Turn with me, if you would, to
Matthew chapter eight. Matthew chapter eight. Continuing our study through
Matthew, I just ask our brother to read Luke's account of our
text. And now let's read Matthew's
account. Matthew 8, look with me if you
would at verse 28. And when he was come to the other
side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two
possessed with devils coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce,
so that no man might pass by that way. And behold, they cried
out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of God? Art thou come hither to torment
us before the time? And there was a good way off
from them, and herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought
him, saying, If thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into
the herd of swine. And he said unto them, go. And
when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine.
And behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep
place into the sea and perished in the waters. And they that
kept them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything
that was befallen to the possessed of devils. And behold, the whole
city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him, they be
sought him that he would depart out of their coast. They did
not want him there. They did not want his miracles. They did not want his healing. That's amazing. Isn't it? Sad to say, but it's still that
way today. It's still that way today. Men
and women love and want their own little G gods, but they do
not love and want the true and living God of the Bible. The flesh of man naturally rejects
the God who sovereignly does whatever he wants with whoever
he wants. The flesh of man doesn't want
anything to do with that God. Thank God that's irrelevant to
him. Don't you love that? Thank God
he still does what he wants with whom he wants. Man says no. Psalm 14 says, the fool hath
said no, God. He still does what he wants with
whom he wants. Thank God. Thank God. There are a couple of things
that we can immediately see in this account. And the first one
is God does what he wants with whom he wants. That's the first
thing we can see here. He has a particular people that
he has chosen to save. And if he wants to save them,
he's going to save them. Verse 28 says, when he was come
to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, I think that's
how you pronounce that. In the other accounts, in the
one that our brother read for us a minute ago, and another
one we'll look at, those people are called Gadarenes, same people,
same place. But it says here that When he
was come to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes,
there met him two possessed with devils. Both of the other account,
the other accounts say that there was only one. Which is it? Two or one? If it says there
were two, then there were two. All right? Then why do the other
accounts say he only saved one? Apparently he only saved one. All right. God has a particular people and he does what he wants. He
has the right to do what he wants with whom he wants. We need to
bow to that. We truly do need to bow to that.
Christ came to save a particular people. And this is what I want
to say to all of us. I pray we're among them. I pray we're among
them. Lord, we bow to your sovereignty. And we know that you do what
you want with whoever you want. We know you can kill us or you
can make us alive. Our prayer, please let us be
one of your people. That's what God's people say.
All we can do is beg from you. We're just beggars. Please just
let us be one of your people. God be merciful to us. The first thing that we can see
here is God has an elect people that He came to save, all right?
The second thing we can see here is He is able to save them. Nothing stands in His way. He
has all power to accomplish what He came to do. Verse 28 says,
When he was come to the other side into the country of the
Gergesenes, there met him to possessed with devils coming
out of the tombs, exceeding fierce so that no man might pass by
that way. These two men were so fierce,
a whole city of people could not pass by that way, but God. Came right up to him. He walked
right up to him. Nobody could pass by that way.
Fierce. He walked right up to him. Verse
29 says, and behold, they cried out saying, what have we to do
with thee, Jesus, thou son of God? Art thou come hither to
torment us before the time? Is it not so sad that devils
knew exactly who he was, but man didn't? Man who he came to, he came unto
his own, and his own received him not. Why? It's because they
knew him not. But these devils knew who he
was. He had cast them out of heaven
as a bolt of lightning. They knew who he was and they
knew what he was capable of. Verse 29 and behold, they cried
out saying, what have we to do with the Jesus thou son of God
art thou come hither to torment us before the time they knew. There is an appointed time coming
that we're going to have to face the judgment of God. Oh, that man knew that. Oh, that
mankind knew that. Verse 29, behold, they cried
out saying, what have we to do with thee? Jesus, thou son of
God, art thou come hither to torment us before the time? And
there was a good way off from them and herd of many swine feeding. So the devils besought him saying,
if thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the herd of swine. Now notice that the Lord is not
dealing with these two men or this man, whatever the Lord indeed
did do here. He's not dealing directly with
the man. He's dealing with what's inside
the man. He will deal with the man, but
only after he deals with what's inside the man first. Verse 31, so the devils besought
him saying, if thou cast us out, suffer us to go away into the
herd of swine. And he said unto them, go. And
when they were come out, they went into the herd of swine and
behold, the whole herd of swine ran violently down a steep place
into the sea and perished in the waters. And they that kept
them fled and went their ways into the city and told everything
and what was befallen to the possessed of devils. And behold,
the whole city came out to meet Jesus. And when they saw him,
they besought him that he would depart out of their coast. Now,
the best commentary I have ever heard on this was told to me by a dear brother. When this brother commented on
this account, I said, amen. This is the best commentary I've
ever heard on this account. This dear brother said the man
in the tombs. That's me. That's me, this lunatic man.
That's me. He said, I feel like I'm living
a life of deadness. I feel like I'm living a life
of deadness. Our brother just brought a wonderful Bible study
to us and opened it by saying, don't you just hate the deadness? When these things go forth, God's
people know that if we belong to Him, if He is merciful to
us, we're going to spend eternity worshiping Him. That's what we're
going to do. What are we going to do in eternity?
We're going to worship God. And it's like because of our
sinful, sinful dead flesh, we struggle so hard for five straight
minutes. I feel so dead. I feel so dead. I just feel so dead. I feel like
I'm in a dead place. I feel like I'm living in this
tomb. Among the dead, sure. Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean
lips and I live amongst a people of unclean lips. Among the dead,
sure. I feel like death is all around
me. Absolutely. But what I'm talking about and
what this brother was talking about was in me. In me, I feel
so dead. I feel so dead. I just feel so
dead. Now, I can relate to that. I
can absolutely relate to that. May God reveal to us our deadness. Do you know where the spark of
life begins? That feeling, that revelation
of deadness. Oh, may God reveal to us our
deadness. Now, let me continue telling
you what this dear brother said as we look at Mark's account.
Mark expounds on this a little bit. Turn with me to Mark chapter
five. Mark chapter five. Mark chapter 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 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. This brother said to me when
he was making this comment, he said that man in the tombs
right there, he said, that's me. He said, I feel so dead. I feel so dead. And he said, I have tried to
bind my sin with chains. And he said, I break them every
time. He said, I see this dead sin in me. And he said, I've
tried so hard to bind it with chains. He said, I have tried
so hard. I've tried so hard to bind my
sinful thoughts with chains. Do you ever catch yourself saying,
why would that come into my mind? He said, I've tried so hard to
bind my sinful thoughts with chains. And he said, I break
them every time. He said, I've tried so hard to
bind this sinful tongue with chains and I break them every
time. I just keep breaking chains.
I bind it and I just break it. I just keep breaking chains.
He said, it's like I can't even be tamed. I enter into that. This wicked lunatic, How do you tame this man? It doesn't matter what you find
as a chain, you'll break it. I feel like a lunatic man. The
Apostle Paul cried, who is going to deliver me from this body
of death that I'm living in, this tomb I'm living in, that
is only full of just vileness and just wickedness? I agree with my brother. This
man is a picture of me. I'm just confessing to you. This man is a picture of me.
Is this man a picture of you? Is he a picture of you? When
sin overtakes you and consumes your heart and your mind and
your tongue, do you ever feel like a man or a woman who cannot
be tamed? Just a sinner who produces sin
who cannot be tamed. I'm a sinner who produces sin. Just can't be tamed. Verse five
right here in Mark chapter five. And always night and day he was
in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with
stones. You ever feel like everything
you do just hurts you? Hurts the people around you?
Like death has just swallowed you up? The blackness of sin is just
pulling you deeper and deeper into your own wretched grave.
Honestly, honestly. If you do, if you do, then this
message is for you. If you do, this message is for
you. Jesus Christ is about to declare salvation, liberty, freedom. And this message of healing salvation
is for any soul who is dead in sin, untamed, unbound. If you're one of them, this message
is for you. All right, I want to ask two questions. Let's just think rationally.
Why would God choose him? Why would God choose him? The
Lord only saved one man in this account. Only one man. After he healed this one man,
the city said, we don't want you here anymore. And the Lord
got back into the ship and he went over to the other side.
This healing is a picture of salvation. He came to save one man. Now here's the question. Why
him? Why would God choose him? Here's
the reason. He was the worst. This is the reason why. So hard
for the flesh to understand this. It is so hard. He was the worst. God's people are always saying
once they really get ahold of these things, they're always
saying, why me? Why would God choose me? Why
would God choose to save me of all people? Why would he choose
to save me? They're so much better than me.
They're all so much better than me. Bingo. Why would God choose to save
us? We were the worst. We were the
worst. I was the worst of the worst. You know what the Lord told this
Gadarene man to go and do after all this is over? Well, I'm just
telling you, my dear family and friends, I was the worst of the
worst. I'm not just saying that. I feel
that way. If God saves us, it's because
we were the worst. Not the best. The worst. If God has mercy on this city,
do you know who God's going to save in Kingsport, Tennessee?
The worst. The worst. If he saves anybody,
he's going to call out of this city, the worst. Ask Jacob out of Jacob and Esau. I've always loved it. When you
hear that story, when the story's over, I choose Esau. I prefer Esau. Esau was a fine,
obedient son. He was just a hardworking, obedient. His dad said, would you go do
this for me? He said, sure I will. And he did it. Jacob was a wretch. He was a lying, cheating wretch. That low-down scoundrel stole
from his brother, lied to his father. He was a wretch. Ask the publican between the
publican and the Pharisee in the temple. That Pharisee was
a fine, church-going man. That publican was a member of
the mafia. He was a wretch. God saves the worst of the worst. Why does God do that? Why does
He do that? It's because that's His glory. That is His glory. He said, I
did not come to call the righteous. I came to call sinners. I came
to save sinners. He said, the one who is forgiven
most will love most. Heaven is going to be full of
a people who love him with all of their hearts, souls, and minds
because they know you loved us at our worst. And you had mercy
on us when we didn't deserve mercy. To you be the glory for the great
things you've done. The Apostle Paul said, this is
a faithful saying, it's worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into this world to save ruined, dead, wasted sinners. And he said, I'm the worst. The gospel of Jesus Christ the
Savior brings hope to the vilest offender, the worst of the worst. And he proved that by traveling
all the way to the country of the Gadarenes to save this one
man, this one man. All right, that's the first question.
Why would God choose this man? Here's the answer. He's the worst.
Second question. What is the purpose of the scriptures? What is the purpose of the scriptures?
What is the purpose of every book, every chapter, every verse,
every word, every story in the scriptures? What is the purpose
of the scriptures? It is to point men and women
to Christ. It is to point sinners to Christ.
It's to point us to how he saved the worst. How he saved his people,
the worst. He said, these are they which
testify of me. He said, all the scriptures concern
himself. What does he mean by that? He
means how Christ died according to the scriptures. How he died
to deliver his people from their sin. That's what every word is
pointing us to. How he did this, how he accomplished
this. This is a story of how this chosen
vessel of mercy, that's what this man was, as vile as he may
have been. This is a story of how this chosen
vessel of mercy had all of his sins removed from him. and laid
on another who bore them away, never to return again. This is
a story of what Christ did for his vile wretched people. Look
right here at Mark five, verse 11. Mark 5 verse 11, now there was
nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. That great herd was already there. When the appointed time came
for God to deal with this man, the whole time that was going
on, that man's substitute was already there. And when the appointed time came
for God to deal with us according to our sins against Him, our
substitute was already there. Already there at the transaction.
It's amazing to me that the Lord chose to use a herd of swine
for this rather than a herd of any other kind of animal, any
other different animal. Swine is considered to be unclean. What our Lord is telling us in
this is, even though our Lord in Himself was never unclean, even though He was the spotless,
holy Lamb of God, He made Himself to be unclean sin for us. so that we could be made the
spotless righteousness of God in Him. In order to deliver us,
Christ made Himself to be what we were. Look with me, and I'm
almost done here. I'll be very quick, but look
with me at Psalm 22. Psalm 22 verse 1 says, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Verse 18 right here says, they
part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. Is it not clear that this is
the Lord speaking from the cross? All right, this is the Lord Jesus
Christ speaking from the cross. Now look at verse six. He said,
but I am a worm. I am a worm on the cross of Calvary
as he hung before God, the judge. He said, I am a worm. Why would
he say that? Why would he say that? The answer
is in Isaiah 41. Turn with me over to Isaiah 41.
Isaiah 41, verse 14 says, fear not thou
worm Jacob. Why would our Lord say that?
It's because He made Himself to be Jacob. The unclean worm Jacob. He made
Himself to be me. He made Himself to be you. He
hung as your substitute. He hung as my substitute. He hung as the substitute of
all of His unclean people. And in that, as a picture of
that, God provided the perfect substitute for this gathering
swine right here. All of the evil that was in this
wicked lunatic, God took it out of him and pressed it into his
substitute. And that's what God the Father
did for us in Christ. He bore our sins in his own body. on the tree. And with our sin
pressed into Him, He took that sin and He ran violently down
a steep place with it. And He died with it in Him. And He took it all the way down
and left it on the bottom of the ocean of God's mercy, never to return again. That's
where it will stay forever, swallowed up in the depths of the mercy
of God. Right there on the cross of Calvary
for God's people, death was swallowed up in victory. Now go back to
Mark 5 and we'll close with how the story ended for this Gadarene
and how it ends for all of God's people. Mark 5. Verse 13, 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 two thousand
and were choked in the sea. 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. They saw that man tamed at the feet of the Lord Jesus
Christ, robed in the righteous covering of the Lord Jesus Christ,
taught, and they shall all be taught of God in his right mind
of who to worship, who God is and who man is and what salvation
is. 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. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coast. And when the Lord was come into
the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that
he might be with him. Can you not imagine after that
man was tamed and in his right mind, the Lord gets back into
the ship. Can't you see that man begging
him, please, Lord, please let me get into the ship with you.
Wherever you're going, I don't care where you're going. Just
please let me go with you. Please don't leave me here. Please
don't leave me stranded in this foreign, God forsaken place. Verse 19, how be it 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 have
had compassion on thee." That word compassion is a glorious
word. Not only did he do great things
for him, he said, you tell them, I've had compassion on you. When
nobody else would love you, nobody else could love you. He said,
I've loved you with an, you go tell everybody I loved you with
an everlasting love. You go tell everybody with cords
of love, I drew you to me. Verse 20, and he departed, that
man departed and began to publish in Decapolis. And we're doing
the same thing in Kingsport. Everywhere. He published it.
How great things Jesus had done for him. And all men did marvel. Our Lord said, you go tell them
all, and He did. All of God's people do. This
is our message, this is our glory, and it's the same story every
time. God's people have the same story that they go tell every
time, and it goes like this. Once my soul was astray from
the heavenly way, and was wretched and vile as can be, but my Savior
in love and in compassion gave me peace from above when He reached
down His hand for me. I was near to despair when He
came to me there, and He told me that I was now free. Then He lifted my feet, gave
me gladness complete when He reached down His hand for me.
Now my heart does rejoice when I hear his sweet voice. In the
tempest, to him I then flee. There to lean on his arm, safe,
secure from all harm, because he reached down his hand for
me. This wretched man right here,
he loved me and gave himself for me. He tamed me, He purged
me, He clothed me, He drew me. To Him be glory. Great things
He has done.