Mark chapter 5. I've been reading
through Matthew for my own profit and enjoyment. And chapter 8,
we looked at what it is to follow Christ. The first verse, great
multitudes followed Him. And then I kept reading, and
it's the story of this Gadarene demoniac, this man with the unclean
spirit. And it's written in three Gospels,
Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Same story. And the fact is,
the Lord performed many miracles, but the thing He did more than
anything else was cast out devils. More than anything else. He's
the only one that can. It's a sad but terrible fact
That Satan is very real, and in this earth, and demons are
everywhere, though this world with devils filled. Martin Luther
just wrote. He was in the garden with the
very first man and woman. He has come, our Lord said, to
kill, to steal, and to destroy. Try to destroy God's kingdom.
Try to destroy the lives of God's people. trying to destroy relationships,
brothers and sisters. It's a sad fact. He and many demons have been
in this earth among human beings for thousands of years. It's
a very real fact. Very real. Though men make light
of that, I remember years ago there was a comedian, some of
you may remember him, and people thought it was funny and he said,
the devil made me do it. It's no laughing matter, is it?
The fact is, the one that they laugh at has them in captivity. That's what 2 Timothy 3 said,
that he holds them in captivity, the whole world. according to
the will and purpose of God. The promise in the garden, though,
to the first man and woman, the first sinners, whom Satan deceived,
whom Satan tempted, whom Satan assaulted, caused them to fall,
the very first man and woman. The promise to them both was
one, that Christ would come and bruise his head, destroy his
power, and he's going to have some power in a second. He's
going to have some reign over, some dominion over men and women. But only Christ can break that
dominion. And Christ would come to save
God's people from this adversary. He's very real. And though He
still has possession of many, most, though He still powerfully
tempts and assaults God's people, they know it. Job is the clearest
example in the Scripture. Satan wanted Job and the Lord
let him have him. Simon Peter, the chief apostle
at the time, the Lord said to Simon, Satan hath desired thee,
sift you like wheat. And the Lord let him have him.
Not long before that, Peter said something to our Lord and our
Lord turned to Simon to Simon Peter and said, Get thee behind
me, Satan. Now that shocked Simon. It shocked
everyone else, didn't it? Satan was speaking through Simon. So Simon, later on when he wrote
his letter after being sifted and denying our Lord and acting
like he didn't know Him, he wrote in his epistle, Satan's like
a roaring lion. all over the earth, seeking whom
He may devour. He said, resist Him. In the faith. Resist in the faith. What does that mean? Resist in
the faith. Christ said, without Me, you
can do nothing. The faith is we believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ. We cast all our care upon Him.
We look to Him for everything. So to resist in the faith is
to call on the Lord Jesus Christ. If we do not call, if we are
not praying, If we're not seeking our Lord daily, our adversary
is much stronger than that. And there are many adversaries,
actually, that desire us. If we're not calling on the Lord,
He just may let Him sit there. He does. And you know it's set.
You do and say things and act in a manner that's unbecoming
to a child of God. So, he says, resist in the faith. Our only hope, the only hope
of any human being is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord over
all, Lord over devils, Lord and Savior of sinners, a stronger
than Satan. Our only hope is a stronger than
Satan will bind that strong man. For us and our children, isn't
it? They're under his dominion. Their
only hope is that he will bind that strong man, a stronger than
Satan, bind him and take his captives, take his goods from
him, take those he has possession of, and take them for his own. And that's the story. Okay? That's the story. Look at it
with me. Mark chapter 5, verse 1. They came over on the other side
of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes. I told you they
had to cross the Sea of Galilee. Well, it's only 12 miles long,
the longest point, if you look at the map. They were in Capernaum,
and Gadarenes was just south of the Sea of Galilee. And it's
only 12 miles long, but they went through a storm. And I looked
it up, Mike, the average sailing ship makes maybe 10 knots in
fair weather with a good wind, right? With a storm, sometimes
they can't make two knots. In fact, they're backing up,
you know. And someone said it could have taken them 24 hours
to get across these 12 miles. A long, arduous, difficult storm
journey like the life we go through. We all, Hebrews says, did all
pass through the Red Sea. We all do. How are we going to
make it? Storms of life assail us, our ancient foe assails us. How are we going to get through?
The Lord's with us. He's on the way. But our Lord
came all this way, all that time, to save one man. Unless we think
it's hopeless for any one person we have on our minds, in our
heart. The Lord went all that distance
to save one man, and then after He did, He said, let's get back
in the ship and go back. Will the Lord do that? Yes, He'll
go to the uttermost. He's able to save to the uttermost,
and He will. One time He went. Our Lord walked
thousands of miles. He walked thousands of miles. while on this earth. One time
he went all the way to the uttermost parts of Israel to Tyre and Sidon
to save one woman's daughter that was vexed with the devil.
Look at that. And he's still doing it. Still
doing it. I am I the distance, the difficulty,
the trouble our Lord put himself through to come to this earth
to save such helpless sinners as we are. Look at verse 2. Verse
2, so they came over, and when he was come out of the ship,
immediately they met him out of the tombs. A man with an unclean
spirit who had his dwelling among the tombs. That's where he lived.
And no man could bind him, not even with chains, because he'd
been often bound with fetters and chains. The chains had been
plucked asunder by him, the fetters broken in pieces. Neither could
any man tame him. They are night and day in the
mountains, in the tombs, crying, cursing. Cutting himself with
stone. My, my. An unclean spirit. Unclean means unholy, doesn't
it? Unclean means sinful. Unclean means evil. Unclean means
wicked, vile, dirty, filthy, stinking. This is what God says
about mankind by nature. You know that? All these things.
is what God says about mankind. You know it so from the old man
within you. It says, The Lord looked down
from heaven upon the children of men, that's all the sons of
Adam, to see if there were any that did understand, any that
seek God. No. He said they're all gone
aside, they're all together become filthy, unclean, dirty. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. And this is quoted in Romans chapter 3, isn't it? Let me read this to you, Romans
chapter 3. It says whether they're an unbelieving
world or just merely religious people, there's no difference.
There's none that understand. There's none that seek God. They've
all gone out of the way. They've together become unprofitable.
There's none that doeth good. No, not one. Their throat is
an open sepulchre. With their tongues they've used
deceit. Poison of Asp is under their lip. Their mouth is full
of cursing and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed
blood. Destruction and misery are in their way. The way of
peace they have not known. There is no fear of God for their
eyes. That's mankind in nature. And that's this old man still
within us, isn't it? This unclean man, and Paul in
Romans 7, you know, God's people know Romans 7. They plead this,
they pray this all the time. The things that I would do, I
don't do, and the things I would not do, that's what I do. They
all say with Paul, wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver
me? It's only one. I sang that song
to you. Is there one? Anyone can help?
Yeah, there's one. And this gospel is that help
for us that are assaulted by him. Who shall deliver me? Only
one. This man, every man and woman,
every boy and girl, possessed by the God of this world at birth. Scripture says that. We come
forth from the womb, speaking life. He said, in sin did my
mother conceive me. Now, you know it said. Sinners
that come from sinners. Dwell among the tombs. This man
dwelled among the tombs. What does that mean? It means
he dwelled among dead things. Dead and dying things. That's
this world. And you hath he quickened who
were what? Dead. Who walked according to the course
of this world. The prince of the power of the air. Dwelling
among the tombs. It says in our text he was unbound. No one could bind him. Oh, my. Despising dominion. Disobedient
to parents. Hating authority. Hating a sovereign
God. Hating authority. Won't be bound. Will not have this God, this
man reign over it. That's the natural man. And there's
no restraints. He can't be bound. There's no
restraint to man's sin. None. Except God. Our Lord said, the wrath of man
shall praise him, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain. If
he doesn't, this world will be a hell in itself, if he doesn't
restrain that old man within us. He's untamed. No one could tame him. He's unbroken,
day and night, especially night. That's where he does his chief
work. And he says he's crying all the
time. Men and women and boys and girls,
young people, there's no peace for those who don't thank God,
who don't worship God. God says there's not going to
be any peace for the wicked. Not going to have any. And we're
full of sorrows and troubles. Great shall be the sorrows and
troubles of the wicked. And they cry and they curse their
Maker. God's name is upon the lips of
most angry at God, angry at man. Angry. Because there's no peace
to the wicked. Cutting himself. It says he was
cutting himself. He's bound and determined to
destroy himself. Suicide is more prevalent now
than ever. If left to ourselves, we will
destroy ourselves. Right? Verse 6 begins, but. When he saw Jesus. He heard of him, everyone has.
He had to hear first. Like Job said, I've heard of
you and now I see you. Most have heard. Some back then
saw him, actually saw him, a man named Jesus. But all have heard. And you know, this man came running
and worshipped the Lord, but you know, our Lord said, every
knee will bow and every tongue will confess eventually. Every
devil will have to submit right before he casts them into a lake
of fire. But this man, Butt. You want to hear a good message,
Brother David Edmondson preached a message entitled, Butt. The
Butts of Scripture. This man saw Jesus and ran. There's a scripture that says,
he that believeth shall not make haste. That is, be patient and
waiting on the Lord. There's another scripture that
says, he that believeth will make haste. This is an urgent
matter. He ran and worshipped. He saw
Christ afar off, it says. Well, who saw who first? Our Lord saw him long before
he saw the Lord, didn't He? He saw us a long time before
we saw Him. Long before He gave us eyes to
see Him and a knee to bow and a tongue to confess. He set His
love and His affection on us and purposed to save us through
hearing the Gospel. Isn't that wonderful? For the
foundation of the world He did this. This man, the Lord had
come for him. He had come to take possession
of him. to free him from Satan and take
possession of him, that he might be Christ. That's our hope and
hope for those that we love. Look at verses 7 and 8. And he cried with a loud voice
and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the
Most High God? I juror thee by God that thou
torment me not. But Christ had already said unto
him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. Christ had given
the command for this unclean spirit to come out of him. And
so this man calls to Christ. Our Lord came to call him out
of darkness into His marvelous light, to take the unclean spirit
out of him and put His Holy Spirit in him. And when God does this,
when God does this work, it's a violent thing. Our Lord said this, the kingdom
of God is preached from John, from the prophets to John, the
kingdom of heaven is preached, and the kingdom of heaven suffereth
violence. And the violent take it by force.
I preached a whole message on that. And the violent one who
took it by force was Christ. But this man, this is a violent
thing, when you first hear the Gospel, this man said in verse
7, it's full of these unclean spirits, he said, you're tormenting
me. Those Christ came to save will,
they must hear His voice to be saved. They must, they must.
They must hear the gospel, they must hear the truth. But often
when you first hear it, it's torment. Isn't it? I remember, it's torment to the
natural man. The truth is highly offensive
to man by nature. Man by nature fancies himself
to be good. Man by nature fancies himself
to be free, a free moral agent, they say. It's not so. He's possessed
by the God of this world and doesn't know it. The Pharisees
one time said to our Lord, we'd be not in bondage to any man.
He said, yes, you are. If you commit sin, you're in
bondage to sin. You're in bondage to the God
of this world. They didn't know it, but they were doing Satan's
work, doing it in the name of God. So the Lord says to this man,
so this man says, are you tormenting me? The Lord says, come out of
the man thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, the Lord asked
him one question. What's your name? What is thy name? Does that sound familiar? The
first thing the Lord's going to do to someone when He has
come to take captivity captive, when He comes to take one possessed
by the God of this world and by sin, to take them for His
own, is He's going to show you, going to show me, going to show
us what we are and convict us of our sin, our uncleanness. Convict us of that. And He never
stops doing that. Or we'd stop calling. Stop coming. Only sinners need saving. Do you understand that? I'm sure
you do. Only unworthy ones worship the
Lord and thank Him for so great a salvation. He said, My name
is Legion. There are many. Meaning, I have in me many, many
devils. Sins in me. From the sole of
my feet to the top of my head, there's no soundness in me. O
wretched in my flesh, Paul said, dwelleth no good thing. O wretched
man that I am. What's your name? Wretched, miserable,
poor, blind, naked. What's your name? Sinner. I don't
think Jacob ever got used to being called Israel. Do you? He said, Jacob. He wrestled with
him, didn't he? What did he ask him? What's your
name? What's your name, Jacob? Supplanter. It's been all about
me from the beginning. Supplanter. In the garden, he
said to the woman, what have you done? To the man, because
you've done this. Job. Job was okay until he started
defending himself. And then Satan began to sift
him some more. And then Job in the end finally said, I've heard
of you, now I see. And he said, now I hate myself.
I abhor myself. Behold, I'm bound. He said, I
need to put my hand over my back. Hard thing to do, isn't it? The
lepers in Leviticus. Lepers who were to be cleansed
in Leviticus. The Lord told them they're to
be without the camp. You need to put these lepers
without the camp. They can't be a part of clean
people. They need to feel like they're
cast out and can't come in because they're too unclean. And they've
all, he said, here's what they've all got to do. They've all got
to cry, unclean, unclean. That's what every sinner whom
God saves will be forced to admit. And we're willing to do so. They'll
know it's so. They'll know it's so. They'll
confess. Unclean. Unclean. I remind you of those lepers
in Leviticus that when they came to the priest and the priest
saw they were covered from head to toe, he pronounced them clean.
Some of you know what that means. David said this, is ever before
me, isn't it? Against thee and thee only have
I sinned and done this evil right in plain view of God. So what
was his hope? What was David's hope? Purge
me with hyssop. That's the hyssop that was taken
and dipped in the blood of the lamb that was shed for the remission
of sin and put over the door post and the lintel of the house. And God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you in mercy and grace. Sin is a terrible
thing, isn't it? It's a violent thing. It does
violence to God. It does violence to man. others,
it does violence to ourselves. Doesn't it? It took a violent
act. It took a violent act by the
Son of God upon the cross to defeat it. It took Christ being bruised
by Satan, assaulted by him completely. Death is the only cure for sin.
You know that? When will we be rid of this body
of death? When we die, when we're dead.
Well, Christ had to die to put away our sin, didn't He? Because
God made Him to be sin for us. Who knew no sin? God laid on
Him the iniquity of us all. It was a violent act, wasn't
it? The death of Christ on the cross was the death of sin. The
death of Christ on the cross was a death of dominion of sin
over God's people. He said sin shall not have dominion
over you. Satan does not have dominion
over you. Though I let him assault you
sometimes to keep you humble, he does not have dominion over
you anymore. He's on a chain. He can only
come so far. In Bunyan's Pilgrim Progress,
I love that book. The Lord put that man in prison
to write that book and others. It says the pilgrim was assaulted
on every hand, and you remember when he left the city of destruction
and everybody, everything, and everything he could run into,
he ran into. And he was going down that straight,
narrow way, and he looked and there were two lions, one on
each side, roaring. And he thought, I can't get past
this horrible foe. He says the closer he got, he
could feel their breath, feel the fire coming out of their
mouth. He was terrified. And the closer
he got, finally he looked and they were on chains. They could
only come so far and no further. Aren't you glad? Aren't you glad? The Lord won't let him have us
completely. Oh, the death of Christ on the
cross was the death of death. The death of death. Sin shall
not have dominion over you, and you will not die for your sins. Christ did. And because He died,
we live. It took a violent act. Alright,
look at verses 9, or verses 10 through 14, that he sought him, the devil,
the unclean spirit, to not send them away out of the country.
There was nigh unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. All the devil sought him saying,
send us into the swine that we may enter into them. And forthwith
Jesus gave them leave. You see, he's Lord over everything
and everyone. Devils can't, Satan can't do,
Satan doesn't have free will. He thinks he does, but he doesn't.
The only one with free will, that's God. So they besought
him to let them go into the swine, and he did. He gave them leave.
He let them. And the unclean spirits went
out, entered in the swine, the herd of swine, two thousand.
swine, ran violently down a steep place into the sea and were choked,
drowned in the sea. Now do you know what this is
talking about? Why did this happen? Do you know? Turn with me to
Revelation 18. Revelation 18. Some of you know. This herd of swine, the devil
and demons entered into, Religion. It's modern religion that most
people are in. They're not sheep, they're swine. Remember our Lord one time said,
don't cast your pearls before swine. Don't give that which
is holy unto dogs, but swine. They're swine. Swine are unclean
animals. Right? Sheep are clean. Why? Because the Lord designated them
in the beginning, didn't He? Who decided what was clean and
who what? God did. But there were two things. They
would part the hoof and chew the cud. That was the clean animals.
Swine don't chew the cud. They part the hoof. Don't chew
the cud. And that chewing the cud, as
you and I have seen before, is partying of the hoof, is partying
ways with the world, and partying ways with the people and the
God of this world. And chewing the cud is chewing
on and getting your nourishment from the gospel. The swine don't do that. They
don't live on God's Word. But they're unclean. They live
in filth. They feed on filth, unlike sheep. Sheep may get dirty, and they
do. Sheep do fall in a pit sometimes. And they get dirty, but they
don't like it. And they want clean again. They
want out of that pit. Swine like the pit. Sheep want
delivered from the pit. Look at Revelation 18. This is
clearly speaking of religion, Proverbs 7, and you'll see this
with me. Look at verse, this is talking
about Babylon, or false religion of this world. He cried, verse
2, mightily, with a strong voice saying, Babylon the great is
fallen, is fallen, is become the habitation of devils. the
whole of every foul spirit and cage of every unclean and hateful
bird. And all nations have drunk of
the wine of the wrath of her fornication. The kings of the
earth have committed fornication with her. The merchants of the
earth have waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacy.
And I heard another voice from heaven saying, Come out of her.
And the Lord brought many of you out of False religion. My
people, don't be partakers of her sin that you receive not
of her plagues. Her sins have reached unto heaven.
God hath remembered her iniquity. You see that? Turn over the page. Look at verse Verse 20, Rejoice over her, thou
heaven and holy apostles and prophets. God hath avenged you
on her. And a mighty angel took a stone,
like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus
with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down,
and shall be found no more at all. Cast into the sea. So there you have it. That's
why this happened. That's what this means. That's
what this means. Everything is divine significance,
isn't it? Everything. Alright? The Lord came for this one man.
He must He must, if this man belongs to Him, He must save
him. The Lord didn't come to try to save anybody. He came
to save. It's a faithful save. Christ
came into the world to save sinners. And He saved every single one
He came to save. Or He's not the Savior. You understand? It's another Jesus that wants
to save you and can't unless you let Him. That's another Jesus.
That's not the Jesus Christ description. He came to save. He went a long
way to save one man. Did He save this man? Yes, He
did. Who saved him? Did He ask him? Would He accept him as His partner?
He asked him one thing. What's your name? Confession. Our Lord can. He must. He must
live. He must die for. He must call
every single elect sinner to Himself. He said, other sheep
I have which are not of this foal, them I must bring. He must. He shall take possession
of all His own. Those He died for must. be delivered. Like David. Remember David? One
little lamb was taken by a lion and a bear. One little lamb.
And David said, I'm going after him. Did he deliver? Yes, he did. This is a greater
than David. Alright, how do you know when
someone, when the Lord takes possession of someone? How do
you know? Has he taken possession of you? Has he taken possession
of me? How do you know? Well, the first
thing is, they come. They hear, this man heard of
Christ, and when Christ came for him, he's going to hear his
voice. And he worshipped him. He came
and worshipped him, though at first it was tormenting him.
He's going to come. He's going to fall. He's going
to worship. He's going to call. He's going to call. He called.
And look at verse 15. So they came to Jesus and they
see Him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion
sit Him. You couldn't get Him to sit down
before. And many of us in here, you couldn't
get us to sit in a church pew. Any time at all. No, no, no,
no. But this man's sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ,
like Mary Magdalene. He's sitting there. What is he
doing? He's listening to the blessed voice of his Redeemer
and his Savior. Sweetest voice he's ever heard.
The voice that called him out of darkness into his marvelous
light. The voice that called him from death unto life. The
voice that called him out of Captivity. He's rejoicing now
in hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It was torment
at first. Now it's his joy and rejoicing.
He's doing this now. He's been made willing. There's
nothing he'd rather do now than sit in a pew and listen to the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, who can do that? Who must
do that but the Lord? Who can change one who's tormented
by what they hear into one who's delighted and just loves and
just rejoices in what they hear? Only one. That's how you know. That's how you know. That's how
you're going to know. Look at verse 15. It says he
was sitting and he's clothed. In Luke's account, it says he
wore no clothes. He's naked. He wore no clothes. He was naked. You know that all human beings
are naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom we have
to do. And men and women, well nowadays, are literally becoming
more and more naked, exposing their flesh without shame, aren't
they? No modesty. Exposing themselves in the face
of God. But some try to cover their nakedness
and their guilt and their sin with fig leaves. That's what
the first man and woman did in the garden. They tried to cover
their guilt and their shame. They first blamed it on each
other and other things, and then they tried to cover what they'd
done against God with fig leaves. Now, what are fig leaves? When
you cut a leaf off a tree, what is it? It's a dead thing. The glory of man, that all flesh
is grass, the flower of the grass, the grass withereth, the flower
fadeth. Man's works, man's attempts to
cover his sin and his guilt and to undo what he's done and to
redeem himself, God, He won't accept that. Like Cain, He won't
accept that. One thing covers. When the first
sinners, they were naked, what did God do to cover their nakedness?
Huh? He took a sacrifice. He took
a substitute. He took a lamb and took that
lamb's skin, or covering, and covered them in its coat. This man came naked. And when
you come to cry, how do you know that God is dealing with a person? They come naked. to be clothed. They come hungry to be fed. They
come guilty to be pardoned. They come to hear the gospel
of Christ. They don't need anything else from then on. They know
what they are. They're in their right mind.
That's the next thing. They're in their right mind.
He was in his right mind. He knows what he is now. He knows
what he's worthy of. He knows what the Lord should
have done to him. He knows what he's done to the
Lord. He knows what he's done to others. He knows. He's in
his right mind now. He knows. He understands now. The Son of God has come and given
him an understanding that he might know not only himself,
but know Him that is true. The holy and righteous and sovereign
God who cannot clear the guilty. Only one way He'll do away with
sin. Not your doings, not your coverings,
not your redeeming yourself, not your vain work, but by the
blood of the Lamb. He now knows. He's in his right
mind. He knows he's in his right mind
about himself, about God, and about Christ. He now knows if
the Lord hadn't come and chosen him, he would not be saved. He'd
still be under the dominion of the devil, and every one of us
know that. And he lets things happen now, and us get assaulted
to keep reminding us of the fact that if God doesn't save us and
keep us, we will not be kept. Right? He's in his right mind. People
this world are out of their minds. They're lunatics. They don't
know. They don't know God. They don't
know themselves. They don't know the truth. They believe lies. Satan is a great flatterer. That's
what he does. He does the religion. Go to Proverbs 7 and read it
for yourself. That's what religion does. It
does all these things to entice people to come in and tell them
how much God needs you and how much God loves you. You're a
good person and all that. We need you and all that. That's
what false religion says. Not God's truth. He makes you
know what you are. An unclean sinner. A leper. In need of mercy. In need of
bloodshed for the remission of your sin. Only one thing will
do it. The death of the Son of God will do it. That's the only
thing. That's a huge sacrifice. David said, pardon my iniquity. It's great. What's it going to
take? It's going to take a great salvation
in it. It's going to take a great Savior. It's going to take a
great sacrifice. It's going to take a great, awful,
violent act by one man on the cross to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. You see why we worship Christ?
You see why we preach Him and Him alone? You see why? He's
in His right mind now. He's got the mind of Christ,
meaning His mind is full of Christ. His heart is full of Christ.
His confession is Christ. What about you? Sinner. What
about salvation? Christ. What have you done? Sin. How are you saved? Christ. Didn't you accept Him? No, rejected Him. Well, then
why are you here? He accepted me. Surely you were
doing something. Yes, sin. Dwelling in the tombs. Cursing God. Well, how do you
say? But God. Look at this. This is something,
isn't it? Still going on. All the town
people came out. Went out to see what's going
on. And they came, verse 15, to see Jesus and see Him that
was possessed with the devil. And He had to lead you in His
city and clothed in His right mind. And they were afraid. They were afraid. You know, people tolerate, even laugh
at, evil and sin in the world. Romans 1 says that. The very
last verse in Romans 1 says, knowing the judgment of God,
that they which commit such things are worthy of condemnation, but
not only consent to it, but take pleasure therein. People just
laugh at all the wickedness that goes on today. They just kind
of laugh at it. They tolerate that, but they
can't tolerate the truth. They can't tolerate the truth
of who God really is. And what man really is. And what
it takes to save such a vile creature. They can't tolerate
that. God's not that holy. Man's not
that bad. No, I can't take that. A sovereign God, a sovereign
Christ, a sovereign spirit, sovereign salvation. Can't take it. Vile, unworthy creatures needing
mercy. Man, there are some good people
out there. My grandmother is the sweetest
woman. And people say things like this.
If anybody is saved, she is. If anybody is in heaven, she
is. Why? Why? If anybody is in heaven,
it's for one reason. Because Christ died for her. Nobody can tolerate this talk
of a God who will by no means clear the guilty, a God who must
save us from the wrath to come. No, everybody loves and talks
about a God who loves everybody up to. We're sweet, good, kind,
loving people, good boys and girls. Blame it on our environment or
blame it on or something. Man can't tolerate. Away with
it. Verse 17, they said, depart out of our coat. Get this out
of here. You, Jesus, and you take this fellow with you. We
don't want either one of you. Get out. Isn't that something? I told you this story, but I've
got to quit. There was a man who worked at
a steel mill, and he was quite a notorious sinner, and the Lord
saved him through hearing the gospel by my pastor. And he came
back to the steel mill and began to be a witness for the truth. And the Lord changed him, you
know. He's a new creature. And one of the men actually said
to him, we liked you better before you were a Christian. How do you know this man the
Lord took possession of him? Look at verse 18. I love this.
The Lord was getting back in the ship. He's leaving. This
man said, I want to come with you. I want to come with you. Don't leave me here. He wants to be with him in the
ship, with him and his fellows. He wants to be a fellow in the
ship with the Lord. Get me out of this. I don't want
to live among the tombs anymore. Let me be with you. I want to
be with you and be with your people like Ruth. But our Lord
said this. He suffered him not. He said,
no, you go home to your friends. And this is witnessing. This
is what our Lord tells us to do for the witness. He said,
go home to thy friends, tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee. And had compassion on thee. And he did. He departed. He began
to publish. He told everybody that he ran
into. What did he tell them? How great
things Jesus had done for him. Let me close by reading you a
portion of a letter, a sister that we know. The Lord revealed
Himself to her and saved her through preaching the gospel.
And like all of us, I hope, if you haven't done this, I hope
you will, she began to be a testimony and a witness, and she wrote
her sister in the flesh a letter. to tell her about what the Lord
had done for her. She quoted Mark 5. These verses. And here's part of her letter,
okay? She said to her sister in the flesh, I was led to confess
the Lord Jesus Christ and believe His baptism. Baptism is merely
a symbol of dying, being buried, and rising again with the Lord.
Dead to the world and the things in it. Married to the Lord Jesus
Christ. My kinsman redeemer. It's a good
testament. The Lord called me out of darkness,
removed the literal possession of demons from within, sent me
a preacher of His Word. I was saved by grace and mercy,
by His will, not my will. Quickened, which means I was
dead in trespasses and sin, but made alive by the Spirit of God
and the Lord Jesus Christ. The old creature is still there.
He battles with the new creature. He always will. Until this corrupt,
cursed flesh perishes. But my hope of eternal life is
found in Jesus Christ alone. That's what she said to her sister. And her sister got mad at her. She didn't say anything to condemn
her sister. She just told her what the Lord
had done for her. Isn't that a good testimony? Now here's
the thing. The truth, when people are confronted
with the truth, people that are in religion, it makes people
question their salvation and their God. Because the God that
we preach and we believe in is so clearly different as night
and day from the God that men and women believe in and preach.
So when you tell them the truth about God, they immediately think,
that's not my God. When you tell them the truth
about man, you tell them the truth of how
we are saved, salvation completely of the Lord from start to finish,
and man has no part in it. None. Zero. They begin to question
their own profession, and they don't like that. I'll have you
know that I accepted Jesus years ago, and I quit this, and I quit
that, and I joined a church, and I was baptized, and I'm okay,
and I've made my peace with God. And that's what this sister wrote
her back, wrote our sister back, wrote her back and said, I don't
need a God like that. I don't need a God to get me
through it. I'm a good person. I do good things. And that's what people believe
across the board. And you tell them the truth, they don't want
to hear it. Turn away their ears from the
truth. And true salvation, like this man. They were afraid. They
saw the Lord had really done something for this man. Boy, he now knows the God of
the Bible. He knows the truth. He knows
the true Jesus Christ. And he can tell it. And they couldn't. They never
heard such a thing. And he began to tell that. The only thing that will stand
up under close scrutiny and examination of the Scriptures is the salvation
of the Lord. Nothing else will stand up under
it. It will kill your God. It will
kill your profession. It will kill everything you think
you know about God and about yourself. It will kill it. It
needs to be killed. Dagon must fall. That Christ
will be all. How do you know? That's how you
know. All right, stand with me.