So this morning I thought we'd
look at the story of Legion and how our Lord cast out many unclean
spirits from him. And so we're given three different
versions to look at and as I look through them I'm denied about
which one we might do. There were three very clearly
different aspects in each of the accounts, directed at three
different audiences. And so I thought at the end of
the day we might just read all of them, work our way through
them. They're not really that big.
And I thought we'd start with account in Mark. Because we always need to remember
that the primary action in all things in this world comes from
a sovereign God. He's the first cause of all things. And he reveals himself in this
world as he comes in the salvation of his lost sheep. And every single thing in this
world declares the gospel in some ways, and especially the
salvation of a soul. So we'll just start, we'll read
through Matthew 5, sorry, Mark 5. Starting at 5.1. And then we
might sing and just come back and have a bit of a close look
at Mark. So Mark 5 verse 1, And 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 they 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 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. 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 adjure thee by God that thou
torment me not. For he, that's Christ, had said
unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, what is thy
name? And he answered, saying, my name is Legion, for we are
many. And he besought him much that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was
nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding, and all
the devils besaw 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. And they that fed the swine fled
and told it to the city, told it in the city and in the country.
And they went out to see what it was that was done. And they
come to Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil
and had the legion sitting clothed and in his right mind, and they
were afraid. And 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 coasts. And when he was come into the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not. But said 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. So we'll
just have a think about that and a song and then we'll come
back and we'll pray. I have seen things Just come before the Lord and
ask him for his grace to bless us today. Heavenly Father, we are far more
frail and far more dependent than we realize. And we thank
you that in the processes of our lives, you do show us and
you do humble us and you cause us to cry out to yourself. And
Father, you've done that You bring us to yourself again and
again and again. And you supply our needs as much
as we oppose that so often. Father, you made a promise that
when you establish a church and when you gather your people together,
you will walk in their midst and you will bless them with
the preaching of the gospel. You will take your word and you
will embed it in their hearts. And we pray for that this morning.
Heavenly Father, if you don't do it, it's all futile. Father, we just pray that you
would be present amongst us and strengthen us and bless us and
guide us and direct us and feed us and energize us as you do
by the power of the Holy Spirit. Father we lift up the people
that we love and are concerned about to you and think especially
of Owen and his frailty and we pray that you just strengthen
him and continue to just energise him and make him an encouragement
to us all. Pray for Angus and his Overseas,
and we just praise you, Heavenly Father, that you do take your
people places and you do witness to this world through those people. And we pray for great success
again, Heavenly Father, because you promised we can expect it.
Your gospel, your word always achieves your purposes. So Father,
please bless his time over there and the fellowship between the
saints and bring him back to a safer world. So Father, this
morning, we just ask you to walk amongst us again and bless us.
Apply the blood of our King and Saviour. We've been seeing in
John 17 that he stands eternally before you, Heavenly Father,
on our behalf. So look to him again this morning,
Father, and bless us for his sake, for your glory's sake. Amen. Okay, so if you're not
there still, turn back to Mark 5. And just before we begin, it's
really easy for us to see guys like Legion as the obvious sinners
in society. That's that Pharisee within each
one of us, that natural man. But this story of Legion is actually
an illustration of the salvation of all or any one of God's children. And there's a spiritual lesson
in this for all of us. In Genesis 3, all fell in Adam. All were left spiritually blind. All were born in sin. All come
forth speaking lies. We all reject God when he reveals
himself to us in nature. You can read about that in Romans
1. And we all continue to be in
bondage to Satan, the prince of this world. And even after our salvation,
we're still harassed from within, this time by our flesh. and from
without this world and all its hosts. Graham read Romans 3 to
us last week. All fell in Adam, all have sinned
and fall short of the glory of God. Isaiah 64 tells us that
all our righteousnesses, every single one of them are filthy
rags. But at the start of that verse,
he tells us why. Because we are all, all of us,
all humanity, all Adam's children, and each one of us, our whole
flesh, completely, every part of us, every part of everyone,
is as an unclaimed thing. These are God's words. So what
chance do any of us have to please God in any way of our own doing? Despite what worldly religion
will tell you, we can't choose God. And we certainly can't do
anything in our own wisdom and in our own strength to please
Him. Now I've heard a thing, it's
called progressive sanctification, and over the years I've had to
deal with it, but I've heard it again recently a number of
times mentioned. We can't do one thing to please
God. Not in ourselves, not of our
wisdom, and not of our strength. You see, Legion represents every
lost sheep of God. Loved of the Father, given to
the Son in eternity, lost in the fall, and powerfully retrieved
in time. And none of that has anything
to do with the wisdom and actions of men. So let's look a bit more closely
at this and keep those things in our
mind and just wait on the Lord and see what he does. I pray
he shows us how desperately we need his saving grace. So the first impact, this is
the gospel coming to the world, the Lord coming to his lost sheep. And I need you to see that the
Lord crossed a sea, and on that sea, he rebuked the wind and
that sea. And he got out of this boat,
and immediately we read in 5.2, he met with his men, and after
these discourses with these people, he got back in the boat and he
left. He was just here for this time
for this one lost sheep. But notice he knew exactly what
he was doing. Our sovereign God always knows
exactly where he's going and what he's doing. So this boat
pulled up on the shore and immediately this man came to him. See, again,
it's the first cause of all things. The Lord turned up to save a
soul. In Mark 5, 3 and 4, it says,
who had his dwelling amongst the tombs and no man could bind
him, no, not with chains. Tombs are representation of death,
and in some way we all live amongst the tombs in this world. The
scriptures describe this world as the belly of the shadow of
death. And you notice this man plucked
asunder the shackles that were on him. And I want us to see
this again as a spiritual picture for us. We break relationships
because of our sin all the time. Relationships with our God and
relationships with each other. We break our God's laws of morality. continuously because of that
sin that we are. We sin against our holy God and
against our neighbour constantly, and that's what we've done since
Genesis 3. I want you to see that no man
could tame him again. Spiritually, this talks of that
thing, progressive sanctification. We can't be tamed by the wisdom
and all the strength of man, and especially not ourselves. Romans 3 told us that last week. And look at Mark 5, 5. Always,
always, there's never been a time in our life that we've had true
peace unless our Saviour has given it to us. Even when we
think we're at peace, it's a false peace. Men's religion is a false
peace. And he was cutting himself. We
sin constantly. And every sin does detriment
to us, physically or spiritually, all the time. Look at Mark 5, 6 and 7. 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 adjure thee by God that thou
torment me not. This is a story of conversion. And when the Lord comes in saving
grace to a lost soul, when he makes himself known to us, we
see him afar off because he draws us to himself. It's him we run
to, it's him we worship, and before him we own our own sin. And we acknowledge that He is
the Christ of the Most High God. And you know what we do then?
We beg Him for His grace. Now that's salvation. That's
our conversions. Mark 5, 8-10. For he said unto him, Come out
of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What is thy
name? And he answered, saying, My name
is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him much, that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now this is a transitionary discussion
as these cast out demons or these demons come out and begin to
speak. If you don't look there, we'll
have a look in a minute, but in Luke it's they that say these
things. So it is transitionary. When Christ comes to his own,
the first thing he has to do, he can't dwell with demons, he
has to cast these unclean spirits out of us. And when he takes
up residence in his people, when Christ, as Paul says, is formed
in us, these spirits can never come back and live in us again,
ever. but they can harass us externally. And Satan does have a great enemy
on the inside, in our own flesh. And they can influence us, but
they can never dwell in us again. Christ does come and take up
residence in us, but before then, than what we ever realized. And therefore, we're less able
to do the things that we think we can, and especially in religion. Like I said, even after our conversions,
we're influenced away from the gospel constantly. We're told in Galatians 5 and
Romans 7, wall and it's a fight of faith. Mark 5, 11-2. 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, down a steep place into the sea. They were about 2,000 and were
choked in the sea. In the scriptures, often swine
represent unclean animals. And I think here, spiritually
again, they primarily represent Adam's lost race. And notice
these demons, They needed permission from God before they could do
anything. And you can take that one to
the bank. It's great relief to know that
as much as there is opposition in this world surrounding us
continuously, all of it is submitting itself to a sovereign God, whether
it likes it or not. We'll look at that a bit more
later. So the Lord allowed, they entered
the swine, the swine ran violently down a steep place, and finally
choked in the sea. And it's the same for us, without
saving grace, we will die in this world, we will die in our
confusion, we will die in our sin, and finally, we will destroy
our own souls in hell. Look at Mark 5, 14 and 17. And they that fed the swine fled,
and told it in the city and in the country. And they went out
to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus and see
him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion sitting
and clothed, and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And 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 to him
to depart out of their coasts. In one way or another in this
world, our salvation is always witnessed. In some way, it's
witnessed. And it's often by others around
us, people that are close to us, people that live in the same
life as us, in a sense, and cross paths with us. This man had been
changed by the Lord. And what a dramatic change. It
says he was sitting, he was clothed, And he was in his right mind.
And it's a spiritual illustration, isn't it? He'd ceased from all
labourers. He'd ceased from his war against
God. And he was sitting at rest. He was clothed. He didn't need to sustain a righteousness
of his own, those fig leaves, those filthy rags. No, he was
clothed now with the righteousness of Christ himself. And for the
first time in his life, he was seeing things with enlightened
eyes. Then the others came to see for
themselves and they too, in the typical Genesis 3 blind ignorance,
rejected their only hope of salvation and they sent Christ away. And at this time, the Lord only
came for this one man. Look at Mark 5, 8-20. And 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 said 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. When we're saved, All we want, whatever the world
and our own flesh aren't harassing us, all we want is more of Him,
more of His presence, more of His grace, more of His fingerprints,
more of His footprints in our lives, more of Him drawing near
to us and comforting us and energizing us. That's all we want. But even
now in this life, as he continues to reveal himself to us, and
in us, by the work of his Holy Spirit, he's still drawing near
to us, isn't he? Spiritually. And what happens
when that happens? We just want to witness it to
people. Have you ever felt like that? When He's filled you up
with grace so much and you just can't contain it. And what is
it that we're really doing when that happens? We're just telling of all the
things that Christ did for us, of how He had compassion on us. I mean, that's our gospel, isn't
it? It's not what you have to do. It's what Christ has done for
his people. And what happens then? In one
way or another, all men are. Okay, we're going to move right
along and have a look at the second account in Luke. Oh, we might sing first, just
have a bit of a break, we've got a bit of time. 67. Yes, yes. so Okay, turn in your Bibles for
Luke 8 and we'll have a look at the next second impact, the
second audience that impacted. by this saving of a lost soul
and this meeting with God in the Lord Jesus Christ. So although
this is similar, it's directed towards the people of the world,
or it seems to be, those outside the covenant of grace, and especially
it's directed to their response to the revelation of Almighty
God in the salvation of his lost sheep. So we might just read through
the verses as we go in this one and just deal with them one at
a time. So we'll begin in 26. We'll read through to 28 first. And they
arrived in the country of Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.
And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city
a certain man, which had devil's long time, and wore no clothes,
neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. For he had, oh
sorry, and when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before
him, and with a loud voice said, what have I to do with thee,
Jesus, thou son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not. So this man had had devils a
long time, goes to the point of saying here. He had no clothes,
he was naked, he was exposed, he had no abode. He was living
amongst the tombs. And this would have been noticeable
to the town, to the people that lived around him. In fact, this
would have been well known throughout the whole country. And the state of this man is witnessed by those around him. But there's also a spiritual
picture, a much, much deeper picture to all this, remember.
These are the conditions of all of Adam's race. Genesis 3 on. We're surrounded by devils. Given the enmity that our God
put between us and them, We're blinded, so we live amongst a
world that we actually don't see or understand. We're naked, we're exposed in
our sin. We're not covered again like
we were before we rejected God's grace. So we're naked, we have no home. I mean, it's all transitionary
here anyway. But the Lord's people are like
Abraham. They're looking for a home whose
builder and maker is God. They don't have a home here because
this world is amongst the tombs. Verse 29, For he had commanded
the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes he
had caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters,
and he broke the bonds and was driven of the devil into the
wilderness. So this man was kept for a time,
or they attempted to. This would have been by the town.
It was obvious to these people, these people were in his life
and he was in their life. But again, it's a spiritual picture,
isn't it? Look at that, no man could keep
him, no one could restrain him. Again, it's a spiritual picture
of law keeping, of legalism. We cannot, in any way, fight
against our sin by our own wisdom and actions. And when we do think
we are, we're more deceived than ever. We all and always break so many
bonds, don't we? Bonds with our God, bonds with
our neighbor, bonds in society, bonds in relationships, And as
a result, it's the devil that drives us into the wilderness. He drives us out of those relationships
and away from those relationships. Again, this town witnessed this
man's behavior. And perhaps they even looked
at him like the Pharisee looked upon a Republican, and yet they
had absolutely no idea of their blindness, and their desperate
need. And Jesus asked him, saying,
What is thy name? And he said, Legion, because
many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that
he would not command them to go out into the deep. And there was there a herd of
many swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought him that he
would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them 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
churned." Every time the Lord comes to
one of His own in saving grace, He does take a great many mighty
miracles. And we just don't see many of
them at all, to be honest. evidences, particular evidences
that the Lord leaves so that no man will have any excuse. Look at Luke 8, 34. When they that fed them saw that
what was done, they fled and went and told it in the city
and in the country. So now there are witnesses, and
these witnesses went and they told it to the city, and they
told it to the country, and then others came to see. God is sovereign over every one
of these events, remember. Look at verse 35. Then they went out to see what
was done, and came to Jesus, and found the man out of whom
the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Do you notice there,
they're said to have come to Jesus. Don't miss that. They found this man sitting,
But they came to Jesus. They met Jesus here. And Luke adds that this man,
and again, this is, I believe, because of the testimony, to
the house, to the town. He adds that this man was sitting
at the feet of Jesus. He was also clothed and in his
right mind, and I imagine that this would have been an amazing
and radical transformation to these people. It would have been
a testimony to these people. It was obviously very dramatic
because in some very real way, these people had actually met
the one true God in the Lord Jesus Christ, in the salvation
of this man's soul. Look at verses 36 and 37. They also which saw it told them
by what means he that was possessed of the devil was healed. Then
the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about
besought him to depart from them, for they were taken with great
fear. And he went up into the ship
and returned back again. These people, this whole great
multitude in this country, all of them, all of them, we're told
here, rejected Christ because of great fear. That's that spiritual
blindness, that great delusion of Satan. And they were greatly
afraid, just as I'd imagine these swine were, dismayed, afraid, when they ran down the hill and
perished. And in 38 and 39, we have another
conclusion, another very sad conclusion, in a sense, for this
town. Now the man out of whom the devils
were departed, we sought him that he might be with him. But
Jesus sent him away, saying, Return unto thine own house and
show how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his
way and published throughout the whole city how great things
Jesus had done unto him. In Mark 5, this man was sent
to tell, but now this man is sent to show. Again, I believe it's directed
at these pagan witnesses. Here also our Lord gives God
the credit and sends this born again believer with a great message. Salvation is of the Lord. I mean,
that's our witness here in the world, isn't it? Whether it's
to the religion of the world or the pagans, salvation is of
the Lord. Luke also adds, again regarding
this town and God's continued witness to him, that this man,
this saved and quickened child of God, he published, he witnessed,
he testified to this town of a personal experience of meeting
his God in saving grace. And here we're told he did it
throughout the whole city. Everywhere he went, every opportunity. And he also gave our gracious
God a name because Jesus Christ is our sovereign God. Isn't that what we do here as
a church? Okay, let's break and we'll come
back and finish the last bit of this after.