Chapter 8, Gospel of Luke, Chapter
8. Our Lord performed many miracles,
signs, and wonders, as many recorded throughout the
Scriptures. And they not only reveal who He is, His power over
all things, But these miracles, these signs and wonders have
a deeper meaning, a hidden purpose behind them. These things are pictures of how God saves sinners. There's a spiritual meaning behind
them. All of these miracles, signs and wonders, The deep,
the true meaning behind it and why he did it was to show us
how he saved sinners. Let me see if I can get this
across. The world doesn't know this.
They see these things and they marvel at the miracle and they
miss the message. You understand what I'm saying? They see this miracle of this
man. here and they marvel at the power of Jesus over devils. Well, so did everybody else back
then. But they didn't know Him. They
didn't believe Him. You understand? Our Lord said
that one time. He said, You follow Me because
of the miracle. Remember that? You can go all the way through
the Scriptures. Go back to the first and look at Every story
in the scripture has a hidden meaning. There's a spiritual
meaning for it. The whole book that Stan has written shows us
how God saves sinners. Things like Noah's Ark and so
many other people, they miss the message. He says, blessed
are you, blessed are we, our ears, if we hear the hidden meaning,
if we understand. All right? And that's what this
story is about. But while this is an extraordinary story, casting
out of the devils out of this man, this is a story of how God
saves every single sinner. This man represents every single
sinner God saves. I mean every sinner God saves
is just like this fellow. Wednesday night, you know, we
looked at the Lord still in the ocean. What a miracle isn't that?
What a picture of salvation that is. Well, all right, let's look at
it here in Luke chapter 8, verses 20. Let's read verse 26 and 27
again. 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. Stop right there a minute. A
certain man. Oh, I love that. certain the
Scriptures are. How certain salvation is. A certain
man. You see, the Lord got in this
ship and crossed this stormy lake to go meet a certain fellow. Just one. I mean, there was a whole multitude
of people that came out and witnessed and heard and this and that and
the other, but the Lord went to save one fellow and got back
in the ship and went back. See, the Lord Jesus Christ came
to earth to save, well, he came at a certain point in time with a certain purpose of saving
certain individuals, yes, certain chosen, predestinated persons,
and that purpose will most certainly has most certainly been fulfilled,
and the persons whom he came to save most certainly will be
saved. You see, salvation of the Lord
is certain. It's certain. God does everything
on purpose. of that was certain. So it came
to save a certain man, it said, read on, which had devils a long
time, devils a long time. This was a devil-possessed man,
a demon-possessed man. Now, there's no doubt that in this
world today there are still many people possessed with devil. There's no doubt about it. They're
clearly seen and known by acts of perversion and wickedness
that goes on. But, you know, it's not always
that clear. All men and women are pursued
by The devil. Our Lord said, Satan,
as a roaring lion, goes to and fro through the earth, seeking
whom he may devour. Now, Jesus Christ said that.
You know, He spoke more about devils than anybody. Why? Because He was there when it
all started. Isaiah 14 is a prophecy of Christ
when He was there and beheld Lucifer fall, when He beheld
the first devil. and his cohorts, his demons,
alright? And two, they had to report to
Christ. He knows every one of them, knows
where they go, what they do, because He can... They take their orders from Him.
You believe that? Read the book of Job. Chapter
1 and 2. Satan himself had to report to
the Lord, but he couldn't move. They couldn't do anything. And you can forget Hollywood
when it comes to devils and demons. Forget Hollywood. They don't look like anything,
people. They're spirits. There's no indication in Scripture
that they take on a bodily form. No, you'll find that. They certainly
don't have a four-kicked tail and horns on their heads. Eve,
if they did appear in a bodily presence, it would be a very
appealing one. As a matter of fact, our Lord said they are.
They're dressed in sheep's clothing. If Satan would have come to Eve
with a pitchfork and a horned tail, or a horned head and a
forked tail, she'd have ran. But no, he was very appealing,
very pleasing, more pleasant and goodly to look at than all
the beasts of the field. You see, forget Hollywood. He
doesn't look like that fellow on Friday the 13th, not at all. And he doesn't always do the
things that, you know, not always. It's certain he's in evil. He's the father of evil and lies
and so forth. It's certain of that. Christ
again said He's transformed Himself into an angel of light, minister
of light, ministers of righteousness. So, and they're subtle, subtle. They deal with human nature.
Well, but like I said, there's no doubt many are obviously demon-possessed
in this day, but the fact is, All men and
women and young people are assaulted in some way. But this man is a picture. This
man is a picture of all sons of Adam by nature, he said. He's
a picture. Look at it again. Now, in verse
27, it says, A certain man which had devils a long time, and wore
no clothes, that is, he was naked, neither abode in any house, But
he abode or dwelled or lived in the tombs. He wore no clothes.
And you know the Scripture says that we're all naked before God. I thought about this. You know,
we... Clothes hide, basically hide
imperfections. Ladies, many of you wear make-up. It is what it says. It makes
you what you're not. It hides. You know, you think it makes
you more beautiful, I beg to differ, but you think it, now
wait a minute, I think I've seen some of you in the morning, but
not my wife, she doesn't need it. But the point I'm trying
to make is clothes hide You see, every one of them, every single
human being, you strip them naked and there's something ugly. You know, when everything's revealed,
you see all the imperfections and every wrinkle, every, you
know, every imperfection. Strip off the makeup, strip off
the clothes. Naked and open, you see, they're
not very pretty to look at at all. Right? And so it is with every son of
Adam before God Almighty. Naked. And men, the Scripture
talks about, go about to establish your own righteousness. Hospital
robes. They make themselves garments,
coverings, you know. Try to live life. Turn over a
new leaf, you know. Try to make themselves look good
to God. Naked. There's only one robe
that'll make us beautiful. Do you know what that robe is? Not one we make. It's one
Christ made with His own hands. It's the only robe that'll cover
us completely, make us pretty. And even our heads don't show,
Joe. His head shows, and the body's
covered. Well, this fellow wore no clothes,
you see. That's all of us by all things
the Scripture said are naked and open before the eyes of Him
with whom we have to do. God sees right through us by nature. All right? Look at
the next thing. It says, He neither abode in any house. Now, there's only one house,
really, only one dwelling place. That's the house of God, the
tabernacle of God, the house of God. And men by nature aren't
in the family of God. They aren't in the house of God.
They don't want anything to do with the house of God, except
on Easter and Christmas. And they don't abide. A man's
a stranger to God's house. He hates God's house. It's so. Look at the next thing. It says
he abode in tombs. That means he lived among the
dead. Dead things. Dead people and dead things.
That's the description of this world, isn't it? Well, look at
verse 28. When he saw Jesus, he cried out
and fell down before him with a loud voice. He says, What have
I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of David, most high? I beseech
thee, torment me not. And isn't this every son of Adam,
before the Lord changes him, doesn't want anything to do with
Jesus Christ? You're looking at a devil, a
formerly devil-possessed young fellow, didn't want anything.
This is exactly what I thought. If we're all honest with ourselves,
we would say, I don't want anything to do with this. Right, Joe? You don't want anything
to do with Jesus Christ and all that. I told you the story one
time about my brother and myself sitting cross-legged on a mountain,
you know, with the yoga and all that stuff. Tim James calls it
navel-gazing. You know, sitting there always
so steeped and so wise And out of the blue, I remember my brother,
now the answer in the tongues of the Lord, but out of the blue
he said something like, do you ever think about Jesus Christ? Out of the blue, I don't know
where that, to this day, well I do know where it came from,
but even right now he has no interest in Christ. He didn't
want anything to do with his father's religion, his brother's
religion, his sister's religion. He didn't want anything to do
with it. What have I to do with it? He has nothing to do with
it. We were sitting there and he said that out of the blue.
You ever think of Jesus Christ? And this is literally what went
through my mind. Don't say that. Literally, that went through
my mind. I don't want to hear that. I'm past that. That's Dad's religion. That's old-fashioned stuff. We're
floating above that. What have I to do with thee,
Jesus our Son? Torment me not. It was torment
for me to go and hear the gospel for a while. Torment. I bet you
there's somebody in here right now that's just going through
torment. Family, admit it. When you were
young, was it torment at times? I think it's that your parents
just love torturing you. Make you sit and hear the gospel. That's every man and woman, young
person by nature. I don't want anything to do with
this. It's torment. Well, I can look at this in sunshine.
It's a beautiful day out there. I can be... whatever. Having fun. You're going to see after this is over
where this fellow wanted to be. He started out, I don't want
anything to do with you. When it was all over, he didn't
want to be anywhere else. It takes somebody to do that,
make that change. Is it so with any of you? Am
I the only one? The only prodigal in here? Well, look at verse 29. It says,
evidently, the Lord did this first. As soon
as He approached the man, He commanded the unclean spirit
to come out of the man. Now, here's the condition of
the fellow. It says, Ofttimes this demon,
devil, had caught him, and he was kept bound with chains and
fetters, and he'd break the bands, and finally was driven of the
devil into the wilderness. It says, Ofttimes it caught him
to take hold of him. He'd catch something and he'd
grab hold of it. Have you ever had anything come over you, take hold of you, and you just
think, What has come over me? And it often caught him. And it still happens to believers.
Peter. Peter, remember when Peter rebuked
the Lord? Now there's a picture that the devil doesn't always
come, you know, with a forked tongue. Peter! The Lord turned and looked at
Peter and said, You get behind me, Satan. Now, Peter had just
said, You're the Christ, You're the Son of God, we know and believe
that. And he said, Blessed are You,
Peter. And just a couple of days later, Peter rebuked the Lord
and Christ said, You're a devil. What had come over him? Something
took hold of him. Our Lord said it, Satan hath
desired thee to sift you like wheat. Every now and then, he still
lets his people He let him get a hold of Job, didn't he? You can't kill him. You can't
damn him. But I'll let you at him for a
little bit. Show him what he is. Drive him to me. See, it still happens. But this
demon caught hold on him. Caught hold. It says it bound
him with chains and fetters. But he broke the bands. They
bound him with chains. This, I thought, of the bondage
of religion. That's the first thing I thought
of. You know, religion tries to subdue the old man with its
passion. And how? They do it by rules
and regulations. Rules and regulations and restraints. And oftentimes that drives a
person. You know, for a while they'll
be under it and they'll You know, they'll do their best to submit
to it and and live a good life and turn over a good leaf and
become religious and all that. And after a while, there's nothing
in there. There's no root, you know, and
finally, it's just too much. I can't, I can't, I can't live
like this. And the old devil comes out and
they get lost. You follow what I'm saying? I've known many, I've seen many
former wild men get religion and then try to submit to that
until finally, I can't take it anymore, it's the wilderness. Well, that's a better place to
be out there than it is in bondage and change. Many stay there and
they get all cleaned up and they think that's all right. There's more hope for a devil
in the wilderness than a professor in a church house. So now, well, and maybe then
it gets kind of like me, you know, I start going, oh. Well, look at verse 30, all right?
Verse 30, Christ asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, because many devils were entered
into him. Many devils and demons were in
him and they were all lumped under this one name, Legion. And what about sins of the flesh? What about all that is within
man by nature, all the sins? But you can lump it all under
one thing, sin. He's a sinner. Many. The evils of our human
nature are too many. They're too many to list. They're
legion. The evils of human nature. You
say, I don't believe that. I'm not that. I'll tell you what
man's nature is like. It's like this soil in Franklin
County. It grows rocks, doesn't it? You can, I mean, you can rake
and rake and rake and rake and rake and rake for years. And one pops up everywhere. As a matter of fact, if you rake
away the top six inches, it'd be nothing but rocks. That's
man's nature. Most of the rocks are hidden
from view. The sins of the flesh, God restrains
most of them. For this would be hell on earth. And even in that? Well, there
are too many. What's going to drive out these
legions, this legion, huh? What did it take for this fellow? What's it going to take to create
a new creature with not religion, not rules, not reformation, only
Christ? Christ only must give the command. Now the sinner is going to have
to come face to face with Christ. Not reformation, regeneration. And only Christ can give life.
regenerate life. You must be born from God. All
right? The only Christ can loose a sinner,
create a new creature in Christ. Now this story here, this is
a mystery here. What happened next is a mystery. I confess. Why they were sent, why Christ
sent them into a bunch of pigs, I really don't know. I've read
many. It's a mystery. But that's what
happened here. That's what happened. And you know, the whole, the saving
of this man. Let me ask you the question here. Who took part in this, saving
this fellow? Who was this between? Did this
fella help him out? Did this fella help Jesus out? Did he make a decision for Jesus? Did he accept that Christ asked
him anything other than what you named? Did this fella take
the first step? Did this fella ask him to help
him out? To the contrary stance, right?
I don't want anything to do with you. This fellow was a bystander. This fellow was passive. This
thing was between Jesus Christ and this fellow's sin. Right? Period. This fellow was passive. And so it is with every single
son of Adam, God saved. We're bystanders. This thing
is between God and our sins. We don't have anything to do
with it. As a matter of fact, we fight it. We're lost. What's it mean to
be lost? Ain't somebody going to find
us? Well, Joe, we're lost. Christ
did the finding. All we do is the sending. He
does the saving. Huh? We're dead. Christ gives the life. That's
how people are saved. Human beings are going to have
to, Christ is going to have to come to them where they are. All right, now look at verse
31. Like I said, this is a mystery. They besought Him. They asked
Christ that He would not command them to go out into the deep. I don't know what that's about.
I don't know why. But there was a herd of swine,
pigs, feeding on the mountain, and they besought Him, or asked
Christ that He would suffer or allow them to enter into those
pigs. And so He did. He allowed them
to go into those pigs. Now, as I said before, did you notice
there that the devils couldn't do anything? except by permission of the Lord."
Did you notice that? Now, this world would be absolutely
shocked when they hear us say that God is sovereign over all
things, even devils, and that devils can't make a move unless
God somehow or another has ordered it and directed it. Wouldn't
it? This world would say, well, they can't understand. Since
they can't understand it, they don't believe it. But isn't that
what they see? Now people, this is the comfort
of God's people. This doesn't make God a monster. This makes God sovereign in that
devils can't do a thing. They can't touch, hide, nor inherit. Unless God said, didn't He say,
that not a hair of your head fall to the ground? Didn't He? If a bird doesn't
fall to the ground except God Almighty directs it, what about
souls of men and all that goes on? Isn't that comforting? It is to the believer. What makes
the world mad makes believers glad. And they say, well, that makes
God the author of sin. No, it doesn't. No, it doesn't. And I think it was Thomas Watson
that made this statement. I've repeated it so many times. And see if you can understand
this. He says it all in one sentence. He said, God has a hand in the action where
the sin is. That is, God has directed what
all takes place to bring about whatever, even evil. Now, God
didn't—the rest of the thing goes, but He has no hand in the
sin of the action. God has a hand in the action
where the sin is, but no hand in the sin of the action. God
didn't make Adam sin. He just left him alone. Just like you don't have to make
your children do evil. Just leave them alone. Huh? Just make circumstances
so that it'll happen. You're not responsible for their
evil. You understand? You understand that now? of God
according to His all-wise purpose. And believers know what that
purpose is. God Almighty allowed sin to enter this world. If it
could not give God greater glory, it wouldn't have happened. If there's a better way to do
it, God would have done it. Right? But He allowed sin to
happen. And whatever evil takes place
in this world, God Almighty has purposed it for the foundation
of the world. He didn't do it, but He allowed it. Why? For His
glory and for His purpose. Now that's God. That's God. You say, I don't understand that.
It's because He's God. You see? If you could understand
it, you wouldn't be God. All right. So these devils couldn't
do a thing unless they reported to Jesus Christ. And they said,
let us go into the pigs, not the ocean. Why? I don't know.
I don't know. He'll explain it someday. But
I'll tell you what I did think about. Says it, look at it. He sent
them, verse 32 and 33, there was a herd of swine. They besought
him that he would suffer them to enter them, and he did. Then
the devils went out of the man. One man entered into the swine.
A herd, a whole herd of swine. He sent the devils to occupy
a whole herd. And this whole herd of swine
went into a frenzy. They just went into a frenzy
until they were finally drowned. And I'll tell you what I thought
about, immediately thought about. I thought about modern Pentecostal
religion. That's immediately what I thought
about, charismatic religion. It's in a frenzy. See, this fellow was saved, but
that whole herd, they were, and you'll see how he ended up. But the herd went wild. They
went wild, and so is modern religion, and it's in a frenzy. Acting like devils. These people
supposedly have the spirit. They act like devils, don't they?
Aren't you shocked when you see some of the things going on in
religion? You think they're acting like devils. That's because they
are. Is that too hard? No, it's just
scriptural because the very description of a story of a fellow whom the Lord
took demons out of. It says the devil would throw
him on the ground. Do you remember reading that? It says the devil would throw
him on the ground. That's about all you see of it.
Slaying him in the spirit. He'd been slayed in some spirit,
all right. But it's not the Holy Spirit. We're going to see what
the Holy Spirit does to a man. Well, so that's mine. That's what I see in this Hurtus
wine. So they all went wild and they
all choked. They all drowned in perdition. And so is religion and everybody
that enters into it. But here's a new man. Here's
the new man. Here's the man Christ meets.
Here's the man Christ gets a hold of. Here's the man the Holy Spirit
enters into. Here's the change that God brings
about in a sinner saved by grace. Look at it, verse 34. Now, when
they that fed them, these feeders of swine, saw what was done,
they fled. You see why I thought it was
religion? Our Lord said, what's he called, the hireling
will flee. They saw what was done, they
fled into the refuge of other pigs. If you were feeders of
swine, they fled like powerlings do. And verse 35, they all came
out to see what was done. And they came to Jesus, or where
he was, and they found the man, out of whom the devils were departed. Now, here it is. Sit down. Before he carried on. That's what demons will have
you do, you know. Getting a frenzy. This fellow, when Christ took
him out of there, he was sitting down at the feet of Jesus Christ. Sitting down. Not jumping, not
shouting, not ranting, not raving, not spouting. Sitting. What was he doing? Sitting at
the feet of Jesus Christ. What was he doing? Listening.
Had his mouth shut for a change. You can't hear with your mouth
open. That's the first thing God does
to a sinner, especially a religious one. I'm glad Brother John Davis is
not here this morning so I can tell this story. You knew him. when brother john i first met
brother john he came walking into my study praise the lord
brother hallelujah isn't it good? isn't jesus wonderful? and i
just thought oh my what have we here? we sat and talked a little while
and he was getting ready to leave he said lets pray and i said
ok and he took off he wanted us to pray in unison you know
just oh Now John doesn't want to open
his mouth. He doesn't want to open his mouth. He comes in to study now and
he's just sitting there. That's the first thing God does
to a sinner. He shuts his mouth. He doesn't have so much to say.
He certainly shuts his mouth to himself. I, this, I, that, me, mine, I,
I takes that out of his vocabulary. And if he has anything to say,
if that old sinner saved by grace ever opens his mouth, I guarantee
you it will begin with this, he. Every time, if you are going
to ask him some question, you say, well, he has. It will be
of him. It says he's clothed. He's naked
before. Now he's got clothes on. Where'd
he get the clothes? I just thought about this. Where'd
he get these clothes? Christ gave them. Where'd Christ get them? Go down
to the store? He made him a brand new suit
of clothes. I bet they were flawless. Oh, my, the master tailor made
him a suit of clothes. It hit him like a glove, that's
it. Perfect. Oh, he was clothed. And that's
exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ does for every formerly devil-possessed
sinner. Every sinner saved by grace,
he sits him down, shuts his mouth, clothes him in his perfect righteousness. I mean a perfect righteousness,
the one he made. And it says he was in his right
mind. He was in his right mind, sitting
at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. If you'd asked him, you'd see
he had his right mind now. He had his wits about him. He's
filled with the Word of God, the truth. He's been listening
to Christ. If you'd asked him what he thought about God, now
he's in his right mind. What do you think about God,
buddy, legion, or whatever His name was? What do you think about
God? He'd say, He's sovereign. He saves whom He will. He saves
certain persons. Well, what do you think about
salvation, buddy? Huh, that's a stupid question. It's of the Lord. That's who
it's of. Are you kidding? Well, didn't
you help? Are you kidding? Did I help him? Salvation's of the Lord. See,
he's in his right mind, man. What do you think about man,
buddy? He's a devil, that's what man
is. Man's a devil, he'd have said. Man is absolutely a devil,
look at me. What do you think about yourself? Now, he's in his right mind now.
What do you think about yourself, buddy? He'd have said, not have
I gotten, but what I've received. Grace hath bestowed it. And it's all been received. Boasting,
excluded, pride, I obeyed. I'm only a sinner saved by Him. See, he's ain't right now. You
mean you didn't accept Jesus? Are you out of your mind? Accept Jesus? Well, I absolutely
rejected Him. And that's it. Now, in conclusion,
verse thirty-six, it says, They also which saw it, that is what
this man, they saw this man, and they told everybody by what
means he that was possessed of the devil was healed. Now, anybody
remember us laying hands on Old John that day? Huh? I didn't. Anybody remember an altar call
where we played 142 verses of Just As I Am? Sherry would have
remembered it if we'd have done it. Where I stood down front
pleading, pleading, won't you please? We're not going home
until you do. Huh? Anybody remember anything
like that that go on? What happened? No begging, no
pleading, no laying on of hands, no choir singing, no shouting,
no hollering, no nothing but gospel. Just preaching the Word
line upon line. That's it. That's it. That's the means of God's
justice. How? Who did it? Christ did it. That's it. That no flesh should
glow. Christ did it. Who saved it? Christ did it. Christ did it. That's the means. And verse 37,
So the whole multitude sought him, besought him, asked him
to leave. Who? Well, the man and Christ. Doesn't it? It seems to say that
they wanted them both gone. So, Henry, it sounds like they
liked him better before. Doesn't it? You were all right when you were
a devil, but now you're one of these sovereign gracers. Get
out of here! We don't want you. That's exactly
what they wanted Christ and this man out. Out. Let's say, well, now the man
out of whom the devils were departed, verse thirty-eight, asked Christ. Now here it was before, and my
King James Bible is directly across the page. I mean exactly
across the page on that, on the same page. He said, what have
I to do with thee? Torment me not. Get out of here.
I don't want you. Right across from him, just right
beside each other, he says, I want to be with you. Don't make me
leave. I want to stay right here. It's
not torment. This is wonderful. There's no
place I'd rather be. Whew, man. Take an 18, 19-year-old
God-hating, gospel-hating, church-hating, son of Adam, rebel, filled with
demons, and make him, sit him down, shut his mouth, change
his heart and mind to such a degree that he has no place he'd rather
be on a Saturday night. My, my. And so, but Jesus sent him away. Verse 39 says, Go to your own
house. I like this. Anybody notice this? Go to your own house and tell
them You go to your own house, show them, not tell them, just
show. Show how great things God hath done unto thee. Don't go
away and beat people over the head with your religion. That's
not what he's saying. He didn't say, go say, go tell. Shut up. Just sit. They say you sit and close in
your right mind, listening to the gospel. It'll leak out on you, the conversation. And it did. He couldn't contain
himself. But it said, here, show how great
things God hath done unto you. Well, the man went his way and
published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had
done for him. Well, he said, tell them what
God did. Well, he did. Oh, Jesus is God. Did you catch
that when we were reading? Go tell him what God's done for
us. He went and said what Jesus did. Well, it came to pass when he
returned that they were mighty glad to see him. That's how God
says it. What a miracle it was to cast
out those devils and all. But that's what He did to me,
He said. It wasn't some, like I said,
laying on of hands and miraculous healing service and all that.
No, I just heard Him cross me. And that's how every single sinner
is. They're all demon-possessed by nature. And Christ is going
to have to give the command. Salvation is Christ giving the
command. Let Him go. Clothing us and sitting us where
the gospel is and putting the right mind in it. That's salvation. All right. Was it 474? 474. Now, here am I quoted. Only a sinner saved by grace. Sing the first and last verse. 474 was Stan. Oh. you God be the glory, for only a
sinner saved my brain. The perfect sinner who I hope
to know, the living savior who will what he knows, was born
to tell it what I pray. For only a sinner saved my brain. Only a sinner saved by grace. Only a sinner saved by grace. This is the story of God leading
for me. And only a sinner saved by grace.