Well, once again, I want to express
my appreciation for this congregation. It's my privilege to be here,
and I'm thankful to the Lord for this opportunity. I bring greetings from Walter Brewer, my dad, in Mexico,
and he wishes he could see you and be here with you. But I'm
thankful that he's there. I'm thankful that he's there
right now and enables me to be here with more calm. I want to talk to you about the
Lord Jesus Christ coming to his people. The Lord Jesus Christ
coming to his people. Now, in that text that you read
earlier in 1 John chapter 5, in verse 19, the last part of that verse says,
The whole world, life and wickedness. The whole world lies under the
power of the wicked one. When we go preaching, when we
go preaching the gospel, the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
he commanded us to go forth into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. And when we go and we preach
the gospel to men and women, we know that they are dead in
trespasses and sins. Men and women who cannot of their own free will come to
God, they're dead. They're dead. All a man stops
by nature are against God. This mind of man is a God-manufacturing
machine. You can go out and speak to a
thousand people and ask them who you think God is, and there
will be a thousand different gods after their own imagination, but not the God of the Scripture.
This mind, this carnal mind, this enmity against God is what
we read in Romans 8, verse 7. And from the top of our head
to the sole of our feet, we're polluted. were defiled by nature. God must
come. God must come to dead sinners,
men and women, dead in trespasses and sin. God must come. God himself must come and give
him light, give him understanding. It is God who commands the light
to shine out of darkness in our heart to give us the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. in
the face of Jesus Christ. That's what it says here in verse
20. And we know that the Son of God has come. He came. He came and given us an understanding
that we may know Him that is true. And we are in Him that
is true, even in the Son, Jesus Christ. This is the true God
and eternal life. He had to come to each and every
one of us and give us that understanding. This is not something that is
mustered up by man's intelligence. He must come in time by the preaching
of the gospel and reveal himself to us. And I want to use Mark
chapter 5 as an illustration of our Lord Jesus Christ coming
to one of His people. In verse 1, we read this, "...and when they came over to
the other side of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes..." If we read that too fast, we'll
miss something here. The Lord Jesus Christ came over
to the country of the Gadarenes. Our God does nothing by accident. He came over to this country
of the Gadarenes on purpose. He came over on purpose. He said,
I came to seek and to save that which was lost. And our Lord
Jesus Christ, He comes to His people on purpose. God never
saves anybody by accident. It's a purpose. He's purposing
Himself before the foundation of the world. He's going to have
each and every one of His children, and He's going to come get them,
wherever they may be found. Just like the scriptures say,
he must needs go through Samaria. Why must he needs go through
Samaria? The Jews and the Samaritans have
no dealings. There's some people there in
Samaria who God the Father gave him before the foundation of
the world. And he must needs go to Samaria to reveal himself
to that woman by the well and others in that town. He must
needs go to this coast of the Gadarenes because there's one
of his sheep there, that he goes on purpose, on purpose to save,
never. And so, even though everything
may seem out of, we would say, out of whack, out of order, chaos,
yet the Lord is in control of every circumstance, every event
that takes place. If you'll notice the verses before
this, They were in a ship, and the ship was in the storm. And
if there's any sailors here that have been out in the storm, you
know that when a ship is in the storm—these men who were with
Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, they were sailors. And a little rough
seas wouldn't scare them away. But they were afraid for their
life. They were afraid for their—this tells me there were some big
seas. said, Hush, be still, and the
waves obeyed. And they said, if you read there
in the verse before, and he said unto them, Why are
you so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What
manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? And most people think of the
wind and the sea obeying the Lord Jesus Christ when He says,
Peace, be still. But the winds and the waves were
obeying Him when He said, Come, mighty waves, and come, billowing
seas. And though they seemed like everything
was in chaos, yet the Lord is He who rides on the storm, His
wonders to perform. Things seem like they're out
of whack. Sometimes they do. Yet the Lord is in control of
all things. He is the Sovereign Lord. Not anything escapes Him. And so He comes over to this
place. You know, if you're in a ship and you're afraid for
your life and you let the, like in Acts, they let the ship go. They were afraid they was going
to die. They didn't have any control where they was going
to land, but He was in control. He knew right, they didn't land
in the city of the Gadarenes, right there on that coast, right
there by the tomb where this man was, on purpose. on purpose. 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. A man with an unclean spirit. If we were to use a word, if
we were to say one word to describe God, what would that word be? It's the word holy. Holy, holy,
holy. He dwells in light which is unapproachable
to man. He is of purer eyes than to behold
iniquity. He is the holy, the spotless
Son of God, the holy God. All His attributes are holy.
All His attributes are holy. And if you could use one word
to describe man, in his condition, man by nature, it is this word
unclean. This word unclean describes man
in his natural state, defiled, polluted. God describes man in
clear terms, in clear terms. From the sole of our foot even
to the head there is no soundness in man, no soundness in it, but
wounds and bruises and putrefying sores. That's the description
of a leper. That's the description of a leper
who was commanded to cover his mouth and cry, unclean, unclean. Everything that leper touched
was unclean. Everything he touched was unclean.
The truth of man's depravity before a holy God offends man's
dignity, offends man's dignity. But if you and I would know what
we are before a holy God, here we have it. We are an unclean
thing. We are stench in the nostrils
of God. As repulsive, as repulsive as
if you and I were to walk upon a dead You know how that causes
you to draw back? How much more are we an offense
in the nostrils of a holy God? That's who we are by nature.
That's who we are—unclean. That is the condition of every
man by nature in Adam apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Man is
not only dead in trespasses and sins, but he delights to be among
the dead. He likes where he's at. This
man had an unclean spirit, and he lived among the tombs. That's
the condition. We love to be where we're at.
Men like to be where they are. They have no desire for the things
of God, are not seeking God, are not concerned with the things
of the kingdom of God. Our Lord said, this is the condemnation.
Light has come into the world, and men prefer darkness. They prefer their tombs rather
than light. Isaiah said, I'm a man of unclean
lips, and I live, I dwell amongst a people of unclean lips. They prefer darkness rather than
light. And you see this man who dwells
among the tombs, He 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. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones. No man could tame him. This natural
man cannot be tamed. Man tries to tame this natural
man, give him some good works to do, but he's not tamed. Inside, he's full of dead man's
bones. All he's done is just painted the outside, sepulchers. Inside, it's just dead man's
bones. Men try to change this man by giving him religion, by
giving him good works, morality. That's mostly what churches are
today. They're self-help groups. That's what they are. How to? Well, I'm not going to get on
that man right now. This self-help group. I read
one sign that said, Come join us. What in the world for? Come join us. That's what they're
doing. They're trying to bind this man. But no man can tame this man.
And every moment, every moment a man lives in this world and
partakes of the benefits and the blessings of God and is apart
from the Lord Jesus Christ, he is hurting himself. He is hurting
himself. He becomes more and more responsible. And so he becomes, he hurts himself
more and more. But I want us to major on this
verse right here. When he saw Jesus afar off, he
ran and worshipped Him. This is a text I want to stay
for a while. He saw Jesus. The Lord Jesus Christ came to
him, came to him on purpose. And he got out of his ship, and
this man came running to the Lord Jesus Christ. It says, When
he saw Him far off, he came and worshipped Him. The Lord Jesus Christ is worshipped
for who He is. and not for who men think he
is. He's worshiped for who he is. No man can worship God apart
from worshiping him in the Lord Jesus Christ. People kind of worship God all
over the world, but no man can worship God apart from worshiping
him in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And this
is when a person will worship God. when they see Jesus Christ,
who He is, what He's done. Do you see Him? We see Him through
a glass darkly, perhaps far off, but we worship Him. You know,
Isaiah, when he saw the Lord, that's when he worshiped Him.
When Isaiah said, I saw the Lord high and lifted up, and His glory
filled the temple, And the cherubims cried one to the other, Holy,
holy, holy. When we see Him, we see ourselves,
and we'll worship Him. Not before. No man can worship
God apart from worshiping Him in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. No man can know God apart from
knowing Him in the Lord Jesus Christ. No man has seen God at
any time. of the Father, which is in the bosom of the Father,
he hath declared him. He hath told him out who he is. So this is what I want us to
think about for a while. When he saw Jesus. Now look here
in John chapter 6. In John chapter 6, our Lord said
this. This is the will of the Father. John chapter 6 and verse 38. Who He is and what He came to
do, where He is right now. For I came down from heaven not
to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me. He
came down to do the Father's will. All right? And this is the Father's will
which He has sent me. I'm talking about God's will.
This is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which
He has given me, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the Father's will
of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, seeth the
Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life, and I
will raise Him up at the last day." It's the Father's will. He has a people. Those people's
will shall be saved. But it's the Father's will that
also those who He chose shall hear the gospel in time." That's
those same ones that He chose before the foundation of the
world. That's His will. He's going to save them. He sent
His Son into the world to put away their sin, to redeem them. It's also His will that they
see Him. No man is saved apart from faith
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We're saved by the faith of Jesus
Christ and faith in Jesus Christ. But here's what I want to say.
It's not seeing with these physical eyes. There are many men who
saw him in that day. There are many men who saw him
in that day, and they said, well, isn't this the son of a carpenter? Isn't this the son of a carpenter?
One day he asked his disciples. Our Lord asked his disciples
and said in Matthew 16, verse 13, he said, when Jesus came
to the coast of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying,
Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Christ is. And they said, Some say thou
art John the Baptist, some say Elias, and others Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets. And he said unto them, But whom
say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it." Flesh and blood didn't open
your eyes to see that. You didn't see that because you
were a keen wit. My Father has opened your eyes
to see that. He sees something, and every
child of God sees something in that man, Jesus of Nazareth,
that others don't. Jesus of Nazareth is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the eternal Son of God
who came down into the world. He was made bone of our bones,
flesh of our flesh. In the fullness of time, God
sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law to redeem
us from the curse of the law. The law was laid upon man. Man
has to obey that law. Man disobeyed that law. Man had
to honor that law. And so, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God, the Man, Christ Jesus, He came down and obeyed
that holy law of God. That holy law of God that you
and I have never kept, can never keep. Yet He, because God's law
has to be honored, if there's a man that's going to be in heaven,
God's law has to be honored, established. He said, think not
that I've come to destroy the law and the prophets. I didn't
come to destroy it. I came to fulfill it. I came
to establish it. And he did. And he did every
jot and every tittle, not from the outside, but from the heart.
And so God could look at him and say, this is my beloved son,
in whom I'm well pleased. He'll say that of no one else.
That's what He came to do. In the fullness of time, God
sent His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, because our
kinsman-redeemer had to be bone of our bone and flesh of our
flesh. Made under the law to redeem us from the curse of the
law, because it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangs on a tree.
Our Lord Jesus Christ not only fulfilled God's holy law, but
He was made sin for us who knew no sin. The sins of His people
were laid on His body, and Him bearing our sins in His own body
took them to the tree, and it was the justice of God, unsheathed
His sword and plunged it into the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what you and I deserve.
But He is our representative, His people. He, the just for
the unjust. He was made sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's who He is. He's the eternal Son of God made
flesh, that came into the world to redeem His people by honoring
God's law. God is a holy, just God. And
when He shaves His people, He shaves it in a way above board,
not under the table, not under the rug, everything. So He's
the just and the justifier of them that believe. He's just
when He says, let them go free. The Lord Jesus Christ, His precious
blood, put away the sin of His people. God's justice is satisfied. You know, that's why hell is
forever. Hell is forever because justice is never satisfied in
the death of the wicked. Justice never cries, I have enough. One sin is infinite sin against
the Holy God. And God must exact punishment
for that one sin for eternity. Get alone. How much more for
our iniquities, our sins? Sins of people who drink sins
like water. Drink iniquity like water. That's
why hell is forever. But the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ is powerful to put away the sins of His people, so that
all the sins of His people, past, present, and future, all of the
sins of His people that God the Father gave Him, was laid on
Him, and He became guilty before the Holy God. And He went to
the cross, and He paid in full. And the justice that plunged
the sword into the Lord Jesus Christ, now Christ, let Him go
free. I have enough. Tell my people. They've received
double for all their sins. Huh? Double. Not just, you know,
when you go pay for something, you just, you barely pay for
it. The Lord just double. How much
is it? I'll pay double. That much rather. Double for
your sins. A righteousness with which you
are before the Lord God, Holy God, and He sees you just as
holy. as he is holy. Have that for
yourself and payment in full for all your sins. That's who
he is. God has raised him up and put
him on the throne. He is the Lord Jesus Christ. So everyone that sees it, no
one is going to worship God apart from seeing him in his person,
who he is. and what he came to do. He's
not a frustrated poor Jesus trying to do something. He is the Lord
Jesus Christ. God has raised him up, has given
witness to everybody, exalted him, given him a name that is
above every name. And we go preaching the gospel
to dead women, men, and children and say, believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He comes to his people. When
he comes to his people and gives life, they believe. They believe. This is why we go and preach.
A person cannot believe in someone they have never heard. Apostle
Paul says that clearly, doesn't he? How shall they believe in
him they have not heard? And how shall they hear without
a preacher? How shall they preach except
there be sin? Let's go back to the text. This man saw the Lord
Jesus Christ, and when he saw Him afar off, he ran and worshipped
Him and cried with a loud voice, What have I to do with Thee,
Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High God? I adjure Thee by God, that
Thou foment me not. For our Lord Jesus Christ said
unto him, this man, said unto him, Come out of the man. We see here in this verse 8 the
cause of the man going to him in verse 1. You see that? In
verse 2, we see that the man comes running to the Lord Jesus
Christ. What cause? The Lord Jesus Christ first came
to him and spoke to him. Live! Come out, thou unclean
spirit! We love Him because He first
loved us. He's the first cause. We come
to Him because He first came seeking us. He is the first cause
of all things. All things are of God. The reason
is the Lord Jesus Christ comes and He commands the lightness
to shine out of darkness in our hearts. We have nothing to do
with this. We preach the gospel. We preach
Him. And the Holy Spirit miraculously,
mysteriously causes light, light to shine where there was darkness.
And they say, Oh, I see. I see how God can be just and
justify me. I believe. The Lord Jesus Christ commanded
him. Look at verse 9 through 13. I
must hurry. And when he asked him, and 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 their country. Now there was
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. 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, and there were about two thousand
and were choked in the sea." What do you see there? What do you see there? I'll tell you what I see there.
I see the pervenient grace. I see grace going forth, more
grace. Evil spirits, unclean spirits
were in this man, and he continually did himself harm and would have
killed himself if God would not allow it. He's not willing that
any of them should perish, but that all should come to knowledge
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at here in Romans chapter
8. This is what the Apostle Paul is saying. This is what the Apostle
Paul is saying in Romans chapter 8. verse thirty five who shall separate
us from the love of Christ shall tribulation or distress or persecution
or famine or nakedness or peril or sword as it is written for
thy sake or be killed all the day long. We are counted as sheep
for the slaughtered and all these things were more than conquers
through him that loved us for I am persuaded. and you and I
can say the same thing. I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor two thousand demons, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. He loved him before the foundation
of the world, and though 2,000 evil spirits be against him,
yet he's one of God's children. And how, how, how I can, with, I believe, I would be in hell
right now. If he had allowed me to die in
my unbelief, I would be in hell right now and for all eternity.
Yet he would not let me go. How thankful I am that he has
not given me what I want, but has come to me and delivered
me. Let's go back to our text. 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 came 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 him that was possessed of the devil, and also concerning
the swine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coast. How terrible. Here these people,
light has come into the world. Light has come and delivered
this one that was in darkness. And these people said, We don't
want anything to do with this. Leave us. You know, the Lord
answered their prayer and gave them what they wanted. They said,
Depart, and he departed. And when he was coming to the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might go with him, be with him. Howbeit, Jesus suffered
him not, but said unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and 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. He wanted to go with the Lord
also. And the Lord said, No. No. You go back and you tell
how great things God has done for you. The Lord Jesus Christ
has done for you. And so he went back and he started
telling his kinsmen, I was dead and trespassing and sinning. But God, in mercy, one day came
to me and commanded the light to shine out of darkness, and
I lived. And I see Him who came, the eternal
Son of God. I see what He did. I see His
life of obedience. I see His death obeying the Father,
His death of obedience to death. even a death of the cross. I
see how God can be just and justify me to sin. You know, these people
came and they saw three things in this man. This is why I'm
on clothes, but this is what he, I believe his witness was.
They saw him sitting and they saw him clothed and they saw
him in his right mind. That scared the day. What in
the world? And this is what he said. As
before, I could find no rest. I could find no peace, but walking
night and day, cutting myself, I could find no rest. Yet the
Lord Jesus Christ has come and set me free. He's called me to sit at His
feet. That's the place of blessing. That's the place of blessing,
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where Mary was
found. That's where I want to be found,
at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm sitting, resting. No longer trying to establish
my own righteousness, but resting in Him. I'm clothed Whereas before
I was naked before God, now He has clothed me with His own righteousness. I'm accepted in the blood. That work that He did, He did.
And I'm accepted in that. And I'm in my right mind. Man
outside of the Lord Jesus Christ is crazy. He's running from God
as if God was Satan, and running towards hell as if hell was heaven.
But when God, the Lord Jesus Christ, comes in the gospel and
reveals Himself, all things have become new. A new creation in
Christ Jesus. Your goals are changed. Your
outlook is changed. You know how this right mind
is manifested? Before the Lord Jesus Christ
does this work, man is shaking his fist in the face of God and
saying, No! Now, is that crazy or what? That's about as crazy as man
can be. But when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes and conquers a man, it's not my will. That's the right
mind. That's the right mind. He is the Lord of my life. He told this to these people
and they marveled. Marvel, marvel, marvel. Enigma. They said, what in the world
happened in there? The Lord Jesus Christ came and
revealed Himself to them. God must do that. God must do
that. We go and preach the gospel.
It's God who reveals Himself in the preached Word. May the
Lord bless us. In number 209, marvelous grace. What a story. Let's stand as we sing. Let's
sing that first and last verse.