I ask you to open your Bibles
along with me to Mark, Chapter 5. The Gospel according to Mark,
Chapter 5. Everything between the covers
of this book speaks of Christ. It all has to do with Him. Our Lord, before He ascended,
when He was with the disciples, He expounded unto them from the
Scriptures, from Moses, from the Psalms, and all the prophets,
the things concerning Himself. It all has to do with Him. Brother Dale made the remark
in the study. Wherever we are in this book,
we need to find out what it has to do with Christ. We need to
look for Him in it. And by the aid of the Spirit
of God this morning, I hope that as we look at this account of
our Lord's dealing with the possessed man, casting out that legion
of devils, that we'd be able to see something of him, of his
gospel, his person, his offices. Want to learn something about
his mercy and his grace. And not only want to learn about
it, want to experience it. And want you to experience it. Want you to experience it in
salvation. Because all salvation from beginning
to end and everything in between is of Christ. It's by grace and
it's through faith. All of it. His grace begins in eternity
past when God the Father chose a people unto salvation. He chose
them in Christ. He blessed them with all spiritual
blessings according as he chose them in Christ from before the
foundation of the world. entered into covenant with his
own dear son, who voluntarily covenanted to take their place,
to accomplish for them what they could not do, and to pay for
the penalty of their sins that they had committed, and to bring
them home to the Father. And he came in the flesh. He
was made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that
were under the law. He came in the flesh. Why? Because we're flesh. The children
are flesh and blood. He also himself likewise took
part in the same. In order to be our substitute,
he had to be a man. God became a man, became our
substitute, and did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
He rendered unto God that which we could not render. Couldn't do. And by His death,
by His death, He redeemed, effectually, completely, totally redeemed
all the Father chosen gave Him. Every single one of them. He
didn't make a down payment. He redeemed them. He redeemed
them. And in time, in time, all that
the Father chose and Christ redeemed, they're going to be saved. They're
going to be saved. Mark it down. They're going to
hear His voice. My sheep hear My voice, He said. They're going to hear it. They're
going to hear His voice and the Word of the Gospel. Peter said,
The Word of God, it lives and abides forever, and this is the
Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you. At some point in time,
God's going to set you down under a man whom He has sent to declare
His gospel, and the Spirit of God through the Word is going
to work upon your heart, and you're going to see and hear
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ until life everlasting. That's just so. If you want to
hear it, no question about it. The Spirit of God is going to
call His people. Invincibly. Irresistibly, he's
going to bring them. Our Lord said, all that the Father
hath given me shall come to me. And him that cometh, ain't no
way I'm going to cast him out. And no wise. So that's what we're
talking about. We're talking about Christ. We're
talking about the Redeemer. We're talking about the Redeemer.
talk about the gospel, we talk about grace, grace purposed,
grace purchased, and grace applied. And I hope, and my prayer is,
that the Lord would enable us to see something of Him this
morning, something of the gospel of His grace. And maybe, just
maybe, just maybe, according to His eternal purpose in the
Lord Jesus Christ. He'd be pleased to have mercy
on somebody today. Could be. Could be. So as we
go through this text, I want us to look at this. I call it the Lord and the Legion. It's probably not the best title
in the world, but that's why I've called it anyway. And I
want to try to point out about seven things to you in this text.
So let's look at it together. Now the first thing I want you
to see is our Lord taking a journey of purpose. A journey of purpose
in verse 1. And they, talking about the Lord
and His disciples, they came over into the other side of the
sea into the country of the Gadarenes. Now it's interesting to note,
and if you go back and read the preceding chapter, You find out
that the Lord left the multitudes. There were multitudes that thronged
unto Him. But He left them. He left them. Left those multitudes in Galilee,
and He crossed the sea, and He came to this land of the Gadarenes. Don't know much about them. But
that's where He came. That's just so different from
religion in our day. You don't hear much said about
leaving the most and going after the lost. But that's the way
our Lord operates. That's the way he operates. In
that parable, that parable in three parts in Luke 15, about
the good shepherd seeking the sheep. The first part of it.
He said, what man of you having a hundred sheep, and you lose
one, does not leave the ninety and nine, and go search after
that one sheep till he find it? You see, that's the first part
of it right there. Our Lord is doing what He's doing,
going where He's going on purpose. And He leaves the multitude.
And beloved, the point I want to emphasize to you this morning
is this. Now listen. Salvation. Salvation begins not with a seeking
center. That's what religion tells us. That it begins with men and women
seeking the Lord. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. That's
not the way it begins. It begins not with a seeking
center, but with a seeking Savior. A seeking Savior. Oh, yes, His
people do seek Him. They do seek Him. And don't misunderstand,
the Word is still true. You'll find Him when you seek
Him with all your heart. But I tell you this, you'll never
seek Him until He seeks you. David said in Psalm 27, When
thou saidst, Seek ye my face, Then my heart said unto thee,
Thy face, O Lord, will I seek. That's when I saw it. When God in invincible power
worked in my heart and soul by His Spirit and Word and said,
Seek my face. How'd you become interested?
Huh? How'd you become interested in
Christ? In the gospel? Some of you here I know personally
have been in, was in religion all your life and didn't know a thing about
Christ, didn't know a thing about the gospel. Our children right
now know more about the scriptures, about Christ, about the gospel
than most people in this world, many of whom have been in this
book all their lives. But they study it trying to prove
a doctrine, a position, a denomination, all of those things. They don't
get in it seeking Christ, and therefore they don't find it. They don't find it. Our Lord went where He went
on purpose. And the next verse He says this,
He says, And when He came out of the ship, immediately there
met Him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Immediately.
Immediately. That was a stroke of luck, wasn't
it? No, luck didn't have anything
to do with it. You know that. You know that. Our Lord is sovereign
over all things. Creation, providence, salvation. And everything that takes place
in time has been purposed from eternity past. Now, if you're
God, That doesn't sound like your God. You've got the wrong
God. You need to get rid of Him, because either God is God or
He's not. And if there's some power greater than God, we better
get rid of our God and go worship that power that's greater than
Him. Isn't that all right? That's just plain common sense, isn't
it? Well, sure it is. You know what it is. This meeting,
our Lord crossed that sea, and immediately there was a man made
him out of the tombs, and that was purpose from eternity. Before
God ever created this world and floated it in space, He purposed
this meeting. Known unto God are all things
from the beginning. All His works are known. There's
nothing new with God. He's not surprised once. You
can't surprise God. All things are under His power
and control. And so our Lord comes, and so
the man is there to meet Him, immediately. He ordered providence that this
meeting would occur. Look back here in chapter 4,
verse 35. Chapter 4, verse 35, And the
same day, when the evening was come, he saith unto them, Let
us pass over unto the other side. What little accident was that?
It went on purpose. He commanded.
It was ordered. It was ordered. Now listen. It ain't no accident that we
are here this morning. They got up this morning and
said, well, let's go down there and see what's going on down
there. No accident. No accident. That's why I can say that with
some hope, some assurance that maybe the Lord will deal with
somebody in mercy today. Because if he does, this is where
it's going to start. He's going to cross your path with the gospel. You're going to learn something
about Christ. Something about His grace. So
there's the trip on purpose. Now the second thing, verses
2-5, I want to point out to you here, and this is hard on the
flesh, hard on the flesh, but we have a description of total
depravity. A description of total depravity. It's a description
of the man. It's a description of you and
me, by nature. Every son and daughter of Adam,
by nature, describes all of us. Verse 2, it says, there met him
out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Outside of Christ,
all of us have an unclean spirit. We're unclean. Unclean. You're familiar with Ephesians.
I hope you are. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 1 begins,
And you hath he quickened, you hath he made alive, who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked
according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the
children of disobedience. It's an unclean spirit. And everyone who has not heard
and obeyed the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, everyone who
has not been born again, in whom the new man, the new nature,
the new heart, the new spirit has not been created, has got
an unclean spirit. And it controls your life. You
think you're in control. Well, I'll do what I will. You
do what you will according to your master, your nature. And that's unclean. That's unclean. Back in our text, look at verse
3. This fellow had his dwelling among the tombs. Among the tombs. Why? Well, that was his will. So I I believe man has got a
free will. Sure does. Sure does. His will is free to
act according to his nature, but his spirit is unclean. His nature is dead towards God,
dead in spiritual things, dead in trespasses and sins. Therefore,
he dwells among the tombs. He's free among the dead. That's what the Psalms say. He
dwells among the tombs. Why? That's where dead men dwell. That's why the natural man can't
come in here and sit down and be happy for very long. What communion hath light with
darkness? Man's will's in bondage to his
nature, and by nature he has an unclean spirit, and he acts
accordingly. He dwells among the tombs. Here's
the next thing, look at this, the last part of verse 3. And
no man could bind him. No, no, the chains. Well, I'm going to lead him to Christ. Have you ever heard people say
that? Or something akin to that? You do err not knowing the scriptures
nor the power of God. You can't lead somebody to Christ.
God may be pleased to use you, but you can't do it. No man could
tame this fellow. They couldn't put chains on him
and drag him to Christ. Couldn't do it. Couldn't do it. Our Lord said, it's easier for
a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man
to be saved. And the disciples looked at him
and just threw up their hands in astonishment and said, well,
Lord, who then can be saved? And he said, with men it is what? Impossible. But with God, all
things are possible. God, when He began His gospel,
talked about our Lord, as many as received Him, to them gave
He the power to become sons of God, even to them that believed
on His name, which were born. Not of the will of the flesh,
not of the will of men. And you know, verse 4 goes on,
they couldn't bind him with chains because he'd been often bound
with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder
by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, and neither could
any man tame him. Worldly religion comes in and
seeks to control the chains of law and fetters of ceremony and
ritual and tradition, but these cannot hold a man or tame him. Can't do it. Our Lord had described something
about this when He talked about the unclean spirits going out
of a man. He gets all religious, gets a
profession. He goes out of a man and wanders
through dry places and finds no rest, so He comes back and
He finds this place all swept and clean and garnished. That's what religion can do.
Outwardly, look clean. Look pretty. Everything's in
order. But this unclean spirit entered
right back in. And not only by himself, but
with seven more unclean spirits. Worse than himself. And all the
state of that man was so much worse before. See, the unclean
spirit wasn't cast out. He decided to go out on his own
for a while. and come back. And worldly religion tries to
do that, but it can't do it. It can't do it. The law, the
law cannot justify. Our works cannot justify us.
The law cannot sanctify us. It cannot make us holy. The law
can't change our nature. The law can't give us a new heart. It can't do it. I'll tell you something else
about this fellow. Look at verse 5. And all this
night and day he was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying and cutting
himself with spawns. Here's a description of every
unbeliever. When it gets right down to the
nitty gritty, they're just absolutely miserable. They put on a good
face, talk about how much fun they're having, all that they've
gained and so forth, but they're miserable. The goods of this
world cannot satisfy them. What shall profit a man if he
gained the whole world? Lose his own soul. He's miserable. He's miserable. And he's bent
on self-destruction. And left to his own, that's exactly
what will happen to him. Won't be God's fault when he
perishes. It would be his fault. His fault. Alright, here's the
third point. Third point, verses 6 through
8. Here we have evidence of sovereign power. Won't you let Jesus have his
way in your life? Hogwash. Here's what happens
when the Lord comes into the light. Verse 6, when he saw Jesus afar
off, he ran and worshipped Him. Now this is talking about the
man. How do you know, how do you know,
how do you know that something is taking place with this man
when this happens? Because our Lord said in John
6, verse 44, no man can come unto Me except one thing happen,
the Father which sent Me draws him. And this fellow, when he
saw Christ, he come running lickety-split. Lickety-split. He who heeded
the tombs, who couldn't be tamed, who couldn't be held with chains
and fetters, comes running to Christ. Now, let me just say this. We've
got to consider this verse with the next two. For both verse
6 and verse 7, are in response to verse 8. Now read verse 8. For he said unto him, Come out
of the man now in plain spirit. Now back up to verse 6. When
he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped Him. You see,
you've got to consider these together. The Lord Jesus spoke
in power. And I'll tell you what, when
He does, Men and devils respond. Men and devils respond. Our Lord
said, He said to some folks in John 5, I believe it was, He
said, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The hour cometh, and now
is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God,
and they that hear shall live. When He speaks, there's a response. There's a response. There's no
question about it. For men and devils. This man,
our Lord, spoke. And he saw Jesus afar off. He saw Christ revealed in His
Word. Have you seen Him afar off? You'll see Him way back there
in eternity. You're going to look for him?
That's a good place to start. Find out where he was. A far off. A far off. And boy, I tell you, we hear
his voice, and we see him. But how does that take place?
Well, the hearing ear, seeing eye. Both of them are of the
Lord. Is that not right? Faith comes
by hearing, but hearing by the Word of God. It's not just merely
hearing a man stand and proclaim unto you the gospel of Christ.
You'll never hear with the spiritual ear. Never believe in the heart
unless God speaks in power of His own will, God's own will.
Again, he taps with the word of truth. He does that. We hear
of him in his work. We see him afar off. Now listen. And listen. Listen closely. This man saw the Lord afar off. But he saw him. Do you understand what I'm saying? He saw the Lord afar off. But
he saw Him. And he ran to Him. I know some folks, and there
may be some here, There's some folks that's been
looking for something. They don't know what it is. I
don't know what it is. They need Christ. Been looking
for a long time. And they come under the sound
of the gospel. And they usually wind up thinking, well, I hear
what's being said, and I believe that soul, but, you know, I just don't feel like
I'm ready to come yet. This man saw him afar off. Long
way off. He didn't know everything about
him. He didn't have all his teeth
crossed and his eyes dotted. He wasn't able to expound the
doctrines. But he saw Jesus afar off. And he ran to him. He ran to
him. You see him? You see him a long
way off? Yeah, I do preach him. But I
don't know what to do. I do what this fellow did. Run
to him. Run to him. It's not perfect faith that saves. Does that shock you? None of us have perfect faith.
It's not perfect faith that saves. It's the perfect object of faith. He saw him afar off and he ran
to him. Ran to him. We see something about the
effectual call here. The effectual call. the call
of the shepherd, and the response of the sheep. We have so, so many examples
of this in Scripture, when our Lord speaks in power, and something
takes place. I've got something for you if
you'll just take the first step. He'll perish eternally. Perish eternally. Mr. Spurgeon in a message was
talking about, I don't remember his name, but some saint the
Catholics worship. And according to the fable, they
beheaded this fellow. And after they beheaded him,
he picked up his head and he walked a thousand miles. To which
Mr. Spurgeon replied, it ain't the
thousand miles that bothers me, it's that first step. If he can pick up his head and
take the first step, a thousand miles may not. But that's not what the Lord
said, you see. Lazarus, Lazarus, if you quit
stinking, you really need to clean up. Well, that's what the dead people
do, stink. Now, our Lord said, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth. There's the sovereign power of
the Lord, and there's the response of the sinner. Dale mentioned
that fellow laying by the pool of Siloam. Will thou be made
whole? Well, I had all kinds of excuses. I don't have anybody to help
me. I'm too slow when I'm coming to somebody else to get seated.
Our Lord said, rise, take up your bed, and walk. Well, I don't
know about that. Been here for 38 years, you know.
No. He rose, and He took up His man,
and He walked. Isn't that right? That's exactly
right. The blind man, that man that
was blind from birth, our Lord healed. And the religious leaders
got hold of it. Didn't like the fact that it
was the Lord Jesus that restored his sight and tried to get him
to say this, tried to get him to say that, and questioned him. He said, well, I don't know about
all that. But one thing I know, whereas I was blind, now I see. Now I see. Later, our Lord found
him and said, Do you believe on the Son of God? He said, Who
is he, Lord, that I might believe? And he that speaketh unto thee
is he. I that speak unto thee am he.
And he believed. Huh? He ran to it. And he worshipped
him. Worshipped him. Didn't wait till he was better.
Didn't wait for a more convenient season. He came just like he
was. A demon-possessed man. Naked
among the tombs. Wild, untamable. And he worshipped
him. Now listen. We know, according
to the Word of God, emphatically, that God alone is to be worshipped. You all right? God alone is to be worshipped. He worshipped the Lord Jesus
Christ. And he wasn't rebuked for it.
And neither was anybody else that worshipped him. You know
why? Because Jesus Christ is God manifest in the flesh. That's that great mystery of
Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. He's the God-man mediator. The only one. The prophet, priest,
and king. He's worthy of worship. And then
another thing here is that devils acknowledge him. Devils acknowledge
him. Verse 7, And they cried with
a loud voice, and they 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. They acknowledged Him as Savior.
Now, they didn't have any part in salvation. Devils don't have
any part in salvation, any part in Christ, any part in the gospel. But they know something about
the gospel. They know something about Him. They said, what have
I to do with the Jesus, Savior? Our Lord didn't come to save
devils. You never hear people complaining
about God electing the angels. They complained about that. But
the scripture still says in Hebrews 2 that he took not on him the
seed of Abraham. Turn it over there. That's what
happens when you get old. You all don't know anything about
that yet. Everybody is picking on you today. Paul told me last week, I said,
are you feeling alright? You are moving a little bit slow
this evening. He said, I finally admitted I
am 93 years old. You look young to us today. Verse
16 of Hebrews 2, Verily he took not on him the nature of angels. He didn't come to save angels. And nobody complains that they're
reserved in everlasting chains of darkness. Nobody complains
about that. Oh, I know you. I know who you
are. I don't have any part in your
salvation, in your grace, your mercy, but I know who you are.
Christ didn't take the nature of Adam. He took on him the seed
of Abraham. Not Adam. Not Adam. He didn't take the seed of Adam.
I beg your pardon. No, no, no, no, no. He had no
human father. He begotten by the Spirit. Huh? The spiritual seed of Abraham.
Not Adam. Not angels. They know who, devils
know who he is. But they don't have any interest,
any part in His salvation. They acknowledge His person.
They say, You're the Son of the Most High God. Son of God, Son
of Man. They acknowledge His power and
authority. They say, Torment me not. They know that torment is their
due. Torment is their appointed end. Torment me not. Torment me not. So they acknowledge it. Alright,
we've got to move on quickly. Next few verses, we have His
word to unclean spirits. Now, our Lord begins by asking
a question, and as you know, our Lord doesn't ask questions
for information. He asks for our sakes, for instruction. Verse 9, he says this. He said,
let's just read a few verses here and I'll make a few comments.
Maybe that will be quicker. He asked him, what's your name?
And he answered him saying, 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 nine to the
mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought
him saying, send us into the swine that we may enter into
them. Forthwith Jesus gave them leave, and the unclean spirits
went out, and entered into the swamps, and the herd ran violently
down a steep place into the sea. There were about two thousand
of them, and they were choked, drowned in the sea. Drowned in
the sea. He speaks. You know, we read,
well, all principality, all powers are subject to our Lord Jesus
Christ. is that he put all under his feet. He left nothing that's
not under him. Nothing. Christ is Lord over
all. He died that he might be Lord
both of the living and the dead. He rules over demons. He conquered
them by his cross. And when he ascended, he led
a multitude of captives captive. He destroyed him that had the
power of death, through death. Who is that? The devil. Conquered
him. Defeated him. Has so much power
and authority over devils that they can't even leave a man and
enter into a herd of hogs without his permission. That's my Lord. Is that your Lord? He's no weakling. I tell you,
I despise to hear people talking about this poor little frustrated,
effeminate, defeated Jesus that wants to do something if you'll
just let Him. I can't stand to hear. That's
an idol a man has conjured up in his own imagination. That's
no pleasure in the Word of God. The Scriptures know nothing about
a weak, frustrated, effeminate Savior. Nothing. Yes, He's tender. Yes, He's merciful. Yes, He's compassionate. Yes,
He's approachable. People try to make Him what He's
not. Satan and his legions, they cannot
frustrate our Lord's purpose of mercy and grace. They cannot
do it. Water all of them together, they
cannot do it. He said, I'll build my church
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Paul said,
I'm persuaded that there ain't nothing in all of creation, above
or below, that can separate me from the love of God, which is
in my Lord Jesus Christ. In verse 14, He gave them permission. They ran over, choked. They fed
the swine, fled, told it in the city, in the country. And they
went out to see what it was that was dying. And they came to Jesus
to see him that was possessed, well, with the devil. News spread of this. Folks came
to see what happened. And they saw, they came out,
they saw this man. Everybody in the whole area knew
about this man. And here they saw him. They saw him. And here's the description
of a fellow that has obtained mercy. He's sitting. They come to Jesus, they see
him that was possessed with the devil, that had the legion. First
thing, sitting. Sitting. Not working, but sitting. Resting. Resting in the low.
Not fearful. Not trembling, saying, Boy, I
sure hope I can hold it out. Sitting. Sitting. All power and all authority in
heaven and earth, our Lord said, is given unto me. No man knoweth the Son save the
Father, neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and
he to whom the Son will reveal him. Now come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. And
he ran to Jesus, and here he is sitting. And he's clothed. He's clothed. clothed in the
very wedding garment of the King's Son, that best robe, the righteousness
of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he's in his right mind. Oh boy, first time in his life
he's in his right mind. A person is only in his right
mind when he sits at the feet of Christ When he believes Christ,
comes to Christ. When he experiences the grace
and mercy of God in Christ. Paul said, I know whom I have
believed. I'm persuaded that he's able
to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day. He's
in his right mind. He's in his right mind. Alright, verse 16. We see something about natural
man's response to sovereign grace by Christ. They that saw 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 coast. Out of their coast. It's, from a human standpoint,
it's so sad. But we've seen it, we've seen
it, those who've been around a while have seen it time and
time again. God has mercy on somebody and
saves them. And you'd think, you'd think,
and often times we think when the Lord has mercy on us, boy,
folks are going to be glad to hear about this, I'm going to
tell them. And they get so mad. They get so mad when you start
telling them about the Lord that saved you instead of going out
and saying, well, I got saved! I'm telling you, the world would
rather have swine than Christ, especially Christ of sovereign
grace. But that's the only kind of grace
there is, sovereign grace. They still don't want this man
reigning over them. All right, here's number seven,
the believer's desire, the believer's desire, the believer's command,
and the believer's obedience. Verse 18, when he was come into
the ship, and that is our Lord and his disciples, he that had
been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with
him. Right there is the desire of every true believer, to be
with Christ. I want to be with Him. I want
to be where His people are. I want to be where His Word is
read. I want to be where His Gospel is preached. I want to
be with Him. That's where He is. In His Word
and among His people. Where two or three are gathered
together in My Name. Who's there? Christ is there. You want to be with Christ? You're
going to have to go where His Word is, where His people gather
and read His Word and preach His Gospel. That's where He is.
That's where this man wanted to be. He's going back across
the... I want to go with him. I want to go with him. I want
to go with him. Now, we will one day, but until
that time, our Lord told him, verse 19, how be it Jesus suffered
him not, but he said unto him, Go home to thy friends. Tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath
had compassion on thee. He has compassion on whom he
will, you know. But you go tell them. Don't go tell them I got saved.
Go tell them what great things the Lord hath done. The Lord hath done. You are the light of the world,
he said. Let your light so shine among
men that they may behold your good works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven. We have a command. What is it?
Tell folks what great things the Lord has done for us. Now that doesn't mean go around
and beat on people's door and make a pest out of yourself and
then think you're suffering for God when they throw dirty water
on you. Go interrupt a working man's
supper and that's exactly what you deserve. But as the Lord
gives you opportunity, opportunity, make you cross the path of someone
who's interested, the subject will come up. And then, then
He'll give you the words to speak. So I just don't know what's happening
when I'm witnessing. You're thinking You're thinking
about worldly religion when God gives you the opportunity to
witness. That's right, Ben. When He gives you the opportunity
to witness, He'll fill your mouth with words about Him. About Him. And that's what we're to do until
He comes to take us all. Verse 20 says, And he departed,
and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for him. And all men did marvel. Back early when the Lord had
mercy on me, and I endeavored to tell Some
people about it. A lot of them reacted the way
these people reacted. They just don't bother us with
that. Get out of this country. This
is not the place for you. But there were some. There were
some who were astonished. Astonished at the grace and power
of God to take somebody like these people who knew me Take
somebody like me and have mercy on him. Have compassion on him. Wasn't you all that way?
I bet a lot of you were. Tell what great things Christ
has done for us. And just maybe he'll have mercy
on somebody else. I believe he will because his
gospel is still being preached. Christ is still being lifted
up. All Lord give us grace, give
us grace to keep on preaching Christ and being crucified until
you take us home. Amen.