Okay, we'll be in Mark chapter
5, verses 1 through 20. Mark chapter 5. Now we saw the
last time we met that the last chapter closed with our Lord
crossing the Sea of Galilee, and we saw how the Lord brought
the disciples through a great storm, which he calmed for them,
showing that he is omnipotent. God. And in Mark 5.1, it says
they came over onto the other side of the sea into the country
of the Gadarenes. And today we're gonna see why
our Lord crossed the sea. And it's because the Lord, there
was a sinner there whose time of love was come. A sinner whom
the Lord loved from all eternity that he purposed to save, that
he would cause to hear his gospel, that he would bring to see him
and to know him and to love and worship him. A sinner that would
be delivered from the bondage of his death. As Ezekiel writes,
as he words it in Ezekiel 16, verse 8, he says, now when I
passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the
time of love. And I spread my skirt over thee
and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. And my prayer is that every unworthy
sinner would hear the words of our Lord in his gospel this morning. And like this demon-possessed
man that we're going to look at today, who's hopelessly lost
and ruined by the fall, he's polluted and defiled in his own
blood, and he can't save himself. And despite all the bondage and
the taming that men have tried to do for this man, he could
not be tamed. He could not be chained. So we
are like him. We're sinners. We're ruined in
the fall by our father Adam, and we've sinned in him. We've
sinned against holy God, and we ourselves have brought condemnation
upon ourselves and are worthy of eternal death. We're polluted
in our own blood. We walk among the tombs and among
death and in death and in darkness, and we're unable to free ourselves
and we're unable to be fettered or bound or tamed by any law. We're just like that demoniac
man in the text. But since our fallen Adam, and
since we cannot be, make or cannot make ourselves righteous, and
because of this, Paul writes, for if there had been a law,
which could have given life, verily righteousness should have
been by the law. So that we understand and know
that we can't make ourselves righteous by the law. We can't
undo this wickedness that we've done and this fall that we've
plunged ourselves into. If there had been a law that
could have done that, that could have made us righteous, it would
have been given. But there can't. And all the
law can do It can't make anyone righteous. All the law can do
is say guilty or righteous. It only declares what is. It
doesn't make or transform anyone. It doesn't have any power in
it. It just declares guilty or righteous,
and all of us are guilty sinners worthy of death and hell. Therefore, the Lord God sent
his Son into this world to do that work which we could not
do for ourselves. It says in Romans 8.3, for what
the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh,
through this flesh, unable to keep it, and therefore it's weak
because of this flesh, God sending his own son in the likeness of
sinful flesh and for sin condemned sin in the flesh so that we see
Christ Jesus. We see him who left his throne
in glory and crossed the sea of time and mortality to come
and do for us. to bear the stormy wrath of holy
God in the place of his people. It says, when he took not on
him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. So that Christ saved his people. Christ put away the sin of his
people. Christ satisfied holy God and worked righteousness
for his people. As the angel declared in Matthew
121, thou shalt call his name Jesus for he shall save his people
from their sins. So Christ is a perfect substitute. He's the Lamb of God slain from
the foundation of the world to do this very work for his people
to put away their sin and satisfy God so that even when we were
sinners, even though there's nothing redeemable. He didn't
do this because there's anything redeemable or any good quality
in us. He did this for his own love's
sake for us, that he might give his son an inheritance, a people,
a bride that know and love him and worship him for the salvation
which he's brought to them. It says that God commended his
love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. And John affirms this in 1 John
3, 5 saying, and ye know that He was manifested to take away
our sins and in Him is no sin. He is a perfect sacrifice, a
perfect substitute. He is the Lamb of God sent to
do this glorious salvation work and in that work we see the will
of God revealed to us. In Luke 19.10 it tells us that
the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost."
That declares to us that every one of us was lost. Every one
of us wandered away. Every one of us went our own
way, doing that which we love in the flesh, that which does
not please God. That's our way. and we were lost
when Adam fell, we fell in him. We sinned in Adam against holy
God and disobeyed his one command so that we ourselves are guilty
and we show the proof of it every day as we continue to sin against
the Lord God who is holy and righteous. And then in Hebrews
10, verses 10 through 14, we see that it's a full and a complete
salvation. And He didn't just put away the
sins and now leaves it up to us to work out and to perfect
something that He's done. He is the full and the free perfection
of God so that He works all things necessary for our salvation. He didn't just do a work and
say, well now, catch up, get up to here and do this part,
everything we need everything so he did the entire work and
Hebrews 1010 says by the witch will we are sanctified through
the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all and every
priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices which can never take away sins that's man's religion
the best that he can do is do religious things but they can
never take away sins But this man, after he had offered one
sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God,
from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool,
for by one offering he hath perfected forever. them that are sanctified,
so that we see Jesus who justified us and sanctified us, perfecting
us so that there's nothing more that the Father is looking to
us to do. Our salvation is full and free
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And with the work being finished,
Christ ascended up to the throne of his father and is now seated
at the right hand of God, as Paul says in Romans 8.34, who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for us. So that, brethren, That's,
in a nutshell, that's our hope. That's the glorious gospel. That's
the accomplished salvation of Christ for his people. We see
that we are the happy recipients. Enjoy and rejoice in what he
himself has done. And so this man in our text,
having an unclean spirit, he's a type of every sinner. This
is how every sinner is saved and how every sinner must be
delivered. It's ugly. It's ugly, but it's
true. And we who have been brought
to see our need in Christ know that we ourselves, we could never
save ourselves and that we must have that salvation that God
has provided in his son, Jesus Christ, for this very, very purpose. and every elect child of God,
no matter how vile their sin." Hear me. Don't look to your sin. When you look inwardly, when
all you're doing is focusing on that, all you see is sin and
misery and unworthiness. That's where we all are. We're
all unworthy. But if God has given you an ear
to hear what Christ has done and shown you that, there is
no hope for you. There's nothing that you can
do to make yourself righteous. and look to the Savior. That's
why He sent the Savior. Has He given you a heart and
a desire and a hunger and a thirst for His righteousness? That's
why the Savior is provided, that He would be the righteousness
of His people. And if He does that, it's because
the Lord's given it to you. It's because He's given you that
hunger and that thirst and to see and to know your need of
Him. And He provides everything necessary in the Son, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And Christ was given this commission
that he might say what's recorded in Isaiah 49, verse 9. It says that thou mayest say
to the prisoners, that's you and me, the prisoners, go forth
to them that are in darkness, show yourselves. He calls his
people into the light. He calls us out of the darkness
that we're in by nature and says, come into my light. and he gives
us the power. He gives the call and he gives
the power and brings us out of darkness, brings us out of the
prison, destroying the works of the evil one and delivers
us from that. Joseph Hart wrote in one of his hymns, let not
conscience let you linger nor fitness fondly dream, all the
fitness he requireth is to feel your need of him. This he gives
you, this he gives you, tis the Spirit's rising being." It's
the work of the Spirit in us that gives us that hope and seeing
our need of Christ and seeing that Christ is sufficient to
fulfill all that need that we have. John wrote, this is the
condemnation that light is coming to the world. And men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. That's each
and every one of us. Our deeds are evil, and we love
the darkness by nature. And so it's Christ who breaks
us out, who calls us out into that light. For everyone that
doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light,
lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh
to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they
weren't wrought in the flesh, but rather that they were wrought
in God. Because the flesh will never
come to the true and living light. It'll never come to Christ. It'll
go to religion, but it'll never go to the light of Christ. But
when the power of Christ comes upon us, he breaks us out of
that darkness and delivers us into the light of his glorious
kingdom. This morning we'll see the salvation
that Christ gives to all his children. Our title is The Unclean
Saved. We'll have three divisions. We'll
see the natural condition of us all, we'll look at an exhortation
to get to Christ, and then we'll see the sinner saved. Now let's
look at our text in Mark 5 verses 2-5. Mark 5, 2-5, it says, 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, and in the tombs crying
and cutting himself with stones." So here we have a man who has
an unclean spirit and we see that only Christ can save him. Only Christ is going to deliver
this man from the bondage and the misery that he's in by nature. And I made a bold statement earlier
at the beginning saying that this man having an unclean spirit
is a type of every sinner. And I say this because the scriptures,
the Lord God teaches us, He shows us the ruin of man, that we all
fell in sin. We're all worthy of death and
condemnation. That's the ruin of man. In Adam,
all die, the scriptures teach. So that when Adam sinned, he
corrupted his seed. And we were in his And so we
come forth as corrupted seed, only going towards that which
is evil, and that which is wicked, and that which is not profitable.
We don't seek out the true and living God. Paul tells us in
Romans 5.12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the
world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all, for
that all have sinned. That's the statement of scripture.
That's what the Lord God reveals to us. So that a sinner that's
saved, they must be given life from the dead. They must be given
the spirit because spiritually we're dead. We're dead to the
things of God. We're ignorant to the things
of the true living God. We worship the God of our imagination.
but it's not according to the scriptures, it's not according
to the spirit and the light which God gives and which he must give. That's why Paul wrote, and you,
when speaking to believers, and you, Hathi Quicken, who are dead
in trespasses and in sins. Now turn over to Romans 3, Romans
3, 10. Prior to regeneration, prior
to the Lord doing a work in us, These words are true of every
one of us until the Lord does a work and the Lord gives us
a heart to seek Him. But in Romans 3, verse 10, we read, as it's written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understand
it. There is none that seek it after God. They are all gone
out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. So in spite of what you hear
so popularly taught in man's religion, we cannot save ourselves. I heard, I was listening to the
radio in my travels and I heard, I guess it was an advertisement
to go to a Methodist church and the man on the radio spoke of
having a light inside of him and that he lived in darkness
until he learned how to turn on that light. That's a lie.
That's wicked. That's not true. We don't have
any strength or ability in this flesh to turn on the light. We
need the light of Christ to shine in on this darkness and by his
divine power to break us out and deliver us from the prison
that we're in. We're not going to undo this thing that we've
done. It's not going to be by our flesh. We're not going to
have anything to boast in. All the glory and praise is the
Lord's. It says, verse 13, their throat
is an open supplicator. That's why they talk like that.
With their tongues they have used deceit. The poison of asps
is under their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness. So that natural man will sooner
call God a liar than confess that he's a sinner and unable
to save himself. He'd rather call God a liar than
side with God and say, yes, Lord, you're right. I am wicked and
unable to do it. Then it says, their feet are
swift to shed blood. And we saw the religious of the
religious people, the Jews, they condemned the true and living
God. They condemned Christ to die on a cross. Destruction and
misery are in their ways, and the way of peace have they not
known." They neither enter the kingdom of God themselves, and
they do everything they can to prevent others from entering
into the kingdom of God, because they want it to be according
to their religion, and their tradition, and their ways that
it has to be done, rather than according to the scriptures.
There's no fear of God before their eyes. Now we know. that
what thing soever the law saith, that saith to them who are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world
may become guilty before God." So the law doesn't make anyone
righteous. When you look at the law by the
Spirit, the law shuts our mouths. That's what we see in the law. The law is good. The law is holy
and just. There's nothing evil or wrong
in the law, but it can't make us righteous. hard as we try,
can't make us righteous, what the law does is it shuts our
mouth so that we have nothing to boast in before God. And all
we can do is confess to God, Lord, have mercy on me. Help,
Lord. I'm a sinner. There's nothing
I can do, Lord. I look at your law, it's perfect, holy, and
just, and I'm not. help lord have mercy upon me
a sinner and we read in first john three eight he that committed
sin is of the devil for the devil sinneth from the beginning for
this purpose the son of god was manifested that he might destroy
the works of the devil that's why christ came that he would
destroy the works of the devil because Paul wrote to Timothy
saying that those who are yet in their sins, those who are
not in Christ, are taken captive by the will of the evil one.
When he wants, when he purposes, he calls them and they do his
will. So it takes the power of Christ
to destroy those works, to break that power in us and to deliver
us out of that prison and that bondage of death that we're in
by nature. So only Christ can destroy the works of the devil.
Only he can deliver us. Now this man pictures every lost
sinner. I said in verse three, like this
man, it says that he had his dwelling among the tombs. And we know that because we ourselves
dwell with this body of death every day. It's a tomb. And we
see its unprofitableness and its inability to do that which
is good and right. And it says, no man could bind
him, no, not with chains. And yet we see it in religion
all the time, how they work and they labor so hard to point out
your faults and to call you to this and to call you to that
and bind you and whip you and beat you and make you feel like
you're worthless because you can't do their traditions, and
you can't meet their standards, and you can't rise up to what
they're telling you that you have to do to make yourselves
righteous. And so they turn men back to
the law. Some are so bold to say it's
for your justification, but others are more subtle. And they say,
well, you're justified by Christ. But now to sanctify yourselves,
you've got to turn back to the law of Moses and start doing
what the law says. So that there again, we go back
to the flesh. And what is the flesh going to
produce? thorns and thistles, and we're looking for grapes
and figs among that which can only produce thorns and thistles.
This flesh can never produce that which is holy and right
before God." So, it's the Lord's work. And then it says in verse
4, because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, right? And that's all those laws, all
those rules, all those customs and catechisms and teachings
that they work so hard to drill into you to get you to conform
and to put on a good show of religion. But the chains have
been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken in pieces,
neither could any man tame him, right? They want to glory in
your flesh by getting you to be tamed and to submit to their
ways and their rules and their doctrines and what they say is
needful for salvation. And always, verse five, night
and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting
himself with stones. But our Lord said, In Matthew
6, verses 7 and 8, but when you pray, use not vain repetitions
as the heathen do, for they think that they shall be heard for
their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto
them, for your father knoweth what things ye have need of before
ye ask him. And for that purpose, it's not
something that we did that inspired God to send his son here, but
in spite of us, in spite of the wickedness that we've done, thank
the Lord that he purposed to send his son to save his people,
to put away their sins and to do for us that which we cannot
do because we're like that man. We can't be bound, we can't be
tamed, we can't be fettered and locked up to conform and start
producing righteousness. The best we can do is put on
a fair show of religion, but God isn't impressed or pleased
with those things. Alright, now next we read in
Mark 5 verses 6-8. It says, 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 said unto him, Christ
said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit." Now
first, don't be fooled by this man's show of religion. The flesh
can put on a very good show of religion. As Paul wrote to the
Corinthians saying, No marvel, for Satan himself appeared as
an angel of light. So they can appear, men and women
can appear as ministers of righteousness and as good citizens of the church
and good professors, but we know that there's, we know because
we've seen it in our own hearts, we know how we perform for others
to be seen of men and think more highly of what others think of
us rather than knowing and just trusting and resting in the salvation
which God has provided in his son. And it says many, you know,
or we see in this that many flee to Christ for all kinds of reasons. And this man's reason, which
is quite popular in the world, that thou torment me not. A lot
of people don't want to go to hell, and that's why they put
on a good show, and they do their best to get into heaven, but
they keep looking to their flesh, and they keep looking to their
works, and they're never coming to Christ. the true and living
God. They're never resting in Him. And many of us, we look to the doctrines
that we believe. We look to the gospel that we
speak of. And because we could recite or
recount the fact that yes, we're all totally depraved and yes,
we know that it's the election of God and We understand that
Christ shed his blood only for his elect people, that his blood
is only effectual for them, and we understand that it's the Spirit
that calls, and that when he calls, it's an effectual call,
and we understand that he preserves us to the end, and it's all his
work, but that's not salvation. Just because we know those truths,
and just because we recite those things, that's not salvation.
Salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Where's your hope? and
what you know, or is your hope in the Lord Jesus Christ? Are
you resting in Him, or are you resting in where you come from? The people that you're with,
and the things that you know, and the church that you belong
to, or you're trusting in your baptism, or you're trusting in
the fact that you made a profession of faith when you were 11 years
old, or whatever it is. A lot of people trust in those
things. A lot of people trust in their
faith, but they don't trust in the Christ who gives faith. That's
still looking to our own works when we're trusting in those
things, rather than resting and looking to Christ. Lord, have
mercy upon me. Lord, save me. I can't save myself. Because we see it. We see the
religion that is so natural and common to this flesh. Because
we want to believe that we're saved. And we want to believe
that God's pleased with us. But we look still to the works
of the flesh, rather than looking to Christ and resting in Him. So, it's not the doctrines that
save us. I mean, we don't want to give
anyone hope who speaks of their works and what they've done,
but just because we know the right things to say, that isn't
salvation. It's Christ. Christ is our salvation. He did the work. So, look to
Christ. Look to Him and beg Him for mercy
and seek Him that He would reveal Himself to you and fix your hope
in him, and to know that he's done this work. As Paul wrote
to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 5, 17, when he said, if any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature. All things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. We cease looking to and trusting
in that religion. We know it's true that just because
we say the name Jesus Christ, that doesn't make us any better
than what the Jews were back in their day when they confessed
the name of Jehovah and professed to believe and follow the law
of Moses. That didn't save them. It's looking
to Christ, the Messiah sent of God to put away the sin of His
people, trusting that He is sufficient. He's provided everything necessary
and needful for me to stand before God and to be accepted in Him. And it says, and all things are
of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and
hath given to us, the church, the local church, the ministry
of reconciliation, to declare that God is at peace with his
people in Christ. Come to the Father through Jesus
Christ, the Son. God receives all those who trust
in him, and come to him confessing, Lord, I'm nothing. But don't
look to me, don't look to my works, look to the blood of your
son whom you've provided to put away my sin. To wit, that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself. That is,
not just Jews, but also the Gentiles who sat in darkness, who were
bound up in their religion and their superstitions and their
myths and their fables and their nonsense. But he's been provided,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. There's peace with the Father
and Jesus Christ his Son. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God to beseech you by us, we pray you
in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. Look to the Son, there's
peace and forgiveness. He's not looking to you to work
out all these steps. and to do all these things before
you can rest and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. He says, look
to the Son, I provided Him for full and free salvation. For He hath made Him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. Look to the Son. Are you a sinner? Do you need His grace and His
mercy? Are you content in your religion
and in the things that you're doing to save you. Where's your
trust lie? Is it in Christ or is it in your
works and in something that you've done? Joseph Hart went on to
say, come ye sinners, poor and needy, weak and wounded, sick
and sore. Jesus ready stands to save you,
full of pity, joined with power. He is able, he is able. And this is what so many of us
need to hear. He's willing. Doubt no more. Do you believe
that He's a willing Savior? He's not making it hard. If the
Jesus you have in your mind is a harsh, ogre, demanding all
these things for you before you can rest in Him, that's not the
Christ revealed in the Scriptures. There's not one sinner in need
who He turned away. All who came to Him seeking mercy,
seeking healing, seeking forgiveness, they all went away satisfied. They all went away from Christ
because He was merciful and kind and gracious. It's hard for us
to believe. How can it be? But it's His work. It's His power. He knows what
He's doing. He's given to us the ministry
of reconciliation to declare the salvation that God has provided
in His Son. Why do we keep heaping up all
these additional steps and all these other things to put between
us and Christ and resting in Him? The Catholics, we see that. We see what they do. They put
priests and other steps between you and God. But we fail to see
how in so-called Protestant churches, how they also put all these things
between us and resting in Christ. It's all these things that we
gotta do, all these things we gotta work out before we can
rest in Christ. And if that's what it takes,
if you gotta do something, then you're not resting in Christ.
You're still looking to something you've gotta work out and finish
and complete before you can rest in Christ. That's how I was before
the Lord saved me. I was constantly thinking, well,
When I put away a few things, I thought, now I can say that
I believe in Christ because now I've done such and such thing.
But the Lord destroyed that work. He broke me out of that because
I was coming to Christ because I thought in my mind, now I can.
That's not a hope in Christ. I can't come to Christ. I can't
do anything. He delivers his people from that
so that they see and rest in Christ. There's nothing I can
do, Lord. Please just have mercy upon me. Deliver me, because
that's why Christ was given. That's why he came, to put away
our sin. And like this man, The truth
is, we're all a far off. Every one of us is a far off,
just like that man who ran to him. But what we see is that
when we run to him, what we really find is that the Father has run
to us. He sent the Son to us and provided. It's like the prodigal son, right?
The prodigal son in Luke 15, verses 20 through 24, where we
read that in verse 20, it says, and he arose, right, when the
spirit had worked in that man. And it says, it words it, when
he came to himself. Now that's not him coming to
himself. The spirit gave him life and brought him to see the
misery and the bondage that he was in, and so that he went back
to the father. And it says he arose and came
to his father, but when he was yet a great way off, way off,
the Father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck
and kissed him. So that we know now, we understand
that it was all the regenerative work of the Spirit that moved
in us, that showed us our bondage, showed us our darkness, and showed
us Christ. That He was provided for reconciliation,
to put away the sins of the people, come to Christ, look to Him,
trust and Him, that's why He's provided. Not to make it harder
for you, but to show you that it's not a work that we can do.
It's so hard in the flesh. Isn't it just to trust in Christ
and the rest there and Him? It's impossible for the flesh.
The flesh always wants to be doing something to know that
it's worked some kind of token that it can look to and say,
well, yeah, I'm saved because I know I did that. I walked the
aisle or I made a profession of faith. No, no, no. Just rest
in Christ. There's nothing that we do that
is perfect and right. So we see how it's all the work
of the Spirit giving us life, the work of the Spirit to apply
the blood, to wash away our sins, to wash our conscience and to
deliver us from that death and bondage that we're in to Christ.
And He makes us to run to Him and we see how all along it was
Him coming to us and bringing salvation to us and drawing us
with cords of love to bring us near to him who is holy and righteous. And the son confessed to the
father, he said, I've sinned against heaven and in thy sight,
and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father wouldn't
let him be just a servant, but he's a son. And he says, put
on him the best robe. What's the best robe? But the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, so that the father gives
to every one of his children the robe of Christ's righteousness. And he says, put a ring on his
hand and shoes on his feet. Shot his feet with the gospel
of peace that we may walk now before our God in peace, resting
in him according to this gospel which he's given to us. And he
says, bring hither the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat
and be merry. And that's what the sheep continue
to feed on to this day. We eat his flesh and we drink
his blood because it's spiritual and we see how we're feeding
upon him and we rejoice in the salvation that he brings to us. It's no longer this circus and
this whipping and beating and this carrot and stick kind of
religion where we're trying to make ourselves feel good about
ourselves because we don't know the truth. But now he brings
the truth to us and brings it home to the heart so that we
hear it and we know, Lord, you've done the whole work. Thank you.
Thank you, Lord. The Father is kind, and He's
gentle, and He's merciful, and He's good to us, and He's very,
very merciful and very gracious, all in the Son, all because of
the Son, never outside of Christ, always in Christ. The Lord had
sent, we know back in the text, the Lord had sent this legion
of demons into the herd of swine and they ran violently down the
hillside and they all plunged into the sea and they drowned.
And then in Mark 5, 14 and 15 tells us, 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 come
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. We see what a darling, sweet
picture that the Lord provides for us in his salvation where
he's the one who clothes us with his righteousness, he's the one
who brings rest and peace to the mind that is otherwise troubled
and like a roaring sea that can't be still and calm, but he brings
calm and he brings peace to the sinner so that there we rest
in him. He makes that stormy sea a calm
and we rest in him so that he's our righteousness. As Joseph
Hart said, come ye weary, heavy laden, bruised and broken by
the fall, if ye tarry till you're better. you will never come at
all. Not the righteous, not the righteous,
but sinners Jesus came to call. And our text says in verses 15
again through 17, they come to Jesus and see him that was possessed
with the devil and had the legion sitting in clothed in his right
mind and they were afraid. They were afraid and they that
saw told them how it befell to him that was possessed with the
devil and also concerning the swine and they began to pray
that Christ would depart out of their coasts. And that's really
what happens when the religious world sees how the Lord has given
you peace and worked his salvation in you, you become an odd thing
to them and they're afraid and they're afraid because that's
not their experience. They're still striving and laboring
and working hard to make themselves feel good. And now you're resting
in Christ and calling Him your Lord and Savior? How long have
you been doing this? I've been in this thing for years
and I can't even rest in Christ. And now you're resting in Christ?
And they think, get away from me. I don't know with this person.
This is odd. They're afraid because it's not
their salvation. It's not their hope and not their
what they've experienced. So they're afraid, because they
don't know anything of the experience of grace. And it's foreign to
them. Just as Christ was foreign to
their coast, and they asked him, just leave. Just go on out of
here. So that what you see is that all along,
because they were enabled to be fettered, if you will, because
they submitted to the constraints and the traditions of men, and
because they could follow along they thought that was their righteousness
and because they could be tamed they thought that's my goodness
and so that's where they rested and that's where they hoped not
seeing that they were stopping and they weren't going on to
Christ and looking to him and Peter says unto you therefore
which believe he's precious But unto them which be disobedient,
the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made
the head of the corner. And a stone of stumbling, and
a rock of offense, even to them which stumble at the word being
disobedient, whereunto also they were appointed. They're still
looking to their religion, and they're not looking to Christ.
They're stumbling over the simplicity that's in Christ. They're stumbling
over that. But ye are a chosen generation,
a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that
ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out
of darkness into his marvelous light." That was in 1 Peter 2,
7 and 9, if you're looking at it later. Now, in our text, verses
18 through 20, it says, Mark 5, 18 through 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 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. So the Lord didn't permit this
man to go with him back into Judea, but he commissioned him
to declare what Christ had done for him. And to every sinner
that's saved, that's what we're called to do. And it's a joy
and it's peaceful because we know we don't have to convince
others of this. All we're doing is declaring
and saying, this is what the Lord did for me. This is what
he did in saving me and delivering me. And he uses that, right? When the early church was persecuted,
they went out everywhere declaring, Christ and His cross. They preached
Christ crucified and how God saves sinners through Christ
the Son. The simplicity of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that word that that man preached,
it worked fruit. We'll see later when we get to
it in Mark 7, at the end of Mark 7 verses 31 In 32, we see how
Christ returned to that area, to Decapolis, later on. And it
says, departing from the coast of Tyre and Sidon, Christ came
unto the Sea of Galilee through the midst of the coasts of Decapolis. And they bring unto him one that
was deaf and had an impediment in his speech. And they beseech
him to put his hand upon him. They saw what he had done to
that demoniac man. And they heard that man's testimony.
And then when they saw the need, they brought to him Christ, because
they knew Christ alone can heal this one. Only Christ can deliver
this one from their bondage. And that's what your hearers,
what they'll hear. And in the time of love, when
the Lord purposes it, he'll water that seed, and he'll cause it
to grow, and to spring up, and to bring forth fruit to the glory
and the praise of God. Because we see how Christ healed
that man. He was tender. And he received
that man and healed him and delivered him. And that's our hope, brethren,
that though we ourselves are imperfect, though we ourselves
can pick apart ourselves and see the faults in us, but we
see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the
suffering of death, that he might deliver us from the power of
the evil one and deliver us from the power of sin into the kingdom
of his glorious light. And we thank God for that, and
that's why we rest in Him and why we sing praises to His name
and rejoice in Him and love Him. He didn't give us a bunch of
to-dos to do. He gave us Christ, and there's nothing better that
He could do. And that's why we thank Him for His unspeakable
gift, the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ, who we trust and rest
in to finish the work which He started in us. So I pray the
Lord will give each of us a heart to rest in Christ. and to see
His power continue to grow in us and to bear these fruits out,
which please Him to work among our brethren. Let's pray and
give thanks. Our gracious Lord, we thank You
for the salvation which You've provided in the Son, Jesus Christ. Lord, help us. You know how weak
this flesh is. You know how easy it is for us
to stumble and to get tripped up over the simplicity that is
in Christ. Lord, help us to rest in Lord,
pour out upon us the word of reconciliation which you've provided
in the Son. Lord, that we might know peace
with holy God and have fellowship with you in Christ. Lord, please
continue to work in us and to bear these gracious fruits of
your Spirit in us. We pray this in Jesus' name,
our Lord and Savior. Amen. Alright, so Joe will come up
and close us in the final hymn and then we'll be dismissed at
the close of that hymn. We're going to stand and sing
out of your soft binder 101. Electing love adored. 101.