we began to look at the very first uncharacteristic of the Guderian demonic. And remember, as we go through all these uncharacteristics, these influences that are in this Guderian's life, we should always look at scripture and have it focus inward. Not outward. Not what scripture can say to everybody else. Man, they really need that. Boy, if they would have only been here, they would have really got something that the Lord needed for them to have. No, we need to come to scripture whenever we're being taught or whenever we're looking at our own devotionals in the morning. We always need to be looking inwardly. God, what do you want me? Not what this is going to say to everybody else, but God, what do I need for it to say to me? So we began to look at the aspect of this Gadarian demonic being unclean. unclean. The Bible says in Mark chapter number 5 is where our story is found. Mark chapter number 5 verse number 2 and the Bible says, and when he was come out of the ship, talking about Jesus, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. And we began to talk last week about the aspect of when anything that the devil gets a hold of He will make it unclean. It can have good intentions. It can be what we may think that's something good. But if the devil gets a hold of it, if the devil begins to influence it, there's no doubt that he will make it unclean. And we talked about the aspect of being guilty before God. I'm thankful that when we're saved, when we've been washed in the blood of Jesus we're no longer guilty before God there is therefore now no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus and I'm thankful for that I don't know about y'all but I'm thankful for that tonight but the devil he cannot make us if we're saved he cannot make us unclean okay he cannot make us unclean however But if he can get us to act unclean, then we'll feel unclean. We'll feel. And we talked last week about the aspect of unclean. And let me find my definition here. of unclean. It's the aspect of being not guilty. Unclean means guilty in the Bible there. So the devil, if he gets a hold of us and he influences us the right way, even though we're not guilty in God's eyes, we can see ourselves as guilty. And that, my friends, can begin to what we call make the wheels spin. And man, we just feel unclean. And we begin to put God on our level. I'm sure that God doesn't want anything to do with me. Look at what I did. The Lord's chastising me again." And we begin to put everything on our level, on our way of thinking instead of God's way of thinking because we feel unclean so we want to make ourselves feel worse about the situation because we feel like that's what we deserve, right? And we begin to feel unclean and within ourselves it makes us do unclean things. We need to understand the aspect that God sees us as clean. We need to understand that, that God sees us as unclean even whenever we feel unclean. The Bible says if we're saved we're clean, we're not guilty anymore. However, if we are acting unclean and it makes us feel unclean, there's a world that's seeing us as unclean. There's a witness in which we're betraying and it makes us look unclean to a lost and dying world that doesn't know anything about God. And our whole premise of the Christian life is that we reflect Christ, right? We should be reflecting Christ. And if they see us as unclean, then we're not portraying a very good image of Christ. We're not being what we call a very good witness for Christ. And at the end of last week, we began to talk about the flesh and the spirit. And we talk about that throughout the ministry of Reformers Unanimous and the fact that the soul is what we call the outer man. It is your mind, your will, and your emotions. And then we have the inner man, which is God's mind, and God's will, and God's emotions. And then there's the flesh. And the flesh is the members or the body parts. It's us. And the flesh is going to do whatever's influencing it. Right? If the Spirit's influencing it, then we're going to do what the Spirit wants us to. And if the flesh is influencing it, that can be bad flesh, it can be self-righteous flesh, whatever the case may be, then we're going to do that. So, as we come to number five in your notes, Let's look at this, number five in your notes. After all we've talked about, the aspect of unclean, making us feel unclean, looking unclean to a lost and dying world, let's do this right here, number five. Let's do what number five says. Staying in the light of the Holy Spirit's leading will keep us from feeling unclean. Hey, instead of worrying about all this aspect of whether I'm clean, whether I'm unclean, whether I feel right or whether I don't feel right, hey, let's just stay in the light. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. So what he's saying here is that we just need to, we very simply need to stay in Christ. Our position. needs to be in Christ. Staying in that light of the Holy Spirit's leading, staying under that influence, it keeps us from feeling unclean. I'll say it now and I'll say it again at the end of this lesson, there ain't nothing like being right with God. There ain't nothing like it. I don't have to worry about all that stuff. I don't have to worry about how I feel. I don't have to worry about what other people think of me. I don't have to worry because I know that if I'm staying in the light, then bless the Lord, I'm doing all I can. I'm doing all I can. And I'm thankful for that. Now, not only can staying in the light of the Holy Spirit keep us from feeling unclean, can I just say tonight that returning to that light restores fellowship? Hey, you know, maybe we have gotten out of that influence. And that's what we're talking about, getting out from underneath the influence of the Spirit's leading and falling under the influence of the flesh, whatever that may be. But I'm thankful tonight that the Holy Spirit's all the time calling. We're saved tonight, He's all the time calling. Hey, come on, let's get this right. Let's do the right thing. And returning to that light restores fellowship with the Lord. I'll be honest with you, I don't always do what God wants me to do. I know that's hard to believe. for anybody that don't know me but I make mistakes I sometimes say things I should I sometimes do things I should but I'm thankful tonight that whenever I return to that light and I confess my sin not because I'm guilty of anything But because I want to make sure that there's nothing between me and God, that fellowship, that fellowship is restored. And you know what else it does? When we return to that light, or whenever we stay underneath the influence of that light, it hinders the influence of oppression. Remember, we talked about the devil cannot possess us, but he can oppress us to the point where we feel like we may be unclean. We wonder within ourselves, man, am I even saved? I'm making all these mistakes. I'm doing all these wrong things. I just wonder. And many people struggle with their salvation. They struggle with their walk with God. But if they'll go and they'll just stay in the light, if we'll stay in the light underneath the influence of the spirits, it will hinder that oppression. Hey, if we're right with God, it's awful hard for the devil to oppress us. When we're doing what God wants us to do, it's awfully hard. He's gotta work double time. He's not giving up, don't get me wrong, but it's harder for Him to oppress us when we realize that we're in the light and we're right with God. You see, whenever we get out from underneath that light and we get out from underneath that influence and the devil begins to oppress us, it makes his job a lot easier. I told you last week or the week before, don't give ground to the enemy. Don't give him any ground. Don't let him have a foothold. Don't give him any territory. He has enough. Let's look at some of these scriptures. that will help us stay in the light. Look at Hebrews 4.12, for the word of God is quick, that means it's alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit and of the joints and marrow and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. That's why we need to be in our Bibles because that Bible can come in and it can separate, it can separate the soul our mind, will, and emotions, and the Spirit, and God's mind, God's will, and God's emotion, the Word of God can come in there whenever we're not sure whether we're right, whether we're, you know, the Word of God can come in and it can separate that and give us clarity. That's why we need to be under the preaching of the Word of God, because God uses that preaching, that Bible going forth and dividing our will what we may want to do from God's will and what God wants us to do a lot of times we can think we're doing the right thing but we're doing it for the wrong reason and we're doing the right thing for the wrong reason we're doing the wrong thing for the right reason whatever we will however we want to put it if it's not God's will then we shouldn't be doing it it's all about God's will it's not about our goodwill it's not about what we think remember The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Our thinker is corrupt. So we need the Bible. Look at 1 John. 1 John 1, verse 7. But if we walk, remember the word walk means to take repeated steps. If we take repeated steps in the light or under the influence, under the spiritual direction of the Spirit, Notice what he says, as he is in the light, who are they talking about there? Christ, right? That's who they're talking about. That's who John's talking about. As he is in the light, notice what he says, we have a fellowship, one with another. That means we're right with one another, we're right with God. And the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. That word fellowship means companionship, a partnership. We have a partnership, it's us and God. And there's nothing between us whenever we walk in that light. Notice what 1 Corinthians 10 verses 20 and 21 says. Paul tells these Corinthians, I would not that you have fellowship with devils. Duh! You know, all right? But let's remember, okay? He's talking about anything that's not under the influence of the Spirit. See, we may have some issues with that, with the television. We may have some issues with that with maybe some of the music. The Bible says, that which is born of the spirit is spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Flesh, devils, I would think you could lump all those up in things that God doesn't really care for. And he says, don't have any fellowship, don't have any companionship with devils. Anything, let's put it this way, anything that gets us out from underneath the leading of the spirit, Paul says, don't have any companionship with. That could be some friends. I'll tell you this, RU students, if you have some friends that are not saved, you don't need to be hanging around them. Those who do not love the Lord will not help us serve the Lord. Notice what he says, I would not that you should have fellowship with devils. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. They don't mix. You cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of the devils. All that's just simply saying you can't be under the influence of the spirit and under the influence of the flesh, devil, whatever you want to call it on this side. You're either under one influence or the other. He told the Galatians, oh foolish Galatians, you began in the spirit, are you now made perfect in the flesh? Absolutely not. Stay, stay in the spirit. Whatever you do, stay in the spirit. Stay under the influence of the spirit. 1 John 1.9, we all know this. If we confess or if we agree with God about our sin, those times in which we get out from underneath the influence of the Spirit, if we confess or agree with our sins with God, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. You see, the devil's goal, the devil's goal is this, it is to keep us engaged in or dwelling on our unconfessed sin. That's the devil's goal. The devil wants us to either dwell in our sin or dwell on our sin. That's what he wants us to do. He wants us to feel guilty. You see, because if he can get us to feel guilty, then a lot of times we'll continue to act guilty. Well, there's just no use. I'm just always gonna be like this. It's who I am. How many has ever said that statement? That is the most ignorant statement in the world. Because the last time I checked, the Bible says, therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a what? New creature. Old things are passed away. And behold, the devil just wants to get us to stay in the old man. That's where he likes us. You know why? Because if we have that influence, then we won't be an influence for God. If we feel like we're never going to change, how can we tell anybody else to change if we're not going to change? We're not. He wants to keep us engaged in, or He wants to keep us dwelling on our unconfessed sin. Again, there's nothing like being right with God. As we wrap up this aspect of being unclean, Don't let the devil oppress you. He can't possess you. If you're saved, he can't possess you, but don't let him oppress you into thinking, acting, or feeling unclean. If this aspect of Gadarian demonic life is prevalent in your life, there is hope. The Lord is able, you know, we can confess it and get it right. We've given you the scripture. We confess our sins. He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. May God help us not to fall to the oppression of the enemy. and don't stay in that sin. Don't stay underneath that influence. That always will make us feel unclean and we won't be a good witness for Christ. in your notes, and we're gonna just briefly hit on this. I was told last week I went too long, so I'm gonna try to wrap it up a little bit quicker this week, but number two, this second, it's letter B, actually, in your notes, but our second uncharacteristic, and we'll hit this just a little bit, is the aspect of being uncivilized. Uncivilized. Notice verse number two again. In Mark chapter number five, the Bible says, And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. The word civilized means to be structured. It means to be structured. It means to have structure. This Guderian demonic, he didn't have any structure. He was what we call wild. You know, he was, I'm sorry, but anybody that's living in the tombs, they ain't got any structure in their life, okay? They don't have any structure in their life. And this demonic didn't have any structure, and we know from scripture that he had rejected the structure that he once had. Okay, let's look at this. Mark chapter number 5, if you turn over to verse number 19, The Bible says, after this Gadarian demonic was in his right mind, howbeit Jesus suffered him not, he wanted to go with Jesus, but Jesus wouldn't let him. 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. So here we know that he had had He had had some type of structure in his life, but because of the influence, he had rejected the structure. Now, let's look at the parallel passage in the book of Luke. Luke chapter number 8. Luke chapter number 8 is another account of This Guderian demonic Luke chapter number 8 verse number 39 The Bible says this this is after he was in his right mind. This is Jesus talking to him and he tells him to return to thy own house." So we know that by comparing Scripture with Scripture that this Gadarian not only had a home, but it was his home, his own home. So we understand that he rejected the structure that he once had because of the influences that he was under. Many bad habits can lead many people to be uncivilized. Why do you think we have so many broken homes in America? Why do you think that lives are ruined throughout this country is because people have rejected structure. The Bible says in 1 Corinthians 14, 40, Let all things be done decently and in order. God's way, God's will is always structured. Always. God always has structure from the very beginning. Adam and Eve. He gave them structure. Where did he put them? In the garden. Exactly. Structure. He didn't just let them roam anywhere they wanted to roam. He just didn't let them do whatever they wanted to do. What did he tell Adam to do? He told him to take care of it. HE GAVE HIM SOMETHING TO DO, SOMETHING STRUCTURED IN HIS LIFE. I DON'T MIND, THIS IS THE DEVIL'S WORKSHOP, AMEN? This Guderian demonic lived an uncivilized life. He lived an unstructured life. And many addicts, many people that reject God, live uncivilized life. You know, whenever we come to the Ministry of Reformation to ask, we teach the 300 Club. We try to get people involved in the 300 Club. Why? Because we want them to have some accountability so we can give them some structure in their life. It's all about creating structure, making them accountable. God's desire, God's desire is to have structure within. That's the Holy Spirit living within us. He lives in us, right? The Holy Spirit lives in us, so God wants us to have structure within, but he also wants us to have structure without. That's the authorities in our life. That's the people that God has put over us. That's, you know, policemen, that's pastors, that's teachers, all those things that give us structure within our life, that help us make good decisions, that keep us all intact. God wants us to have all those things. He wants us to have structure within the leading of the Holy Spirit. Everybody knows the Spirit wants to lead them, right? Yes, Brother Doug, the Spirit wants to lead us. Why? Because God wants us to have that structure in our life. He just don't want us doing whatever we want to do. Boy, where has that got a lot of us? In addictions program, with issues in our life. So we need structure within, but we also need structure without. We need the authorities in our life. Don't reject the authority in your life. There's many people that reject authority in their life. We see it within our, in the day in which we live in. We see it on the news, everywhere we turn. People rejecting, not wanting anything to do. Is the authority always 100% correct? Is anybody ever 100% correct? But we just can't throw out all the authorities because when we do that and we reject the inside authority and we reject the outside authority, here's what we have. Chaos. Chaos. What happened when we go back to the Garden of Eden? What happened with Cain and Abel? He rejected the authority. He had rejected the structure. It was chaos. It was murder. It's never a good thing. As we come to this second characteristic, this second uncharacteristic of this Gadarian, we're gonna see that he lived an uncivilized life. He didn't have any structure in it, and that's never a good thing. It's never a good thing not to have structure. Let's pray. Father, we love you tonight. We thank you for your goodness and your mercy. Lord, I pray that you'd help us. to understand the need, Lord, of staying underneath your influence for the aspect of staying clean, Lord, staying right with you, being in the light, having those correct influences so that we can have the structure that we need. Lord, we love you. We thank you for your goodness. I pray that you'd help us in Jesus' name, amen.