Luke chapter 8. And I did not give Mike the title
to put in the bulletin. It's Great Things God Has Done
For Me, from Luke 8, 22-39. Luke 8, verse 22. Now it came to pass, on a certain
day, that he went into a ship with his disciples, speaking
of our Lord. And he said unto them, Let us
go over unto the other side of the lake. And they launched forth. But as they sailed, he fell asleep. And there came down a storm of
wind on the lake, and they were filled with water and were in
jeopardy. And they came to Him and awoke
Him, saying, Master, Master, we perish. Then He arose and
rebuked the wind and the raging of the water, and they ceased,
and there was a calm. And He said unto them, Where
is your faith? And they, being afraid, wondered,
saying one to another, What manner of man is this? For he commandeth
even the winds and water, and they obey him. And they arrived
at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.
And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city
a certain man, which had devils long time, and wear no clothes,
neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus,
he cried out and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said,
What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man.
For oftentimes it had caught him, and he was kept bound with
chains and in fetters, and he broke the bands, and was driven
of the devil into the wilderness. There are two phrases I really
like in the passage we just read. The first is the word certain. And the second, the command our
Lord gives the man, return to thine own house and show how
great things God hath done unto thee. I stopped reading too soon,
didn't I? I'm sorry. Let's pick back up
in verse 30. And when Jesus asked him, saying,
What is thy name? He said, Legion, because many
devils were entered into him. And they besought him that he
would not command them to go out into the deep. And there
was there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain. And
they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them.
Suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. Then went
the devils out of the man and entered into the swine, and the
herd ran violently down a steep place into the lake and were
choked. When they that fed them saw what
was done, they fled and went and told it in the city and in
the country. Then they went out to see what
was done, and came to Jesus, and found the man out of whom
the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in his right mind, and they were afraid. They also which
saw it told them by what means he that was possessed of the
devils was healed. Then the whole multitude of the
country of the Gadarenes round about besought him to depart
from them. for they were taken with great
fear. And he went up again into the ship, and returned back again. Now the man out of whom the devils
were departed besought him that he might be with him. But Jesus
sent him away, saying, Return to thine own house, and show
how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way
and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus
had done unto him. Now I said I like the two things,
the certain and the command that the man received. And that word
certain, I like that word because it's limited without excluding
on a certain day. This event occurred on a set
day. to a certain man, a specific man, but a man, just like I am. The command tells me my message.
The Lord didn't tell the man to go and argue doctrine or convince
men that God is real, or to tell men how to live a good life.
Go and show how great things God hath done unto thee. That's
all I want to do this morning. I want to use this scripture
to tell you how great things God has done to this sinner. In this passage we have my condition
apart from Christ. Why Jesus of Nazareth is able
to save. What occurs when Christ crosses
a sinner's path. and what the God-man endured
for his lost sheep. There are many descriptions of
the natural man in the scriptures. Lost, blind, deaf, lame, withered,
and our flesh rejects all of them. We find them all to be
harsh. But this one here, demoniac,
That may be the most repulsive to my natural state. Are you now or have you ever
been convicted that apart from Christ in our natural state,
I am a demoniac? I want you to know what the Lord
has done for me. And for you to know that, you
have to know what I am. And my prayer is that as we look
at it, as I reveal my story, the Lord will visit us in mercy
and convict us of sin and call us to his comfort. Luke describes
the man before us as he could have described me, having devils
a long time, naked and abiding among the dead. This three-fold
description can be applied to every child of Adam, but I'm
talking about me. I'm not pointing fingers at anybody. This is concerning me. I lived
for many years having many devils with me. These devils I inherited
from my father Adam. His nature, after he rebelled
against God, was enmity against God. And he gave me what he had
to give. His dead, rebellious nature. Adam willingly rebelled against
the law of God, and from the moment he did so, he died to
spiritual life. He died to the ability to have
fellowship with life. He died from the ability to perform
good, and he died from the ability to be in God's presence without
a mediator. But I wasn't satisfied with what
I inherited from my father. That wasn't good enough for me
to simply trounce on God's law. I desired more. I desired to make it so that
God owed me. When I did something good, when
I obeyed my parents, it wasn't because of God's restraining
grace. No, no. That meant I did something for
God and He owed me for doing it. When I didn't go out and do some
outrageous sin, as the world calls it sin, when I didn't go
out and get drunk, it wasn't because God restrained me from
doing so, it was because I was so good, God owed me for not
doing that. And I didn't mind keeping God's
laws, at least my interpretation of His laws, because that gave
me something to take pride in, lift myself up. But God's grace,
oh, how I despised His grace. My pride would have nothing to
do with begging Him for mercy. I worked hard to ensure that
that outward person that everybody else saw was clean. I want to see what I truly was. Turn over a few pages to Luke
chapter 11. We'll be right back in Luke 8. So hold your place
here. Luke 11. Luke 11.24. When the unclean spirit is gone
out of a man, He walketh through dry places, that unclean spirit
goes through these dry places, seeking rest, and finding none,
he saith, I will return unto my house, whence I came out. And when he cometh, he findeth
it swept, and garnished. Then goeth he, and taketh to
him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they
enter in, and dwell there. And the last state of that man
is worse than the first. How often in my unregenerated
state did I try to live for Jesus? To do what I was told because
the law says, honor your father and mother? And as I was, so
are all that are born of Adam by nature. We're full of devils. And if I managed to not act out
physically like this man did, it was only because of God's
restraining grace that kept me from doing so. This man had many
devils and he'd wear no clothes. Although this man was naked,
he was not ashamed of being so. Matthew's account of this event
tells us this man met all that passed by so that no man could
pass. Oh, this man was zealous. He
pursued with singleness of mind his work of preventing those
that would pass by that way. After our parents, after Adam
and Eve fell, they became aware that they were naked. And they
attempted to hide their nakedness. They went and sewed fig leaves
together to hide their nakedness. But this man, he's so fallen,
He has no shame. Again, this is me. I was zealous
in my walk. If you didn't agree with me 100%, you were wrong. Did you go to the right church? Did you go to my church? If you
didn't, you were wrong. Did you follow the right doctrine?
Did you listen to the same words I listened to? If you didn't,
you were wrong. I was self-righteous. I could
do absolutely nothing wrong in my own eyes. And all you had
to do was watch me just a little bit, and it would be revealed
what I thought of myself and what I thought of you. You weren't doing it right. And
it didn't matter what it was. You didn't do it right. Because
I had to be a little bit better than you were. I had to be that little bit better
because that was my righteousness before God. I had to stand just
a little more than the person next to me. Or I wasn't going to be worthy.
Where did I get that idea from? It's part of the nature I received
from my Father. Work to prove yourself worthy.
Go out and sow your fig leaves together. God's coming. We've got to be presentable.
Cover yourself up. I was taught this by those that
I observed around me, the scribes and Pharisees of today, who made
me a proselyte after their teachings, and I was twofold the child of
hell for it. I rushed toward the throne of
my God, my little G-God, with the offerings of my good deeds
and proof, at least in my own eyes, that I was far better than
that guy next to me. So why shouldn't I be accepted?
I was dead to the fact that I was naked. and shameful, and those
things and supposed sacrifices I claim to make me acceptable
to the true and living God were nothing more than my death and
destruction." Luke's final description of this man, of me in my natural
state, is that he abode among the dead. Life and death cannot
abide together. Last night we referred to Isaiah
65, and I thought of it this morning. The Lord says, Isaiah
65, 3, "...a people that provoketh Me to anger continually to My
face, that sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars
of bricks, which remain among the graves, and lodge in the
monuments." That's what we are. That's what I was by nature.
This man wasn't abiding in the tombs because the townspeople
had kicked him out of town. He was comfortable there. The
Apostle Paul, in describing man's natural condition apart from
Christ, says we are dead in trespasses and sins. I was blessed to be
raised by godly parents who took great care to ensure that I was
kept under the sound of the Gospel and surrounded by those who gave
evidence of being called and being quickened by the Spirit
from death unto life. Some of those same people who
today I find great joy in being around, I wanted to, in times
past, get as far away from them as I could. Why on earth couldn't
they talk about something else than this church stuff that they
kept going back to? Even while judging those I was
around to make sure that I was just a little more holy than
they are, I made my abode with those who were just like me,
dead in trespasses and sins. This man that we've read about
was in a deplorable condition, just as I was. But it wasn't
as though no one had cared for him and tried to help him. Verse
29 says, he was kept bound with chains and in fetters and he'd
break the bands. His friends and family tried
to help this man as he displayed his natural character more and
more. You've encountered such friends
as this. They come to you and they say, come go to church with
me. If you'll just not drink, not
smoke, not dance, avoid gambling, you'll be okay. They tell you
the things that you should do and the things that you should
avoid. After all, that's what they do. And they're fine. They're going to be accepted
of their God at the final day. So won't you be as well? And
for a while, you might go along with them. Mike, you and I talked
about this some. I think you said you made it
two weeks. You might show signs of following
them. You go to their church. You do
the things they do. You go along with them. If nothing
more than to get them to leave you alone. Just stop harassing
me. All right, I'll go with you. But eventually, you get tired
of those legal bindings being upon you. Oh, you might put forth
a good face in public, but when you get by yourself, when you're
alone, you break those bands asunder. I'll not be held by
these restrictions any longer. Even those who care most who
try to keep you under the sound of the gospel, they're binding
you to go to worship service, to hear that man proclaim Christ. That becomes such a heavy burden.
I know. I was raised to be in the sound
of the gospel, to be in the service every time. Do you know what
I did? I made it a law for my salvation. I was going to be okay. I went
to the right church. I listened to the right man.
And I went every time the doors were opened. I had no joy in
being there. I didn't enjoy the declaration
of the Gospel. But I was there because that
was my righteousness. It becomes a heavy burden. You
break away simply because you're not interested in life. All the while that men tried
to help this man as they tried to help me, they couldn't do
it. I wasn't seeking help. I didn't
want their help. And no man could do anything
about my condition. And I would have remained in
that same horrible condition had God not had mercy upon me
and sent the Healer to me. Having had so many try to help
in the past, What is it about the coming of Jesus of Nazareth
that made such a difference to this man? It's all about who
Christ is. We've seen what I am and what
every child of Adam is by nature. Now, what does this passage tell
us about Jesus of Nazareth that made it so that His coming to
this man made such a difference? Look in verse 22 again. Now it came to pass on a certain
day that he went into a ship with his disciples, and he said
unto them, Let us go over unto the other side of the lake. And
they launched forth. Before salvation came to this
man, a great gulf had to be crossed. In Galilee, it appeared Jesus
was accepted and desired. Matthew says there were great
multitudes about Him. And Luke says, upon His return,
the people gladly received Him, for they were all waiting for
Him. But Christ left Galilee on a certain day, because one
of His elect sheep was in great need. Galatians 4-4 declares,
When the fullness of time was come, God sent forth His Son,
made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were
under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
On a certain day, our Lord left the glory of heaven. He concealed
His glorious person in flesh, and He came with one objective
in mind, the salvation of His sheep. Verse 23 reveals Jesus
Christ as the Son of Man, but as they sailed, He fell asleep. God was tired. The flesh was weary, and the
man, Jesus, needed to rest. So weary was he that when a storm
arose of such ferocity, that those disciples of his who were
experienced sailors feared that they would perish, and yet he
slept on. Then they came to him, and they
cried for his help, and he arose, and he rebuked the wind and the
raging water, and He revealed His divine nature, the Son of
God, made of a woman who commands the wind and the water, and they
obey Him. Why is it that Jesus of Nazareth
was able to heal the demoniac? Why is it that He is able to
save me? Because He is the Son of God
and the Son of Man. God in the flesh that came for
the sole purpose of redeeming His sheep and saving those He
loves with an everlasting love. What happens when Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, crosses the path of a sinner who is enmity against
God, naked and vile, and makes His home with the dead? First,
that man will acknowledge and confess what he is. Look at verse
30 with me. And Jesus asked him, saying,
What is thy name? And he said, Legion, because
many devils were entered into him. Christ knew this man's name,
but confession of who he is must be made. The man replied, Legion,
to his name. Not an itemized list of the devils
in him, but who he was. In the next verse, speaking of
the devils, it says, they besought him, indicating many voices rather
than one. On a certain day, my Lord sent
his gospel unto me. And I was convicted. Not of those
things that I've done. Many, many sins have I committed. But I was convicted of what I
am. That I am sin. I am death. I am Antichrist. The things that I do They're
just a revelation of what I am apart from Christ. When Christ crosses a sinner's
path in mercy, and He says unto that sinner, what is your name? That sinner is going to reply,
sin. What is your name? Iniquity. I was in a miserable condition.
When Christ first revealed to me that I am the sinner, not
a sinner, if there was only going to be one soul saved, it would
have required Christ to go into that cross and shed His blood. He did that for me. That's a miserable, miserable
condition when Christ deals with a man, and you find out you're
guilty and vile. But oh, thanks be to His holy
name, a work that He begins, He shall finish it. He doesn't leave us aware of
what we are and move on. He casts our sin from us. The
removal of sin comes at a high price, though, but not to the
sinner. It's the innocent that must suffer
for the removal of sin. In the case before us, it's the
swine that we're feeding on the mountain that are the innocent. These swine, they had nothing
to do with that man's condition, and yet they bore the devils.
They suffered and they died for that man to be free of those
devils. After the sin and devils are removed from the sinner,
what is his condition? Verse 35, Then they went out
to see what was done, and came to Jesus, and found the man out
of whom the devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus,
clothed and in his right mind. He who wear no clothes is now
fully clothed." Where did he get those clothes from? Do you
think back in the tomb where he made his abode he had set
aside a clean set of clothes just in case a special visitor
came by? I'll go get those rags and put
them on. No. This man He's robed in another's
garments that were provided for Him. The sinner, receiving mercy from
our Lord Jesus Christ, confesses what he is, his sin is removed,
and he is robed in the righteousness of Christ Himself.