here that I want to read to you
here this evening and one of them is in Mark chapter 5 and
verse 6 and the other one is in Luke chapter 15 and verse
20. in Mark chapter 5 and verse 6. It says, And when he saw Jesus
afar off, he ran and worshipped him. Now, that was that maniac
of the country of the Gadarenes. He was the fellow that lived
among the tombs. He lived in the graveyard, and
no man could bind him. They put him in chains. And it
says that because 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 and in the tombs, crying
and cutting himself with stones. when he saw Jesus afar off, he
ran and worshipped him. And over here in Luke chapter 15 and verse 20, it says, this has to do with
this fellow that we refer to many times as the prodigal son.
You know that story. And it says here, right in the
middle of the story, in verse 20, it says, And he arose, that
is, the prodigal son. He had left his father and went
down in this far country and wasted his money. But there come
a time when I believe the Spirit of God enlightened that fellow. And he says he arose, he resolved,
he had determination. He arose and he came to his father
in all of his rags, all of his ruin, all of his disgrace. He came like he was. He didn't
come all dressed up, but he came like he was. And he said he arose
and he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way
off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on
his neck and kissed him. Now, these two verses that I've
read to you have a similarity, a measure of likeness. In Mark chapter 5 and verse 6,
the man runs to Jesus from afar. And in Luke 15 and 20, it says
that the father runs to the prodigal son from afar. Now, you and I
know this much. They both run. The prodigal runs and the father
runs. And when two run, to meet each
other, they soon meet. When one is coming from this
direction and one is coming from this direction, they soon meet. Now, when a sinner is running
to the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father is running to the
sinner, there is going to be a happy meeting when they come
together. There is going to be a time of
rejoicing. Over in one of the previous verses,
in chapter 14, I believe, of the book of Luke, it talks about
the shepherd that had a hundred sheep. Ninety-nine was in the
fold and one had strayed. And the shepherd went after the
sheep, and after great distress and trials and troubles and toils,
he found the sheep that went astray, the sheep that was lost. And he put it on his shoulders
and brought it back. And he told them, when he got
back, he said, Rejoice with me, I have found my sheep. A time of rejoicing. When one's running, the center's
running, and the Lord is running, and they meet, there is a happy
time. There is rejoicing. The Bible
says that they rejoice in heaven over one sinner that repents.
They not only rejoice in heaven, but they rejoice on earth when
one sinner repents. So the result is, when the two
come together, there is a happy meeting. The result is that there
is joy in heaven and joy on earth also. In the case of the man
running to Christ, in Mark chapter 5, verse 6, we read, it says,
When he seen Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. Now, the first thing I want to
call to your notice or to your attention is a type of the sinner's
place. He is far off from Jesus Christ
as to his character. Every sinner outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ is typified in the character of this man who was
running to the Lord. He was far off. Every sinner
is far off from the Lord Jesus. He's far off. Some say, well,
the drunkard, he's far off from Christ. The harlot's far off
from Christ. The thief is far off from Christ. And I'm sure that's true. But
everybody, the self-righteous man, the hypocrite, the indifferent,
all men outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is far off from Jesus
Christ as to character. They are so far off, as I have
often said, they are so far off from God they will never come
back unless the Good Shepherd goes out where they are and gets
them. They won't come back. They are
that far off from God. Outside of the Lord Jesus, he's
far off from God. He's lost. That's what the Bible
says. He's lost. He's far off. Jesus
came to seek and to save that which is lost. Sinners are lost. Where are they? They're way off
from God. No desire to come home. You holler
and tell them, say, come home, come home. They don't hear you.
They haven't got ears to hear or eyes to see. They're so far
off. There's no need for me to try
to describe even our past lives. There's no need for me to tell
you how far off from God I was and name all of my sins. No need to tell you that. You
know about it. You know about it because what's
true with me is true with you. Isn't that right? Don't need
to describe it. You know you never loved God
and you hated God and you wasn't looking for God. You was running
from God. You didn't find God. He found
you. Isn't that right? He was lost. God's not lost. The sinner's
lost. He's far off from God. So, no
need for me to describe a portion of our unsavory, ungodly character. Because you know it, it's ever
before you. It's always before the man outside
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It seems to be so real to him
that it's almost like it's painted on his eyeballs. Everything you
see, you see your sin. You see it through a mist and
haze of your own guilt and your own rebellion. You're a sinner
and you know you're a sinner. You're far off from God. You're
an absolute failure. as spiritual things are concerned,
an absolute failure. We need to rehearse that over
and over and over. We need to get that in our hearts
and in our minds that we're failures. We're absolute failures before
God. Everybody, every man, woman,
or child who's a member of Adam's fallen race, is a failure before
God, an absolute failure, a dead failure. The only person in this
world that had a successful life was the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody
else is failures. I don't care how good we've been
and all that, we're still failures. I got something in the mail here
just recently. I forget what it was. Now, some
brochure advertised some man's expertise in a church, church
growth. He wanted me to send in $100. And he'd send me a ticket to his
seminar. I believe it was in Huntington
or Charleston. And he said, all the preachers all over the country
are coming. He said, I'm an expert in church growth and I can tell
you how to get your church to grow. And I can tell you how
to get people to give money and all that. Now what he was saying
was, he said, if you want to be successful, send me in your
hundred dollars and go to the seminar. I see advertisements
on the television every day about people advertising to get in
to learn how to operate a computer. You tired of your old job? You
tired of making $2 an hour? Well, you can make $35 an hour. Come to our computer school. Learn to be a beautician. Be
your own boss. Do you ever see that on the television?
Always advertising something in order that you might be successful. But brethren, there's no such
thing as being successful. None whatsoever. If you'd go
to every tombstone in the world, in every house in the world,
and if you wanted to find one word to describe everybody, those
that are here and those that are gone, the one word would
be failure. Failure is written upon everybody's
forehead. Ain't nobody ever got it made. I think we got it made, but we'd
never have had it made. They lost, like this fellow was. He had lost before God for the
want and lack of love to Jesus Christ. He'd failed in his life.
Every one of us has failed. Someone said, I don't think I've
failed. I never had much background.
I come up the hard way, and my wife and I have worked pretty
hard, We've got $50,000 in the bank, and I feel like I've had
success in that sense. I've made some money. I'm retired. I'm in pretty good
shape. Well, you're still a failure.
Still a failure. Every man outside of the Lord
Jesus Christ is a failure. who is in Christ can say that
he has a measure of success. And his success he has to attribute
to God, not to himself. I know that a lot of folks, you
know, they try to work out their salvation. But I often think
about, you know, a fellow working out his own salvation And he
denies himself this and denies himself that and picks up this
and picks up that. And at the end, he's a failure. He'll find discouragement. He
can't do it. Only the Lord Jesus Christ is
successful. He's the only one who could come
down to the end of his life and say, The work that thou hast
given me to do, I've finished it. I've finished the work. We can't say that. We're all
failures. But He's not. And that's the reason why I'd
encourage, if you're here tonight, I'd encourage you to seek the
Lord Jesus Christ because He's successful. If you want to be
successful, you'll find Him, and He'll find you. And your
success that you have then, you'll delight in attributing to Him. You'll say, I'm successful. because
of Him, because He made me successful. He found me in my lost state. Oh, listen, this is a terrible,
terrible thing, isn't it? The Lord Jesus Christ, He's perfect,
never respected. What are you, full of sin? He's
just. What are you, you unjust? Our
Lord, Our Lord and our God here in this passage that I read to
you, He crossed the sea. Let me read that. It says in
chapter 5, verse 1, And they came over unto the other side
of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes, the Lord and his
disciples. They came over. They went over
to the other side. in small boats into the country
of the Gadarenes. It says in the next verse, and
when he had come out of the ship, when he got to the other side
and the Lord Jesus Christ came out of the ship, immediately
there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. And it describes him here, his
insanity and how bad off he was, But the 6th verse says, But when
he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him. Now, when
our Lord crossed the sea into the land of the Gadarenes, he
endured the awfulness of that storm all night in order that
he might heal one man. He went through all of that.
to get to this one man who was crazy. He was a maniac. He cut himself. He'd run around
through that graveyard crying and cutting himself with stones.
He was an awful looking thing. They'd every once in a while,
they'd get him down and they'd bind him with chains. But the
chains wouldn't hold him. He'd break loose. and run all
over the country. I was staying in a motel here
a week or so ago up there in New Jersey. And I looked out
that motel room, there's a vacant lot there beside an Exxon station
on the right-hand side. And I seen this fella standing
out there in the field by himself. And I thought, what in the world?
Right here in the middle of all this, about four or five million
people in that metropolitan area of Philadelphia. I said, what's
that fellow doing? And he was standing there, and
every once in a while I'd see him walk, he'd walk clean up
to the end of the lot, pick something up, and he'd walk back, and he'd
stand and look. He had something behind him,
and I watched him until I could see what was behind him. And
he looked like he was about 70 years old. And he had a baseball
glove. And he'd get that glove, He'd
stand up there and act like he's pitching. And there's some boys
on the other side of the street, and they're just laughing at
him. And he'd run down there at the sidewalk like he's going
to jump right out in front of the traffic. And there's four
lanes of traffic there, eight lanes, four on each side. He'd stand there on the edge,
teeter on the edge, and talk to them, and then run back. It's
crazy. It's crazy. I pitied the poor
fellow. He didn't realize that. That's
the way this guy was. Our Lord endured, endured the
roughness of that sea, the uncomfortable boat that he was in. He endured
all of it. To cross that probably took him
all night. And when he got over there, he
just got off of the boat. And here comes this fellow out
of the graveyard, waving his hands as he carried on. And when
he seen Jesus so far off, He ran to Jesus when he'd seen Jesus. He ran to Jesus and he worshipped
him. He was running to Jesus. He didn't
see him very good, but he'd seen him. That's the point. He'd seen
him. And the result is that he worshipped
him. I'm not talking about faith. I wouldn't want to get into it
with some of these fellas. Larry Simpson and some more of
them about how much faith that a man's got to have or how much
knowledge a man's got to have to be saved. I'm not going to
get into that. But I believe that a man's got
some sort of faith that worships the Lord Jesus Christ, don't
you? He's got some sort of faith. He ran and worshipped him. Yeah. Far off from Christ, that guy
was. Well, our Lord went over there
and healed him, and then as soon as he got over there and healed
that man, you know what he did? He went down and got in the boat,
and he went back to the other side. What's that say? It says that when he went back,
he was well content that he had brought one miracle. That fellow's
name was written in the Lamb's Book of Life. That fellow's name
was in the eternal blood covenant, and he was one of the sheep that
must be brought into the fold. And our Lord Jesus Christ crossed
that lake that night, underwent all them difficulties, and over-intained
that fellow. And it says, when it was over
with, it says that he was in his right mind. Where's that
at in that chapter? I don't see it now. But anyhow,
maybe in another narrative there. Anyhow, it says that he was fully
clothed and in his right mind. Verse 15, that's it. And they
came to Jesus to see him that was possessed with the devil
and had the legion sitting and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Our Lord
was satisfied, well content. He ran to Jesus and he saw Jesus
afar off and he worshipped him. And our Lord got back in the
boat and went to the other side. Well, I said he was far off from
Christ. Every sinner is far off from Christ. Asked to the knowledge
of him. Who knows all there is to know
or all there is revealed about the Lord Jesus Christ? Who does? What man is it? ready to stand
up and say, I know all there is to know about him. I don't think even after a man
is saved he knows that much. I don't think he knows anything,
really, in light of the fullness and the completeness and the
beauty of the Lord Jesus Christ who has God manifest in the flesh.
Can a man understand that, how God can become a man? I can't
understand that. that God can become a man, and
God can die, and God can shed his blood, and at the same time,
God's a spirit, and God can die? I don't understand all that,
but I believe it because it's throughout the Bible. But the
sinners, far off from Christ, as to knowledge of him, he's
heard his name, and he's had some dim notions about him, but
as of yet, He's only seen him afar off. He saw him afar off. He saw him at a distance. He
had heard, I guess, in this maze of insanity and darkness that
he lived in, he had heard that the Son of God had crossed over
and was in this land of the Gadarenes. He'd heard about it. He'd heard
that God somehow had come down from heaven to live among the
sons of men. He'd heard about that somehow.
I don't know how. And he'd heard that they'd done
great things for men. And he'd heard that Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, had come into his country, into his district,
where this poor fellow lived in this horrible country that
was full of graveyards and full of pollution. This man, Christ
Jesus, who is mighty to save, has come down here to save four
sinners like you and I. He had a dim notion. He was far
off from God and just had a dim notion of the purpose and the
objective of the coming of the Lord. Just a dim, dim, fragmentary
understanding of it. But what he heard and what he
seen, he believed it. And he seen the Lord Jesus Christ
afar off, and he run as fast as he could to where the Lord
Jesus Christ was. And he fell down, and he worshipped
him, ran and worshipped him. Like I say now, don't misunderstand
me. I don't know that he did this
intelligently or in the right manner or the right way. I don't
know that. Some of these other fellows that I talked to, they
got it all figured out. They know how much a man's got
to know. They know the manner and the methods and the whens
and the wheres and the why-fors. I don't know all that. I don't
know how intelligent this man was in his understanding, but
I know he ran to Jesus and he fell down and worshipped him.
And that's good enough for me. Huh? He got near enough to him
that he got a fuller view of who he was, and what glimpse
he had of him and understanding have satisfied him because he
worshipped him. Well, look over here in this
other verse that I called your attention to in the book of Luke,
chapter 20. Chapter 20, I believe. Chapter 15, is it, Pat? in verse
20. Okay. Chapter 15, verse 20. It said, And he arose, and you
know the story. No need for me to go over that
again. He arose and came to his father. And when he was yet a
great way off, a great way off. This other fellow, he was far
off. And he ran. He ran. It says here, that this
man was a great way off. He was a far off, and his father
saw him, and had compassion, and his father reigned. The father
is representative of God the Father, certainly. He represents
God the Father, and his love, and his compassion, his tenderness,
his determination, how he rejoiced when the boy come, and how anxious
he was for the boy to come home. I'll tell you, when it says that
God ran, that means that He was quick. He was quick. There was no slowing down. He
wasn't looking out for obstacles, sidestepping this and that. He
jumped over everything that was in His way. The Son was running
in one direction, and the Father was running in this direction,
and they're both going to meet. And when they meet, salvation
has come to His house. Isn't that right? The father
saw him and had compassion and ran, fell on his neck, kissed
him. God fell on his neck, just grabbed
him, grabbed that poor old boy. He didn't, listen, he didn't
say, I told you. He didn't say, I told you so.
He didn't say, you spent all that money. That wasn't his attitude. This is our God and our Father. When He saved you, He didn't
tell you all about your sins, did He? All He told you was to
come. He said, come just like y'all
and all your filthy sins. Just come on and come to Me.
He said, I ain't angry with you. I'm not mad at you. Come on.
That's what happened here, Bob. Come on. That old boy, he made up his
mind what he was going to say. There in verse 17, he said, And
when he come to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my
Father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with
hunger? He said, I will arise, and I will go to my Father, and
I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven
and before thee. But he never did say it. Do you know why?
Because the Father smothered his lips with the Father's kisses
and just smothered, smothered that confession out. He said,
I don't need that confession. Your coming is enough for me."
He fell on him, kissed him, and they rejoiced. Our father said to his servants,
he said, bring forth the vestal robe, he said, and put it on
him. And put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet. And he
said, bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat,
let us eat, let us eat, drink and be merry. Let's have a celebration. Let's have a party. Why? My son,
my son was dead. My God, he's alive. He's lost. He's a poor old, but he's found. Huh? That's the way God is. That's the way God is. He's not
mad at anybody. He wants a man to come. Huh? So let's have a party. He said,
My son was dead and alive again. He was lost and found. And they
began to make merry. Oh, what a good time they had. The last verse says, It was meet
that we should make merry and be glad. This is the father having
a conversation with the older brother. He said, It is right
that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother
was dead and alive again. and was lost, and now he's found. Isn't that something? Well, listen,
the object of the story is this, or at least the thing that I'm
trying to pound and pursue is this, that when a man's running
to Christ, he'll find out that the Father's running to him.
Even your running to Christ is of God. When a man comes to the Lord
Jesus, God puts that coming in him. He won't come unless he's
aided by God. But when he comes, it's because
God's doing something in him. And he comes running, seeking
the Lord Jesus. And while he's running, the Father's
running. And they're going to meet. They're
going to meet. It's going to be a happy time.
Sins are gone, washed in the blood. accepted in the Beloved,
guaranteed by the blood of Christ to home and glory. Let there
be no sickness, sadness, pain, disappointments and all that. That's where it's all at. That's where I'm headed. And I ain't going to stick around
here. I'm glad there's an end to it.
I wouldn't want to live forever, would you? Gonna live to be 100
years old, 110, 105, 95, you can't see, you can't hear. Ain't got sense enough to blow
your nose or go to the bathroom. I don't want all that. Get on
out of here. Be with my father in heaven. He got everything there. Everything! Won't need nothing there. Won't
have a heartache, won't have a tear. We'll have nothing to,
no anxieties, no worries, no frets, no fears, nothing. My
God, to me like that would be good, Daryl. Huh? Come and go with me, that's what
Moses said. Come and go with us, we'll do you good. You come
and go with us, we'll do you good. Well, the Lord bless these
few remarks. Let's stand, we'll be dismissed.
Thank you.