How this resembles us! All these miracles depict salvation. Christ is doing them out of a compassion heart. He is demonstrating the heart and the love of God. He is healing this person and that person, but the way in which he heals and performs his compassionate miracles also illustrates the way in which he will cure our spiritual ills and sicknesses and sins. The moment this youth sees Christ, that demon tears him and he falls to the ground and wallows foaming. The symptoms illustrate the state of our unbelieving hearts. When anybody tries to talk to us about faith, and about Christ, and about conversion, we run a mile. It is the last thing we want. We think frantically of every possible objection we can. Everything we know which is against God and against Christ comes out. Sometimes we might be furious. We don’t see it, but how closely we are depicted by this demonised youth. The frenzies – we often have that. Fits of anger against God, unbelief, frustration at having even to think about him, resistance and rejection of him. The frenzies of the epileptic and demonised youth are our frenzies. We resent the gospel because our old life doesn’t want to be disturbed; the sinful life doesn’t want to be terminated; the sin within us doesn't want to be challenged. We don't want God; we don't want conversion; we don't want holiness, and we react furiously.
Once we have fiercely argued against faith and rejected these things; then we don't think about it at all. It is gone. We forget it. Nothing can challenge us. Our conscience doesn't challenge us if we fall into some sin. Should it cross our minds, ‘Well, then what is life for? What am I here for? Where am I heading?’ we quickly say, don’t worry about that. That is silly thinking. We are not worried when a languid, torpid kind of state comes over us, and we pine away spiritually and forget all about it. This young man's trouble really does depict us.