1. They came to the other
side of the sea, into the country of the
Gerasenes.
2. When He got out of the boat,
immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean
spirit met Him,
3. and he had his dwelling among
the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore,
even with a chain;
4. because he had often been
bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had
been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in
pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him.
5. Constantly, night and day, he
was screaming among the tombs and in the mountains,
and gashing himself with stones.
6. Seeing Jesus from a distance,
he ran up and bowed down before Him;
7. and shouting with a loud
voice he said, “What business do we have with
each other, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore
You by God, do not torment me!”
8. For He had been saying to
him, “Come out of the man, you unclean
spirit!”
9. And He was asking him,
“What is your name?” And he said to Him,
“My name is Legion; for we are
many.”
10. And he began to implore Him
earnestly not to send them out of the
country.
11. Now there was a large herd
of swine feeding nearby on the mountain.
12. The demons implored Him,
saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may
enter them.”
13. Jesus gave them permission.
And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine;
and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea,
about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in
the sea.
14. Their herdsmen ran away and
reported it in the city and in the country. And the
people came to see what it was that had
happened.
15. They came to Jesus and
observed the man who had been demon-possessed sitting
down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who
had had the “legion”; and they became
frightened.
16. Those who had seen it
described to them how it had happened to the
demon-possessed man, and all about the
swine.
17. And they began to implore
Him to leave their region.
18. As He was getting into the
boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was
imploring Him that he might accompany Him.
19. And He did not let him, but
He said to him, “Go home to your people and
report to them what great things the Lord has done for
you, and how He had mercy on you.”
20. And he went away and began
to proclaim in Decapolis what great things Jesus had
done for him; and everyone was amazed.
We think in terms of
“degrees” of dirt, don’t we? We so
easily justify ourselves with thoughts like,
“Well, I’m not as bad as that guy over
there.” People engaged in porn who are reading
this study probably fall into two groups.
Group 1. This
group doesn’t really know how bad off they
really are — yet. They may be walking and
talking normally, but their souls are in the
cemetery just as much as this man’s body was.
Their lives are out of control as evidenced by
their addictive drives for dirt, their lack of
healthy activities like enough sleep, as well as
their out of control anger, their ingratitude for
life and their basic feeling of helplessness —
to list just a few signs. But they don’t want
to stop and think about their true
condition.
Group 2. Some people
know how bad off they are, and they are so bad off
that they think nothing can help. They are beyond
hopeless. Life is simply deeper and deeper levels
of despair day after dreadful day. Porn used to
seem like life; now it’s simply revealing the
deepest levels of human depravity out there in
cyberspace as well as in their own
hearts.
For those in group 1: I suggest
you stop and try to reflect on where you have been,
where you are now and where you are going. And if you
don’t like what you see, get help.
For those in group 2:
You’re ready for a Savior right now. Note that
Jesus didn’t run away from the wild man in the
passage above. Note also that the man was beyond
asking for deliverance. Yet, that didn’t seem to
stop Jesus. If you are in so deep you don’t even
know which way is up, you are in line for a huge
miracle. That’s just the way Jesus works.
No matter which group you are,
know that we at eXXit are cheering for you to stand
strong.