I'm using Luke chapter 8 because
we have given more detail, given to us more than what's given
in Matthew chapter 8 about the wild man that was healed. I'm taking the title from what
is said in verse 39, when the Lord told that man to go back
to your family, go back to your house, go back to your friends,
and show or tell how great things God had done unto thee. And he went his way, followed
the command of the Lord, and published, declared throughout
the whole city, the whole city in the region of Decapolis, it
said in Mark, throughout the whole city how great things Jesus
had done. Jesus is God. Show how great
thing God has done. And he went and told everybody
about the Lord Jesus Christ healing him. This man was a miserable
man, wasn't he? He was a miserable man. He was
a lost man who needed salvation. The gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ is a declaration of what God has done for us and in us. It's not what we have done for
God, is it? This man, when he went out and
declared how the Lord had healed him, he didn't declare how he
was worthy of it or how he merited it. No, he went out and declared
how great things God had done for him in the Lord Jesus Christ. We read in the book of Psalms,
one of my favorite scriptures, In Psalm 57 verse 2 where it
says that God has performed all things for us. God's salvation
is a performance by the Lord Jesus Christ for us. He has purchased
all things for us. He bought us with His own blood.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the only one that is able to satisfy
what the law of God demands and requires. Remember the law of
God said it must be perfect to be accepted. We don't have any
perfection in and of ourselves. Our perfection is Christ. He
is all our perfection. It must be perfect to be accepted,
and we have in Christ perfect righteousness based upon His
faithful obedience. In Christ we have perfect atonement
for all our sin based upon the sacrifice of Himself. Perfect
righteousness established. Perfect atonement for our sin
being accomplished, those two things, they equal something,
don't they? What do they equal? They equal
salvation. Righteousness, redemption equal
salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is called
Jehovah-Jireh. You remember what that means?
The Lord will provide. The Lord will provide. He provided
all of our need according to His riches in glory through the
Lord Jesus Christ. We have perfect atonement by
His blood being shed. Only that which God provides
will God accept. That's true. Only that which
God provides will God accept. We are only accepted in the Beloved,
the Lord Jesus Christ. In Christ we have all things
that God requires of us, freely given, fully given, eternally
given and enjoyed by God-given faith. How do we receive salvation? Not by works. We receive salvation
by faith. Faith doesn't accomplish salvation.
Faith receives the Lord Jesus Christ who accomplished salvation
for us. To you who believe, He is precious. He's given us all things freely.
Remember Romans 8, He spared not His own Son, but delivered
Him up for us all. How shall He not with Him also
freely give us all things? So anything that's really free
in this day, not apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, He's given
us all spiritual blessings freely. Freely, freely. He's loved us
freely. Now this story here is given
to us in Matthew chapter 8. In Mark chapter 5, also here
in Luke chapter 8. And we need to read all three
accounts to get a full picture of this day. What happened? How
the Lord healed these demon-possessed men. Luke, Matthew said there
was two of them. And how the Lord gave special
mercy to one of these men. I believe one of these men received
a special blessing from the Lord. Those were healed, but one of
them received a special blessing from the Lord, a spiritual blessing.
And here we see another example of God's sovereign mercy, God's
sovereign grace. He healed both of them, but one
man in particular, he gave to him spiritual life in Christ. I remember from our message last
week how the Lord said, let us go over to the other side. Remember
he gave commandment, let's go over to the other side. He said
to those disciples, get on the ship and let's go over to the
other side. You remember there was a big
storm that came up and the Lord calmed the storm. And when they
came over to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, they came
out of that ship and there met them a man immediately. There met a man. There a man
met them immediately. And you see here the reason why.
You see here the reason why this happened as it did. Look at Luke
8, verse 26. And they arrived at the country
of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when they
went forth to the land, there met him out of the city a certain
man, which had devils a long time. He wore no clothes, neither
bowed in any house but in the tombs. a man in desperate condition.
This wild man had no one who could tame him. He was demon-possessed. This man needed salvation, and
the Lord's going to find him and save him by His almighty
power and His almighty grace. It wasn't no accidental meeting,
was it? The Lord specifically gave commandment
to go over to the other side of the sea, and immediately when
they came out of the ship, they met this man. It was an a chance
meeting. We see here a pattern of how
the Lord saves sinners by His purpose, by His grace, given
to us in Christ before the foundation of the world. Every sinner He
saves It's not by accident. It's by God's purpose. Everything
God does, He does by purpose. And His purpose is an eternal
purpose, which He purposed in the Lord Jesus Christ before
the foundation of the world. Now, here's the first thing we
want to consider. The desperate condition of this
poor man. He was in desperate, desperate
condition. Mark chapter 5 said he's a man
with an unclean spirit. And here in our text, verse 27,
it says that he had devils a long time. He was possessed by a legion
of demons possessed this man. He lived where no one else wanted
to live. He lived among the dead, among the tombs, in the cemetery. He was kicked out of the house.
He was naked. homeless and possessed, and a
man in misery, cutting himself with sharp stones to try to relieve
some kind of pain. He was naked. No one could help
him. He couldn't help himself. No one could tame him. He had
no peace. He had no comfort. He had no
rest. This was a miserable man. It says in Mark 5-5 that day
and night, crying and cutting himself with stones, He was a
sinful man without Christ, without God, without hope in this world. And he met the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of it. Many tried to bind
him with chains, and he would just simply pluck them off. This
is a good and true description of our sinful condition before
God. We too, by nature, are possessed
with an unclean spirit. We're all as an unclean thing.
All of our righteousnesses are filthy rags. We're born unclean. Little babies are not innocent
creatures. They're cute, they're cuddly,
but they're sinners, born in sin, shapen in iniquity with
the potential of great evil. This is a good description of
what we are by nature. Sinful, guilty, and wicked. Possessed
with an unclean spirit. Vile and wretched. Naked before
God. Naked before God. This is our
condition before we met the Lord Jesus Christ. Desperate. Desperate. Desperate. Desperate. Remember
the Lord says that He came to call sinners to repentance. He said, there is none righteous.
No, not one. We're all as an unclean thing.
We're unclean. We're ungodly. There's none righteous.
There's none to understand it. There's none to seek after God.
No, not one. This condition of this wild man
out in the tombs, I mean, if you met someone like this, You
wouldn't take him home with you, would you? I mean, this man is
wild. He's naked. He's bloody. He's cut himself up. He's probably
screaming. Everybody was afraid of him.
And the Lord Jesus Christ walked right up to him. and said, I've
come to set you free. What a miracle of grace. And
that's exactly how God meets us and saves us by His grace.
Here's the second thing we see. We see the Lord's absolute power
to save. In verse 30, the Lord asked him,
what's your name? And he said, well, Legion, because
there are many devils. He knew he was demon possessed. And they besought him that he
would not command them to go out into the deep. And there
was a herd of swine feeding on a mountain and besought him that
he would suffer them or permit them to go into them. And he
said, okay. He gave leave. Then went the
devils out of the man and entered into the swine. And the herd
ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were choked. They were choked. Now there's
no case, there's no sinner too desperate for the great Savior
to save. Even a man that's demon possessed,
full of demons, he had an army of demons. The Lord Jesus Christ
has power to save the worst of the worst. This man was the outcast
that the outcast cast out. He had no friends, his family
forsook him, his family kicked him out of the house, He is a
wild man, a guilty man, a vile man, yet we read in Scripture
the Lord Jesus Christ died for the ungodly. We read the Lord
Jesus Christ came to seek and to save the lost. Turn back a
few pages to Luke chapter 5, when the Lord called out a man by the name of Levi, who
we know was Matthew, In Luke chapter 5, verse 27, after these
things, he went forth and saw a publican named Levi. We know
this is Matthew. Sitting at the receipt of custom,
and he said unto him, follow me. And he left all. This man
was a tax collector for the Romans, despised by the Jews, rose up
and followed him, and Levi made him a great feast in his own
house. There was a great company of publicans and others that
sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees
murmured against the disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink
with publicans and sinners? And the Lord answered and said
unto them, They that are whole need not a physician, but they
who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.
sinners to repentance. You see, He's able to save to
the uttermost all that come to God by Him. He has all power
given unto Him to save sinners. In Isaiah 63 verse 1 it says,
The Lord that speaks in righteousness is mighty, mighty to save. He's mighty to save. Turn back
to Luke chapter 4 and look at this scripture. the Lord Jesus
in his hometown synagogue of Nazareth. He goes there on the
Sabbath day, and they give him the book of Isaiah, and he begins
to read in Luke chapter 4, verse 18 from Isaiah 61. The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, recovering of sight
to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach
the acceptable year of the Lord. He came for that very purpose,
to save sinners. Turn to Luke chapter 7. Luke
chapter 7, verse 22. Luke 7, 22. He said, go your
way. and tell John what things you've
seen and heard, how the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers
are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached
to them, blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me."
You see, he came to save sinners. This is a faithful saying and
worthy of all acceptation. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
save sinners. And Paul said, I'm the chief
one. The Lord of glory demonstrates His absolute power over all things. He commanded the wind to stop,
and it did. He commanded the seas to stop,
and there was a great peace, and they obeyed Him. Now He commands
the demon spirit to depart from this poor man, likewise obeyed
him." They didn't say, well, the Lord didn't say, well, if
you would, it would be good if you would just depart from this
man and leave this man alone. The Lord commanded them, demon
spirits, to come out. You see, the Lord is the absolute
sovereign over all things. Even demon spirits are subject
unto Him. Remember what they said to Him?
Are you come to torment us before our time? We know who you are. We know who you are. You're the Holy One of God. You're
the Holy Son of God. You see, even the devils believe
and tremble It shows us how depraved we are
because men, most men, do not believe in Trimble. Even the
devils believe in Trimble. They are subject to his command.
The salvation of a sinner comes by the decree and command of
God. Just as God commanded those demon spirits to depart, even
so God commands our salvation. Our salvation is decreed by God. We read in Ephesians chapter
1 that we only believe the gospel according to the working of His
mighty power which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him
from the dead. What does that tell us? It tells
us the same power that it took to raise the dead body of the
Lord Jesus Christ is the same power that it takes to raise
up a dead sinner that he might believe the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ. You hath he quickened who were
dead. This man now no longer possessed
of demons, but possessed by the Lord Jesus Christ. He drove them
out and he came in. The Lord Jesus Christ took up
his abode in that man's heart. Now here's the second thing,
or the third thing really, verse 35. And when they went out to
see what was done, now everybody in this town knew this man. I
mean, they knew who this man was. They knew he was the crazy
man. And they went out to see what
was done, and came to Jesus, and found the man out of whom
the devils were departed, sitting, no longer running, sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ, clothed, no longer naked, and in his right mind,
no longer crazy. And they were terrified. They were terrified. Now, what
a conversion story. What a wonderful change in this
man. What a transforming miracle of
sovereign grace in this man. No longer running wild, but sitting. Sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Notice a marginal reference on
the word sitting. You see, it says there, Luke
10, 39. If you go over there and read
that, it said that Mary was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ, listening to His Word. Well, that's a good place to
be, isn't it? The demons had been commanded to leave him.
Now he sits at the Savior's feet in submission and worship. How
do you account for such a radical change? The disciples asked the
question, who then can be saved? He said, with men, it is impossible,
but not with God. With God, all things are possible. With God's power, God's grace,
do you despair of the Lord saving any person? no longer running
wild but sitting, no longer naked but clothed, clothed, clothed. The Lord didn't tell this man,
get up and go clothe yourself, put some clothes on, then come
back and see me. No, the Lord provided a covering
for him. And this is a spiritual picture
of our spiritual clothing that God gives us when we're covered
in Christ with His blood and righteousness. Isaiah 61 said,
He's clothed us with the robe of His righteousness, with the
garments of salvation. In fallen Adam, we were naked
and exposed before God. You remember what Adam did when
he sinned against God? He tried to clothe himself, didn't
he? You remember what he used? Digleys. God said, Where are
you, Adam? I'm hiding behind my works. Fig
leaf righteousness won't do. Only the righteousness that's
provided in the Lord Jesus Christ will do. You remember that story
in Genesis chapter 3, when God took away the fig leaves and
killed some animals and took those coats of skin and clothed
Adam and Eve before He drove them out. That's exactly what
God does for us in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ, our substitute,
died for our sin, and he clothes us with his righteousness, with
the garments of his salvation. In Christ, we are made complete.
And then thirdly, it says here he's in his right mind. He's in his right mind, a mind
that's been taught of God. Now he thinks right thoughts
about God, right thoughts about himself, Right thoughts about
salvation only in Christ. No longer a crazy man, but a
humbled man. No longer a rebel against God,
but one who is a believer submitted to God. Now this is going to
sound a little bit strange, but now listen to me, hear me out.
Those who disregard the gospel of God's free and sovereign grace
and disbelieve the gospel Those are the people who are really
out of their mind crazy, aren't they? It is crazy to believe
that salvation depends upon what you do or what you don't do. That's insanity to think that
salvation, that you can work up or produce something that
will satisfy God. That's insanity. Those who are
given the right mind know that salvation is of the Lord alone. Lord, give me that mind. Give
me the mind of Christ. Know that salvation's all in
Him. Now, here's the fourth thing,
verse 36 and verse 37. They also which saw it told them
by what means he that was possessed of the devil was healed. They
knew who did this. This one Jesus of Nazareth. Then
the whole multitude of the countries and gatherings round about besought
Him to depart from them, where they were taken with great fear,
and he went up into the ship and left town. Instead of the
Gadarenes being thankful that this wild man was healed, instead
of begging for mercy themselves or asking for salvation, asking
for forgiveness of sin, they said to him, depart from us. We don't want anything to do
with the sovereign God of the universe. You know, religious
men today have the same opinion. Don't tell me about the sovereignty
of God. Tell me about the free will of
man. Salvation is not dependent upon the free will of man, but
rather upon the decree of Almighty God. What a sad commentary on
our sinful human race. They have so much religion, but
no salvation. And they want nothing to do with
an absolute God who controls all things. As one man was heard
to say when some preacher of old preached the sovereignty
of God in creation and providence and salvation. And he told the
old preacher after he got done preaching the sovereignty of
God and salvation, he came up to him and said, you're God's
monster. At which the old preacher said,
get ready to meet a monster. Because God is God. Beside Him
there is no other. The Lord saved one sinner out
of this whole town. He came across that stormy sea
to save that one guilty sinner. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
through the stormy sea of God's wrath Bearing our sin in His
own body, He came through the storm of God's wrath to save
one people, His church, as He left. His bride, He loved the
church and gave Himself for us. The last thing, quite opposite,
this man says in verse 38, the town folks said, you get out
of here, leave us alone. This man who had been healed,
said in verse 38, the man out of whom the devils were departed,
besought him that he might be with him. Oh, don't leave me
alone. I want to go where you go. I'm
going to follow you wherever you go. But the Lord had something
else for him to do. The Lord said to him, send him
away. Send him away. He made him a
preacher. return to thy own house, and show how great things God
hath done for thee." And he went his way, and he published throughout
the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. How great, how great things he
has done Those who are saved by the grace
of God. This man wanted to be with the
Lord. Having tasted that the Lord is gracious, he wanted to
follow Him, he wanted to be with Him. And those who are saved
by the grace of God, they desire to be with the Lord and with
His people, to hear His Word and to follow Him. He said, go
home, tell how great things the Lord has done for thee. And again,
the Gospel is not about what we have done for the Lord. We
hear a lot of people saying, I've done this for the Lord,
and I've done that for the Lord, and I've done all this. So as
to think somehow they merit some kind of reward or righteousness
before God. The Gospel is not what we've
done for God, it's what He has done for us. He's done everything
for us. We've done nothing. We've done
nothing. You say, well, sinners must repent. Where'd you get repentance? He
gave repentance. You say, well, sinners must believe.
Yep, you're right. Where does that faith come from?
It's a gift of God, isn't it? I like this other psalm, Psalm
98, verse 1. Oh, sing unto the Lord a new
song, for He hath done marvelous things. His right hand and His
holy arm hath gotten the victory. Sing unto the Lord. He hath done
marvelous things. His right hand, His holy arm,
has gotten the victory for us. Paul said, thanks be to God who
has given us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. This man
went and did what the Lord told him to do. He demonstrated that
he did believe the gospel. The gospel is not to be hid,
it's to be held forth, like a bright shining light. Christ is to be
lifted up by the preaching of the gospel. He said, if I be
lifted up, I'll draw all men unto me. I can just imagine this man,
his story, can't you? The Lord's done saved me, the
Lord's done healed me, and you're not going to hear the last of
it. All the days of his life, that's all he talked about was
this man. This man, Jesus of Nazareth, who he worshipped as
God and recognized him as God, believed in him as God. And you
know what he said? He said that salvation, my salvation,
my healing is of the Lord. Those who are saved by the sovereign
grace of God, you know what they preach? You know what they tell? Salvation of the Lord. Salvation
by the Lord. Those who say, well, Salvation
depends upon me. Well, that's what they tell,
don't they? They tell about what they've done for the Lord. But
the gospel message is what He has done, what He has done for
us, what He has done for us. The gospel message is all about
the Lord Jesus Christ, His person, who He is. That's important,
who He is. Without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness, God was manifest in the flesh. That's
the gospel message about His person, who He is and what He
has done. When He by Himself purged our sin, He sat down on
the right hand of God. And oh, by the way, where is
He now? He's on the throne of God. He's seated at the right
hand of God. He said, it's finished. He's
seated. What has the Lord done for us? He elected a people unto salvation. He chose us unto salvation. Our
Lord said, you didn't choose me, I chose you. What has the
Lord done for us? He chose us unto salvation. He's given us unto the Lord Jesus
Christ. What has the Lord done for us?
In time, He was manifested in the flesh. God manifested in
the flesh. He came and saved us by His faithful
obedience unto the law of God. working out for us a perfect
righteousness, freely giving that unto us. Our Lord said,
I didn't come to destroy the law and the prophets, but I came
to honor the law. In the fullness of time, God
sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
them that were under the law. What has the Lord done for us?
He elected a people unto salvation. He was manifested in the flesh
to come and save His people by His obedience unto the law of
God. What has the Lord done for us? The Lord Jesus Christ, as
the Redeemer and Savior and surety and sacrifice for His people,
died to put away their sin by the effectual sacrifice of His
own blood. His atonement was an attempt
to put away sin. It was a full atonement for the
sin of certain people given to the Lord Jesus Christ. A definite
atonement, a particular redemption. He laid down His life. You remember
Matthew 1.21? He laid down His life. He laid
down His life for the sheep, didn't He? The Lord Jesus Christ died for
our sin according to Scripture. What has the Lord done for us?
He laid in that tomb for Three days. His body did. He went back to glory with that
thief he had redeemed. He said, this day you will be
with me in paradise. But three days later, he was
resurrected from the dead, signifying that he did put away our sin
by the sacrifice of himself. Remember in the scripture, he
was delivered from our offenses and raised again because he justified
us? You see, his resurrection declares
unto us that what he did is effectual. In other words, it means it got
the job done. It got the job done. And the
Lord Jesus Christ not only was resurrected the third morning,
but 40 days later, He lived among men as a God-man glorified in
a glorified body. Forty days later, He ascended
to glory bodily, And right now, he is seated on the throne of
God, there living to intercede for us. And the glorious good
news about that is he ascended as the forerunner, as a representative
man for his people. And when he ascended, we ascended
in him. When he sat down, we sat down
in him. You know, we're already seated
together in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says
that in Ephesians 2. The forerunner for us has entered
in and he's seated. Lastly, the Lord Jesus Christ
is coming back for his church, is he not? He will have them
because he bought them with his own blood. He said, I'll go away. If I go away, I'll come again
and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also. The Lord Jesus Christ is coming
back. Remember we studied in Revelation
chapter 1 what it said, remember? Unto him who loved us and washed
us from our sin, in his own blood has made us kings and priests
unto our God. To him be all the honor and glory,
both now and forever. And then it says in verse 7,
Behold, he cometh. Remember? Revelation 1 verse
7, Behold, he cometh. But clouds in every eye shall
see him, they also which pierced him, and all the kings of the
earth shall wail because of him, even so. Amen. I'm Alpha Omega, the beginning,
the end, sayeth the Lord, which is, which was, and is to come,
the Almighty God. The Lord Jesus Christ is on His
way right now. One day we'll see him as he is
and be like him as he is.