The Transformed Life

[0:00] Go to Mark 5. Mark 5. The transformed life. The transformed life. I know Friday night I was hearing an account of a transformed life and what a testimony it was.

[0:29] The power of God to turn a life around. To do a U-turn. That's what God can do, isn't it? He can transform lives. And it's always a blessing to hear someone's testimony and I love to hear about what the Lord has done.

[0:47] We can think back to the person we used to be and how God has turned our lives around. And we see that here in Mark 5 from verse 1 through 19. Which I'll just read to lead in.

[1:04] Reading Mark 5. 1 through 5. The disciples had just been across the lake and the Lord had rebuked the wind and the sea and there was a great calm.

[1:19] And he said, Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, What manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey him?

[1:34] Chapter 5 verse 1 of Mark. And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, immediately they met him out of the tombs.

[1:49] A man with an unclean spirit. Who had his dwelling among the tombs. And no man could bind him.

[2:00] No. Not with chains. 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.

[2:12] Neither could any man tame him. And always day and night. He was in the mountains. And in the tombs crying.

[2:25] And cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off. He ran and worshipped him. And cried with a loud voice.

[2:37] And said, What have I to do with thee? Jesus, thou son of the most high God. I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not.

[2:49] For he said unto him. Come out of the man. Thou unclean spirit. And he asked him. What is thy name? And he answered saying.

[3:00] My name is Legion. For we are many. And he besought him. Much that he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding.

[3:15] And all the devils besought him saying. Send us into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out and entered into the swine.

[3:29] And the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. They were about 2,000. And were choked in the sea.

[3:40] And they that fed the swine fled and told it in the city and in the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil.

[3:53] And had Legion sitting and clothed. And in his right mind. And they were afraid. And they saw.

[4:04] It told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil. And also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts.

[4:16] And when he was come into the ship. He that had been possessed with the devil. Prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not.

[4:27] But saith unto him. Go home to thy friends. And tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. And hath had compassion on thee.

[4:38] And the story of sin. This graphic account. Dramatically shows us the power. And presence. Of sin. And God's answer. The story of the demoniac.

[4:51] It is really a story of two men. Two men. Notice this. First man. The lost man. The first man. The lost man. Take a look at this man.

[5:03] Verse 2. A man with an unclean spirit. Who had his dwelling. Among the tombs. Verse 3. Verse 4. He had been often bound with fetters and chains.

[5:14] The chains had been plucked asunder by him. And the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him. Verse 5. And always. Night and day. He was in the mountains.

[5:25] And in the tombs. Cutting. Crying. And cutting himself. With stones. Crying. And cutting himself. With stones. This man was in a mess.

[5:36] Look at him. Hurting. Bound by demons. Lost. Screaming. Gashed. Smashed chains. Tormented by sin.

[5:47] Under the dread control of the devil. Look at him. His company. Living in a graveyard. Living with the dead.

[5:59] He was hanging around with dead people. Can you imagine that? Maybe as he was lying down there was a set of bones lying next to him.

[6:17] Or a skull. He was living with the dead. The devil wants you and me. To be living. Alongside the living dead.

[6:29] The lost. And to be comfortable with that. To be comfortable with them. Right at home. Living with the dead.

[6:42] One of them. Because we know the word tells us that we are dead. In trespasses and sins. Is spiritually dead. Without Christ. And the devil wants us to hang around with dead people.

[6:57] Who are your friends? The people you spend your time with. What company do you keep? Are you hanging around with people who are spiritually dead? Spiritually dead.

[7:09] You know. When I was holding that little lamb. Yesterday. Numbers of them. Started to rub off on me. I started to smell like a sheep.

[7:21] You know. You could probably identify with that. Couldn't you? Some of you farmers here. No. You start to smell like a sheep. You know. If you hang around with dead people. You start to smell.

[7:33] Don't you? There's a certain smell. Of death. Isn't there? You see a kangaroo. By the side of the road. And there's a certain smell. The smell of death.

[7:45] Who are you hanging around with? This man hung around with spiritually dead people. As it were. He's a picture of us. Of humankind. Hanging around with people who are spiritually dead.

[7:58] Do we hang around spiritually dead people? Or spiritually alive people? It has an influence on us, doesn't it? Not saying we shouldn't relate to people who are lost.

[8:10] We want to reach them. By all means. Save some. But we don't feel at home with them. We don't sort of cozy up and start to think and act like them.

[8:24] Because they're lost. Dead. In trespasses and sins. They live and walk in the streets of our community. Dead people. Now you see.

[8:35] The kind of. Latest. Hollywood mentality is the zombies. You know. They're walking around. It's like. In a sense the zombies all around us.

[8:45] The dead people. Walking around. Spiritually dead. They don't realise it though. They're not alive. They're really dead. And they're all around us in the streets of our community.

[8:57] We're living in the graveyard in effect, aren't we? All around us is a graveyard. Of Christless ones. Doomed. Damned. And this is a picture here of that deadness.

[9:08] As well as his company. Notice his clothing. His clothing. The like account of this account in Luke 8.27. Tells of a certain man which had devils long time.

[9:21] And wear no clothes. Neither abode in any house but in the tombs. Here was this man. He didn't have a house. He lived amongst the tombs. And it says he wear no clothes. His clothing.

[9:34] Your clothing says it all for you. What you wear makes a statement. I'm not saying necessarily put your Sunday best on. I'm not talking really about so much that.

[9:45] But we see the contrast of the outward of this man reflected the inward. What you wear says something. Here he was naked.

[9:56] Naked. Look at our world today. Hollywood. Hollywood. Nakedness. Lack of modesty. It's a characteristic of the lost.

[10:07] Isn't it? We see it. You know. On my internet browser I've got a news feed. And it's got the latest news from news.com.au.

[10:19] It's almost like it seems lately that every story or a large number of the stories have got something that's got a lewd connotation.

[10:30] It's got something, some smutty, vile aspect to it. And of course in the recent media interest on recent themes that are in the media of late, it's like we're being bombarded with this lewdness, this lack of modesty.

[10:51] It's a characteristic of the lost. You know. Think of our children, our grandchildren, the world that they're growing up in. It's like.

[11:04] It's so endemic. Think it's so all over the place, isn't it? It's like everywhere now. Whereas, I know for folk of my vintage or older or even younger than me, you might think, wow, the world has changed in the last five, ten years.

[11:23] Social media, you name it. The point I'm making is this nakedness, this lack of modesty is a characteristic of the lost.

[11:34] And here was this demoniac, a picture of how vile and sinful a person can be, without conscience, without sense of shame. The word tells us about, our Lord tells how his people have forgotten how to blush.

[11:50] Because we get desensitised, don't we? We get affected too. Because it rubs off on us. The worldly, smutty, dirty talk.

[12:02] The world's thinking. It can rub off on us. And like that lamb, maybe to start to smell like a sheep. We can hang around with dead people and start to smell of their death.

[12:16] And it's an issue. So we see the sense of shame was lost. Sin will deform us and degrade us. The devil gets a hold of people.

[12:30] And even those who might seem to have, be upstanding citizens, they can still be, it's in them. The devil had taken this man into a shameless state.

[12:41] Robbed him of all modesty and decency. And that's what the devil delights to do. For all of us, he'll try to find an inroad. He'll try to, if we give him a place, we'll give him a foothold.

[12:54] He'll drive that wedge. He'll make that impact. As believers too, we need to be guarded. And in our world, we see this lack of modesty.

[13:05] This lack of morality. It's like anything goes, isn't it? Anything goes. You know, it's same-sex marriage today. What will it be tomorrow?

[13:19] You know, they're lowering the age of consent in some places to 12, I heard. God forbid. What's going on? The world's gone mad. And then, who knows?

[13:31] I don't want to hypothesise where it will lead to because anything goes. There's no barrier anymore. There's no barrier to the shameless state of our nation, of our world.

[13:45] And people have been robbed of this sense of modesty, of decency. What is decent and right is thrown out the window. What does it say?

[13:56] They'll call light darkness and they'll call darkness light. They'll call good evil and evil good. You start to stick your head out of the trenches and say something. And even in workplaces now, you say something.

[14:09] It's like we're in the minority. We're a persecuted minority group. And what is decent and right is not in fashion. Never was, really, but it's less so, increasingly so.

[14:22] And lost people will see nothing wrong with sin. They will see nothing wrong with sin. Why are you talking about that issue? You know, anything goes.

[14:33] It's equality. Equality. It's tolerance. It's inclusion. So his clothing said something about him. His lack of shame. His lack of modesty.

[14:43] We see his company dwelled amongst the dead. We see his clothing. This lack of modesty. Of morality. We see his conduct. His conduct. Mark 5 verse 4 it says, No man could tame him.

[14:57] He was out of control. Out of control. He was without the fruit of the Spirit. No temperance there. No self-control. Picture him.

[15:07] A madman. A raving maniac. Frightening. Fierce. Hell bound. God forsaken. A menace to society.

[15:19] He had an unclean spirit. Unclean. There's a lot of uncleanness in our world today. Isn't there? He was filled with the toxic sludge of sin. Filled and overflowing with filthy words and thoughts.

[15:33] People of God. Let's not be like that. Guard your sayings. Guard your postings on Facebook. Guard. Guard yourself.

[15:44] Guard yourself. We shouldn't be contaminated with the filthy sludge of this toxic world. And just so the unsaved will always break the rules.

[15:55] And they'll fight against authority in their lives. No man could control him. You know, the law of its day, the government of its day, you know, they were throwing their hands up in the air.

[16:06] There's nothing that could be done. Here was a man breaking all the rules. Breaking the barriers of purity, of sexual morality, the law. We see that today, the unclean.

[16:19] In this dirty, foul, contaminated, polluted world. The corruption that is in the world, the Bible says. The corruption that is in the world. Smelly and foul like a garbage dump of sin.

[16:34] Notice the man. A picture of what sin can do to a human being. And you might think, well, if you're lost today, well, that's not me.

[16:45] I'm not that bad. But it's in them. It's in me, outside of Christ. It's Adam in all of us.

[16:58] And yet we see this man out of control. A picture of what sin can do. A wild man with no clothes. What a dreadful sight.

[17:10] Fierce, raging, howling. He was under the devil's power. It had sent him mad. Raving mad. He was bound.

[17:21] Dominated by the control of the devil. He was filled with violence and anger. Bent on destruction. Verse 5, it says, he was continually crying. Continually crying.

[17:33] I think there's people continually crying all around us today. They may not utter the words, but they're crying out. They're crying out. What's the point? He had no peace.

[17:45] Crying, screaming, raging, hideous screams from the graveyard. Sin brings sorrow and distress. Isaiah 57, it says, but the wicked are like the troubled sea.

[17:59] When it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. No peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

[18:11] He was cutting himself. He wanted to destroy himself. He wanted to make himself bleed. Gashing himself. Piercing himself. He didn't feel like living.

[18:24] One teen attempts suicide every 38 seconds, we're told. One out of three teens have suicidal thoughts at one time or another. One out of six teens attempt suicide before graduating from high school.

[18:39] Two million teens will attempt suicide in the USA this year. That's staggering, isn't it? Two million per year in one nation, the US. This demoniac was cutting himself.

[18:53] It represents the dire condition of the lost. Hopeless. Hopeless. This lost man represents the lost. The lost may not act quite like this possessed man here, as he did in all his evil, but we see their sad and Christless estate.

[19:14] Their Christless and sad estate. Even though they may call themselves gay, they're sad. And that's just not isolating that one particular 1% or whatever of the population, but the 99% that are lost, they're sad.

[19:32] They're lost. They're crying out. There's no hope. There's a story told about one night where a man was brought into New York's busy Bellevue Hospital. He was but a routine admission.

[19:44] He appeared to be just another bum, as they call them in the US, with a slashed throat. You know, just a hopeless case. A charity case. And he was brought in from the Bowery, which is some place in the US, in New York, called the Bowery, which in many cases was his last stop before the morgue.

[20:04] It was a synonym of filth, of loneliness, of cheap booze, drugs, disease, and the dead end of many a life. And this man in the New York hospital, he looked like all the rest of the drunks.

[20:18] It was obvious he only left to drink. His health was gone. He was cold and starving. And on this icy January morning, obviously in America it was winter, this man who looked twice his age, he was found lying in a heap, naked, bleeding from a deep gash in his throat.

[20:35] His forehead was badly bruised and he was semi-conscious. And a doctor was called. And the doctor used black sewing thread as much as he could to suture the wound.

[20:46] That would do for all. After all, this was the Bowery. This was the garbage dump of the city. And while the bum begged for a drink all the while, and he was dumped in a paddy wagon and dropped off at Bellevue Hospital, where he would languish, unable to eat for three days and then die.

[21:06] Nobody knew who he was. And a friend seeking him was directed to the local morgue. And there among dozens of colourless, nameless corpses with tags on their toes, he was identified.

[21:21] When they scrapped together his belongings, they found a ragged, dirty coat with 38 cents in one pocket and a scrap of paper in the other. This was all his earthly goods, 38 cents.

[21:32] Enough coins for another night in the Bowery. And five words on a piece of paper. Dear friends and gentle hearts, Once upon a time before his tragic death at age 38, this man had written songs that literally made the whole world sing.

[21:51] Now some of these I don't know, but some of them I do know. Some of you might know all of them. Camp Town Racist. Oh Susanna, won't you cry for me.

[22:02] Beautiful Dreamer. Jeannie with the light brown hair. Old folks at home. My old Kentucky home. And over 200 more. This bum found in the Bowery was Stephen Foster.

[22:15] What happened? Who knows for sure, but one thing is obvious. Sin and Satan can and will take a person to the bottom. Sin will take you to the bottom.

[22:27] But thank God there's still hope there. I know there's one brother telling me that he was literally in the gutter. Spewing his guts up in the gutter. And God saved him.

[22:39] And transformed his life. There's hope in the gutter. There's hope to the gutter most. There's hope to the uttermost. For those who come unto him. Then into this dread scene steps the Master.

[22:51] Mark 5 verse 6. When he saw Jesus he ran. Mark 5 verse 6. When he saw the Master. When he saw Jesus he ran. To the Saviour.

[23:04] And the man fell at his feet. And the demons were afraid of the Lord Jesus. He commanded the demons to come out. The Lord Jesus is the deliverer. The Lord Jesus commands the demons to come out of that man.

[23:18] And they came out. That man didn't have to have a psychiatrist. Or a psychologist. Or a counsellor. He didn't have to have some kind of drug.

[23:29] He didn't have to have some kind of therapy. Or take some kind of course. Some self-help course. Join some self-help group. All he had to have was Jesus.

[23:43] All he had to have was Jesus. And they came out. See what happens when Christ steps into a life. The Master came. And he ran. To the Master.

[23:54] Even when this man was so hopeless and hellish. We see the transformation. A transformed life. We see the conversion. We see the lost man. And now we see a different man.

[24:05] We see a different person. Transformed by the power of God. We see a second man. In our story. It's the saved man. We've seen the lost man. Let's look at the saved man now.

[24:16] We see the saved man. He gets saved. There was a personal transformation. And this dangerous demoniac became a good citizen. This man became sane and at peace.

[24:28] He becomes a new man. 2 Corinthians 5.17 Notice the change.

[24:41] The difference that Jesus makes. He now had a new Lord. He had been under Satan's control. But now he was under the Lord's control. His new Lord.

[24:52] His new Master. Brought him new control. In his life. A control that sets us free. Notice the difference that the Lord Jesus makes.

[25:04] We see his company. His company. The saved man. We see his company. His company changed. The people saw this man as a wild maniac. Who would strip off his clothes and run naked through the streets.

[25:17] It was a terrifying sight. A frightening sight. Who knows what he would do. When you saw him or heard him. You made sure you didn't hang around.

[25:30] And when Jesus got through with him. It says this. The people saw this new man. This new man sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus. He was clothed.

[25:41] He was in his right mind. And he was not with the dead people anymore. He was hanging with Jesus. Jesus. The living Saviour. He stopped hanging around the graveyard. And he started living around the living Saviour.

[25:56] He was no longer violent. But it says he was at peace. He was at peace. And when you're saved. You love the living. You want to be around God's people. Where you can.

[26:07] Take that time. God gives you a new desire. To be around God's people. I was glad when they said unto me. Let us go. To the house of the Lord.

[26:17] Let's gather. Let's get together. Let's get around the living. Those who are truly alive. Psalms 122 verse 1. Verse 15. It goes on. And they come to Jesus.

[26:28] And see him. Here are the people. They come to Jesus. And they see him. Who is this man? Him that was possessed with a devil. And had the legion. Legion means a multitude.

[26:39] That he was sitting. And clothed in his right mind. And they were afraid. Luke 8.35. It says he was sitting. At the feet. Of Jesus. So his company changed.

[26:52] He started to sit. At the feet. Of Jesus. His company changed. His clothing changed. His clothing changed.

[27:03] It said he was now clothed. Jesus had changed how he lived and behaved. He was no longer indecent. But now there was a decency about his life. There was a rightness there.

[27:14] He was no longer immoral. But moral. He regained a sense of value. There was such a great change in his life. That the people were amazed. Something changed. And you could see it.

[27:26] His clothing. As in his outward. As who he was. The people could see. Was markedly changed. And they were amazed. You see his company.

[27:37] His clothing. Thirdly his conduct. His conduct changed too. This troubled soul. This formerly troubled soul. Found soul peace. He found rest for his soul. He was living.

[27:48] He was quiet. He was calm. He had been transformed. He was sitting it says. Not a wild man any longer. He was sitting. He was calm. He was quiet.

[28:00] It says he was in his right mind. Not out of his mind. As he used to be. But he was now in his right mind. And he was now content. And at peace. So we see what a transformation.

[28:12] The power of the transformed life. The transforming Christ. This formerly naked. Mutilated man. Was now sitting peaceful. Clothed. And in his right mind.

[28:23] Verse 18. And when he was coming to the ship. The Lord Jesus went back to the ship. As they were by the seaside there. And it says. He that had been possessed with the devil.

[28:34] Prayed him. That he might be with him. He said. Lord I want to be with you. I want to be with you. His desires were changed. His love was changed. His affections were changed.

[28:44] He wanted to be with Jesus. And we can take heart today. There is no one who is beyond the touch of Jesus. No one is beyond his touch.

[28:56] You know. I love that scripture that says. His arm is not shortened. That it cannot save. Now we hear about the long arm of the law. God's arm is longer than that. God's arm is the longest arm.

[29:07] Because his arm can reach. To the Christless. To the godless. To the uttermost. Uttermost. His arm is not shortened. That it cannot save. You might feel. I'm too far away from God.

[29:19] I've gone too far. I've gone too far away. I've gone too low. I've hit rock bottom. God's still there. His arm still reaches the rock bottom.

[29:31] Amen. And we can take heart today. Of that. And Jesus told that man. Go home. Go home. Your faith in God should affect your home.

[29:43] Your home life. You know. We don't switch our Christianity. Christianity on and off. Do we? Where we have one thing here.

[29:54] And another thing there. Our Christian life is 24-7. It affects our home life. And he says. Go home and tell. What great things the Lord has done.

[30:06] You know. Just as in Friday night. We had someone at the youth group. Tell. What great things the Lord had done. He wasn't. Bragging on about. How great he was.

[30:17] He was bragging on about. How great God is. How great God is. What God has done for me. And this is what. Jesus said. Go home. And tell about the difference.

[30:29] That Christ has made in you. He's made in your life. Tell him his great compassion. The Lord is full of compassion. He's full of compassion. And this former madman.

[30:39] Became a missionary. Glory. What a transformation. There was a preacher of old. Who. Pictures for us this homecoming. An old time preacher.

[30:51] Called Christmas Evans. Pictures this homecoming. Of this man. And he writes it like this. He says. Homeward goes this man. As soon as he comes inside of the house.

[31:02] I imagine I see one of the children. Running in and crying. Oh mother. Father is coming. He will kill us all. Children come into the house.

[31:13] Says the mother. Let us fasten the doors. Yet as he approaches. They see. He is different. He tenderly seeks admission.

[31:26] It is beyond the power. Of the strongest imagination. To conceive the joy. And gladness of this family. The joy of seafaring men. Delivered from the shipwreck.

[31:37] The joy of a man. Delivered from a burning house. The joy of not being found guilty. At a criminal bar. The joy of receiving pardon. To a condemned malefactor.

[31:47] The joy of freedom. To a prisoner of war. Is nothing. In comparison. To the joy. Of him who is. Delivered. Delivered. From going down to the pit.

[31:59] Of eternal destruction. Delivered. For it is joy. Unspeakable. And full of glory. Luke 8.39.

[32:09] And he went his way. And published throughout the whole city. How great things. Jesus. Had done unto him. Life more abundant and free.

[32:20] Life eternal. You've got a message this world needs. You've got a Christ. To communicate. Once we get saved. We've got a message. This hell bound world.

[32:33] Desperately needs. They may not listen. But we have to tell. Once we get saved. With a message. To pass on.

[32:44] To reach out to the lost. To the hurting. The weary. The bound. And that might be in our own families. The backslidden. Oh God.

[32:58] Think of my family. God help them. God help them. I'd like it to be different.

[33:10] From what it is. People of God. They've got a message. Oh. Don't we want to see our loved ones saved? don't we want to see our loved ones saved not backslidden they might call themselves atheists but I don't think they're atheists they're backsliders they're backslidden they're blinded backslidden God help them God help them turn them around Lord that is my earnest prayer and we have a message people of God for our loved ones for our enemies even too to reach out while we can to reach out old things have passed away all things have become new notice what happened to those that this man witnessed to Luke 8 40 again in the parallel account of Luke 8 verse 40 and it came to pass that when Jesus was returned the people gladly received him for they were all waiting for him could it be this man that Jesus said go home tell them these were the ones in Luke 8 verse 40 they were all waiting for him the people gladly received him this madman who became a missionary had drawn the people to come and hear Jesus when the Lord Jesus cast the demons out of this certain man the people wanted him to leave their country the whole multitude of the country verse 37 they besought him to depart they didn't want anything to do with him he was trouble with a capital T but now we read that when Jesus returned they were waiting for him oh sorry verse 37 rather was speaking about Jesus they besought Jesus to depart from them they didn't want Jesus in Luke

[35:05] I think it's Luke 8 37 but now we see that when Jesus came they were waiting for him something had changed in the community maybe it was the testimony of this man the testimony of this man influenced his world his place his town the testimony of this man transformed there was an evident change in his life you hear stories of that don't you through times of revival where we see you know the worst of the worst I heard our brother share on Friday he was the keenest and meanest but God changed him God changed him he went backwards and forwards one step forward two steps back by the sounds but God restored him that's where he should have been Amen God can restore you you might think well I've made a commitment to Christ but I'm not really living living the life

[36:07] God can restore you he can restore the years the locusts have eaten Jesus made a difference and he makes a difference today in the 21st century they could see the joy the peace they could see something had changed in his heart and his soul and maybe they long to have the same in their lives will there be anybody in heaven because of your life because of your message the greatest evidence of salvation is a changed life because we know it's an inside work and only God truly knows but we see a man delivered here formerly dominated and destroyed by sin someone has said sin deforms education informs prison reforms or tries to but Jesus transforms amen Jesus transforms will you receive Christ as your Lord and Saviour will you step out of the graveyard of your bondages will you allow the Lord Jesus total control total control now I heard a Christian queering this term total surrender some people make of that more than what it is we're all a work in progress you might think oh I'm never going to get to total surrender

[37:37] I don't think any of us will decide of glory total surrender but we can be on that journey can't we that Paul said I've not apprehended yet I'm still I'm still in transit I'm still on that journey on that road and we're still living in a hell bound planet and we've constantly got a battle as Paul did the struggle within the flesh and the spirit but we can aspire to that place of surrender and even where we fail to regain that place to to seek his face to seek his control and his control is not an irksome bondage his control is not an under the thumb bondage that is forced and resisted but his control is a glad service his control is a glad reception his control is taking his hand and letting him lead not him push us but he leads us and people of

[39:00] God today the Lord Jesus can take the bottle out of a man's hand and put a Bible in it the Lord Jesus can turn lives around that others might discount and I love to think really how as our world tends to write people off that the Lord Jesus while you have breath there's hope that you can be saved he can take a mouth filled with profanity and fill it with praise he can take the vile and make them virtuous he can lift a person from the gutter most and save them to the utter most he can take a nobody and make them a somebody the power of the transformed life and I trust you'll be encouraged today to think what great things he can do he still does them doesn't he he's still doing them now he's still doing them right now right even this very moment he's transforming us by his grace let us pray our

[40:09] Lord God Lord Jesus Christ our Saviour our Master we come to you thank you Lord for this account of your transforming power that you can take someone that the world would throw on the scrap heap of society someone that the world would would lock away and potentially kill without any hope for them and yet Lord you take us too in our lost natural condition you take us and you turn our lives around Lord we thank you that you do save to the uttermost those who come to God by you our mediator the man God in the flesh the Lord Jesus we thank you that you came as God in the person of your son to be our Saviour and Lord we pray if there's any here this morning that perhaps they're feeling like they're living in a graveyard that they'll find their company among the saved they'll find their fellowship among the people of

[41:29] God Lord help us to have that transformation such that it shows as it did for this man the deliverance that you gave him over bondage you give to us too the freedom that we have is real today just as it was for him and Lord we thank you that that lost man became a saved man because he ran to you may we run to you Lord may we flee to you for pardon for refuge for comfort for strength pray if there's any here this morning have yet to come to run to you that they'll run to you today and find your peace your saving grace even now as they say Lord save me forgive me receive me as I receive you as my Lord and master and likewise for every believer that will have that same commission that he had to go home and tell what great things you have done for us in Jesus name to go to go to go to go to go to go to go!