Rev. David Holwick A "A FRESH LOOK AT JESUS" sermon series
First Baptist Church
Ledgewood, New Jersey
January 3, 1999
Luke 8:26-39
WHAT CAN JESUS DO TO YOU?
SERMON SUMMARY: A short communion sermon. Jesus was in the business of
changing people, including "hard cases." We tend to be skeptical
but Jesus can even change us.
I. Jesus changed people.
A. Jesus had a way of getting people's attention.
1) He got noticed by religious types.
2) The "sinners" didn't just notice him, they followed him.
a) It usually brought a drastic change in their life.
B. One of most dramatic conversions - the Crazy Man of Gerasenes.
1) He was the ultimate outcast.
a) He didn't wear clothes or live in society. 8:27,29
b) He was violent and psychotic.
1> Chained and guarded, but still broke free.
2> Self-mutilation. (Mark)
c) Jesus' diagnosis is demon-possession.
1> Symptoms are similar to mental illness, but not
identical. Luke 4:40-41
2> Note the supernatural knowledge -and fear- of Jesus.
3> He was enslaved by evil.
2) Jesus delivers him. 8:35
a) The demons vacate.
b) The man returns home as an evangelist.
1> He simply tells what Jesus has done for him.
C. A great story - can it happen today?
II. Our skepticism.
A. Are some people beyond help and redemption?
In 1975 at the old prison at Windsor, Vermont, a particular
prisoner applied for parole.
The mood of society at the time leaned toward prisoners and
questioned - even challenged - authorities.
To all who knew him the inmate in question seemed an intensely
dangerous man.
One day in his cell in the oldest part of the prison, in the
basement, the prisoner lit lighter fluid over himself.
A brave and determined guard rushed in and saved him.
The incident came to the attention of a Windsor minister and
his wife.
It seemed to them that kindness might affect something here.
They asked that the prisoner be paroled in their custody.
Every employee at the prison was utterly against the idea.
The parole board voted for it.
Guard Mike Coxon called the area superior of the minister and
begged him to tell the pastor not to take in the prisoner.
He told the bishop that the minister and his wife had neither
the knowledge nor the experience to deal with such a person.
The bishop would not be moved.
"We'll hear about this sooner rather than later," Coxon said
when he saw it was no use going on.
The prisoner went to live with the minister and his wife, and
in a little while he entered the home of a Windsor family.
The parents were away, and their nine-year-old son was being
baby-sat by his seventeen-year-old aunt.
The prisoner assaulted the teenager.
He stabbed the child to death.
Coxon was home in bed when Windsor's police chief
called with the news.
#962
1) Can we rise above Nature - above our genetics, upbringing?
B. Many feel religion gives us comfort but we remain the same.
1) Jesus disagreed.
III. How Jesus does it.
A. Jesus gives us a new position with God.
1) He justifies us. No one can take it away.
B. He begins a moral revolution in our souls.
[expand...]
C. He places us in fellowship of like-minded believers.
1) Christians should sharpen other Christians.
2) We should be an inspiration to others.
Johnny Hart is one of the best-known cartoonists in America,
drawing "B.C." and "The Wizard of Id" every day.
If you follow those strips, you know that Hart is a
born-again Christian.
At Christmas, Easter and even Halloween his cartoons speak
directly of the good news of Jesus.
Yet Hart admits that for years he was anything but serious
about his walk with God.
He sought pleasure, enjoying the luxuries his successful
career offered.
Johnny had made a commitment to Christ in his earlier years
but never lived it out.
"My wife Bobby and I had backslidden and fallen into a life
of drinking and partying," Johnny recalls.
They ran with the "Hollywood types," yet he was becoming
less and less satisfied.
Then Hart had a satellite dish hooked up at his estate.
A Christian father-and-son team installed it, and temporarily
lived on-site with the Harts.
The two workers were always flipping the dish to a Christian
channel.
Hart jokes that they "used PTL as their test pattern."
He began viewing the shows as well.
Challenged by what he was hearing, Johnny and Bobby began
going back to their Bibles.
With time, the couple's commitment to the Lord solidified.
"Probably the biggest realization -- and it came to me very
subtly -- was that the Bible is the Word of God.
Johnny and Bobby now have set their lives on a course of
service.
Both teach Sunday school at the Presbyterian church in a
small town in upstate New York.
All because a Christian satellite dish installer didn't
hide his faith.
#4465
IV. We must decide to change.
A. Others can't save you.
1) The villagers tried to help "Legion" but couldn't.
a) Even your own family can't save you.
2) Legion's encounter with Jesus is what made the difference.
B. It is never too late. [below not given in actual sermon]
The story of "Wrong Way Riegels" is a familiar one, but it
is worth repeating.
On New Year's Day, 1929, Georgia Tech played UCLA in the
Rose Bowl.
In that game a young man named Roy Riegels recovered a fumble
for UCLA.
Picking up the loose ball, he lost his direction and ran
sixty-five yards toward the wrong goal line.
One of his teammates, Beeny Lom, ran him down and tackled him
just before he scored for the opposing team.
Several plays later UCLA had to punt.
Tech blocked the kick and scored a safety, demoralizing the
UCLA team.
The strange play came in the first half.
At halftime the UCLA players filed off the field and into
the dressing room.
As others sat down on the benches and the floor, Riegels put
a blanket around his shoulders, sat down in a corner, and
put his face in his hands.
A football coach usually has a great deal to say to his team
during halftime.
That day Coach Price was quiet.
No doubt he was trying to decide what to do with Riegels.
When the timekeeper came in and announced that there were
three minutes before playing time, Coach Price looked at
the team and said,
"Men, the same team that played the first half will start
the second."
The players got up and started out, all but Riegels.
He didn't budge.
The coach looked back and called to him.
"Roy, didn't you hear me? The same team that played the first
half will start the second."
Roy Riegels looked up, his cheeks wet with tears.
"Coach," he said, "I can't do it.
I've ruined you.
I've ruined the university's reputation.
I've ruined myself.
I can't face the crowd out there."
Coach Price reached out, put his hand on Riegels' shoulder,
and said, "Roy, get up and go back.
"The game is only half over."
Riegels finally did get up, and he played hard and well.
All of us have run a long way in the wrong direction.
Because of the forgiveness offered in Jesus Christ, however,
the game is only half over.
#2090
V. Have you been changed?
A. Does your faith feel like the real thing?
1) Do you sense the presence of God, when you are in church,
or personal prayer or Bible study?
B. Is your lifestyle along the lines of Jesus' commands?
C. Are you open about your faith?
1) Be a witness where you live.
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SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON:
This series was inspired by Issue 56 of Discipleship Journal, March 1990.
#962, "In Windsor Prison," by Gene Smith, American Heritage Magazine,
May 1996, page 108.
#2090, "To Illustrate: Forgiveness," by Wayne Rouse (Astoria, Illinois),
Leadership Magazine, Spring 1992.
#4465, "Johnny Hart: Not Caving In," by Joe Maxwell, Online Christian
Reader Magazine, March 1997.
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