Back now in Mark chapter 5, the Lord has come for one of
his own. He's told the demoniac, after
he was converted, you go home and you tell him, what great
things the Lord has done for thee. That compassion, The Lord found him in the dregs of his spiritual
darkness and deadness. And the scripture says in verse
6, when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. Now this man is filled with demons. And obviously, there was a time
when he didn't notice the Lord. It says, but when he saw Jesus,
something happened that caused him to take notice of the Lord. This man, filled with demons,
runs unto the Lord and worships, renders unto Him homage, not
because we're going to find out who's talking here, not in worship
of who he is and praising him for his goodness and graciousness
and mercy and compassion. No, he's acknowledging his power
and his control over him. Listen to who spoke. Verse 7 said, cried with a loud
voice and said, Now here are demons through the
voice of this man. They're speaking and they're
using this man's voice and I know that because of what they say. He cried with a loud voice and
said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the
Most High? I assure thee by God that thou
torment me not. Here's what he said. I know who
you are. I know who you are. There was
a man. Scripture declared Mark 1, 23-24,
there was in the synagogue a man with an unclean spirit and cried
out saying, let us alone. What have we to do with thee,
thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God. What they said
to the Lord was when he cried out and said, what have I to
do with thee? Here's what it actually means. What do I have
in common with you? What do I have in common with
you? For these demons, there was no
hope. There was no pardon, no redemption,
no mercy. The Lord came into this world
to save out of the mass of humanity, men, not fallen angels. What have we to do with you? We have nothing in common with
you. Now the Lord, the scripture,
sets forth why. they ran up to him. In verse
8, it says for or because. It started off in verse 6, when
he saw Jesus far off, he ran and worshipped him and then cried
out, I assure you, don't torment me because the Lord said unto
him, come out of the man thou unclean spirit. That's why the
demon animated that man to do what he did. Now the demoniac,
the man himself, the object of God's mercy, here was one, as
we said in the first service, that the Lord eternally loved. He loved that man. I've always loved you. an everlasting love. And the
Lord was getting ready to teach him something. Now he's going
to have something to say about this in the end here when the
Lord says, you go back and tell him what the Lord has done. Great
things the Lord done for you. Go back and tell him. Right here,
this man is going to learn something that he by nature and none of
us either know until the Lord teaches us. Here's what this
man is going to find out. When that demon started saying,
what have I to do with you? Are you here to torment me or
as the other one said, before our time? Are you here to execute
judgment before it's time? What is this man going to learn
here? That God Almighty is just. And He is going to deal with
sin and rebellion against Himself in absolute justice and wrath. Now, let me tell you what man
by nature does not know. He will admit, Oh, I know that
there's, you know, I've heard about the day of judgment. Do
you realize that man by nature If he truly knew in his heart,
I am going to stand before God, and God is actually going to
deal with sin. All sin is going to be dealt
with. It's either been dealt with already
in a substitute, or God's going to deal with it in that person,
in that demon. He's going to cast these demons,
Satan, and all workers of iniquity into the lake of fire. He learned
something here. God is just. Again, man by nature
doesn't know that. God is a just God. And another
thing that he sees here, that man by nature is born with a
carnal mind. That demon exhibited what men
by nature are. The Lord told the Pharisees,
He said, you are of your father, the devil. That's how you think. That's why you do, that's why
you say what you say, that's why you believe what you believe
about me, He said. You're of your father, the devil,
to be carnally minded. to give mind or credence to the
flesh, to the old nature and its desires and ability. That's
carnally minded. That's death. But to be spiritually
minded is life and peace because the carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject. It's not in
subjection to God's Word. Neither indeed can be. So God
taught him something. God's just. Why? Men are born
with a carnal mind. That demon exhibited, you know,
had no respect for. I don't have anything to do with
you. So disrespectful. That's man by nature. Disrespect for God. There's no fear of God in their
eyes. They don't fear the Lord. They
don't respect Him. And I'll tell you another thing
that he learned. And everyone that God's called
out of darkness, I guarantee you in this service right here,
everyone knows this point too. This man was taught that all
outward show of supposed worship without a new heart and regenerating
grace is of the devil. What did it say he did? This
demon ran and worshiped him. Again, not out of honor to him,
But out of the realization, this is the one that's going to pass
judgment on me. And he worshipped. Now can you just imagine how
that would look to someone on the outside? They saw this demoniac
and he was worshipping, it says. He was showing some homage. They're
just kind of standing back and looking at that. But do you know
what that worship was? It was an acknowledgement of
the Lord's power and justice and judgment was coming. True
worship, true worship is the effect, the scripture says, of
knowing God. This is life eternal, that they
might know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom Thou
hast sent. That they might know and love
and desire to be obedient to the Lord. True worship is out
of a new heart. Without that, it's not true worship. He was said to worship, but the
Lord knew. This world is filled with congregations
claiming to be worshiping the Lord. Now this is just so. This
is what I'm going to tell you that you know. They claim to
be worshiping God, but if the Lord has not been pleased to
reveal Himself to them. If they've not been taught the
report or the doctrine of God Almighty's revelation, then it's
nothing more than the worship of demons. That's all it is.
Hold your place and turn with me to Isaiah 53. Isaiah 53. Now this is, this is, I'm going
to just try to be simple, but I'm going to be very plain. Isaiah
53 verses 1 to 5. Who hath believed our report? Who has believed our doctrine?
Who has believed the gospel that we preach? And to whom is the
arm of the Lord, the power of the Lord revealed? What is the power of the Lord?
The gospel of Christ. For he, that is the Lord, shall
grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of dry ground. He hath no form nor comeliness,
and when we see him there is no beauty that we should desire
in him. That's what this demon and all
left in trespasses and sins believe. I don't see any beauty in him.
Until the Lord revealed himself to any of us, until the Lord
Spirit of God was pleased to reveal the gospel to us. Did
we see any beauty in that? The answer is no. No. He is despised. and rejected a man, a man of
sorrows, acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces
from him. He was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Surely he hath borne our griefs,
carried our sorrows, yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten
of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed." Now, here's the
point I want to make. While I was reading that passage
of scripture, how many times did it mention ours and us? Verse 3, he's despised and rejected
a man, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. We hid, as it were,
our faces from him. He was despised. We esteemed
him not. He's borne our griefs. He carried
our sorrows. Now let me tell you what the
natural man is going to do. When the natural man reads that,
he's going to actually read that and just come to this conclusion. Well, the Lord bore the transgressions
of the world. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. And so the question would be,
with all of the places where worship is taking place, what
is being proclaimed concerning for whom Christ died. They said,
well, I just read Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions.
He bruised for our iniquities. He died for everybody, but the
Lord qualified it. In John 10, 15, he said, I laid
down my life for the sheep. That's the hour. That's the us. That's for whom he was bruised. Oh, what great things the Lord
has taught this man. He taught him that God comes
from heaven for his sheep. He comes to seek and to say that
which was lost. Who? All that the Father giveth
me. They're coming to me. I'm not going to cast him out.
He was taught that all men are born with an unclean spirit before
God, and they must be sovereignly rescued according to God's grace
and purpose. He was taught that all men deserve
judgment, that God's just. If you come to torment us before
our time, I've got to do with you. He was taught that all worship
and the appearance of it, and the claim of it, If it's not
founded upon the truth of the doctrine of Christ, of God's
sovereign grace, electing, sovereign electing, sovereign redeeming,
sovereign regenerating, sovereign keeping, sovereign drawing, If
it's not based upon the doctrine that God reveals for God's elect,
if it's not, it is nothing more than the worship of a devil. That's all it is. And whoever fails to declare
this gospel, whoever fails to preach this
message, is under the judgment of God.
I'll read this to you. I've told you this many times,
we've read it many times, but I'll just read it again. But though we are an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we've
preached unto you, let him be accursed. And as we've said before,
so say I now again. This is the next verse. If any
man preach any other gospel unto you than that which we've received,
let him be accursed. You know, I read that this morning
and I thought, the Spirit of God moved upon Paul to say that
twice, back to back. You ever been watching a commercial
on television? Now go through the whole commercial.
And all of a sudden they just go back and do the same commercial
again. You thought, they just did that. But you know what they
did? They took notice. That's good
advertising. That's good. That's a way to
get somebody's attention. That's what the Spirit of God
told Paul to say. You say this and you say it again. I'm telling
you, if we or an angel from heaven preaches any other gospel than
this, let him be accursed. So here this man's been taught
some great things. He's learning some things. And
then the Scripture declares in verse 9, He asked, the Lord asked
this demon, what is thy name? And he answered saying, my name
is Legion, for we are many. Now let me ask you something.
Do you think that that was some information that the Lord didn't
have? Do you think the Lord didn't know who he was? He didn't ask it for himself.
He asked it and made that demon admit for the benefit of those
that were listening. He was going to set forth before
them this is the problem right here. These demons were made
to announce openly before men who they were and to admit before
men that their masses set forth the great power delegated power, but power of
Satan, but the omnipotence, the all power of the Lord Jesus Christ
who was going to deliver such a one as this demoniac. These
demons were filling this man. He asked him, he said, what's
your name? You tell everybody here who you
are. They said, My name is Legion. Now, there's no doubt I've had
people ask me, do you think that there's still demons today? Well,
yeah. Is there any scripture that says
that they're not? No. In fact, I'm going to show you
a scripture that says they're here. These demons who were in
the midst of those people, we read a lot about them, but they're
still. here today. And they're still here to do
exactly what they were doing in this case, to disrupt and
just to do anything they could to cause confusion and, you know,
just mess up whatever they possibly could. But thanks be unto God
that the Lord has sent ministering spirits to minister for those
who shall be heirs of salvation. That's Hebrews 1.14. Now here's
the scripture that says, It answers whether or not there's demons
today. Ephesians 6, 12. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against rulers
of the darkness of this world and spiritual wickedness in high
places. Are there demons today? Yes.
Yes. I wouldn't doubt one second.
They're not in every place where the gospel is being preached
today. They're all over the place. Paul
says that's who we're wrestling against. And the powers that
are against God's people, against the Lord and God's people, are
many. What is your name? My name is
Legion. Legion was 6,000 soldiers in
a Roman army. 6,000 soldiers. Now was there 6,000? I don't
know, but I can tell you this. They're getting ready to put
them in 2,000 swine. There was more than one. My name is Legion. Are they here? Yeah, they're here. Yeah, that's
who we're wrestling against. That's what the Spirit of God
says. We wrestle against powers, rulers of the darkness and in
this world. They're of this world. But I want you to go back. Jot
this down. Go back and read this story. I'm not going to read
it for the sake of time. 2 Kings 6. Read this story. A servant
of Elijah looked around and saw the Assyrian army surrounded
him. Wasn't this a good story, Neil? He comes, the servant tells
his master, we're surrounded. The Assyrians has got us hemmed
in. Elijah said, Lord, would you open my servant's eyes? And
scripture says he opened the servant's eyes, and he saw chariots
of fire all the way around the Syrians, all the angels of the
Lord, there for the protection of Elijah and his servant. And here's what Elijah said,
fear not. Are they here? Yeah, they're
here. They're here. Rest assured, they're here. Fear
not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with
them. Isn't that good news? Are they
here? Yeah, they're here. But Almighty
God has set forth, I'm not gonna leave you. I'm not gonna forsake
you. We're more than conquerors through
him that loved us. And then the Lord was pleased
to teach him another great thing. Look at verses 10 to 13. And
he besought him much that he would send them, this is the
demon. He besought him much that he would send them away out of
the country. Now there was nigh unto 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.
And forthwith Jesus gave them leave and the unclean spirits
went out and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently
down a steep place into the sea They were about 2,000 and were
choked in the sea. Now remember, the demoniac is
a picture of God's elect. The demons, that's a picture
of sin. That's our problem, filled with
sin. That's all we are, we're sinners.
And this man, for him to have any hope of deliverance, Those
demons were going to have to be cast out and dealt with. And when the Lord gave those
demons permission to enter the swine, it wasn't for their good
or their pleasure. It wasn't for their satisfaction,
just so they could go away. The Lord was going to teach this
man some great things, and this is what He taught him. For your
sin to be dealt with in justice. it's going to have to be transferred
into another. And the Lord gave those demons
leave. It was the Lord that would move
upon them to even ask what they asked. They thought they just
came up with that. The Lord is going to show him
something, that object of His mercy. And He caused those, He
gave them leave. He said, OK, now you get out.
And just as those demons were transferred into those swine,
The sin of God's elect was given to the Lord Jesus Christ. He
hath made Him to be sin for us. He who knew no sin, that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. The swine, that was
the type of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Somebody said, well,
I'd never say that. Well, let me ask you this, will
you read 2 Corinthians 5.21, He had made him to be sin, the
uncleanness. The Lord knew no sin. He knew
no sin. You know that. But there was
a divine transfer to another and they were a picture and type
of that which the Lord did for His people. And what did it cost
those swine? Their life. Their life. While they were in that demoniac,
you know the only reason that they didn't kill that demoniac?
Because the Lord was long-suffering to us, not willing that any should
perish. The Lord kept them. They didn't
have the power to kill that demoniac. The Lord delivered him, absolutely. And He made our guilt, the guilt
of His elect, to be His. and they were his, they became
his. Isaiah 40, 12, mine, mine iniquities
have taken hold upon me. I'm not able to look up, they
are more than the hairs of mine head, therefore my heart faileth. And those demons entered those
swine, they ran violently down, destroyed themselves. Christ himself redeemed us from
the curse of the law being made a curse for us. Then, as I wrap
this up, the Lord taught him something else, that man by nature
wants nothing to do with Christ. 14 to 17, they that fed the swine
fled, told it in the city and the country, they went out to
see what was done, they come to Jesus, see him, he that was
possessed with the devil, had the legion, he was sitting, clothed,
in his right mind, they were afraid. 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. Now the Lord had shown mercy
and compassion and had delivered this demoniac from those demons. And they witnessed it. They saw
this. They saw what happened. The one
that nobody could bind. Chains wouldn't hold Him. They
were scared of Him. They didn't want to have anything
to do. And the whole city, in Matthew's account, chapter 8,
says the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they
saw Him, they besought Him that He would depart out of their
coast. But here was a man now, before he was cutting himself
and crying out, just like a madman. That's what he was. He was just
a madman. And now he's sitting down. He's sitting down. The Lord said,
you come unto me, all you that labor heavy laden. I'll give
you rest. He was clothed. Here was a picture
now of what those that believe on the Lord Jesus Christ have
done for them. They're robed in the righteousness
of Christ and He was in His right mind. A mind now with some understanding
concerning the mercy and compassion that God had shown him, what
the Lord had done for him. God hath not given us a spirit
of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind. A mind that
has now a soberness concerning the truth as it is in Christ
Jesus. And they were afraid. They were
afraid. Here's a man now sitting with
some sense, and he's not naked, and they're afraid. That's the same thing that happened
to Felix. I'll read this to you, Acts 24. Felix had asked Paul
to come over and preach for him, and the scripture says, Acts
24, verse 24-25, after certain days when Felix came with his
wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, He sent for Paul and heard him
concerning the faith in Christ. And as he reasoned of righteousness,
Paul began to tell him concerning righteousness, what God demands,
what the Lord demands, the requirement of the law. He said a reason
of righteousness and temperance, that is, that new nature that's
found within God's people that has a desire to resist evil. And of judgment to come that
Christ is coming back and there's going to be a day of reckoning. Paul was preaching to him and
telling the truth. And when Paul was preaching of
righteousness and temperance and judgment, Felix trembled. He was afraid just like these
others. He trembled. He was terrified
of it. were said to be afraid. They'd seen something that God
had done for this demoniac, and now here they were in a state
of witnessing the mercy of God, and they were afraid. There was
no faith. And when men hear the truth of
the justice and the judgment and righteousness of God and
God's demand, and they don't know of a substitute for themselves,
That's a fearful thing. He says, I don't have anything
to do with you. They were afraid. And they prayed
Him to depart out of the coast, and here's what it says, and
when He was coming to the ship, you want Him to leave? Let me
ask you something. What is the result of one that the Lord leaves
to Himself? Now we're all like this, all
by nature we're like this, we don't have anything to do with
it, but if the Lord leaves a man to Himself, a woman to themselves,
And they don't want to have anything to do with Christ. And he leaves
them. Whose fault was that? When he was coming to the ship,
they prayed to him, we want you to leave. Okay? When he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed
unto him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him
not, but saith unto him, you go home to your friends. You
tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. and
have had compassion on thee. Let me ask you something. You
think this guy had a good subject matter to preach? You think he
knew something? You think he had something to
say now? Yeah, I'll tell you. What has the Lord done for me?
What has he done for every object of his mercy? He came from heaven. to deliver me from the guilt
of my sins, found me in the dregs of my depravity, hating Him and
hating everything that had anything to do with Him, showed me the
only truth of the power of God and salvation, true worship is
hearing of God's sovereign grace, God's mercy. What has He done
for me? He took my guilt off of me and
gave it to Christ. Christ took it and bore it. and
paid the penalty and suffered and died and shed his own blood
that I might have life. What has he done for me? He's
robed me in righteousness. He's gave me a new mind. He's
allowed me to rest from my labors. And he's shown me that my heart's
desire now is to tell somebody else about what he's done for
me. Who knows? The Lord may save somebody else.
He saved this sinner. He can do it. I know if He will,
He can. I pray God bless this to our
heart for Christ's sake. Amen.