Help For the Worst Sermon preached January 29, 2012 Text: Mark 1:21-28, thinking especially of verse 27: The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching -- and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him." 1. Chuck Swindoll tells about a commercial product put out by one of the largest department stores in our nation. It proved to be a disaster. It was a doll in the form of the baby Jesus, advertised as being unbreakable, washable and cuddly. It was packaged in straw with a satin ribbon and plastic surroundings, and had various biblical texts added here and there to make the scene complete. It did not sell. The manager of one of the stores in the department chain panicked. He carried out a last ditch promotion to get rid of the dolls. He put a huge sign outside his store that read: "JESUS CHRIST -- MARKED DOWN 50% - GET HIM WHILE YOU CAN." (Brent Porterfield, www.eSermons.com) We face a constant danger -- that of trying to remake Jesus into a meek, harmless figure, discounted 50% you might say, to attract people. It amazes me that so many people today believe in angels, but many of those same people reject the biblical teaching of demons and evil spirits. They've marked the Bible down by 50%, you might say. Angels, benevolent beings who want to help us -- yes; demons, evil spirits who want to hurt & destroy us -- no. But that's what we find in this morning's Gospel lesson. We encounter a man who was so completely controlled by the devil that nothing he did was under his control. The devil held him in complete bondage so that he could not choose Jesus or ask for even the slightest bit of help. And yet Jesus helped him, delivered him, gave him a whole new life. If there's hope for a man like that, in the absolute worst possible condition, then there's hope for you and me! 2. Look at what a mess this man's life was. There was nothing in him for the Lord to begin working on. When you try to share Christ with others, you normally look for some point of contact that you can relate to with them. Maybe the person is a good father or a good husband or a good wife, so you try to relate to them on the level of their family life. The man in our Gospel lesson did not have a single thing that you could use to relate him. He was completely empty of all reason, conscience, will, and thought. He did not pray, "Jesus heal me." No, he pushed Jesus away, which you'd think would be the last thing he would do, since Jesus was the only one who could help him. 3. He could not resist the evil spirit within him, so he said, "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are -- the Holy One of God!" (v. 24). This man's personality, will, and desires were completely gone, absorbed into the evil spirit who controlled him. He was in the worst condition -- not only did he have an evil spirit of the most grotesque kind, his personality and desire for help were gone. 4. To make matters worse, religion had not helped him a bit. He was in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and that probably wasn't anything unusual. This was not only an evil spirit, it was a religious devil. That may sound like a contradiction, but it's not. The worst person is the one who can come to church, listen to God's Word, take the Lord's Supper, and still remain under the power of evil. It's sad that all the influences of religious worship failed to rescue this man from his terrible situation. No doubt some of them PRAYED for him, but they could not PRAY the devil out of him. Nothing can cast Satan out but the word of Jesus Christ. Only His words have the needed power and authority! 5. Do you see what a terrible, hopeless, worst-case mess-of-a-life Jesus chose to help!? Because Jesus did that, it speaks volumes to you and me. It gives us comfort! It gives us hope! What unbounded love and compassion that would choose the worst of the worst, a man who had lost all control of his life, who didn't even have a personality or a will to ask for help anymore. The Savior you and I love, the Savior we believe in did that, and if He reached out to save the worst, then there's hope for you and me! 6. The Bible says Jesus came into the world to save sinners, no one else. He came to free everyone who was under the power of sin and the devil, and that means you and me. He came to seek and to save the lost, not those who have "found themselves," or who think some good inner quality makes them acceptable to God. 7. If you're not lost, then what would you want with a Savior? Medicine is for those with a DISEASE; the raising up is for the DEAD; pardon is for those who are GUILTY; liberation is for those who are BOUND; the opening of eyes is for those who are BLIND. How can you account for a Savior, His death on the cross, and a Gospel of forgiveness unless you and I are guilty and worthy of condemnation? The fact that you and I are sinners is the reason that the Gospel exists. Any of us who feel that we're undeserving, that we're the worst, that we've lost control of our lives like the man in our Gospel lesson; we're the ones the Gospel is for! 8. God is willing to forgive the worst person. Jesus came into the world to save sinners; He came to give deliverance to those who are in the worst situations. 9. The temptation for us is that we often think we have to touch ourselves up before we can come to God. We try to make ourselves something other than who we really are. But God doesn't want that. He loves and saves the worst of the worst and so He wants us to come to Him just as we are. One of our hymns says, "JUST AS I AM, without one plea; O Lamb of God, I come to thee." Do you really believe those words? Do you honestly believe that God wants you JUST AS YOU ARE, without any touching up? The Gospel of Jesus Christ invites you and me to come, IF WE ARE SINNERS, otherwise not. So don't wait until you're reformed; don't wait for a change; don't wait until you're a better person; don't touch yourself up in any way. Romans 4:5 says, "But to him who does not work but believes on him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness." Can you believe it!? God justifies THE UNGODLY. That means He wants you and me just the way we are. The demon possessed man in this morning's Gospel lesson was in the worst possible condition -- he had a most disgusting unclean spirit that totally controlled him so that all power to change himself or even ask for help was gone! Yet Jesus took him just as he was, without any touching up on his part, and saved him with a mighty deliverance! It's no different for you and me. We come to God JUST AS WE ARE, as ungodly with all our shortcomings, failings and sins. That's all any of us is when the Gospel comes to justify us. God justifies who? the UNGODLY. He saves who? SINNERS. He rescues with a mighty deliverance who? THE WORST OF THE WORST! 10. There's a story about a monastery in Europe perched high on a cliff several hundred feet up. The only way to reach the monastery was to be suspended in a basket which was pulled to the top by several monks who pulled and tugged with all their strength. Obviously the ride up the steep cliff in that basket was terrifying. One tourist got extremely nervous about halfway up when he noticed that the rope that was pulling him up was old and frayed. With a trembling voice he asked the monk who was riding with him in the basket how often they changed the rope. The monk thought about it for a minute and then answered, "Whenever it breaks." (King Duncan, http://www.sermons.com) Have you ever been suspended in that basket? You feel like your life is being held up by a rope that's old and frayed? You're holding on by a thread that could break at any minute and your life would come crashing down around you. In this morning's Gospel lesson we see our loving Savior help a man whose rope had snapped and whose life had crashed. This guy was the worst of the worst. His life was in shambles. He had no control of anything in his life. He was so far gone that he couldn't even ask Jesus for help. He was completely controlled by the devil. But Jesus reached out and helped him. He removed the dark cloud over his life. He ended the nightmare. He set him free from his prison of bondage. He brought him out of darkness into the light. This is the Savior you and I love and this is what He does. He DELIVERS THE WORST, seeks and saves the LOST, justifies the UNGODLY, you and me! The next time you feel like things are out of control in your life; when it feels like sin gets the best of you; when the devil gets his claws in you and makes your life miserable; when you doubt God's love and forgiveness ... remember your Savior Jesus Christ in this morning's Gospel lesson! He worked a mighty deliverance for a man in the worst possible condition. And if He did that, He will certainly help you and me! Amen.