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Saved to Serve
61
His power to save and describing how He had freed them from the
demons.
Though the people of Gergesa had not received Jesus, He did
not leave them to the darkness they had chosen. When they bade
Him depart from them, they had not heard His words. They were
ignorant of that which they were rejecting. Therefore He sent the
light to them, and by those to whom they would not refuse to listen.
In causing the destruction of the swine, it was Satan’s purpose
to turn the people away from the Saviour and prevent the preaching
of the gospel in that region. But this very occurrence roused the
country as nothing else could have done, and directed attention to
Christ. Though the Saviour Himself departed, the men whom He
had healed remained as witnesses to His power. Those who had
been mediums of the prince of darkness became channels of light,
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messengers of the Son of God. When Jesus returned to Decapolis,
the people flocked about Him, and for three days thousands from all
the surrounding country heard the message of salvation.
The two restored demoniacs were the first missionaries whom
Christ sent to teach the gospel in the region of Decapolis. For a short
time only, these men had listened to His words. Not one sermon
from His lips had ever fallen upon their ears. They could not instruct
the people as the disciples who had been daily with Christ were able
to do. But they could tell what they knew; what they themselves
had seen, and heard, and felt of the Saviour’s power. This is what
everyone can do whose heart has been touched by the grace of God.
This is the witness for which our Lord calls, and for want of which
the world is perishing.
The gospel is to be presented, not as a lifeless theory, but as
a living force to change the life. God would have His servants
bear testimony to the fact that through His grace men may possess
Christlikeness of character and may rejoice in the assurance of His
great love. He would have us bear testimony to the fact that He
cannot be satisfied until all who will accept salvation are reclaimed
and reinstated in their holy privileges as His sons and daughters.
Even those whose course has been most offensive to Him He
freely accepts. When they repent, He imparts to them His divine
Spirit, and sends them forth into the camp of the disloyal to proclaim
His mercy. Souls that have been degraded into instruments of Satan