Chapter 9. Title. Message. Passions. Told in the Old Testament, his
compassions fell not. In this chapter, we've seen a
lot of miracles performed by our Lord. While I was reading this again,
I was struck, tireless. I believe if I were a doctor,
tired of the word next, I just believe that after a while, that listening to sickness, woe
would get so wearing. I think it would. Even the best of doctors, after a while, would get tired.
Our Lord never grew tired of short notice, never grew tired, never grew tired of being about
his father's business. You and I. Saving centers. Lord Jesus always went about
doing good He never woke up one morning. He always showed compassion. He never turned away. Always
doing something good to someone. Just read the gospel. Always
doing something good to someone. This morning, His Son is shining
on the just. His Son is shining on those who
love Him, who by His grace is brought to love Him. Those who
are out all night causing trouble. The rain we've had lately, fell
on the garden of those who love God. Scripture says His mercy
is over all His works. Here is another example of our
Lord's goodness and power to say that none are beyond His
power. read in Genesis this morning
anything we are going to see this morning
an example of his power saved even from the clutches our Lord as I said was always
about his father's business it says in verse 32 as they went
out as they went out always seeking the needy, always saving the
lost, tireless, tireless. Our Lord went to some of the
most obscure places seeking his sheep tirelessly. He didn't court the crowd, but
he looked for sinners in need of mercy, even if it was out
in the wilderness, some offbeat His work was one individual at
a time. That's how God saves sinners.
He saves them one at a time. But now at Pentecost, he saved
3,000. He saved 3,000 individually, one at a time. He would call one here, call
one there, go after one here, and go after one there. He said,
I must needs go through Samaria. Why would you need to go through
Samaria? Because there is a woman who's
gonna be in a well at a certain time. Must be there. The Lord says he must do something,
he must do it. And he says, I must be there
because there's a woman. She's mine. She's one of my sheep. I'm going to get her. He must go to the pool of Bethsaida.
Why? There's a lame man there that
he must heal. He must. Every move our Lord
made was for the saving of a sinner. Benefit of others. They said
when he was hanging on the cross, they said this. He saved others. Himself he cannot save or he
could not save. You know what? Saving me. Saving sinners, he could not
save himself. He must die. He must die. He must die the death that I
deserve. And he died the death I deserve. Saving me, he couldn't
save himself. He had to die. But we have another miracle here. says, behold, give attention
to this because we are going to see that
there is nothing and no one outside of the authority and power of
Jesus Christ. Behold, they brought to him a
dumb man possessed with a devil. Christ demonstrates his power
here over devils. Satan is said to be our greatest
adversary. I have two great adversaries.
Two greatest adversaries I have. Satan. Satan and myself. That old nature
I was born with. That old man the scripture calls. The adversary is my greatest
adversary. Satan and myself. The devils
are very real, they're just as real as we are. It's not a thing, it's real. That's why
he said, behold. And they are merciless. They know absolutely nothing
about mercy. Satan knows no compassion. If
the Lord Jesus Christ did not constrain Satan's power, all
would be his slaves. He's a cruel taskmaster. Cruel
taskmaster. And you know what? He's proud
of it. He's a cruel taskmaster and he's proud. He's proud of
his rebellion. Proud of his rebellion. Satan holds this world in darkness
and he holds every person in darkness until God commands the light of the darkness
to shine. That's how you and I came to know the gospel, saving
them and leaving them. God commanded the light to shine.
It says in Ephesians 2 verse 2 and 3, In time past, you walked
according to the course of this world. Listen, this is how you
and I walked. As I said earlier, some have
not gone into open sin as much as others. But whether you're
religious or were religious, or you're just an open rebel,
this is how you walked. According to the Prince of the
Power of the Air. The spirit that now worketh is
at work in the children of disobedience. It's at work in every unbeliever,
everyone who does not believe God, this spirit of disobedience
is at work. Among whom also we all had our
conversation, our lifestyle. Past in the lust of the flesh,
fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind. That covers
a lot of things. And we're by nature the children
of wrath even as others are. No difference. Difference about me than anybody
else. By nature. Born with the same
nature. Now since they brought him, the
man didn't come of his own will. You know, we never read of any
possessed of a devil in the gospels coming to Christ for salvation,
coming to Christ, they always say, what do we have to do with
you? Leave us alone. Is that not what the man over
at the gathering said that was possessed with the legion of
devils? Said, leave us alone. What do we have to do with you?
Leave us alone, we'll leave you alone. Satan never leaves you alone.
The natural will The natural inclination of men and women
is not to come to Christ. The Lord said, you will not come
to me. Isn't this amazing? What's the one thing we try to
keep doing? You'll spend, when the doctor
says, You've got cancer or some disease that's gonna take your
life, you'll spend every dime you've got, because I've watched
this over the years. You'll spend every dime you've got trying
to live another day. Yet the Lord says you won't come to me
for life. Real life, the life of God. Eternal life, you know
eternal life is the life of God, that's what eternal life is.
It's the quality of it, not the length of it. Everybody's gonna
live forever. Not on this earth. Live forever. By the deep, deep love and mercy
of God. He comes to those who will not
come to Him. He has to come to me first. He
must come to you first. The dead won't... You'll never
see a dead man walk through that door. I mean a physically dead
person, you're never going to see him walk through that door.
A spiritually dead man, a spiritually dead woman will never, never
come to Christ until Christ comes to them. Until Christ gives life. He has to command life in order
for you to even believe. Dead people don't believe. Spiritually
dead men and women will not believe God. And this describes all of us
at one time. We were all at one time. Everyone
born into this world is born dead and trespasses. No exceptions. No exceptions. We're all under the power of
darkness at one time. But our Lord demonstrates his
power over devils. dumb man was possessed with the
devil. Now, I want to point something out here before I go on. It's
what power devils have over our bodies, if allowed to. I don't
want to ever deal with one. I don't ever want to deal with
one. What's wrong with the night? I don't ever want to argue with
one. You know that Michael the archangel would not argue with
Satan over the body of Moses. He said, the Lord rebukes you.
And that was the end of that conversation. That was the end
of it. But what we don't want to miss
here is this. This is an example of the power
Satan had over the hearing of the gospel. This is not just
a physical problem here. This is a spiritual problem.
Spiritual problem. God must give us hearing ears. If we are to hear His voice,
God must give us a hearing ear. Listen to Proverbs 20, 12. The
hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord hath made even both
of them. If you see Christ, if you hear
Christ, if you can hear the gospel, and you can say, I see, I've
never seen. first heard the gospel, and I
mean when I heard it in power, and heard Brother Henry preaching
the gospel. Until God gave that, I was dumb
as a box of rocks. Religious? Not until he gave me the hearing
ear that I understand how God saves sinners. God would have
anything to do with it. It says over 2 Corinthians
4, 4, in whom the God, that's a little g, in whom the God of
this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not. Their
minds are blind. lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto
them. But until God removes that blindness,
you and I ever see the glory of God in the face of demons. And when the devil, it says in
verse 33, and when the devil was cast out, there's not a devil,
Satan and all the demons, no match omnipotent power Jesus
Christ it says one place with the word word our Lord didn't do any hocus-pocus
all that he just said come out every one of them he commanded
to come out not one of them said no I ain't coming out When the Lord says, come out,
you come out. When the Lord says, Lazarus, come forth, death has
to give up its prey. Days, shout, and every person
buried in the ground's gonna come out. Everyone. Dumb spank. for this he couldn't say a word
when the Lord commanded that devil to come out he spake bet
he had some praise on his lips I bet you that man had some praise
on his lips thankfulness thankfulness that's
a mark I tell you that's a mark of a child of God and the multitudes marveled saying
Oh, it was never seen in Israel like, never seen this before. That's because only God can do
it. The power of Satan was broken.
Let me point something out here. God saves a sinner. There's two
things that I dealt with a little bit earlier, one thing. But there's
two things for sure that God breaks. He breaks the power of
Satan over a man or woman's life. He breaks that power. And the
second thing he breaks is the power of sin in you over you. It does not have dominion over
you. Listen to Romans chapter 6. For
sin shall not have dominion over you. It won't have any condemning
power over you. It will not reign over you. You
are not the servants of sin anymore. In Romans 6, 20. Well, let me
finish that verse. For sin shall not have dominion
over you, for you are not under the law. You're under the grace
of God. Aren't you glad for that? You
and I would have been gone a long time ago. Grace of God. Then there in Romans verse 20
of chapter 6, but when you were the servants of sin. The person
on this earth except the ones whom God sent, whom the Son sets
free, you are free indeed. Until then, you are and I am,
until that happens, the servants of sin. You were the servants of sin,
were. You were free, for when you were the servants of sin,
you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then in those
things whereof you are now ashamed? The end of those things is death.
But now, listen, verse 22, but now being made free from sin,
not the presence of it, you know that. It's a war. But you're made free
from the guilt of it, the penalty of it, and the dominion of it.
And you've become servants to God. You have your fruit unto
holiness and the end everlasting life. God breaks the power of Satan
and sin. But look what those Pharisees
said. These are the religious leaders of that day. These are
the ones that everyone looked to. These were the ones standing
in the pulpit, and all the people listening to them. Be careful
who you listen to. I'm serious. Be very, very careful
who you listen to and who you follow. And when I stand here
and preach, take the Word of God and follow me. Check it out. Always. But the Pharisee said, he cast
out devils through the prince of the devils. And our Lord said
in another place, well if Satan cast out Satan, a house divided
against itself can't stand. You all know this? Don't you
know a house divided against itself? Envy, envy will not give honor
to whom honor's due. They were envious of him. Multitude
followed him. Crowd was following him. Envious. But the one thing I noticed here
is our Lord ignored their insults. It's like a barking dog. Ever
been bit by a bark? He ignored their barking. We should learn to do that. Learn,
I'm not going to argue and debate with somebody that does not believe
God. You're not going to argue them
into faith. You're going to argue somebody into faith? The archangel said, the Lord
rebukes you. If the Lord doesn't convince
you, I'm sure not going to convince you. If I did just convince you,
if that's all that happens, Somebody else will convince you that. But nothing deterred our Lord
from His business of saving sinners. And it says here in verse 35,
And Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching
in their synagogues. No place was too small or out
of the way or too obscure for Him to visit. Most of the time
Christ went to the small villages you went to the small villages
to look for the big crowd. Small places. If you look, look,
if you really look where the gospel's preached, where I know,
and I don't know where every place is preached, but where
I know the gospel's preached, it's in a little town here, and
a little town there, and a little place over here. That's where
our Lord went to these small cities. And as he went, he preached the
gospel of the kingdom. You reckon we ought to do the
same? You reckon if he preached the gospel, you reckon I ought
to preach the gospel? If that's his only message, you reckon
that ought to be my only message? I reckon so. And healing every sickness and
every disease among the people. First of all, when the Lord purposes
to do a work among a people, the first thing that's going
to happen is the gospel is going to be preached. All spiritual
sickness, all spiritual healing comes through the preaching of
the gospel. He is the bomb of guilt. None were so bad that the Lord
Jesus Christ could not heal. None were so far gone. This man
was possessed with the devil. I think that's as far gone as
you can be. I think that's as far gone as
you can be. To be possessed with the legion,
which is about 2,000, I think to be possessed with about 2,000
devils is about as far gone as you can be. other than maybe the Apostle
Paul when he was a Pharisee. About as far gone as you're gonna
be. None. None were out of his reach or
power. It says in verse 36, when he saw
the multitudes, he looked at the multitude out there. He was moved with compassion
on them, on that multitude. because they fainted over my
margin, it says, or were tired and laid down. They were so tired
from following him because he's a tireless worker. You ever work
with somebody you wish they'd just sit down for a minute? Seriously,
I've been around a couple people in my life you just wish they'd
stop for a minute. You'd like to eat lunch. I'd
like to eat at 12 o'clock and here we are still going at two.
That was our Lord. He was tireless, just tireless
in His work of saving. And the people that says they
fainted, that is they started to lay down. They were so tired
of following Him. He had compassion on them. He looked at them and here's
what He saw. They were scattered abroad as
sheep having no shepherd. in his heart. And my first thought
when I read this, oh, to have the heart of Christ. That kind
of. To make you say, well, if he
didn't. We're all in a mess. We're born in a mess. We're going
to live in a mess. We're going to die in a mess.
I thought of this scripture when
I read this also. Of having compassion. I thought of my own heart. My own
lack of compassion. I thought, John, What do you
have? You and I have absolutely nothing. I thought of this first, and
I thought every person, every person in this room has an addiction
to something. Thought, because my addiction
is not as bad as someone else's, does it make me better? Does
it? A person may be an alcoholic, addicted
to alcohol, and I'm addicted to Pepsi. One just kills you
a little faster than the other. Kills you a little faster than
the other. But you know, gluttony, it doesn't matter if you're drinking
way too much alcohol or way too much Pepsi. Gluttony is gluttony.
Isn't it? Here's the point. Here's the
point. I am what I am. The difference in me walking that
street. The Lord looked on that crowd,
that multitude. Passion, multitude. Some of them were his sheep,
some of them weren't. For to have a heart like Christ's.
Then said he to his disciples, the harvest truly is plenteous. There's plenty of centers to
preach to. Plenty of centers to preach to. But the laborers are few. There's
a lot of loiters. Pray. Here's some instruction
now, listen. I say go out and educate. First
it says pray. Pray to the Lord of the harvest,
it's his harvest. This is the Lord Jesus Christ's
harvest. He said, pray therefore the Lord
of the harvest that he will send forth laborers into his harvest.
He's the only one who can qualify a person to labor in his harvest. He's the only one who can qualify
someone like me to stand here and preach. He's the only one
who can do it. Christ is the only one who can
develop preachers. Schools. It's good to have an
education. It's good to have an education.
When it comes to preaching, God must give a man gifts to
do it, ability to do it. It's good if he has an education,
but now, laborers are of God. All the miracles, and I want
you to get this, all the miracles Chapter 9 represent what Christ does for
everyone whom he saves. All these physical healings that
he did represents all that he does for everyone whom he saves. The devil opens blind eyes, raises
the dead, heals all manner of spiritual sickness, all manner
of disease. We have all manner of spiritual sickness. It's like
we have all manner of physical sickness. We have all manners
of spiritual sickness. He's the one. Heal us. He is compassion.