Alright, let's turn to Mark chapter
5. Mark chapter 5. Our subject tonight is three requests
and three answers. We'll read Mark 5 verses 1 through
21. And we're going to note these
three requests and these three answers as we go. And then we'll
come back and see what we can learn from each one of them.
Mark 5 verse 1, And they came over, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ with some of his disciples, 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. This man comes out of the tombs
with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling, he lived, this
man lived among the tombs, among the dead. 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. That's the case of this man.
He was a wild man and an unclean beast, lived among the dead.
Nobody could tame this man. 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. fell down before him and cried
with a loud voice and said, now look what he said, what have
I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high God? He
knew his name, didn't he? Called him Jesus, said thou son
of the most high God. I adjure thee by God that thou
torment me not. For he, the Lord, had said unto
him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. The man's talking,
but this is the unclean spirit talking through the man. And
the Lord asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying,
My name is Legion, for we are many. We are many. Now here's
the first request. This is the first request. And
he, legion, this is the request of the devils that were in him,
the unclean spirit that was in this man. And he besought him
much that he would not send them away out of the country. That's
what these unclean spirits begged the Lord. Don't send us away
out of the country. Now there was there nigh unto
the mountain a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils
assault him, saying, Send us into the swine that we may enter
into them. Now that's the first request. Now here's the answer the Lord
gave to him. And for with Jesus gave them leave. He gave them
what they asked for. He gave them what they wanted.
The Lord did. And the unclean spirits went
out. and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the sea. There were about 2,000 and they
were choked in the sea. So there was a lot of unclean
spirits, a lot of devils in this man. There was 2,000 head of
swine and they went down into the sea and were choked. 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. These are folks from the city
and the country. These are the owners of these
swine that go out there. And they came to Jesus and see
Him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion. And
they see Him now sitting and clothed and in His right mind
and they were afraid. They were afraid. They weren't
afraid of God. We're going to see that in a
minute. They weren't afraid of God. That's not what they were afraid
of. And they saw it. They that saw it, those men that
went and got them, they told them how it befell to him that
was possessed with the devil. They told him what the Lord had
done. And also concerning the swine. They told him what happened
to the swine. Now here's the second request.
And they began to pray Him to depart out of their coasts. They asked the Lord to leave
their country. Get out of our coasts. Get out
of our coasts. And here's the Lord's answer
to them. Verse 18. The Lord went and got in a ship.
The Lord gave them what they asked for. The Lord was leaving. Verse 21. When Jesus was passed
over again by ship. Verse 20. He departed He departed. Verse 21, He passed over again
by ship to the other side. The Lord left. The Lord left
them. That's what they asked for. That's what they got. He
left them. Now here's the third request. This is the request
of the man who had been possessed with the devil, who the Lord
had done this work of grace for. Verse 18, And when he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, he
prayed him that he might be with him. This man wanted to be where
the Lord was. He wanted to go with him. He
wanted to go with him. Now listen to the Lord's answer
to him. How be it? Jesus suffered him not. He gave
the devils what they wanted and he gave those men who said depart
out of our coast, he gave them what they wanted. But this man
that God had done a work of grace for, he didn't give him what
he wanted to 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. Now, let's go back and see what
we can learn from these three requests and these three answers.
Now back there in verse 10, the Lord came and He did this, began
to do this, or just approach this man, and when He did, it
says here that these devils, these spirits, this one named
Legion, assault Him, verse 10, much, begged Him, He's begging. They're begging that he would
not send them away out of the country. But then down in verse
12, they saw the swine and they begged that he would send them
and let them enter those swine. Let them enter those swine. Now
here's the first thing we see. Everybody here that asked this,
made these requests, asked the Lord. Every one of them did.
They all asked the Lord. That's because the Lord Jesus
Christ is God in charge over all. He's God over all. Even over the devil, even over
the devil. Even over the evil spirits. The
devil has much power. He has a lot of power. He had
power to overcome this poor man. He's got power over me and you.
He had power to overcome these swine. that he went into, that
these spirits went into. But he had to ask the Lord Jesus
Christ for permission. He had to ask and beg Him to
give him permission to go where he went. He couldn't go into
those herd of swine any more than the devil and his spirits
could enter into this man. He couldn't enter into that man
without Christ's permission. Because Christ is God. He couldn't
do it without His permission there any more than he could
into those swine. Let me have you turn over to
Job chapter 1. I can read this to you if it
would be easier. I can't get there to it. But
Job 1 verse 6 tells us there was a day. I'll give you some
time. Job 1 verse 6. Job was a man who was a servant
of the Lord. He was a man who was a believer. The Lord had called him by His
grace. And in Job 1.6 it says, Now there was a day when the
sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord. They came to
worship the Lord just like you've come here tonight. And Satan
came also among them. Satan came too. Verse 7, And
the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? He doesn't have
to ask Satan where he's coming from. He knows where he's been.
When the Lord asks a question, he's asking a question to get
the person he asked the question to confess where he's been, what
he's been doing. Then Satan answered the Lord.
He always does. He's going to answer him because
he has to. Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to
and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. He's
seeking whom he may devour, but he can't devour anybody unless
he gets permission to do it. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Hast thou considered my servant Job? That there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that feareth
God and escheweth evil. That's an odd thing, isn't it?
The Lord said, Have you considered my servant Job? Then Satan answered
the Lord, and said, Doth Job fear God for nothing? Hast not
thou made a hedge about him? The only reason I hadn't touched
him, Satan says, is because you got him hedged about. You got
him hedged about. You made a hedge about him, and
about his house, and about all that he hath on every side. Thou
hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased
in the land. But you put forth your hand now,
and you touch all that he hath, and he'll curse you to your face."
That's what Satan said to the Lord. And the Lord said unto
Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in your power. I'm giving
you permission. Only upon himself put not forth
your hand. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord. But he didn't go till he got
permission. He didn't go till he got permission.
These unclean spirits that was in this man, they could only
do what they did by the Lord's permission. Satan is powerful,
but he's not omnipotent. He's not all-powerful. God is
powerful, all-powerful over him. And he can only do what the Lord
permits him to do. Now let's go back to our text.
Why would the Lord even permit Satan to do something? Why would
he even permit the devil to do anything to men in this earth? To do anything evil in this earth? Well, he would allow him to do
it for the same reason he allowed the unclean spirits to enter
into this man in the first place. He's doing it because it serves
the Lord's purpose. He did it for the same reason
He allowed these devils to enter into those swine. It served the
Lord's purpose. It served the Lord's purpose
to glorify His name, to glorify the Lord's name, and it served
the Lord's purpose to glorify His name in the salvation of
chosen sinners. Show me that, alright? Let's
see over here in our text. Satan here is this man up in
verse 2. We see this man had an unclean
spirit. That's what was in this man.
He was unclean. He wasn't clean. You can't know
God until you've been cleansed by God, by the Spirit of God,
by God Himself cleansing you, being washed in the blood of
the Lord Jesus Christ. And these, when he gave them
leave, they went into swine. They went into swine. Swine are
are always, the devil and swine throughout the scriptures represent,
they represent sin and uncleanness. And we're seeing here, the Lord
is allowing this to happen to give us a glimpse of what He's
done at Calvary in putting away sin and what He did, does in
His people in cleansing us from all sin so we can follow Him
and see Him and know Him and believe Him and trust Him. See
what happened in verse 13. For with 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 and
were choked in the sea. They were choked in that sea.
You see whenever whenever the devil besought him and said,
let us go into the swine. Well, when they went into the
swine, they meant it for evil. They meant to do exactly that
which was contrary to the purpose of God. And they ran those swine
headlong down into the steep mountain and into the sea and
they were choked. All those swine were choked.
That's exactly what the Lord purposed for it to be done or
he wouldn't allow Satan to enter into the swine. Something didn't
just, that didn't just surprise the Lord Jesus. He's God. He
knows the end from the beginning. He purposed it. He ordained it. He's bigger than the puny brain
of evil spirits. and of pigs. But this is what
the Lord was doing. This same thing happened on the
cross. Whenever the Lord permitted Satan
and his seed to bruise the heel of Christ Jesus, When they thought
they were doing and fulfilling their own purpose, they were
doing nothing more but fulfilling the purpose of God Almighty,
doing what He had determined before to be done. His son had
to be put on the cross in order for the serpent's head to be
bruised. And in order for the serpent's head to be crushed,
and that lethal blow put to his head, Christ had to go to the
cross. And the amazing power and wisdom
of God is, is He gave Satan leave to do what was in his heart to
do, to put Christ on the cross, because that's where Christ needed
to be to crush Satan's head. Do you understand that? That's
what Genesis 3.15 says, I will put enmity... He was speaking
to the serpent. And He said, I'll put enmity,
hatred between you and the woman. between thy seed and her seed. Her seed is Christ. And He said,
and it shall bruise thy head. Christ shall bruise your head,
and you'll bruise His heel. How is He going to bruise Christ's
heel unless God Almighty, Christ in human flesh, God in human
flesh, allows Him to do it? gives him leave to go out and
do it. And soon as he did that, Christ
was manifest to take away our sins. That's what he came for.
And when he went to that cross to take away our sins, the scriptures
tells us, Micah 7.19 says this, he will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us. That's what he's doing to this
man. He tells this man, in the moment we're going to see, he
tells this man, you go and tell others how I've shown you compassion,
the compassion I've had for you. He will turn and have compassion
upon us and he will subdue our iniquities. That's what he's
doing to this man. He's subduing this man's iniquities
and will cast all their sins into the depths of the seas. Here you've got Satan whose head
has to be crushed, and here you've got swine who represent uncleanness
in the Scriptures. And where did they go? Where
did both of them go when Christ gives them leave to do what He
gives them permission to do? Verse 13 said they ran straight
down and they were choked in the sea. Do you see a glimpse
there of our sin? Because God unleashed Satan to
do what he did. All the sin of his people. that
He bore in His own body on the tree. He cast them into the depths
of the sea by giving Satan leave to do what He would. To Himself. To Himself. And then it's showing
us something here too of what the Lord does in His people.
And let me just read this to you, but concerning swine in
Deuteronomy 14.8, you can be turning to Matthew 12. Matthew
12. In Deuteronomy 14.8 concerning
swine, pigs, the Lord told His people, they should be unclean
unto you. You shall not eat their flesh
nor touch their dead carcass. You remember what the Lord taught
Peter about that? He showed Peter some unclean
things let down in a basket. And he said, now eat these, Peter.
And Peter said, I'm not going to eat them. I've never touched
anything that's uncommon or unclean. And the Lord told Peter this. He said, what I have cleansed,
what I've made clean, don't you call common. What I've made clean,
don't you call common. And that's what the Lord's doing
here with this man. He's making this man clean. But in order
for this man to be made clean, some things have to happen. Christ
has done something for his people in allowing Satan to put him
on the cross so that he could put the sin of his people into
the depth of the sea like the swine went. Now something's got
to be done in his people. That strong man that prince of
the power of the air who is the prince of the power of darkness
he's got to be bound and Christ has got to enter in into the
to the house where he is and take his spoil his goods look
at Matthew 12 verse 28 if I cast out devils by the Spirit of God
then the kingdom of God has come unto you Or else how can one
enter into a strong man's house and spoil his goods except he
first bind the strong man and then he'll spoil his house. That's
what the Lord's doing here. The Lord bound the strong man. The strong man was leeching.
He was this evil spirit, Satan. He bound him. How so? He gave
him permission to leave him. He gave him permission to leave
him. and he cast him out and he bound him. That's one reason. Why would Satan, why would the
Lord allow Satan to do anything? That's one reason. For his own
glory, to put away the sin of his people and to bind him and
take his power away from his people as he did right here.
Here's another reason he would do it that we see here. By doing
all this for this man, that was dwelt in death and dwelt in the
tombs and all that, by doing this for him, and then turning
around and allowing these pigs to die, all these folks in the
city came out there. And these folks in the city don't
want Christ being there. They want him to depart. And
this man that Christ has done this for, by Christ allowing
Satan to do what he did and put those swine in that water and
kill them, brings those men out there to show the hatred of natural
man's heart, to show that man that he had mercy on how particular
and powerful and saving his grace was to him. He passed by those
others and he did this for him. So if Lord allows Satan. He allows the devil to do something
in this world. He's doing it to glorify His
name, and He's doing it for our good. And there's a third reason
here He did this, because we're going to see here in a minute,
the Lord had, He was going to do a bigger work of grace than
just in this one man. And in order to do that, He's
going to have the word spread about what's going on in this
place with what He's doing with this one man. So those are three
reasons that the Lord, that we see here, that the Lord does
what he would allow Satan to do anything. He glorifies his
name. He puts away, put away the sin
of his people by this, by this act he did. And two, he makes
his people to see the particular grace he's shown them. He makes
the word spread far and wide. So here's the first lesson. Christ
is God over all. He's God over all. Even the devil. He crushed the serpent's head.
He cast our sins into the depths of the sea. He binds the strong
man. He spoils his house. He makes
his children clean and in our right mind. to sit at his feet
clothed in his righteousness and he does this working all
things together on purpose for his own glory and for the sake
of those he's everlastingly loved. Now I'd say that's power and
wisdom. If he can use, if he can overpower evil to do that,
then he can do what he pleases and it'll be good for us. Alright,
let's see the second request. This second request is the request
of the businessmen, verse 15. And they came to Jesus, and they
see Him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion sitting and
clothed, and in His right mind, and they were afraid. Now, why
did they ask the Lord to leave their coast? There's the first
reason. The first reason is they saw
the power of God. That's the first reason. They
saw something of the power of God and it made them afraid. It made them afraid. And the
second reason is because of their own covetousness for the world. For the world. Verse 16, And
they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed
with the devil and also concerning the swine. Also concerning the
swine. And they began to pray him, get
out of our coasts, leave our coasts. Now, what made them afraid? What does it mean when it says
that they became afraid? These men became afraid. They
saw the power of the Lord. Wouldn't you think that would
have caused them great joy to see this man seated and clothed
in his right mind? Look at verse 3. Verse 3 says
that 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. They had tried, they had tried
greatly, but they weren't able to. They weren't able to. And
now we find this man in verse 15, After what the Lord did for
him, we find him sitting and clothed and in his right mind,
and they're afraid. When a man is afraid in a godly
fear, God will do something for him. God's given him the beginning
of wisdom by making him afraid of the Lord. What these men were
afraid of was not the not God, and not a reference,
and not a godly fear. They were afraid that men were
going to find out that Christ Jesus the Lord alone has the
power to do what he did for this man. And that when other men
found that out, they were going to know that these men had no
power to do anything. They had no power. You see, these
men's problem is the problem of all sinners by nature. They're
covetous. Covetousness is idolatry. And
the two things they covet is, the two things a man is so messed
up in sin. You know what he covets? A man
covets to have the power that is the glory of God, that belongs
to God in heaven. He wants to be God in heaven.
And the other thing he covets is he wants the world. He wants the world. He wants
to have the riches of the world. Nobody but Christ ever put away
the sin of his people. And it's only Christ that can
deliver lost souls from the power of Satan. Look at Acts 10. Look at Acts 10. I want to show
you this. We're still looking at the power
of the Lord Jesus. Acts 10. Look at verse 38. Peter's going around preaching
the gospel, and this is what he says as he's preaching the
gospel. He said, verse 38, how God anointed
Jesus of Nazareth. God anointed Him. He chose Him. He poured out His Spirit on Him.
He anointed Him with the Holy Ghost and with power, who went
about doing good. and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil, for God was with him. And we're his witnesses
of all the things that he did, both in the land of the Jews
and in Jerusalem, whom they slew and hanged on a tree." Now, did
he just do that when he walked this earth? Is this power, this
anointing, just when he is in this earth? Is it just for when
he's in this earth? Look at Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7
verse 25. Men speak as if Christ doesn't
have the power to do right now from heaven's glory what He did
when He walked this earth. This is how men deny the power
of God. And men try to do what only Christ
has the power to do. And this is the issue. Look,
did He only have that power when He walked this earth? Hebrews
7.25. Wherefore, let's look at verse
24. But this man, because he continueth
ever, Talking about Christ because He continues forever. He didn't
die. God raised Him again from the grave on the third day. And
He hath an unchangeable priesthood. It never stops. Wherefore, He
is able also. He is able. This is what we're
talking about. This is the power we're talking
about. He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come
unto God by Him. seeing He ever liveth to make
intercession for them. You see, He still has the power.
The power is still His. And we can covet the glory of
His power all we want to. But he's not giving it up. He's
not giving it up. Now, here's the second problem
these fellas had. They were covetous of all this
money, too. They wanted worldly things. There's
2,000 head of pigs that just went into the ocean and died.
These fellas just got hit in their pocketbook. Not only did
they get hit in their religion, They got hit in their pocketbook
too. Not only did they get hit in this coveting the glory they
wanted to think they had the power that only Christ had. They
just got hit in their pocketbook too. They got hit there. Now
I'm going to do some speculating here. This is obviously what
happened. We see here in verse 16 that
when they were told, you know, they were afraid when they saw
this man. And then they were told what the Lord did with this
man, verse 16, and then concerning the swine. And that's when they
said, get out of our coast. They started praying to him,
leave our coast. They see the power that he has to do this
work. And they also see that their
pig business is fixing to go under. Why? Why are they worried
about that? I will do some speculating. This
place where he was, Gadara, this land was given to Reuben. This
was Jewish land. This was the place where the
Gergesites were. This is where the Lord drove out the Gergesites.
He didn't drive them all out. The Gergesites were Gentiles.
So you got a land here that's predominantly Jewish, but you
got Gentiles there too. The Jews were told not to even
have anything to do with pork. They're not told not to have
anything to do with any pork barrel projects whatsoever. What
they doing with this? What they got all these pigs
there for? The Gentiles not only ate pork, they used pigs in their
idolatrous worship too, in their idolatrous worship. I imagine
everybody involved is eating pig. They're all eating a good
mess of barbecue. But I suspect that these Jews,
the Reubenites who were there in that land, were making some
money selling these pigs to the Gentiles for their idolatrous
worship. For their idolatrous worship.
So, regardless if that's the case or not, the truth is their
heart was set on their money making. So here's the two things
they want. They want the power to save that
belongs to God. I don't doubt it for a minute
that when they tried to tame this man, it was for some covetous
reason. It was for some personal gain
to make that idol God look like he was somebody so people would
buy more pigs and sacrifice to him. You see what I'm saying? You get the sense of this? So these two things come together
all at once. Look at Acts 16. They know that
if word gets out that this man has done this, and not that idol
God, Not only, their whole business is going under. Look at Acts
16. We saw this happen throughout
Acts. It happened at Ephesus. Remember, they were making all
the idols and the gold, the craftsmen, they were making all their...
and the craftsmen union got up and got all up in arms about
the gospel. Because it was fixing to interrupt their way they was
making their money. Look here in Acts 16 and 19.
Remember that woman who kept following along? She was a diviner.
She was a a wizard. Look at verse 16, it says, as
we went to prayer, a certain damsel possessed with a spirit
of divination, she met us and she brought her masters much
gain by soothsaying. That's what this woman's job
was. And it says there in verse 19, they kept doing all this
stuff and doing all this stuff, and look at verse 18, and this
she did many days, but Paul being grieved, turned and said to the
spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come
out of her, and he came out the same hour. And as soon as he
did, you know what happened? And when her masters saw that
the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas and
drew them unto the marketplace and to the rulers and brought
them to the magistrates, saying, These men, being Jews, do exceedingly
trouble our city. And they teach customs which
are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, because we
are Romans. And they cast them out. They
got all upset, and they wanted them gone. Get the message of
this, though. This is the most important thing.
There's nothing that will hinder us quite like these two things.
Trying to have the glory, the power, that belongs to God alone,
that he can affectually say alone. We're sent to simply tell his
story and tell what he's done and to tell his works and speak
of his marvelous works. He said, I'll do the rest. That's
all. And we can't do that unless he
gives us a heart and delivers us like he did this man right
here to do that. And we can't covet that power. That is what men are doing in
our day. Paul said they will have a form
of godliness, but deny the power thereof. From such turn away. That's exactly what Christ did
to these men. Didn't he? They denied the power.
They denied it. They were afraid. They didn't
want his power being set forth in that land. And they wanted
him to depart out of their coast. Paul said, from such turn away,
Christ left them. Left them. They didn't want him,
he left them. He left them. And covetous hearts,
that's the second thing. Look at 1 John 2. These men had
the power of God standing before them, and they had the pearl
of great price standing before them. And they didn't want the
power and wisdom of God, and they didn't want the pearl of
great price. They wanted their pig business instead. 1 John
2.15. 1 John 2.15. John's writing this, and he's
saying, I've written this to you because you've overcome the
wicked one. You've overcome him. How'd you
overcome him? How'd this man overcome him?
How did this man overcome the wicked one? Christ came and did
the work, didn't he? The power and wisdom of God.
He said, I'm writing this to you for that reason. Verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in
him. That's clear that if our love is for this world, God hasn't
done something in us yet. He just hasn't. That's what He
said. If any man loves the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. Where the love of the Father is in a man, we're going
to see here in a minute what His Spirit and His request is. For all that's in the world,
why not love the world and the things of this world? For all
that is in the world, that all is a big white brush. It takes
in everything. All that is in the world, The
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of
life is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world
passes away, and the lust thereof pass away too. But he that doeth
the will of God abideth forever. He abideth forever. So that's
the The reason we see this second request, they denied Christ the
power of God and they wanted the riches of the world over
Christ. That's why they told him to depart.
And he went down in a ship and he left them. So this first,
now let's go to the third. Let's ask this question. Let's
look at this request of the man whom the Lord had saved. Verse
18, Mark 5, 18. The demons said, let us stay
in this country, but let us depart from you. And the Lord gave them
their request. The countrymen prayed for Christ
to depart from them. They said, let us stay in our
country, but you leave us. And Christ did what they asked. He left them. This man prayed,
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.
That he might be with him. Those who've experienced the
power of God, experienced the power of God. This man had experienced
the power of God. This man knew what he was, knew
what he'd been saved from, and he knew who did the saving. And
he saw before him somebody more valuable, more worthy, more unsearchably
rich than anything this world could give him. And he wanted
to be with him. He wanted to go with him. Wherever he was
going, he wanted to go with him. But the Lord didn't allow him
to go. Look at verse 19. Howbeit Jesus
suffered him not, but said unto him, Now, seeing what the Lord
did with these others and giving them what they asked for, and
then seeing the Lord didn't give this man what he asked for, that
ought to give us some idea that it's not the worst thing for
us if the Lord doesn't give us what we ask Him. It's not the
worst thing for us if the Lord does not give us what we ask
Him. He gave Legion what He asked Him, and He gave those countrymen
what they asked. He didn't give this man what he asked. But what
did he tell this man to do? Verse 19. Go home to your friends. Go home to thy friends. The Lord
sent him. That's what he did. The Lord
said go home to your friends. The Lord sent him. That's considered
the gift that the Lord just gave to this man's friends. Think about that. He sent this
man to his friends, to go to his friends. Those that the Lord
sends, He doesn't necessarily send them as a preacher. He doesn't
necessarily send them as a deacon. He might not send them in an
office capacity at all. This man didn't. He was sent
of the Lord though. The Lord told him to go, didn't
He? The Lord told him to go. The Lord sent Him. Wherever we
work, wherever we live, wherever we shop, wherever we eat, wherever
we are, the Lord has sent His children to bear witness of Him. Go to your friends. Go to them. Well, that seems scary for this
man, doesn't it? That the Lord's sending him back
out there in the midst of those wolves. I mean, there they all
are, and they all want him to leave out of their coasts, and
everybody there seems to be upset. And there's this one man the
Lord's done all this for. He's going to have a mark on
him, isn't he? This man? Yeah, he is. And he's going forth
in the midst of wolves. The Lord is not only omnipotent,
He's omniscient and omnipresent. And wherever one of His is, that's
where He is. And wherever danger they're in,
He knows it. He's present with them. He said,
I'll be with you. I'll be with you. Even though
the Lord's leaving here in body and going across the sea, the
Lord's going to be with that man. And the Lord's going to
provide for him and protect him and hedge him about, just like
He did Job. Just like He did Job. So how do we bear witness
of Christ? What do we go when we go and
tell? What do we tell? Verse 19. He
said, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for
thee, and hath had compassion on thee. Here's the first thing
he said, tell them how great things the Lord hath done. That's
the first thing. You want to know what do I tell
somebody? How do I tell somebody this good news? How do I tell
them? You tell them what the Lord's done. Tell them what the
Lord's done. The Lord did everything here,
didn't He? What did the man do? The man didn't do anything. The
Lord came to where He was. The Lord sacrificed Himself when
He came to where we were. And He was doing so, He bruised
the serpent's head. Doing so, He cast our sins into
the depth of the sea for His people. Christ came to us personally. I can tell somebody that. He
came to me personally. Christ brought the gospel to
me. Bound the strong man in me and
cast him out and caused me to hear his word effectually and
caused this word to change me completely inwardly God did that
I didn't have anything did it he gave me the love of Christ
in my heart So I want to follow him now, and I don't want to
follow the world anymore God did this tell him what great
things the Lord hath done And then he says, tell them what
great things the Lord has done for thee. When you're telling
somebody the great things the Lord has done, don't forget to
tell them who you are. Oh yeah, I know, it's going to
be good to talk about my faith and my repentance and all that.
No, tell them this. Here's what you were, verse 2. I was in the tombs. I was among
dead, the dead. I had an unclean spirit. I had
my dwelling amongst death in the tombs. That's where I dwelt.
No man could bind me, not with chains. I'd been bound with fetters
and chains often, all different kinds of fetters and chains.
who tried to find me. And I plucked them asunder and
broke those fetters in pieces and no man could tame me. Here's about me, here's where
I was, verse 5. I was always night and day in
the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting myself with
stones. Here's where I was. When Jesus
came to where I was, I ran and fell down and cried with a loud
voice and called him Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, but
I was doing it because I didn't want to be tortured. Satan can
transform himself into an angel of light, and we can too. The
deceitful heart can too. Satan was saying this, but this
man was saying this. That's who I was. That's who
I am. That's a despicable character,
isn't it? You know how the great things
the Lord has done for you are going to be seen as great things?
By seeing what a despicable, black-hearted, nasty dog you
are. That's how. A diamond always
shines on a black backdrop. And that's what we're the black
backdrop. And he's the diamond. He did it. And look at what else
he says. Look at what else he says here.
He says, and tell them how he's had compassion on you. You know,
That has to do with not just what the Lord had done for him,
but what the Lord had done for him particularly in the midst
of those people that he passed by. He had compassion on him. That's what the Lord told Moses,
I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, so here's the three
things we tell people. We tell people about the great
things God's done for us, what Christ has done for us. All that
he's done. He came, he did the work. We
tell him that he did this for me. We tell him I didn't do anything. Here's what I am. I'm absolutely
nothing. We tell him what we are. And
here's what we tell him. We tell him this compassion was
toward me. That's who I was. I wasn't seeking
him. I wasn't looking after him. I was a dead God-hater is what
I was. What's the conclusion from all
that? The Lord has mercy on whom he will. The Lord has compassion
on whom he will. So then it's not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that shows mercy.
That's telling somebody the great things God's done for you. That's
what he's done. You might be the man who was
possessed with devils. You might be the leper who was
healed. You might be the woman that was a sinner that left her
wash pot. You might be the You might be the woman with the
issue of blood, but this is what we all are. Paul said, this is
a faithful saying, worthy of all acceptation, that Christ
Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. I'm chief. That's who we are.
That's who we are. Well, what about this fact that
the Lord didn't let him go with him, though, and sent him out
there? Did that work? Did any of that pan out that,
well, the Lord sent him, didn't he? Don't think the Lord's word
is going to return void. First of all, that man did what
he did because the Lord said go. Look at verse 20. And he
departed. How's he going to get boldness
to go back out into Decapolis and start telling folks what
the Lord's done for him? Because the Lord said go. That's
how. And he began to publish in Decapolis
how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men marveled. They knew who this fellow was.
He's different now. This fellow's not like he was
before. Well, did all that have any fruit? Look at Mark 7. Mark
7. Verse 31. And again, departing from the
coasts of Tyre and Sidon, he came unto the Sea of Galilee
through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis." There's the Lord
back in Decapolis again. He came back to that place. What
happened when he came back this time? He just sent one man, Cheryl,
out there saying that, just telling what great things the Lord had
done for him. When he got back, they bring unto him one that
was deaf. Somebody brought this. They brought this. There was
more than just this man. They bring him somebody that's
deaf. They've heard about him, haven't they? Somebody told them
about him. And they bring him one that's
deaf, and had an impediment in his speech, and they beseech
him to put his hand upon him. And the Lord heals this man,
but look down at verse 36. And he charged them that they
should tell nobody. Don't tell anybody. But the more
he charged them, so much the more, a great deal, they published
it. He went out and told everybody what he had done. And were beyond
measure astonished, saying, he's done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear
and the dumb to speak. And in those days, the multitude
being very great and having nothing to eat, Jesus fed them with the
fish and the loaves right there. All that great multitude right
in that place. Just from sending that one man
and saying, now you go tell them what great things the Lord's
done. So, here's the three things we've seen, and we'll just retrace
them here and review. Here's what we saw. From that
devil's request, from his request, we learned this. Christ is God
over all. He's ruling everything. He crushed
the serpent's head. He casts our sins into the depths
of the sea. He binds that strong man. He
spoils his house. He makes his children clean.
In our right mind, he sits us down at his feet, clothed in
his righteousness. He's God over all. And then from the businessmen's
request, we see what the natural heart covets. The natural heart
covets the glory of God's power and covets personal gain. The
glory of God's power and personal gain. That's what idolatry is.
That's why covetousness is called idolatry. It's the worship of
self-salvation, of pork barrels rather than of Christ, the power
and wisdom of God. That's what it is. And so Christ
departed from them. I don't want to make that request,
do you? I don't want to say, Lord, depart out of my coast.
I don't want that. I want to be with him. And then
from the request of the man that God saved, this is the work that
the Lord sent us to do. To tell men what great things
Christ has done for us. That's what he sent us to do.
What do I tell them? The Lord did it. That's what
he said, tell them. Tell them great things the Lord
did. The Lord did it. Salvations of the Lord. The Lord
did it for me. Chief of sinners. The Lord had
compassion on me. It was all of grace. All of grace. And He said, and we learn here
from these three, seeing what this man asked for. We learn
from all three, including this man that the Lord did this for
us. The Lord's going to give us exactly what we want. He's
going to give us exactly what we want. Didn't He give everybody
here what they wanted? He gave everybody in this case
what they wanted. There'll be some whom the Lord will give
exactly what they want, and they'll walk in their glory and end up
choked in their own lusts. They'll get exactly what they
wanted. And that's what they'll get. Because that's what they
wanted. And then there'll be others who the Lord will give
what they want. And they're going to trust in
His power. And they're going to part with everything else
to follow the will of Him who is the pearl of great price.
Because they've been made willing. Because they've experienced His
power. And Christ has been made their most prized possession.
And they'll leave everything else. So, I think from all that
we can gain this much that we can trust the Lord to bless His
Word and do what He said He'll do. Do what He said He'll do. Amen.