The Christians Hour

Bob Russell: It's time for the Christian’s Hour. Welcome to the Christian’s Hour. Thanks for joining us. A recent documentary proposed that social media is engineered to be addictive. I think it'd be safe to say that never before in all of history have there been more opportunities to become trapped into the bonds, the chains of addiction.

In today's message, Mike Breaux, teaching minister at Eastside Christian Church in Anaheim, California, continues our series Only God. In his message Only God Can Break My Chains, Mike contends that chains can be anything that has a firm grip on a person's life, keeping us stuck, keeping us from experiencing godly freedom. The good news is, Jesus offers a way to break the spin cycle of doing what we don't want to do. Here's Mike to point us to Jesus, the chain breaker.

Mike Breaux: Today we're saying together what many of us have experienced: Only God can break my chains. Now when I talk about chains, I'm talking about anything that might have a firm grip on a person's life, anything that keeps you from experiencing true freedom. And I don't know, maybe you may be in bondage to fear, or shame, or guilt, or maybe it's perfectionism, or maybe it's like codependency, or some deep-seated anger that has you all locked up.

Perhaps if you're honest, alcohol's become an uncontrollable problem, or maybe it's drugs, or gambling, or some kind of eating disorder. Perhaps you're in the grip of pornography or some other kind of sexual addiction, or maybe like bitterness has a hold on you and you just can't let it go. Maybe you're experiencing what the Bible calls a stronghold. A stronghold is simply something that dominates your thoughts and behaviors and relationships and just keeps you chained up.

I was leading a church in Vegas years ago when somebody in recovery gave me this love letter from his addiction. Perhaps you've seen this. This is the way it goes: "Dear Friend, I've come to visit once again. I love to see you suffer mentally, physically, spiritually, and socially. I want to make you restless so you can never relax. I want to make you jumpy, nervous, and anxious. I want to make you agitated and irritable so everything and everybody makes you uncomfortable.

I want you to be confused and depressed so you can't think clearly and positively. I want you to feel guilty and remorseful for the things you've done in the past and will never be able to let go of. I want to make you angry and hateful toward the world for the way it is and the way you are. I want you to feel sorry for yourself and blame everything but me for the way things are. I want you to be deceitful and untrustworthy and to manipulate and con as many people as possible.

I want to make you feel fearful and paranoid for no reason at all. I want to make you wake up all hours of the night screaming for me. You know you can't sleep without me. I'm even in your dreams. I want to be the first thing you think about every morning and the last thing you think about before you black out. I deeply appreciate how much you're sacrificing for me. The countless good jobs you've given up for me. All the friends you deeply cared for, you gave them up for me.

And what's more, the ones you turned against yourself because of your actions. I'm eternally grateful, especially for the loved ones, the family you have turned yourself against. You even threw them away for me. But do not despair, my friend, for on me you can always depend. After you have lost all these things, you can still depend upon me to take even more. You can depend on me to keep you in a living hell, mind, body, and soul, for I will not be satisfied until you are dead, my friend. Forever yours, your addiction."

You might be saying, "Oh man, that kind of nails my situation right now. I guess I really do have some chains." Or maybe for you, the issue is not quite as intense as that, but you're saying, "Man, it does feel like I'm kind of trapped. It kind of feels like I'm in this never-ending spin cycle of a washing machine." You might more closely relate to the words of a guy named Paul, who wrote these spin cycle words in the Bible.

He says this in Romans chapter seven: "I don't understand myself at all, for I really want to do what's right but I can't do it. Instead, I do what I hate. I know perfectly well that what I'm doing is wrong, but I can't help myself. The sin inside of me is stronger that makes me do all these evil things." You guys ever felt like that? You ever felt like you're in a spin cycle of doing what I don't want to do? I think we can all relate to that. And that's why all of us need a power stronger than ourselves. That's why we need a chain breaker.

Today I want to look at an encounter that Jesus had with a man who desperately needed his chains broken. It's found in Mark chapter five. You can go to the New Testament section of your Bible. You'll find Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. They're all eyewitness biographies about the life and ministry of Jesus. Or perhaps you've got a scripture app, or you can follow along on the screen.

And this is the way the story goes in Mark chapter five: "So they arrived on the other side of the lake in the region of the Gerasenes." Now, Jesus and his disciples sailed across the Sea of Galilee and they go to the other side of town, so to speak. This is outsider territory. This is known to the Jewish people as the Gentile region, the place of godlessness, the other side of the tracks where all the others live. And Jesus is taking his guys from the safe side of the lake to the other side of the lake, from the familiar to the unfamiliar.

And I'm sure they had to be super nervous. And I love how Jesus did that to them all the time. He took them to places they never would have gone on their own. He introduced them to people they never would have ever encountered. Jesus moved through his life breaking down social barriers and racial barriers and gender barriers and economic barriers. He broke all the man-made rules of the religious elite. He was touching lepers. He was getting down in the dirt with a broken and accused woman.

He made lame men walk, and deaf people hear, and blind people see. He flipped over the tables of greedy, power-hungry men and gathered around him an assortment of tax collectors and sheepherders and zealots and fishermen and people that were labeled by the religious people as notorious sinners. Jesus loved all people, had compassion on all people. And his followers? They got a front-row seat to all of that.

Now, not only were all these guys now on the other side of the tracks, it's late at night. Sometime between 9:00 and midnight when they arrive. And as soon as they step out of the boat, this happens: "When Jesus climbed out of the boat, a man possessed by evil spirits came out from among the tombs to meet him." So here Jesus and his guys, the guys are totally unfamiliar with the territory, they're a little skittish anyway, it's in the middle of the night and they pull up on the shores of this graveyard, and this demon-possessed dude comes running toward them.

You know they had to be freaking out. I mean, this is like a scene out of the Walking Dead, right? The guys are probably all in flight mode, trying to get back to the boat. But not Jesus. Verse three: "This man lived in the burial caves, lived in the tombs, lived among the graveyard and could no longer be restrained even with a chain. Whenever he was put into chains and shackles, as often as he was, he snapped the chains from his wrists and smashed the shackles. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

Day and night, he wandered among the burial caves and into the hills, howling and cutting himself with sharp stones." Now, did you notice that he lived in the tombs? He lived among the caves in the limestone hills there that were used for burying dead bodies. His life had been marked by death. What kind of life is that? That's no kind of life at all. I mean, think about this. How dangerous does a person have to be that his friends and neighbors would not only isolate him from their community, but they chain him up in a graveyard?

This guy was unwanted, unloved, shame-ridden, confused, insane, dangerous, and relegated to suffer alone among the tombs. And on top of that, did you see how he would cut himself with stones? Years ago, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails wrote a song simply called Hurt. You might remember the song where he reflected on his lonely battle with depression and heroin addiction. I recently listened to the Johnny Cash cover of that song. It is so poignant. You ought to look it up sometime.

He's this old man reflecting on his life, and the opening line of the song is this: "I hurt myself today to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real." Every person I've ever known who struggled with self-harm has echoed the words of that song. And that's where this guy is. This man has one thing left to remind him that he's alive, and it's pain, the only thing that's real. But then, he meets Jesus, who is the very definition of real.

Look what it says: "When Jesus was still some distance away, the man saw him, ran to meet him, and bowed low before him. With a shriek, he screamed, 'Why are you interfering with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, don't torture me in the name of God.' For Jesus had already said to the spirit, 'Come out of the man, you evil spirit.'" Now, I love how Jesus saw the tortured man, but he recognized the real internal issue. In fact, he had already addressed the real enemy.

Jesus told us all that there is an enemy. He called him the father of lies, called him the thief, and that his only agenda is to steal, kill, and destroy. And right now in our world, do you think that the enemy is that person that might disagree with you politically? Do you perceive that the enemy is some organization, some party, some philosophy, some conspiracy that somebody cooked up? I want to remind you of this. The apostle Paul said in Ephesians chapter six, verse 12:

"For we are not fighting against flesh and blood enemies, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Guys, we have a very real enemy who is working overtime to divide us and sway us and capture our minds and fill us with hate-filled thoughts or empathetic thoughts, to blind our eyes to the pain and needs of other people around us, to set our sights squarely on our needs, our wants, our rights, our comfort.

We wrestle not with flesh and blood. There's a bigger battle going on. And Jesus looks at this flesh and blood man, this human being. He looks at him with compassion and directly goes after the real enemy. Now, please hear me say that I don't believe that addictions and strongholds are all about demon possession. But they are fueled by the prince of darkness, the author of confusion who hates all things God. He sets himself up against the beauty of love and joy and peace and patience and goodness and kindness and gentleness and faithfulness and self-control.

He really does just want to kill, steal, and destroy. He destroys sanity and careers and ministries and families and communities and nations. And because the real enemy is not a flesh and blood enemy, can you see why you and I need a stronger power than we have on our own? We need the one who rose from the dead and canceled Satan's victory bash. We need Jesus. I love that song that we sing around here: "Jesus, Jesus, you make the darkness tremble."

Everyone is terrified of this man who lived among the tombs. But the ones living inside of him, those demons, are terrified of Jesus. And in trembling fear, the demons cry out to Jesus, "Please, please don't torture us." Verse nine: "Then Jesus demanded, 'What's your name?' They replied, 'My name is Legion because there are many of us inside this man.' Then the evil spirits begged him again and again not to send them to some distant place."

Now, the word legion referred to a regiment of Roman soldiers that was like 6,000 strong. So you talk about a stronghold on this guy? This man is riddled with his demons. This man is emotionally and spiritually chained, and death and darkness are his only friends. One of my favorite descriptions of Jesus is found in John chapter one, verses three through five, when it says: "Through him all things were made. Without him nothing was made that has been made.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it." And it never will. It doesn't get much darker than meeting a demon-possessed man who breaks through iron chains in a graveyard at midnight, bleeding, naked, and screaming. But even that level of darkness cannot compete with Jesus because light chases away darkness. Listen to me. I don't know what level of darkness you might be living in right now.

I just know that Jesus is not frightened by it because he's stronger than the darkness. He is the light of the world. He is life. And I don't know what has you bound right now, what may haunt you at night or perhaps keeps you friends with the darkness. I just know this: Jesus can flood your soul with light, and he really can set you free, and he really can break those chains. And I'm just praying today that you would see the light and walk toward it.

See, the problem is, many of us see the light, but we won't move until we feel the heat. You know what I'm talking about? We won't move until everything starts to crash around us. I hear people say, "You know, you just have to hit rock bottom." And let me just lovingly say this. No, you don't. Now, in regard to humility and admitting that you need help, I believe that's absolutely true. But don't wait until there's all kinds of destruction lying in your wake.

I have a friend who is fond of saying, "When you're on an elevator, you don't have to ride it all the way down to the basement. You can get off on the third floor." Don't wait until you start to feel the heat. See the light today and walk toward Jesus, the light of the world. Back to the story. Verse 11 says this: "There happened to be a large herd of pigs feeding on the hillside nearby. 'Send us into those pigs,' the spirits begged. 'Let us enter them.' So Jesus gave them permission to do that.

The evil spirits came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the entire herd of about 2,000 pigs plunged down the steep hillside into the lake and drowned in the water." Now, culturally, it didn't get much worse than being a pig herder. Now, they didn't live in the burial caves, but they were close by. And they were outcasts too. In fact, maybe the only person who might make those pig herders feel better about their status in life was this guy living among the tombs.

And now, they're going to be in big trouble thanks to Jesus. So they run back into the town and they wake everybody up to tell them what had happened. And the townspeople hurry out to the scene with lanterns in their hand, and this is what they find: "A crowd soon gathered around Jesus and they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons. He was sitting there"—catch this—"fully clothed and perfectly sane. And they were all afraid."

This guy who everybody knew about, the crazy guy that they chained up and banished to the graveyard, now is calm. He's in his right mind. And don't miss this. It says he was fully clothed. Now, I can't prove it, but if I were a betting man, I'm guessing it was Jesus who dressed him. And I would bet that Jesus took off his outer garment and wrapped it around this man. My friend Scott says, "You know, there's nothing that could be uncovered about you that cannot be covered by the grace of Jesus."

There's nothing that could be uncovered about you that cannot be covered by the grace of Jesus. When they find this man, he has been clothed by Jesus, wrapped in his grace, wrapped in his love, wrapped in his peace, wrapped in his forgiveness, wrapped in his freedom. I love what it says in Isaiah 61, verse 10: "I am overwhelmed with joy in the Lord my God, for he has dressed me with the clothing of salvation and he has draped me in a robe of righteousness."

One of the verses of one of my favorite old hymns that I grew up singing simply says this: "When he shall come with trumpet sound"—talking about Jesus—"O may I then in him be found, dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne." What once belonged to Jesus now belongs to this man. This man who was once known only by his wounds, his nakedness, his psychotic outburst, his dangerous behavior, is now clothed by Jesus. Jesus has broken his chains and wrapped him in grace and peace.

And man, he wants to do that for you. Listen to me. You are not too bad. You are not too far gone. You are not too far in deep. You are not too hopeless. Your chains are not too strong. Come to him. Cry out to him. Humble yourself and ask him to break your chains. Ask him to help you stop the crazy spin cycle you're living in, and then cooperate with whatever he asks you to do. I love how the story ends in verse 18:

"As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said no. 'Go home to your family and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.' So the man started off to visit the ten towns of that region and began to proclaim the great things that Jesus had done for him. And everyone was amazed with what he told them." I like what the artist Lecrae says: "If we can be honest about our scars, we can show other people that wounds can heal."

Man, that's true. And I think that's what this guy does. He just went back, scars and all, to everyone who would listen, to tell them about Jesus' healing power in his life. And his scars would point many of them to hope. When I think about all this—darkness and death and chains and shame and self-harm and scars and feeling of hopelessness to becoming free and becoming a peace-filled, joy-filled ambassador for Jesus—I can't help but think about our good friend Deanna.

You've probably heard me talk about her before, but she came out of an extremely dark, dark world. And now she shines like few people I've ever seen. And because of what Jesus has done, people are amazed. Deanna lived with us for a couple of years. We got to see God move in miraculous ways as she continued to put in the work. And I eventually got to do her wedding just a few years ago. And she married a young pastor who is now a hospital chaplain.

And they now have six-month-old twins and are making a huge difference in the lives of other people. And it makes you stand back and go, "Only God." And I'm telling you, he wants to do the same for you. Freedom begins with humility and the "want to." You drop the denial and you say, "You know what, this is crazy. I am in a spin cycle. This is hurting me. I am hurting other people. I can't kick this on my own. I want my chains to be broken.

I want to be free. I realize that my life has become unmanageable and I need some help. I need somebody greater, stronger, wiser, more powerful than me. I'm ready to turn my life over to the care and control of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, and do whatever he asks me to do." Maybe right now you can just cry out to Jesus and say, "Jesus, I need help. I got a stronghold in my life that I cannot break on my own. I need help. I need you. I need light to flood my dark world. I need your power to break these chains because I can't break them on my own."

And as you cry out with humility like that, he hears. And God is impressed with humility. He honors humble cries and he wants to go to work in your life.

Guest (Male): (Singing)

Lord, you know everything I've done, every thought I've had.

You know everyone.

And Lord, you know every time I fall, still you come to my rescue when I call.

And Lord, you hear every idle word, every thoughtless deed.

How it seems absurd that Lord, you give not what I am due but mercy.

You come to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

Yes, you come to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

And Lord, you care.

You've become my friend.

Amazing love whose boundaries have no end.

And Lord, you show what a great love can do by being there for my rescue.

And Lord, I give all I can give, all of my heart, as long as I shall live.

So Lord, oh Lord, I just want to thank you for coming, for coming to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

To my rescue.

To my rescue.

It's hard to tell you how I feel.

It's hard to tell you just how grateful I am.

But I'm still gonna make it known.

With every breath gonna let you know.

I am amazed though I can't comprehend how I could be worth the cost when I was bound.

But Lord, I give all I can give, all of my heart, as long as I shall live.

So Lord, oh Lord, I just want to thank you.

I really want to thank you for coming, for coming to my rescue.

Oh, you come to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

Always.

He's always there for me, and he'll be right, right there for you.

Oh Lord, oh Lord, I know I don't deserve but you love me anyhow.

Rescue.

You come to my rescue.

Rescue.

Keep on coming to my rescue.

You come to my rescue.

Bob Russell: Wow, what hope. I really like what Mike's friend Scott Nickel said: "There is nothing that could be uncovered about you that cannot be covered by the grace of Jesus." Even more so, my hope takes refuge in what the Bible's book of Isaiah says in chapter 61, verse 10: "My soul rejoices in my God, for he has clothed me with garments of salvation." The best news ever, you can too.

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We also want to say thanks to Acappella Ministries for today's music. If you'd like to know more about the music and ministry of Acappella, check out Acappella.org. Thanks for listening. Please join us again next week for The Christian’s Hour broadcast.