All right, go with me back to
Mark chapter 5. This account of the Gadarene is one of the
favorites for most believers. It really is. We all have some
favorites. And for most believers, this
is one of them. The reason is because most believers
relate to this man so well. Now, most in religion look at
this man and say, I'm glad I'm not like him. But most believers
truly relate to this man so, so well. Sinners have no idea
how vile they are until God reveals it to them. They have no idea,
do they? No idea. They think they're pretty
good and living right and doing right.
But when the Lord reveals the truth, it's shocking, isn't it?
It's shocking. And then once they see, once
a sinner sees what he is, once sinners see what they are, not
just what they've done, but what they are, what they truly are. They've seen what's on the outside,
but once they see what's on the inside, and once they see the mighty
work of Christ in them, once they realize, He sat me down. I was running like a lunatic,
but He laid hold on me, and I didn't decide one day, I'm going to
start going to church, and I'm going to sit down. He sat me
down. And he clothed me and he put
me in my right mind. He did it. There was a way that
seemed right to me. It's that way for everybody. We have this thing of eternity,
life or death, heaven, hell. This man, Jesus, everybody's
worshiping. There's a way that seems right.
There was a way that seemed write to me a way of life, a way to
God, but it was all wrong. Every bit of it, it was wrong.
God was not who I thought he was. Isn't that what every believer
comes to say? God was not who I thought he was. I was not who
I thought I was. Salvation was not in anything
I do. It wasn't in any decision I make
like I thought it was. I had a wrong mind. Wrong about
everything. I was wrong about what happened
to man in the fall. Wrong on it all. That's what
a believer comes to see. I was wrong. I was wrong. But once God performs His work
in a sinner, once He performs His work to a sinner, Once that
sinner sees the way, everybody wants to know, everybody struggles
with salvation. You go here, they tell you one thing. You
go there, they tell you something else. What's the truth? Once
a sinner sees the truth himself, the way, the truth, the life,
Christ himself. Once he sees grace, once he sees
complete redemption, total Redemption. Once he understands the absolute
freedom from sin. Absolute freedom from sin. Man,
that is wonderful. Absolute freedom from my sin. Oh, the bliss of this glorious
thought. All those things that are killing
me. My sin. A believer understands
the freedom from sin that Christ secured for him. He starts running
to tell everybody he can find how great things the Lord has
done for him. That's what he does, great things,
great, great things. That woman at the well, She came
to draw water for herself. She came to get water. She left
her water pot, she ran into town, and she told everybody she could,
you better come see a man. You better do it now. He's at
the well right now. I don't know how long he's going
to be there. You better come right now. Come see a man. He told me everything about me.
And that's what this Gadarene did. Look at verse 19. Mark 5
verse 19. How be it Jesus suffered him
not, but saith unto him, go home. Go home. This man wanted to go
be with the Lord. Don't we all? Don't we all? Lord, I'm ready to just be with
you. But he suffered him not. He said,
Go home. Go to your family. He said, Go
home to your friends. 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. Great things. If I could just
take the time to start and tell you through the 39 years I've
been on this earth how great things the Lord had done for
me, we would be here till Wednesday. And I wouldn't have started in
the message yet. But he's done great things for me. He's done
great. He has forgiven all mine iniquity. Isn't that amazing? I mean, He
gave me a wife. I'm so thankful for that. He
gave me children. I'm so thankful. He gave me you.
But He gave me Christ. He gave me Christ. You know,
not everybody gets Christ. Do you know that? Not everybody
gets Christ. Great, great things. That's what
this man did. He went, he obeyed the Lord.
He went and started telling how great things the Lord had done
for him. I was thinking about this man
doing that. Thinking about him going back home. And everybody
knew who he was. Everybody knew who he was. Going
home to his family and his friends, telling them how great things
the Lord had done for him. And the thought went through
my mind, I wonder what he said. I wonder what he said. I wonder what did he tell? Where
did he start? And I tell you, I know where
he started. At the beginning. He started at the beginning.
Every time we declare this good news, the reason we're here,
we have gathered in this house to worship him. and to thank
Him and to publicly declare how great things the Lord has done
for us. And every time we do this, every time we gather together
and declare this good news of grace, we acknowledge our sin,
don't we? Every time. You know that? Isn't
it about time we leave sin out now? No! That's the start of
the great thing. That's where it all began. We
don't do that because it's the first point of the grace outline. It's because that's where He
came to us and found us. I'm going to tell the story of
how great things the Lord did for me. What happened first?
He came and found me. Where was I? We'll look at verse
1. I was dead in sin. That's where
I was. Captive to sin. Verse one says,
they came over unto the other side of the sea into the country
of the Gadarenes. Our Lord told his disciples at
the end of the last chapter, chapter four, he said, we're
going to cross over. He said, you come get into this
ship. Let us pass over onto the other side of this sea. And they
endured a great storm along the way. Why did our Lord say that
to them? Why did He have them endure that? These were His apostles, His
disciples, His preachers. Why did He have them endure that? The reason is because there was
one sinner on the other side that He purposed to save. We're
going to cross over. We're going to go through all
these troubles. We're going to go through this great storm. I have one
sinner to save. And just as our Lord said they
would, just as our Lord accomplishes everything He purposes to do,
it says they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the
country of the Gadarenes. Verse 2 says, And when He was
come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out of the tombs
a man with an unclean spirit. Was this a chance meeting? Everything that happens to us,
isn't it? It's always so amazing to us.
Yeah, and I ran into a guy, and you won't believe what happened.
Come to find out. That's how we respond to things.
Oh, that was so lucky. I was so lucky. But it just so
happened God foreordained it from the foundation of the world,
didn't he? This Gadarene, I'm sure he thought
it was a chance meeting. That's what most people believe.
I just looked you up in the Yellow Pages. I decided to come here. This was appointed. He was appointed
to be in that place at that time from the foundation of the world.
Here's what happened right here. God in mercy made an appointment
with a sinner. That's what happened. Get in
the ship, we have to go to the other side. Why? I have an appointment
with a sinner. particular place, particular
time. Verse two says, 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. He lived in and around these
different tombs. He went in and out of these different
tombs. I thought about the stench. That's where this man lived.
He lived, he had his dwelling among the tombs. You think about
the stench. The stench that was in him and
the stench that was on him. As he, I thought about, think
about being in that tomb, what it smells like. Every time he
breathed in, his lungs just filled with that stench. It was in him. Can you imagine what he smelled
like? That's what our sin is to God. That's what it is. It didn't
seem to bother Him. It doesn't seem to bother us,
but it's an awful stench in His nostrils. Verse 3 says, 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. He could not be bound because
he was bound. That's why. He was bound. He couldn't, nothing could bind
him because he was bound. He couldn't be bound by fetters
and chains because he was bound by the fetters, the locks of
sin and the chains of sin. And that caused him to break
and to run from everything that was good and right. When it came
to this man, all he could do was break the law. That's all
he could do. Break the law, break God's law.
Verse 5 says, And always, night and day, he was in the mountains
and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.
That's us. That's this flesh. He was not
seeking Christ, was he? He wasn't seeking Christ. He wasn't sitting at the feet
of Christ begging for forgiveness and mercy. Where is he? I don't know. He's up in the
mountains. He's around the town. I don't
know. He's everywhere but where Christ is. Christ had to come to this man
right here. Christ had to come to this man right here. He came
to him in his misery. Verse 5 says, Always, night and
day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying. Living in the clutches of sin,
the captivity of sin, is absolute misery. It really is. It is misery. This man wasn't
happy. This man was miserable in his
sin. Miserable. When the Lord opens
a sinner's eyes, you know, they've been in religion, they've been
trying to meet a quota, trying to impress,
trying to live this facade they're supposed to live. And all of
a sudden, the Lord sets them free. He opens their eyes to
Christ, to redemption, to a finished work, to themselves. And when
they said it, they realized, I was miserable. I didn't even
know it. I was absolutely miserable. Religion
is misery. It's misery. The only place a
sinner is going to find happiness is in Christ. That's the only
place. Verse five says, always night
and day, he was in the mountains, in the tombs, crying and cutting
himself with stones. Just, can you imagine? Just marking
himself up. Slicing away. Just stabbing himself,
just mutilating the body God gave him. That's us. Verse six says, but when he saw
Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him. Now, let me tell you this
at this moment in time, he is not sitting and clothed and in
his right mind. He is still completely possessed
by the evil of sin, but he's religious. He is religious. He knows you're supposed to worship
Jesus. There he is. He ran and worshipped
him. He goes to church every now and then. Can a man who is possessed with
evil spirits be a faithful churchgoer? Not only can he be a faithful
churchgoer, he can be the pastor of the church. You know that? lying to men and women, ushering
those poor souls straight into the depths of hell. And they do it all in the name
of worshipping Jesus. Well, this man worshipped Him. Verse 7 says,
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, Come
out of the man, thou unclean This unclean spirit knows who
God is. He won't bow to him, but he knows
who God is. And he said, please don't torment
me. Verse 9 says, and the Lord asked
him, what is thy name? And he answered saying, my name
is legion for we are many. Now in the Roman military, a
legion is 6,000 infantry. 6,000. He said there are 6,000 of us
in here. 6,000. And I'll just go ahead and tell
you that all of these evil spirits represent this man's sins, which
are many. There are many. He was sin. He committed sin. His sin was
great. Verse 9 says, He asked him, What
is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name
is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him much that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was
there nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils besought him
saying, send us into the swine that we may enter into them." Now here's one thing for all
of us to notice. Isn't that a horrible, horrible thing? They just had
to get permission. Everything they do, they have
to get permission. Job, our Lord, He called everybody,
you come present yourself before the Lord. Satan himself had to
present himself before the Lord. Where have you been and what
are you doing? Our Lord knows. But they have to, they cannot,
He is in absolute control of everything. They cannot do anything
without His permission. Nothing. Only what He allows
them to do. Verse 13 says, And forthwith
Jesus gave them leave, And the unclean spirits went out and
entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep
place into the sea. They were about 2,000 and were
choked in the sea." That tells us truly how many unclean spirits
were in this man. There were 2,000 of them. At
least 2,000. I believe it truly was a legion.
You talk about bound. I mean, you think about that.
We marveled the other night that Mary Magdalene had 7,000. You talk about bound. I've never
seen a man so bound in sin. That's why God chose him. You
know that? That's why he chose him. He came
to save the worst. He came to save the chief. He
came to save the deepest, darkest prisoner from sin. And if He set us free, here's
the thing to realize, if He set me free and if He set us free,
this is describing us. That's the point, is He's describing
us. Verse 14, 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. And
they that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed
with the devil and also concerning the swine." Those that saw what
happened told how everything befell to this man and what happened
to these swine. Now reading Luke's account, This
is in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In reading Luke's account, I
saw some things. Turn with me over to Luke chapter
8. Those that saw what, what happened,
Luke eight, look at verse 36. They also, which saw it told
them by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. They that saw it told by what
means. Now in every text, there is a
road that leads to Jesus Christ and Him crucified. My business
is to find that road and get on it. You know that? Find that
road and get on it. In this account, our Lord mentions
these swine. Our Lord cast evil spirits out
of people all the time and they just left. But in this account,
he tells us by what means he that was possessed of the devils
was healed. And I want to be so careful right
here. I really do. I want to be so fearful and I
want to be so reverent right here. But if you'll just follow
me to a couple of scriptures, I believe we will all see by
what means we were healed. Alright, go with me to Psalm
22. Now this is the Lord Jesus Christ
speaking, Psalm 22 verse 1 says, My God, my God, why hast thou
forsaken me? That's what our Lord said at
the cross. Verse 18, they parted my garments among them and cast
lots upon my vesture. This is Him speaking from the
cross, okay? Psalm 22, this is Him speaking
from the cross. Now look at verse 6. But I am a worm and no man. A reproach of men
and despised of the people. He said, I am a worm and no man. Why would our Lord say that?
Isn't that something? Why would he say that? Do you
have a center reference in your Bible next to a worm? Isaiah 41 is that what your says
Isaiah 41 turn with me over to Isaiah 41 Isaiah 41 and look
at verse 14 It says, Fear not, thou worm,
Jacob. And ye men of Israel, I will
help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel. He said that, being the substitute
for his worms. He hung there and told God Almighty,
I am a worm. And he did that for this worm
right here. That's a great thing. That's a great thing. Fear not thou worm. He said,
I'll help you. You're a redeemer. He said, I
am what they are. I am what they are. He who knew
no sin, Could you imagine never having
a drop of sin touch you? No, we can't. You just can't
imagine. He who knew no sin willingly. Willingly made himself to be
sin. For us. That we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. That's a great thing. Turn with
me over to Lamentations chapter 3, after Jeremiah. Lamentations 3, this again is
our Lord speaking. Lamentations 3 verse 1 says,
I am the man that hath seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. He hath
led me and brought me into darkness, but not into light. Surely against
me is he turned. He turneth his hand against me
all the day. My flesh and my skin hath he
made old. He hath broken my bones. He hath
builded against me, encompassed me with gall and travail. He
hath set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. He
hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain
heavy. Also, when I cry and shout, he
shutteth out my prayer. He hath enclosed my ways with
hewn stone. He hath made my paths crooked. He was unto me as a bear lying
in wait and as a lion in secret places. He hath turned aside
my ways and pulled me in pieces. He hath made me desolate. He hath bent his bow and set
me as a mark for the arrow. He hath caused the arrows of
his quiver to enter into my reins. I was a derision to all my people
and their song all the day. He hath filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with
wormwood. He hath also broken my teeth
with gravel stones. He hath covered me with ashes.
And thou hast removed my soul far off from peace. I forgot
prosperity. And I said my strength and my
hope is perished from the Lord. remembering mine affliction and
my misery, the wormwood and the gall, my soul hath them still
in remembrance and is humbled in me." Our Lord took our sin
upon Himself. He took it into Himself, into
His own body, and then He willingly ran violently
down a steep place into the sea of God's wrath. And that's where
he died. That's where he died. He took
it out of me. He put it in him. And there was the ocean of God's
wrath and justice and judgment. And he ran. And he ran and he
didn't stop. He plunged straight into the
wrath of God's justice. Bearing my sin, it was a violent
transaction. But now it's gone. I mean, it's
gone. It's the only means that would
heal us. The only means. As soon as he
did that, we were set free. You know that? We quit running to sin. We quit running from God and
we sat down at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Clothed in
his righteousness. Right here in Lamentations 3
verse 21 says, This I recall to my mind, therefore have I
hope. This right here is the right
mind that God gives to a saved sinner. Here's this man, okay? This lunatic, this crazy lunatic
that has ruined his life, But Christ came to him, pulled every
evil out of him, put it in himself, ran into the judgment of God's
wrath, set him free. Now here he sits at the feet
of Christ, clothed in his righteousness, and this is what's going through
his mind. If we could travel back 2,000
years and sit next to this man and ask him, what are you thinking?
This is what's going through his mind, okay? Verse 22, he's
sitting there thinking, it is of the Lord's mercies that we
are not consumed. That's what he's sitting there
thinking. It's of God's mercy that I am not laid up somewhere
dead. I ought to be dead. I ought to be in a gutter dead. But God had mercy on me. He laid
hold of me. It's of the Lord's mercies that
were not consumed because his compassions fail not. He's sitting there thinking this
is the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. Verse 23 says they are new every
morning. That's a great thing. That's
a great thing. The Lord gave mercy to me yesterday
and I ruined it. I went to bed ruined in my flesh. My flesh didn't make it. It sinned. It lied. Everything I, the thing
I, what I would, it doesn't do. The things that I would not,
that's what it does. And I didn't make it. But I got
up this morning and I looked at my mercy register and it was
full again. And I'm not going to make it,
but tomorrow morning when I get up on Monday, it's going to be
full again. Brand new every morning. And
it's a great thing. Could you imagine if there was
a limited amount of mercy and we used it up? I'm sorry. It's
all I'm given. It starts over. It's a great
thing. Everybody is great. It is such
a great thing. Verse 23 says, They are new every
morning. Great is thy faithfulness. I'm running this way. He is faithful. He is faithful. Lord, that song says prone to
wonder. I feel it. Do I love the Lord
or no? Am I yours? Am I not? Good thing
it's not up to me. Great is thy faithfulness. Then
it's a great thing. Verse 24 says, The Lord is my
portion, saith my soul. I get the Lord and everything
that belongs to him. And that's a great thing. I have a lot. You all, the Lord
has provided me with so much down here on this earth. But
eye hath not seen, ear hath not heard, neither hath entered into
the heart of man the things that God has prepared for them that
love him. We get him and everything that
he has. Join heirs with Christ. It's
a great thing. Verse 24, the Lord is my portion,
saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good
unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for
the salvation of the Lord. That's exactly what's going through
that man's mind right at that moment in time. There he sits.
This is a good thing. It's a good thing to just sit
at the feet of Christ, quietly wait, hope in Him. Our Lord used swine to portray
this. Isaiah 53 said that our Savior
would have no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see Him, there's
no beauty that we should desire Him. But let me ask you this,
what do you think those swine meant to this man as he sits
there? He has seen what happened. We
see what happened, don't we? We see what he was made to be
for us, what he took upon himself for us. He was despised and rejected. That man was thinking, they were
my substitute. Here I am clothed, Christ provided me a substitute.
That evil killed my substitute instead of me, that's what happened.
Go back last time to Mark chapter 5. Verse 14 says, 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. Now Luke's account says this.
I love this. Luke's account says whenever
they got over to this side of the sea, the Lord met this man
who was possessed with these evil spirits, had his dwelling
in the tombs, and he wear no clothes. That's what it says. This man wear no clothes. He had no clothes. Man didn't
even have any clothes. He didn't have a robe just laying
there to put on and sit down. He didn't have anything. He wear
no clothes. So where did he get a robe or
something to put on? Where do you think he got his
robe? I believe Jesus Christ gave him
his. This man had no clothes, wear
no clothes. The Lord took every bit of that
out of him and he said, here, I want you to put this on. Sit
down right here. You know why I believe that?
That's what he did for you and me. He gave us his own robe. The robe of his own. He earned
his own righteousness. And he gave us his own righteousness. He clothed us with his own robe. And verse 16 says, 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. You'd think that they
would be praising God and giving glory to God. This man was just
We didn't want to see him coming and look what Christ has done
for him. You'd think they'd be praising
God, but they said, we're ready for you to leave. We don't like
this. Our Lord has to make a sinner
willing, you know that? He has to make a sinner willing.
Verse 18, and when he was come into the ship, he that had been
possessed with the devil prayed him that he might be with him. And as we just said, that's all
we want. Lord, just let us be with. Sometimes
you get to that place where you just want to be done with this
earth. This earth is just the tombs. Let us just come be with
you. And we will. The Lord said where
I am, they shall be also. But he said, I have a commission
for you first. I have a commission for you first.
Verse 19, how be it Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him,
go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord
has done for thee and hath had compassion on thee. I want you
not only to tell him how great things the Lord has done for
you, I want you to tell him he loved you. He loved you and he
helped you. He did for you what you could
not do for yourself. Verse 20, and he departed and
began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done
for him and all men did marvel. By God's grace, that's what we're
going to do the rest of our commission here. The rest of our commission
we're going to publish to men and women in Kingsport. This
guy did it in Decapolis. We have a commission in Kingsport.
What are we going to get on the radio and tell people? What are
we going to get on the internet and tell people? How great things
the Lord has done for us. He has, hasn't he? He really
has. Great, great thing. That's the
greatest thing to tell. Don't you hate delivering bad
news? I got great news. Great news. All right, let's
stand together.