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We are continuing our series in the book of Matthew and the book of Matthew really so far have brought us to an understanding that Jesus is king and in particular chapters 8 and 9 tell us about Jesus' authority as King.  We have seen Him demonstrate His authority over diseases, over disasters. Today we are going to look at Him demonstrating His authority over demons, and before we look into this text in Matthew chapter 8, I just want to explain a few things when we look into the subject of demons or angels.

First off, I like you to read this advice or this statement from CS Lewis, he says, “there are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall in, can fall in our thinking about devils.” So there are two extremes we need to be careful about. One extreme is to disbelieve in their existence. So some of us, we may say that there is no such thing as demons, there is no such thing as angels, I don't believe in it, well, he says there’s a problem, there’s a danger.

I asked my son about demons, angels and so on, Matthias would say, “I believe in Darth Vader but I don't believe in angels and demons because I never see them.” He sees Darth Vader, he sees the Avengers, he sees Superman but he has not seen a devil. So there are people today who say, “I don't believe in these things, because I've never seen them.” Well, just because you don't see them doesn't mean they're not real. The Bible speaks of them, so I think this is one danger to avoid.

What's the other danger then? The other danger is to disbelieve or is to believe in their existence but to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. So on one hand you say, I don't think there are demons and angels, on the other hand you're so obsessed about demons and angels, everything to you is about demons and angels, you have a toe pain, it's a demon, you've a headache, it's a demon, you lao sai,[diarrhoea in Hokkien dialect] it's a demon. Everything is about the demon, and that is also I think, unbiblical.

There's a danger not just about these things, but when a man commits sin, when he is covetous, when he is greedy, when he is adulterous, when he is unfaithful, sometimes, churches tell people who are living in such sins that the reason why they are living in such sin is because there's a demon of lust in them, there's a demon of covetousness in them, there's a demon of greed in them, the problem is not you, the problem is the demon, and I think that's very wrong because that makes it feel as if, that makes the person think as if, he's not responsible for the moral choices he makes in life.

So when you have an excessive and unhealthy interest in demons it also shipwrecks your faith. I think there are people today also who are extremely fearful in life because they fear that in their home, there is a demon lurking around, demon in the kitchen, demon in the bedroom, demon under the bed, demon in the toilet, they're afraid of demons lurking around and so I've been asked before, pastor, can you come to my house to, to, to chase away the demons. There, there are people who asked me to do these things, house blessings and so on and so forth, I'll tell you what I do later on, but I think, huh, sorry, but I think there are extremes that we need to be careful about alright? So that's the caveat, that's the basic context we need to understand this.

Now, demons are real beings because the Bible speaks about them and demons are extremely powerful beings.

Guess how many people an angel can kill in a night.  Let's say I give you time, you go and kill people, how many can you kill a night? You fight until want to die, maybe kill 50, the Bible tells us in one night, an angel killed 185 thousand people, they are extremely powerful but not only are they extremely powerful, they are very well organized, I think.

Ephesians 6 tells us that we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, the real war, the real battle, the real spiritual warfare is not against your boss, your mom, your friend, your colleague, it's not against flesh and blood, it's not against people. The real battle is against demons, against the rulers, authorities, cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. [Eph 6:12]

Now this verse tells us that the demonic realm is a highly organized realm, there are hierarchies, there are organizations, there are rulers and authorities in place.

So understand that there is a demonic world we live in or we live under the influence of, they are very powerful and they are very organized. But how do demons attack us? How do they influence us? How do they interact with us? We don't see them, so how do they interact with this physical world we see? I read in the Bible and I see at least two ways, they interact, they invade, they attack us.

1] Deception
The first one I think is the most important one and I think that's what the majority of Scripture deals with and that is attacks us or they attack us via deception. So, the demonic world interacts with the human world via deception, that has always been the case since the beginning. You remember Adam and Eve were victims of the devil, how? How did the devil attack Adam and Eve? Did the devil transform into a monster? Arrrrgh. I, I did that and my sons say, “no lah, you think demons are dinosaurs ah?” No, they .. they don't do arrrrgh. OK, so he's right. They don't do this, monster scare you thing but how did the devil attacked Adam and Eve, by deception.

So we read in first Timothy, the woman was deceived, deceived by who? By the devil, by the serpent. We read again in 2nd Corinthians 11, I'm afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his cunning, your thoughts will be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. The serpent, we know in Revelation 12 refers to Satan. So Satan the chief devil, he deceived Adam and Eve, that was how he attacked the world, how he attacked, attack humanity and so likewise, his minions, his subordinates would do the same, their desire is to lead our thoughts astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. [2 Cor 11:3].

That's what [he] that's what they want to do, they don't want you to know Jesus, they don't want you to follow Jesus, they don't want you to believe in Jesus and so the demons will do all they can to deceive you, so that you are not following Jesus, that's how they attack unbelievers. The god of this world, they called Satan, the god of this world has blinded the eyes of the people in this world so that they may not see the light of the Gospel.

Satan today infiltrates churches, uses false teachers to pretend to give people truth when he's actually pouring out lies so that you're led astray from Jesus. It may be all kinds of false teachings, prosperity, false gospel, whatever, but they are always trying to lead people away from Jesus, from the true Jesus of the Bible. And again, we read in Ephesians 6:11, “put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes, the wiles, the cunning attempts or tactics of the devil.”

So how does the demonic realm invade, attack, interact with our human world? Number one, deception, very clear, majority of scriptural texts is based on this.

2] Possession
But there's a second way demons attack and that is by, last night he arrgh. Actually, I don't think that's very useful because when he does this, it, it, it, it drives you to God more, right?

The second way he attacks is what we are going to read about this morning and that is by possession. In other words, he inhabits your body, he dominates your body, you become his host, your body becomes his host, he takes over your life, possession. And this is given in Matthew chapter 8, so this is an unusual thing, unusual text to modern day Singapore. By and large, we don't hear, see, know of many such cases, but I hear not that I've seen or been there but I hear that in many other parts of the world, there are still accounts of demonic possession.

However, we are not going by what we see, hear or know, we're going by what Scripture says, we are going by what God Himself has revealed, so there is this account I think probably the most florid, detailed account of demon possession you can find in the whole of Scripture, so unusual text, it's a very simple sermon, actually, but I hope this will be useful at the end of the day for you.

So let's look at the verses in Matthew 8 verse 28 when it says, “and when He came, that is Jesus came to the other side, the other side of the sea, the other side of the lake, to the country of the Gadarenes, two demon possessed men met Him, coming out of the tombs, so fierce that no one could pass that way. And behold, they cried out, what have You to do with us, O Son of God, have You come here to torment us before the time. Now a herd of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them, and the demons begged Him, saying, if You cast us out, send us away into the herd of pigs and He said to them, go. So they came out and went into the pigs, and behold, the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters. The herdsmen fled and going into the city they told everything, especially what had happened to the demon possessed men, and behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw Him they begged Him to leave their region. [Matt 8:28-34]

I'm just going to break this story up into different angles learning about the demons, learning about the demoniacs, learning about Jesus and so on. So it's going to be a simple look at a rather unusual subject, we [don't hardly] we hardly speak about such things but we do when it comes to the relevant passages.

THE DEMONS
So the first thing we're going to look at is that of demons, what do you learn about demons? In this passage, it teaches you something about demons, right. I mean it must this whole passage is about how the demons invade this man. So what can you learn about demons? The first thing I think, I see that I see about demons is that there actually very knowledgeable. In a sense they know who God is, they know who Jesus is, they, they have a good amount of knowledge.

That is in contrast, for example with the relative lack of knowledge amongst the disciples. I say relative because I think they continued to grow in the understanding of who Jesus is, but from the beginning for example, in Matthew 8 verse 27, just two, three verses before, in the storm you recall, the men marvelled saying, “what sort of man is this, wow, who is this Jesus that even the winds and sea will obey Him.” They didn't quite get it, didn't quite understand who Jesus is.

Maybe even later on, Jesus then asked the disciples, “people say I'm this, people say I'm that, who do You say that I am?” Then Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God” [Matt 16:16] and Jesus says, “blessed are you, because flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” So I don't think it was so… it we cannot take it for granted that the disciples were very clear about who Jesus is. But the demons, they knew who Jesus is from the beginning, when they met with Jesus, these demoniacs already, or the demons already said, “what have You to do with us, O Son of God?”[Matt 8:29]

They recognized that this ordinary looking man, this carpenter's son was none other than the very Son of God. In fact, earlier in Luke 4:41, we are told that they already knew that He was the Christ. So they knew that this man was the Son of God, they knew that this man was the Messiah, the Christ, the Chosen One who would deliver His people, who will save His people.

Now this is not strange if you have read James 2, for example, that says you believe that God is one; you do well, even the demons believe and shudder [James 2:19]. So demons, do they know God? Absolutely! Do they know God's Son? Absolutely, they know! Not only do they know who God is, who Jesus is, they also know their eternal destiny, they know where they're going to go. The Bible tells us, have You come here to torment us [Matt 8:29], so they know they will suffer, they will be in agony, they will be punished one day.

Now, I think they know something you don't know. Let me ask you, where do you think the demons will go?  When Jesus punishes demons, He sends them, where do you think He sends them to? Lake of fire, lake to hell, anywhere else? You're not wrong, you're not wrong at all, absolutely. Eventually all demons will end up in the lake of fire, together with Satan and with men who refused to believe in Jesus, we all know that, that's the Lake of fire.

But before they go to the Lake of fire, they will be sent somewhere, The demons know where! Luke 8 tells us, “and they begged Him not to command them to depart into the abyss.” [Luke 8:31] The Greek word here is the word, ‘abussos’, it literally means the deep, deep as in “深”[shen1], very deep in, the deep pit, the bottomless pit you will, if you do a concordance check, you will see that this is a, this is like a temporary punishment place before Gehena, which is hell. So this is abussos, it's not the same as Gehena, this is where the smoke arises, where the devil and his minions will be trapped for a thousand years, this is the place also of torment, not the same as hell, but still a place of torment and the demons know where they're going to go.

Not only do they know their eventual state or where they're going to be punished, but they also know the timing. His, they say, “have You come here to torment us before the time,” [Matt 8:29] so they know of a certain time. They know some kind of eschatology, that is the study of end times.

So let me say this to you, I think demons are very knowledgeable, I think they know a lot of things, often times I think more than many of us who are God's children. Now another thing you learn about the demons is that they desire to possess, they desire to possess hosts, people or animals. Why they want to? We are not told, but they desire to, that's all I know, but why, I don't know.

And also please, my, my son asked me, “what happened to them after the pigs drowned?” What do you think? After the pigs drowned, what happens to the demons? Find more pigs? Then like that ‘cham’ [in serious trouble in Hokkien dialect], no more pork chop to eat, I mean, if they keep going to pigs and everything. Well, the answer I can give you is: I don't know. Because the Bible doesn't speak of what happens after the pigs drowned. So there's some things we know, some things which we don't know and we should not speculate because if they, if you say they have to keep on finding pigs, cows then really, after, very quickly they all die, it will be exterminated very quickly, so we don't really know, but we do know that they are vicious, demons are vicious, they ruin the hosts, they ruin the man, they ruin the pigs, they desire to possess, they are very knowledgeable in many things, that's what we know about demons.

The Demoniacs
Second thing we are going to learn today is about what happens to the hosts, the demoniacs, the person or the persons who are possessed. Now in Matthew, we are told that there were two demon possessed men - two. When you read Mark and Luke they will only mention one man. I don't think there's a contradiction, it simply means that Matthew records there were two but Mark and Luke chose to focus on one of the two. So in our Luke today, I'm just going to crisscross one, two Matthew, Mark, Luke, just to paint for you a portrait of a demoniac.

When a man is possessed by demons, what will he be like? What are the signs and symptoms?

I have been a pastor for 12 years and throughout these 12 years, I've had occasional calls where people say, “Pastor Jason, can you come because my family member is possessed by the demon, or by the demons, we need your help?” Now if you were me, what would you do? By the way, I'm an ordinary man like you, okay! I'm not 孙悟空 [sun1 Wu2 Kong1，the monkey king] born from a rock, special powers, special abilities, I, I same, alright! We are the same, alright! Flesh and blood, alright!

So what would you do if you were me? Five hundred dollars. Wah, alright, that's one way, 500 hundred dollars I come, alright! No one ask me to buy garlic and buy cross, stock up enough of it. No, I'm kidding, you don’t do that! But I am sure when I ask you this question and ask you to put yourself in my shoes, there will be fear, there will be uncertainty. I mean I know I'm an ordinary man. I, I am a temple of God, I'm a child of God, I believe He lives in me, I don't think I'll be possessed because the Spirit lives in me but that doesn't mean there will be no danger associated with this. So I go with apprehension, I go with a kind of a uncertainty and certainly I'll ask my wife to pray. I'll be praying all the way as I drive there. I won't bring a blood pressure machine, I'm not going to bring any cross or amulets or talismans or garlic you can be sure. I'm not going to bring my biggest Bible but I do know that when I get there the first thing I have to do besides praying of course, which is done along the way.

The first thing I've to do is to assess. Yes, I've to assess. I've to diagnose, I'm a medical doctor and it's instinctive every time there's something I straight away want to look at the diagnosis, is this really a case of demon possession?

Just like people would say, “eh, aiyoh I got this problem, do I have cancer? The doctor never say, “yah surely cancer,” he has to make his diagnosis. So how do you diagnose demon possession? This is my textbook, this is my textbook, the Bible is my textbook. The Bible gives me, I think a classic case of demon possession and if there are signs and symptoms that fit these signs and symbols, I say, I think it is demon possession.

But if there are signs and symptoms absolutely do not conform to these sets of signs and symptoms then I say, probably not. You understand what I'm saying, so I think that's it, that's the relevance of this passage, it has been very helpful to me especially when I get a call late at night.

So let's look at the signs and symptoms. These men were possessed by the demons and what were the exhibiting. Number one, we are told that they came out of the tombs[Matt 8:28], these men have lost sanity, no man in the right mind would live in the tombs right, would you?

Bidadari, I mean no more, but where else? Chua Chu Kang, Lim Chu Kang? Would you, would you, in the middle night you say, “eh, dear, I, I don't want stay in my house anymore, I want to stay in the tombs.” Anyone like that? No, you must've lost your mind to be living in the tombs. This guy, probably lost his sanity when he is possessed by the demons. We are told that he had not lived in the house but among the tombs, so that was clear and not only was he living in the tombs, lost his mind, but the Bible tells us he was so fierce that no one could pass that way. He, he must have looked angry and vicious, he must have screamed and shouted, he must be a terror to the neighbourhood.

So if you have a demon possessed man, the property price will drop, good time to buy, huh, no one will pass by that place and can imagine kids walking by the road, the parents will say, “hey, don't get near that crazy guy, don't get near that demoniac, don't ever get close to him because he is possessed by the demons.” So a demon possessed man will exhibit a loss of sanity, he is vicious, he's angry, he can hurt you, harm you.

We go on to see that for long time he had worn no clothes[Luke 8:27]. I mean, he has totally lost orientation of self, there is no dignity anymore, he's lost himself, he has no dignity, he doesn't care about how he looks, he's like an animal. So this is also a very important sign or symptom to me. When I speak with someone or when I go to someone's house, first thing I do is ‘eeny meeny money moe,’ no! I've no chant, but the first I do is I say, “hi,” right? When you meet anyone you say, “hi” and if the person says, “hello,” I don't think it is very likely he's lost his sanity. Don't tell me how they, how demon possessed men should respond. I do not know but I know that if he responds to me rather clearly and in an oriented way my suspicion index goes way down because I see that this guy has lost his mind.

Not only that, this is, this is clearly supernatural in that Mark 5:3,4 tells us “he would wrenched the chains apart, break the shackles in pieces and no one had the strength to subdue him.” He's so strong, nothing, by the way is not Incredible Hulk hah, not the Avengers, it's just that he has supernatural strength. So if I get a call with for someone who has demon possession, I'm not going to call Kong or Daniel, those bulky guys, no use, they are also no match for him, no match, super natural strengths and we are told in Luke 8:29 again that he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, people tried to control him, but they can't, he will break free and he will be driven by the demon into the desert, so he was driven there, possessed.

And then we read in Mark 5:5, he will be crying out, night and day among the tombs and on the mountains, he was always crying out, would you want to buy a house there? Whooo… like every night there's a siren everyday, there's a siren, whooo, this kind of thing, better don't stay but that's what he will do, he cries and every day, every night, and he will cut himself with stones. Why do you think he cuts himself with stones? Maybe that's what demons want to do, they destroy the host but I think far more likely the demoniac is in such agony and misery that he cuts himself to distract himself from the inner turmoil and pain within.

You know how young people are, right? We read of how when they are upset emotionally, very upset, they get knives and cut themselves, you see that right? Why do they cut themselves, not to commit suicide, not all but they cut themselves because they are suffering so much that a little superficial cut may alleviate and distract them from the real pain within and I think that's probably what's happening to the demoniac, he's so miserable, he cuts himself and so we see Jesus asking, “what is your name?”[Mark 5:9]

You know what's his name? Yup! My name is Legion. What is Legion? Many demons. The word, ‘Legion’ actually is a Romans military word that speaks of some five to six thousand soldiers. So my name is Legion, for we are many look at this, my name. We, it's so conflicting, we are Legion, we are many. You say cannot be so many lah, how can one person have 6000 demons possess him? Impossible! Really? This is just exaggeration. Really? I don't think so because we are told that the herd numbering about 2000 rushed down to steep bank.

I think there are at least 2000 demons, probably more, probably three or four demons ‘cheong’ [means dash forward in Hokkien dialect] for one pig, you don't know! At least 2000. So this man is deeply afflicted, from a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of demon possession, this guy is 1000, it's like he's way off the charts, prototypical case of demon possession. So like I said, I think these are things useful for me when I hear of accounts that need help and so on, I hope this is useful to you, alright.

The Deliverer
So, number three, we read that of the Deliverer, that is Jesus. He's the One who brings deliverance and we see His vast superiority over demons. The demons came, the demoniacs came and fell down before Him [Mark 5:6]. The word here in the Greek is the word ‘Proskuneo’, you must have heard it like three or four times by now, the word means to ‘bow down and worship’. I think it is not wrong for us contextually to understand that even the demoniacs will now bow down and worship Jesus because they recognize that He is the Son of God. They recognize that Jesus has all authority to torment them, to punish them, they recognized that Jesus could send them to the pigs if He allows it to be so and we see Jesus indeed with one word, “go”[Matt 8:30], send them to the pigs. So I just want to remark the superiority, the victory, the power the authority of Christ over demons.

I know it's scary to talk about demons on Mother's Day, probably not the best context, but I want you to know that there's a greater power and the, as Christians, as followers of God, we, we need not fear, we need to be aware, but we need not be afraid, we need not fear because God is greater. He that is in us is greater than he that is in the world.

The Deliverance
The fourth thing I want you to see is of course the deliverance, the transformation, the salvation that Jesus brought to this demoniac. The Bible tells us that this man, after the demons were cast out, sat at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind [Luke 8:35]. So we know that he was not without, he was without clothes not because he liked to be cool but he was, he lost his sanity, he lost his dignity, he lost his community as well, he was chased out into the desert, he was driven away from his family, from his society, into the desert. So we see that this demoniac is now in the right frame of mind. He is clothed, he now learns from Jesus. I think sitting at the feet of Jesus is to learn of Jesus and he said, he begged Jesus that he might be with Him [Luke 8:38], he wanted to follow Jesus.

I don't think it is difficult for us to understand that if your life has been changed by Jesus, you want to follow Him, it's obvious!  Those who do not want to follow Jesus is because their life has not been changed by Jesus, they have not a life changing relationship with Christ as yet. But this man wanted to, but do you know what Jesus said to him? No, you don't follow me. Why? So strange!  Go home to tell your friends, go home and tell them what God has done for you, how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you [Mark 5:19]. Go tell them, tell them the amazing thing that has happened into your life and that's what He did. He went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis [Mark 5:20].

Now I think the Decapolis, actually all commentators would agree, this is a Gentile region. What is gentile? Gentile means non-Jewish, so this is not a group of people that is familiar with the Messiah, with Jesus, with God's promise. They are not, they are gentiles and we know that this is gentile because only in the gentile land can you rear what .. pigs. Jews will never rear pigs. So the Decapolis is a gentile territory, unfamiliar with spiritual truths in the Bible, not so familiar with the coming Messiah and so Jesus strategically said to this man, go and tell them what has happened so that they may seek after God in due time and that's what the man did, he was faithfully proclaiming throughout the whole city.

You know, just now, when I saw the video, the cartoon, I saw that man leaving Jesus and having that look at Jesus and I was thinking why he never say thank you, at least say thank you right? But he didn't. Perhaps the best way to say thanks to Jesus is to be faithful to what Jesus tells us to do, the best way you can thank God for your salvation for the transformation of your life perhaps is to go and tell others what the Lord has done for you and the great mercy He has shown to you in saving you from your sins and giving you the sanity and the dignity and the community in church that you never had. I think that's what real gratitude to the Gospel would look like, as seen in this man.

But lastly, let me end with a disappointment, there's a something sad about the story and I think you know it by now and it is because the herdsmen, the people who reared the pigs and the city folks they all found out what has happened and they begged Jesus to depart [Mark 5:17], they didn't want Jesus. Why did they beg Jesus to depart? Because they were afraid, they probably were not sure what Jesus would do next. Or perhaps they were just unprepared for what has happened. Or perhaps they wanted Jesus to leave because they didn't want more pigs to go. They just wanted their pigs, they didn't want salvation, they didn't want Jesus and perhaps that speaks of how there are some today who say, “I know Jesus can save me from my sins, I know Jesus can change my life, but I'm not willing to give up my vices, I'm not willing to give up my job, I'm not willing to give up this and that, because if I follow Jesus, I would have to give that up.” But there are some who made such a poor choice in their and in a such a sad statement when we read, “so He got into the boat and returned[Luke 8:37] and I pray that would not happen to you that you will say no to Jesus and He will say, alright, if that's what you want.

So we in this story, very succinctly, I think saw the authority of the King over demons. Now, I don't think many of you are going to be possessed, I hope. I hope my phone doesn't ring in the middle of the night that much but I think this passage is not just about demon possession, this is meant to be a picture I think of how the demons, the demonic realm seeks to ruin God's people and like I said, he or they attack not only by possession but also by deception. He wants to lead you away from the devotion to Christ, he doesn't want you, the demons don't want you to come to know Jesus as your Savior. But I pray you will come to know Jesus as your Savior, because look at what the demons do to our lives.

I mean, don't you know that the whole world lies in the clutches of the evil one. Yes, he may not possess your body today, but he's orchestrating all around you to lead you away from God. The world is in the control of the evil one, the Prince of the power of the air and that's why Jesus came, the Son of God came first John 3:8, ‘he came to destroy the works of the evil one’ and I think Jesus' demonstration of authority over the demoniacs, point us to the great victory, He will achieve on the cross when He laid down His life to pay for our sins, with His own death. With His sacrifice, He's going to destroy the works of the evil one with His death, He's going to fulfill the prophecy that the son of a woman that is Jesus, will crush the serpent's head and today I say to you, there is a victory over sin for you. There's a way for you to escape the snares of the evil one, Jesus Christ, he is the only one.

Some of you today are ruined, you feel in life you've made bad choices, you have sinned against God, you've been victims of substance abuse, whatever that may be and you say to yourself, “I'm too far gone for God to save.” I don't think so, there's, I don't think anyone of you is as far gone as this demoniac, 6000 demons possessing him, and yet with one word, Jesus changes his life.

Jesus can change your life, He will save you from your sin, He will bring you back the God desires sanity, dignity and community you have always longed for, if you're willing to repent and believe and I think true repentance and faith will be demonstrated in a life that is willing to sit at the feet of Jesus, follow Jesus and tell people about Jesus.

Would you be one of those who would come to Christ or would you be one of those herdsmen who says, “I don't want Jesus because I want my pigs?” What a contrast! The superiority of Jesus! Let me just end by quoting you a, a, a lyrics, some lyrics from the song, ‘A Mighty Fortress is our God’, it's an old song, not many of you will be familiar but in that song there's this stanza that reads, ‘and though this world, with devils filled,’ written by Martin Luther and to him, demons, devils are not occasional spirits hanging around. He says this world is filled with devils, you don't see them, but they are there “should threaten to undo us, we will not fear for God hath willed, his truth to triumph through us, the Prince of darkness grim, we tremble not for him; His rage we can endure, for lo, his doom is sure, one little word shall fell him.”

Lastly, I want to say there are some of you who today are living in fear, because somehow you believe that there's a demon in your toilet, demon under your bed and you're waiting for me to go to your house. Let me say this I've, I've been asked to go, to do house blessings, whatever that means. I, I never find that in the Bible but it's very common today that people asked pastors to go for house blessing, cast out some demons. I've never done that because I don't think that is biblical, it's not in the Scriptures, and by the way, when we had our building here in Punggol, we never do a house blessings, we never sent our pastors walking from corner to corner, cast out demons, we don't do that.

But what is our church about? Our church is to teach people the Word of God. Why? Because the main way the demons are going to attack you is by deception. They want to lead you astray from the simple and pure devotion to Christ. What is church about? Not casting out spirits from your houses, but fortifying you with truth in the Gospel because that's what it's all about.

Some of you may fear, will demons come into my life? Well, I think according to Scripture, if you're a true child of God, the Holy Spirit lives in you, you are the temple of God, I don't think you'll be possessed by demons. What about how they are going to attack me via physical means and so on and so forth, scare me and so on, would they harm me? Well, I say no harm will come upon you unless God allows.

Tertullian, he said this, “and if a legion of devils had not power over a herd of hogs much less have they over Christ's flock of sheep.” In other words, the demons cannot touch the hogs unless Christ allows and if you're God's child, no unnecessary harm will come upon you, unless God allows. He who is in us at the end of the day is greater than he who is in the world.

I know this is a sermon that is rather strange, difficult, and unusual, but I hope this will bring encouragement to those who are living in fear. I hope this will encourage you who do not know Jesus, to realize that you're ruining your life, the demons are ruining your lives with falsehood. I hope you will repent and believe in Jesus to be forgiven of your sins and I hope this will give our church greater biblical accuracy when it comes to demonic, angelic, supernatural realms of speech, carried about by others.

Let's bow for a word of prayer together. If there's one thing you can see the demons want to do in lives, is that they want to ruin you. Some people today glibly say, “nothing wrong to follow, there's nothing wrong to live according to demonic forces.” You don't know what you're talking about because when you see the portrait of this demoniac, you would wish nothing like this would ever happen to anyone and yet I think the ravages the demons have done to this man is only a little foretaste of the eternal misery that will come upon those who follow Satan's footsteps in rebelling against God.

I wish that would never happen to any single one of you and herein is the Good News of the Bible, the Son of God came into this world to save us from our sins, the Son of God came into this world to transfer us, to translate us from the kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of Light. The Son of God comes like a champion, like a hero, as our Saviour to release us from the clutches of the evil one, that we may now live in God's everlasting presence and I say to you today, this is the Good News, this is the Gospel, repent and believe in Jesus, because He came to destroy the works of the evil one.

Perhaps today you are living in fear, if I may at this word, superstition because of your background, because of whatever else people have told you, you're always worried that some spirits are lurking around and that's why you are not doing well in life, that's why you are struggling in a business, that's why you're not having happy family, you blame it all on these things.

But let me say this, get to know the truth and the truth shall set you free, come to know what biblical teaching is, about spiritual warfare and you can be set free. I hope this is a church, we will be a people who are not fed and who are not living based on superstitious beliefs, but will be a church that grows up in truth, in confidence in God. Whatever the Lord is saying to you today, I ask that you will take this time and respond to Him in your hearts, perhaps is a prayer, to cry out to God to save you because you know you're absolutely ruined, you're ravaged by sin and the lies of the evil one, your family is broken up, you're not too far for God to save the day.  If you are living in fear, ask God to fortify your heart and mind with His truth, ask Him to give you the confidence that He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.

So Father this morning we thank You for Your Word, we pray that this will be a blessing to our hearts as we respond in faith and obedience. Bless this church, may we be followers of Jesus, may we also learn from this demoniac, that as a result of your life-changing work in us we would go proclaim Your mercies and Your power to this town in Punggol, unto the uttermost parts of the world. So we thank You, we pray all this now in Jesus Name, Amen.

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