Let's take our Bibles and turn
with me to the book of Mark, chapter 5. Mark, chapter 5. I'd like to look at verses 1
to 20, and so what I'm going to plan to do is just read some
scripture along and we'll make a few comments. This particular
passage of Scripture is an account about a demoniac, a man that
was possessed with demons. And it's recorded three different
times in the Scriptures, in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. And two of the
writers, Mark and Luke, speaks of one demoniac with whom the
Lord dealt. And I won't read all three accounts
for the sake of time, but you can go back and read them. It's Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Your Bibles will tell you where
the Scriptures are. But Matthew mentions this account
right here. He talks about two demoniacs. The only difference between the
account in Matthew's scripture that he wrote and Mark and Luke's
account is that Mark and Luke, and we're going to look at it
in Mark, but Mark and Luke deal with the mercy that the Lord
showed this one demoniac right here. And in Matthew's account,
when he was talking about two demoniacs, that's what it mentions. It mentions that there was two
of them, but Matthew talks about the mercy that God showed this
one right here. So from that account of saying
that there was two, and then Matthew, Mark, and Luke all spoke
of God's mercy to this one. You know what that says to me?
That we're all cut out of the same lump. All of us. But God's going to have mercy
on whom He'll have mercy. There was two demoniacs, both
of them in the same mass, same state. And the Lord chose to
show mercy to one of them. Why would He do that? Well, according
to the Scriptures. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I'll have mercy. I'm going to have compassion
on whom I'll have compassion. It's like that song we just sang.
Why not me? Why not me? Well, let's look
at this scripture here in Mark. Mark chapter 5. Let's look at
verses 1 to 5. They came over unto the other
side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the
ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an
unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the tombs, and no man could
bind him, no, not with chains, because that he had been often
bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces, neither could
any man tame him. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones." This demoniac here is a man that is possessed with
some demons. That's what a demoniac is. But this demoniac right here
we're going to find is a beautiful example of all that the Lord
Jesus Christ came to save. The Scripture says in 1 Timothy
1.15, this is a faithful saying. A faithful, this is a faithful
saying. Worthy of all acceptations, Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And Paul says,
of whom I'm chief. Every believer feels that way
about himself. Nobody thinks as badly as I do. Nobody is as inconsistent as
I am. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners.
But God's people, they feel like that. Now this demoniac, the
scripture says was one, he had an unclean spirit, a foul, demonic,
lewd spirit. And Matthew's account says that
he was exceeding fierce, that is, Beyond measure, and no body
could pass, no man could pass by the way that this demoniac
was, you know, without bodily harm, harassment. This demoniac
had been dwelling, the Scripture says, we just read, among the
tombs. A man without Christ, man, woman
without Christ. This is what they love, death. They love death. They love darkness. They love evil. Now you know,
we wouldn't know that if God didn't tell us that. You know
how I just grew up seeing myself? Pretty good guy. I mean, I'm
not, I guess I'm not perfect. You know, I can't think. I told
you one time I went to a I was in a church where I had to go
to this little box and tell this man on the other side what I
had done. And I could only think of one
sin that I'd ever committed. I broke this boy's toy. I told
you that. I broke his toy. That was the only sin I could
ever think of that I'd done. And I hid it. I put it under
some stuff in the garage. I remember that right now. I
remember doing it. I broke it and I stuck it on.
I hit it. I hit it. So therefore it was
covered. That sin was covered. Nobody
knew. Nobody ever figured it out. But this, the scripture
says, is the condemnation. Light has come into the world
and men loved darkness rather than light. Why? Because their
deeds are evil. Man at his best state is altogether
vain. Vanity. Now this demoniac, the
Scripture says, we just read, while he appeared incapable of
bondage, that's what it says, verse 3, had his dwelling among
the tombs, no man could bind him, no, not with chains. He had, because of these demons,
He couldn't chain him. They just broke him. This man, physically speaking,
he couldn't have broken those chains. But the Scripture says
that he broke the chains, broke the fetters off. I'm not bound. I'm free. You can't bind me. I am not bound. That man is in the greatest of
all bondage. He's in the bondage of sin. His soul is in bondage. And man
by nature doesn't even know it. You tell a man without Christ,
you're in bondage. Those Pharisees told the Lord
Jesus, we're not in bondage to anybody. We're free children. We're children of Abraham. I'm
a good guy. I'm free. My will is free. My heart, I can do anything I
want to do. You know, a bull can do anything he wants to do
within an enclosed area. He can run all over the place,
but he can't get out, not if it's strong. You know, he says,
I'm free. I'm free to do anything I want
to. Yeah. A sinner can do anything he wants to within the dictates
of his rebellion. He can rebel all he wants to.
But I can tell you this, he's in bondage, bondage, bondage. Here was a man who like all of
us, now listen, there's no difference in this man, any of us, as we're
born in Adam. The Lord looked from heaven,
what did He see? They're all gone out of the way. There's
none good, none righteous. Every thought of the imagination,
evil. Evil. Somebody said, I don't
think I'm thinking evil. The Lord says, that's what we
think. That's all we do. Every imagination
of our heart. Evil. And this poor man, night
and day, in the mountains and tombs, crying, cutting himself,
mutilating the body. Listen to this, that was originally
made to glorify God. Now every one of us sitting here
has got a body. Every one of us has got a mouth. Every man
got a mouth, you got ears. Every one of these bodies were
created to glorify God, to speak of the glory of God, to sing
to the glory of God, praise of God. These ears right here, you
know why this ear was made? To hear. Hear the gospel. But you know what? Because of
the bondage of our soul, we're satisfied to be in the
tombs of rebellion and death and darkness. That's the way
this man was. This flesh, this old nature is
not tamed. We think it is. But for the grace
of God it's going to be judged. Now on the outside, this man's
case seemed utterly hopeless. No man could tame him, not even
himself. Try to corral your thoughts and
tell me if you can keep yourself from thinking evil, thinking
nasty, thinking bad. Try to keep yourself. get my
thoughts under control here. I'm not going to think one evil
thought anymore." Well, you just did by just even saying that. Call God a liar? No. This man right here, what he
needed, he needed a new heart. That old flesh with which he
was born, that you were born with, I was born with, You know
what we need? We need a new heart. Does a man
have to be born again? Absolutely. Except a man be born
again, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Does a man have to be
regenerated? And I'll tell you this, every
man, every woman regenerated by the grace of God, they know
this, in that regeneration, They know something about what they
are by nature. They know that. And they know
that God's sovereign. They know they couldn't regenerate
themselves. Every person regenerated by the grace of God knows that.
Except you be born again, born from above. You cannot see the
kingdom of God. So here's a man, here's the way
we are. This is that demoniac right there. All of us just like
that. We look at him and say, boy,
he's pitiful. Yeah? Well, we just like him. Look
at verse 68. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped Him, and cried with a loud voice, and
said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the
Most High God? I assure thee by God that thou
torment me not. For he said unto him, Come out
of the man, thou unclean spirit." Now, let me tell you what just
happened. Here was this man, and the Scripture,
the way we read those Scriptures, 6, 7, 8, let me tell you what
happened first. The Lord Jesus Christ had come
to the other side, and He said to the demon, come out of the
man first. And then the man came over. You say, how do you know that?
You see the word for in verse 8? It means because. For he said, because he said. What happened? Here was a man
in the tombs cutting himself, demoniac, Couldn't bind. And this man, because the Lord
had said to the demons, come out of him, thou unclean spirit,
then he runs to the Lord, bows down, worships. Now, knowing that the Lord spoke
first, now that just, here's what happened. He saw Jesus afar
off, ran and worshipped Him, cried with a loud voice, said,
What have I to do with Thee? Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High
God, I assure Thee by God, torment me not, because He said unto him, Come out of
him. The Lord spoke first. And then
this demoniac came. This demon-possessed man who
was filled with," and we'll see in a minute, a legion of demons, ran and bowed down, and listen
who's speaking. Now, the Scripture says he worshipped. It says when he saw Jesus, he
ran and worshipped. Now, what I'm about to say, I've
looked up, and confident according to the understanding of these
words that I'm saying the right thing. I looked it up again just
to make sure. The one that's actually going
to be speaking is the demon. The one that bows down and worships. Here's what the word worship
means. To show reverence, first of all,
and that's not in a way of seeking mercy. But this demon bowed down
and worshipped the Lord Jesus Christ, because here's the other
definition, to make supplication to one you recognize as superior. That's what the word means. To
bow down and to make supplication to one that you know has got
you in control. Bowed down. He worshipped. This demon had been commanded
in verse 8 by the Lord Jesus Christ to come out of the man.
This demon ran up. Mr. Gill says concerning that
word right there where he worshipped, he was filled with horror. Every
knee is going to bow, every tongue is going to confess that Jesus
is Lord. Now this demon didn't come and
bow down to worship Him like God's people worship Him. That's
not what I'm saying. He bowed down because he knew
who he was dealing with. He bowed down to make supplication
to one that he recognized as superior. This demon, he crouched before,
he prostrated himself. Not out of adoration to the Lord.
Not out of pleading for mercy. He didn't ask for that. This
is what he wanted. I want you to spare me from torment
for a while. A little while. He knew that he was under the
absolute control of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew that. He
knew that the Lord was going to torment him and his time was
coming. Look at Matthew 8. I'll read
this portion out of that Matthew's account. Matthew 8, 29. Matthew
8, 29. Let's read 28 and 29. When he was come to the other
side of the country of the Gergeshins, there met him two possessed with
devils, coming out of the tombs exceeding fierce, so that no
man might pass that way. And behold, they cried out, saying,
What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? Art thou
come hither to torment us before the time?" You know what they knew? Our
time is coming. There's coming a time that the
Lord Jesus Christ is going to cast us into the lake of fire.
I know that. Back in Mark 5, the Lord came
to this side of the Sea of Galilee and He saw this demoniac and
He spoke to the demon in the demoniac and said, come out of
him. And that demoniac bowed down,
the devil started speaking, that demon started speaking. The Scripture sets forth that
this legion of demons appealed to the Lord. They were possessing this man.
And they were possessing this man, now listen to me, they were
possessing this man because number one, They truly wanted to, no
doubt about it. But they did so by the absolute
permission of the Lord Jesus Christ. They could not have come into
this man, this object of God's mercy, and you know what's going
to happen. You know the end of the story. You've heard this
story before. You know what's going to happen. The Lord's going
to cast him out. He's going to give this man a
new heart. You know what's going to happen. Well, what does that
mean? That means that this man right here, that the Lord obviously
is going to save, was an object of God's mercy before the foundation
of the world. How long has the Lord known him?
He's always known him. How long has the Lord loved him?
He's always loved him. Was there ever a time that the
Lord didn't love this demoniac? Based on what the Lord is going
to do for him, no, there's never time he didn't love him. I've
loved you with an everlasting love. That's why I drew you. Well, how did these demons get
there? The Lord allowed them to go there. Allowed them to go there? Do you think that Almighty God
who rules in heaven and earth, He does as He will, you think
that concerning Him who has all power in heaven and earth, you
think these demons just slipped in somewhere without Him knowing
it? Whenever Satan came before the
Lord concerning Job, and the Lord said, have you considered
My servant Job? A just man, one that sheweth evil, one that shuns,
hates evil. Satan said, oh, well, I understand
that, but I can't get to Him. You've got to hedge about Him.
You are the walls and bulwarks. That's what we talked about last
Wednesday. You're the salvation of your people. I'd get to him
if I could, but you won't let me. That's the only reason I
don't get him though." The Lord said, you can have him. You can't
kill him, but you can have him. How did these demons get here?
The same way Satan got to Job. God allowed it. Why would the
Lord allow that? Romans 8, 28 says, all things
work together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are the called according to His purpose. Somebody said,
I don't think that sin is going to be to the glory of God. Let
me tell you something. I may not be able to figure it
all out, but I can tell you this, if sin is included in all things,
all things, all things, even the wrath of man is going
to praise Him. And the rest of the Lord is going to constrain.
The Lord will allow whatever He's pleased to do to happen,
to bring glory to Himself for the good of His people. How did
these demons get there? I can tell you this, the all-powerful
Lord Jesus Christ permitted it. How did sin enter the Garden
of Eden? How did Satan Did he slip by
God? You think God couldn't stop him? Who do you think we're dealing
with? This demon comes before the Lord
and prostrates himself. And he says, after the Lord has
said to him, come out of him, I will assure thee, by God, that
you torment me not. What have we got to do with you?
This is what that demon said. I'm going to give you the literal
of that. I want you to swear by the living God that you will
not distress us and send us to our own place right now. I want
you to swear by God's name. That's what he said, verse 7.
I assure thee by God, I want you to give me your word according
to God, you're not going to do this. What have we to do with thee?
You're going to torment us before our time. The demons know, 1
John 3, 8, for this purpose the Son of Man was manifested that
he might destroy the works of the flesh. I want you to notice
the arrogance of these demons. Telling the Lord Jesus Christ,
What they want him to do? The Lord says in verses 9 and
10, He asked them, What is thy name? And he answered saying,
My name is Legion, but we are many. And he besought him much
that he would not send them away out of the country. He just kept
begging and begging and begging, making supplication to the one
before whom he knew. He knelt, bowed before. Here's the Lord compelling this
demon, you tell me who you are. What is your name? You think
the Lord knew his name? The Lord created him. This is
one of the fallen angels. The Lord made these demons. These
belong to Him. They're His. They're under His
control. This is not a battle between
Satan and the Lord, trying to see who's going to get the upper
hand or who will catch the one, you know. Are you kidding? He's
God. He's God. This is who we're dealing
with. And here they are, He's going to, you know, He tells
them, He says, what's your name? We're Legion. Legion. We're many. He's going to make
them admit we were cast out at His Word. What's your name? We're
a legion of demons. You know, boy, what a big difference.
I was thinking about this this morning. Turn over to Acts 19.
You know, here's the Lord. The Lord told them to come out.
They're coming out. You know that. They're coming
out. What a difference between Him who is all-powerful Look
at Acts 19, verse 13 to 16. Then certain of the vagabond
Jews, exorcists took upon them to call over them which had evil
spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We assure thee... This is what that demon told
me. He said, I assure you. I want
you to give me your word. We assure thee by Jesus whom
Paul preaches, There were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, chief
among the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered
and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know, but who are you? And the man in whom the evil
spirit was leaped upon them and overcame them, prevailed against
them so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. When the Lord speaks, They're
coming out. When a man speaks, nothing happens
unless it's the Word of God and God blesses it. I'll tell you
that. Back in Mark. In Hebrews 10-14, And he besought him much that
he would not send him away out of the country. And there were
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. The herd ran violently down a
steep place into the sea. They were about 2,000, were choked
in the sea. They that fed the swine fled
and told it in the city and country. They went out to see what it
was that was done. When these demons asked the Lord, send us into
the swine. And the Lord gave them leave.
He didn't give them leave to send those demons into the swine
because he thought, well, I guess that's a good idea. He was doing
exactly what the Lord God of heaven had sent him to do. He
said, I do always those things that please Him, not the demons. If the Lord permitted those demons
to go into the swine, it was because it was God's will that
they go into the swine. He ruleth, remember, in the army
of heaven among the inhabitants of the earth. But I got to thinking
about this. Why? Why? Why? And I'm going to just tell
you right now. The scripture is silent on the
why. So what I'm going to say is,
I'm going to say as Robert Hawker says, I say this by way of thought. And may the Lord give us understanding.
But I'm just, I'm thinking here. These demons wanted to go into
the swine. They asked to. Why? Could it
be their hatred? of the Lord Jesus Christ, causing
them to kill the swine and the people of the community, the
country, raise up against the Lord? Be mad? Could it? I say these things. The Lord
sent them into the swine and they drowned. I know that. They
entered into those pigs. Those pigs ran violently down
a steep place. They drowned. But concerning
the reason the Lord Jesus Christ sent him into the swine. Was
it not, first of all, he had power to do so? Secondly, it
was his will that he did so? But here's the third point of
that, and this is where I'm mainly going to consider. What happened
when the people of the city came out to see what had happened
to the swine for themselves. Look at verses 15-16. And they
come to Jesus. Well, okay. They that fed the
swine, verse 14, fled, told them in the city, country, they went
out to see what was done. And they come to Jesus and see
him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion sitting
and clothed in his right mind, and they were afraid. And they
that saw it, Those people that were watching the swine, they
that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed
with the devil and also concerning the swine. Here's what happened.
All those that were watching the swine, they said, listen,
it wasn't our fault. 2,000 swine, that's a lot of
pigs. A lot of money. A lot of real
estate there. Somebody owned that. Somebody
owned those pigs. 2,000 pigs? It wasn't our fault. We were
doing what y'all told us to do. We had them under control. And
all we know is that this one that they call the Lord Jesus
spoke to this guy that has been a thorn in our flesh all this
time that we couldn't bind and everything. And he told this
one with the demons, he told the demons to come out. And then
he ran over and he bowed down and we heard him speak. We heard him say, send us into
the swine. And we heard him say, go in the
swine. And the swine ran. And they all
went into the Sea of Galilee and they drowned. We're not responsible. That's what they were doing.
They came. They told them that came out
of the city when they came to see what was done. They said
in verse 16, they that saw it told them how it befell to him
that was possessed with the devil and also concerning the swine.
This is what happened. You're not going to make us pay
for these, are you? That was all they were concerned about.
Here they come and they find this man. that nobody could bind,
not with chains. And the scripture says concerning
this one in verse 15, here's how they found him. He was sitting
and clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Something is very strange here.
Something's going on. Here was a man, and here's a
beautiful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ regenerating a man. Here was a man sitting, resting
at the feet of the Lord Jesus. And this one that had been among
the tombs and crying, cutting himself with stones, now he was
clothed. In Luke's account, it's Luke
8.27, it said this man didn't wear no clothes. This man was
naked. Here's a picture of a man with
no righteousness before God, like Adam and Eve. As soon as
they rebelled against God, that's what they know. We're naked.
We've got to clothe ourselves. We're going to make us some big
leaves and cover ourselves. Here's a man right here. And
now, he puts some clothes on. A picture of the glorious imputation
of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ that clothes him
before God. And here's a man, the Scripture
says, in his right mind. I think about that prodigal son.
He was over there feeding him pigs, the Scripture says, and
came to himself. He said, I'm going to go back
to my father's house. I'm going to tell him I've sinned against
you. I've done it in sight of heaven. I'm not worthy. You put the best robe on that
boy, put some shoes on his feet, rang up his hand, killed the
fatty calf. Here's a man in his right mind. And these people
were afraid. Not with fear or reverence of
the Lord, but they were afraid. of losing their authority, losing
their property. This is the reason right here
why, or one reason, I think, that the Lord sent those swine
in there to expose these people for what they are. This is what
it is. The Scripture sets forth that
we are to love, not the world. Neither the things that are in
the world. If any man loved the world, the
love of the Father is not in him. Almighty God put those devils
in those swine, they ran in there, drowned themselves, and these
people came over there, and here was a man that they couldn't
even control, and he was sitting in his right mind, talking, clothed,
resting at the feet of the Lord, wasn't cutting himself anymore.
And they're concerned about their pigs. Concerned about their pigs. Verse 17 says, they began to
pray Him to depart out of their coast. They didn't want the Lord. Not this Lord. Not this one. I don't want a sovereign God.
Now if it's somebody we can deal with and we can order around
and we can do what we will, when we will, how we will, if it's
that kind of Jesus, I'll take Him, but not you. I don't want
you. They would rather have the temporal
things of this world than the Lord Jesus Christ. They'd rather
die in their sins than have the Savior of sinners. Let me ask
you this, and I'm quoting Scripture. What is a man profited if he
gained the whole world and loses his own soul? What's a man going
to give in exchange for his soul? We look at amazement. With God
who is God. Verse 18, when he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed
him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not. but saith unto him, Go home to
thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done
for thee, and hath had compassion on thee. And he departed, and
began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for him, and all men did marvel." Now here's the evidence of God's
grace. They said to the Lord, those
of the city, depart from us, and he was leaving. He was leaving. Here was the one that had been
possessed of the devil, They wanted to go with Him. They wanted
to be with Him. But the Lord, according to His
everlasting covenant of grace, His will and His purpose, did
something that nobody would have ever dreamed. This man said,
possessed of the devil, I want to go with you. And the Lord
says, no. Here's what I want you to do. I want you to go home, go to
your friends, and you tell them, what I did for you. You go home and tell them how
you used to be in the tombs in darkness and cut yourself. No man could bind you. You go
tell those of your household that men are totally depraved
sinners. That's what I want you to go tell them. I want you to
go home and tell them How the Lord hath had compassion on you. That's what I'm going to say
right now. He will have mercy and compassion on whomsoever
He will. This man right here came to the
Lord and asked Him if he could go. And the Lord said, no. This
is what I want you to do. I want you to go home and tell
Him that I've had mercy on you, compassion on you, And I want
you to go to your friends, you tell them this, and here's what
he did. Verse 20, he departed and began to publish. Now let
me tell you an amazing thing about that word publish. That
word means to cry aloud, to preach. God called this man to preach
the gospel. And he went back, and the Scripture
says in verse 20, he departed at the Lord's command. He said,
my sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me. He departed and began to publish
in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him, and all
men did marvel. If Lord would save a man like
that, who knows, he may save me. He may save one like me. May the Lord bless these words
to our hearts.