Below are notes to a sermon preached Sunday morning, Apr. 30, 2006 PM, at Gospel Light Baptist Church, Albany, Georgia.
MARKS OF DEVIL POSSESSION
By Michael D. O’Neal
Pastor, Gospel Light Baptist Church
Albany, Georgia
Scripture Reading: Mark 5:1-15
Text: Mark 5:15
Mark 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Introduction: What a CHANGE Jesus makes! This man had a wonderful transformation when he met the Lord!
When this man was a little boy, they said that he had ADD – Attention Deficit Disorder, so they tranquilized him with drugs. When he got older, he was diagnosed with AADD- Adult Attention Deficit Disorder, and they gave him more drugs. However, he had a problem that drugs couldn’t control.
One day this man of Gadara happened to come across the DIVINE Physician, who told him, “Son, you have a problem called PWD.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re Possessed With Devils.”
And JESUS got rid of His problem!
I want to talk to you tonight about devils. I don’t have time to try to prove to you where they came from or what their future is. Tonight I want to try to help you identify them and to get you to look to Jesus for deliverance.
I’m not going to argue with you about whether or not Christians can be possessed by devils. The Bible expression is possessed OF devils or possessed WITH devils. I will point out to you that Ananias, a professing Christian in the early church, lied to Peter about his income and giving because SATAN had FILLED his HEART (Acts 5:3). Also, Paul warned the Corinthian church about the possibility of having fellowship WITH devils (1 Cor. 10:20).
By the way, all devils in the Bible
1. are religious – they have beliefs about prophecy, worship, and hell
2. recognize Jesus
Devils have certain characteristics, and people who are possessed with devils have those characteristics. If you want to say that Christians are not possessed with devils but are only oppressed by devils, or influenced by devils, say what you will. I just want to warn you about devilish activity.
I believe that devils are at work in most churches. I believe that most teenagers, especially teenage boys, are possessed with devils. I believe that devils are actively at work in most homes, including many Christian homes. If you don’t believe that I say of you like Billy Sunday said, “You show me a man who doesn’t believe in a devil and I’ll show you a man who has a devil in him bigger than a woodchuck!”
Tonight’s message is
BIBLICAL MARKS OF DEVIL POSSESSION
I. RAGE
Mark 5:3-4 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him.
A. Against control or rules
B. Against Christianity and righteousness
II. RESTLESSNESS
Mark 5:5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
Night and day …
After meeting Jesus he SAT at the feet of Jesus
A. Not calm – can’t rest or sleep,
nervous
B. Not content – with supply, status,
spouse, or station
III. REJOICING IN SELF-HARM
(MASOCHISM)
Mark 5:5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones.
Remember the false prophets of Baal? –>
1 Kings 18:28 And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.
Matthew 17:15 Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water.
A. They cut themselves
B. They cause themselves to bleed
C. They create pain in their body
IV. RUNNING AROUND NAKED
Mark 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
Luke 8:27 And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.
A. Heathen places are marked
by nakedness
B. Hot, most places are marked
by nakedness. The unclean spirit
found no rest in DRY places
V. A REPROBATE MIND
Mark 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
and in his right mind …
Not all feeble-minded or insane people are devil-possessed. But SOME are … See Mt. 17:15
A. Filthy mind – Rom. 1:28
Reprobate, sodomy, shacking
up
B. Foolish mind – Ps. 14:1
Thought of foolishness is sin
C. Fantasizing mind – occupied
with non-realities
VI. RESISTING THE MINISTRY
OF THE WORD
Luke 8:11-12 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God. 12 Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.
Devils resist
Memory work
Meditation
Ministering to the lost
The message from the pulpit
A. By discord
B. By distraction
VII. REPLACING TRUTH WITH ERROR
1 Timothy 4:1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;
When the devils went into the swine, they took them into the water, where the swine drowned. One preacher said that they committed HOGicide! Another claimed they committed SOOIEcide, but you would need to live on a farm to know what that means.
By the way, in the Bible, devils don’t inhabit trees and houses. They inhabit people, then pigs. Humans and hogs. Sinners and swine.
Someone has said that the devils came up out on the other side, preaching salvation by water baptism!
First real case of “deviled ham.”
Notice how Catholicism has picked up doctrines of devils in another verse in the context:
1 Timothy 4:3 Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth.
A. About marriage
B. About meats
Conclusion: Are you aware of devilish activity? Are you in the presence of devils and unaware of it?
1 Corinthians 10:20 But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.
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Michael D. O’Neal (Proverbs 11:30), Pastor, |