sick and tired of the darkness? You ever get sick and tired of sin? You ever get sick and tired of the world and its empty promises? Don't you ever say, you know what? I'm ready for a change.
00:32:51
Speaker
I'm ready to go follow Jesus. And if he has changed your life, then where's the gratitude? Where's the thankfulness? He was to be a torch with the light.
00:33:02
Speaker
Verses 38 and 39. But Jesus sent him away saying, return to your home. What could he do? He doesn't have the power Jesus had. No, he doesn't.
00:33:13
Speaker
But here's the thing. You know what he does have? He has a testimony. He has a testimony. He could share a testimony to the light. And that's what Jesus commissions him to do.
00:33:25
Speaker
And that's what Jesus commissions us to do. He says, declare how much that God has done for you. Did he do it? You bet he did it.
00:33:35
Speaker
He did it. Do you know that when when twilight begins to set on this chapter or on this story anyway, when twilight begins to set and the sun's going down and we're not going to see this guy anymore, what does it close with saying that he's doing?
00:33:53
Speaker
Well, here's what it says in verse 39. He went away proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. He did it.
00:34:04
Speaker
He took that little testimony. Oh, I bet he went to Bible school. I bet he went to seminary. I bet he'd been in a lot of Sunday school classes. I bet he had had so much teaching and training. you know what? This guy ah only knew one thing.
00:34:19
Speaker
He changed my life. And when he changes your life, you've got something to say.
Conclusion and Invitation
00:34:25
Speaker
You've got something to offer. As a matter of fact, in Philippians 2.15, it contrasts the darkness of this world with the light of those of us who know him. And it says about the darkness, well, that's crooked and twisted over there.
00:34:40
Speaker
But in the light, there's blameless, there's innocence. And the Lord has commanded us, I want you to be light. I close with this last thing.
00:34:51
Speaker
You know, according to NASA, The moon doesn't produce its own light. Some of you that were listening in science class, maybe say, I've known that for a long time, dude. Tell me something I don't know.
00:35:05
Speaker
Well, i wasn't listening, so it was really news for me. But you know what? The light we see from the moon during our night, when it's dark down here, and that moon is shining bright, do you know that that light is really sunlight reflected off the lunar surface?
00:35:25
Speaker
Now here comes one possible thing that you would say, I didn't know that. They didn't tell me that in science class. What surprised me the most about moonlight is that it only reflects 3% to maybe 12% at the most of the sunlight that it had received.
00:35:47
Speaker
So wonder, that old cemetery cowboy, when he goes back in that city and he starts telling them all that he, that Jesus had done for him, I wonder if he reached a limit.
00:36:00
Speaker
And he said, you know, I can't tell you anymore that he did. I don't know anything else new to say, but all I'm telling you is he's done a lot more I got a feeling that you're like me.
00:36:15
Speaker
No matter how many times you share the gospel, no matter how many times you share your testimony, he's done way more than you will ever reflect, right? So why don't we say, Lord, ah believe you're calling me like never before.
00:36:31
Speaker
to light up the darkness. That's what we ought to be about, lighting up the darkness. So why don't we stand? I want to give a time invitation because there might be someone here needs to come into the light.
00:36:42
Speaker
Someone may still be in the darkness. So we want to extend an invitation on behalf of Jesus To say, you know what? You can be just like that man. He can totally change your life.
00:36:53
Speaker
He can make you a torch. Even though you don't know a lot of different things about the Bible. Why don't you share what you do know? Why don't you share what he' how he's changed your life? Why don't you say, Lord, I can light up the darkness.
00:37:06
Speaker
We're coming up on 4th of July. Going to be a lot of lights, right? lot of fireworks. We love to go to the golf course and see the fireworks that go on. Well, what about we say, when we go, I'm going to tell them about the light that's changed my life.
00:37:22
Speaker
We're going to give an invitation. If you need to talk to me, then you come. But this invitation is for those who don't know Jesus Christ. Let's pray. Lord, I thank you. That man didn't know you, but that man was changed by you.
00:37:36
Speaker
He was in his right mind. He was clothed and he was just sitting there. Before he could not sit still, but he was just sitting there because he had peace.
00:37:48
Speaker
The light had come into his life and he had peace. Lord, there may be somebody here and they are so anxious. They can't sit still. They just have to keep trying to fill life with more and more stuff.
00:38:01
Speaker
Because whenever it gets really quiet, they cry. They just cry out because sin has made such a mess. Because the world is so dark and cold.
00:38:14
Speaker
Lord, because evil is so real and it will destroy life. So please help those who are here today to say, I'm ready to turn. I'm tired of that place.
00:38:25
Speaker
I want to go with Jesus wherever he's going. So you've got this invitation. It's in Jesus' name, and for his sake
Church Information
00:38:32
Speaker
we pray. Amen.
00:38:38
Speaker
This is a ministry of First Baptist Church located at 1700 Milam Street, Columbus, Texas.