Emotional Healing

Everybody Hurts

When I was about your age, I was running around an old lot, playing with my friends. We did that back then, we weren’t concerned with safety and stranger danger back in the eighties. Anyway, I was wearing the canvas sneakers that are popular again now. Back then we called them boat shoes. They are great shoes, really cheap, can get thrown in the wash, just super easy to wear. Also, it turns out, pretty flimsy. See, I ran right over a board that happened to have a huge old nail in it. It happened so fast that as I lifted my foot for the next step, the board was still stuck to my foot. I had to stop, and pull the board off, the nail out of my tennis-shoed foot. I remember being really tough, not crying, even though it really hurt. The thing is, that everybody hurts.

Sometimes we physically hurt, like a nail through the foot. Other times we hurt deep on the inside, in our heart or in our minds. Tonight, I want to tell you a story about a man who was hurting.

Luke 8:26-35

 They sailed to the region of the Gerasenes,^[a] which is across the lake from Galilee. When Jesus stepped ashore, he was met by a demon-possessed man from the town. For a long time this man had not worn clothes or lived in a house, but had lived in the tombs.

This guy was a box of crazy. He was so broken, so lost, so hurting that he was naked, hanging out in a cemetery. Imagine how miserable his life was, that naked in a graveyard was his only option left.

When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell at his feet, shouting at the top of his voice, “What do you want with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don’t torture me!”

When we encounter Jesus, we recognize His glory. Even this guy, who had lost his mind, understood the presence of Jesus. No one is beyond the hope of Jesus. There is no ‘too far’ in the Kingdom of God. It doesn’t matter what you’ve done or how badly you’ve blown it, there is still forgiveness available to you.

This guy cried out “what do You want with me?” People still cry that today when they meet Jesus. When we realize His presence, His love, we come to a place of awareness and surrender, where we are willing to give everything up to follow Jesus. The awesome thing is that all Jesus really wants is for us to follow Him.

 For Jesus had commanded the impure spirit to come out of the man. Many times it had seized him, and though he was chained hand and foot and kept under guard, he had broken his chains and had been driven by the demon into solitary places.  

Our sins and our brokenness put us in chains. Sometimes the hurts of others have put these chains on us. Words can shove us into a dark place. The thing is that we are incapable of escaping this pit on our own. Just like this man in the book of Luke, he was unable to help himself, it’s the same for us. We are trapped by our own despair. This man’s emotional state and demon possession drove him to solitary places – meaning drove him away from people, out to the places where no one wanted to be. Seriously, how much time have you spent in a cemetery? If you’ve been to one, it was likely for a funeral and I imagine you got out of there as quick as you could. This man was living there, with death everywhere around him. That’s enough to keep anyone insane, right?

Satan used his demons to drive this man to the cemetery, to live among the dead. This is a tactic that Satan still uses today. When Satan controls our life, he drives us to solitary places. He wants to keep you down and out, away from the Light and Truth of Jesus.

Back to our Bible story..

Jesus asked him, “What is your name?”   “Legion,” he replied, because many demons had gone into him.

Do you think this guy started out with many demons? Or do you think he maybe slipped into demon possession, one sin, one lousy choice at a time? No one wakes up one day and thinks “I’m going to give myself over to demon possession today.” Instead they make lousy choices, choosing themselves and what feels good over and over.

I have a friend that is Christian now, in fact he is an ordained AG minister who’s life was radically transformed by Jesus. But not too many years ago he was a drug dealer. He was sharing his testimony with me and it was surprising. Guess how long it took from his first smoke of marijuana to actually being a drug dealer? Three months.

Sin consumes and the rate is always greater than you anticipate – meaning sin will always take you further than you want to go quicker than you want to get there. Sin will always cost more than you want to pay. Sin opens the door for demon possession, and sin always steals your emotional health.

I have quite a few friends that are big fat sinners, I mean, I love them, but they are living for themselves; drunk or using, sleeping around, partying and all of that life. They would tell me that Christianity is a bunch of rules and they want to live in ‘freedom’. When I look at my life and try to measure my joy, compared to their lives, which are absolute misery, there is no question in my mind as to who is really living in freedom.

When we submit to Jesus, we experience radical, soul-thrilling freedom. Let me continue with our scripture.

 And they begged Jesus repeatedly not to order them to go into the Abyss.  A large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside. The demons begged Jesus to let them go into the pigs, and he gave them permission.  When the demons came out of the man, they went into the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and was drowned. 

Jesus sets us free dramatically. He destroys the demons that possess us. He releases us from the captivity of Satan. It’s like that song “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free..”

 When those tending the pigs saw what had happened, they ran off and reported this in the town and countryside,  and the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the demons had gone out, sitting at Jesus’ feet, dressed and in his right mind;

When we released from Satan’s hold, not only are we set free, but we experience wholeness again. This man was restored. He was made new and right again. There was an outward change in his appearance and his behavior. The people around him took notice.

and they were afraid.

Why were they afraid? Perhaps the people got a glimpse of Jesus’ power. Perhaps they got a glimpse of who He truly was. Perhaps they realized that if this man was healed, dressed and in his right mind, that everything else that Jesus had said was true. That is a pretty scary thought if you are living far from loving God. A real encounter with Jesus demands a verdict. When we experience His presence we have to do something with that information. For most of us, we have to give some things up in order to live for Him.

So tonight is a decision point for you. What is the verdict going to be? Are you going to believe in Jesus and receive His miracle of emotional healing and salvation? Or are you going to leave afraid and stunned by what you have heard.

Each of us has hurts that only a touch from Jesus can heal. But the good news is that it only takes a few moments in His presence to receive His life changing touch. With every eye closed, I’d like for you to raise your hand if you, too, need an emotional healing. There is a hurt in your life, a wound in your heart. It may be mean words spoken over you, a parent that has not believed in you, a friend that betrayed you. You may feel like your own emotions betray you, that you can’t get it together on your own. Tonight you can receive healing that only Jesus can provide.

[pray for students with raised hands]

The last part of this text captures Jesus’ instructions to this man who experienced His healing touch. He says “Return home and tell how much God has done for you.”

If you have experienced Jesus’ healing touch in your life. If you’ve had an encounter with him this evening. If He has set you free. Go home, and tell what God has done for you! This miracle happened before the cross, before the resurrection, before the great commission, but we can see from it that God’s heart has always been that we share our faith with others. Go and tell!