Good morning. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number one. Hymn number one. Oh, worship the King, all glorious, We sing His power and His love. Our shield and defender, the
Ancient of Days. A village splendid and verdant,
? O tell of his might ? ? O sing
of his praise ? ? Whose probe is the light ? ? Whose canopy's
face ? ? Is chariots of breath ? ? The deep thunder clouds form
? is bathed on the wings of the
storm. Thy belt, if you'll care, what
time can reside? It breathes in the air. It shines in the night. The music descends to the plain
And sweetly distills in the dew in the rain Frail children of
dust and feeble eyes we trust, nor find thee to fail. Thy mercy so tender, now firm
to the end, our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. Be seated. We'll sing hymn number
256. 256 When peace like a river attendeth
my way When sorrows like sea billows roll Whatever thy love Thou hast taught
me to say It is well, it is well with my soul It is well It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my
soul. The fear of trials should come,
When his blest assurance adorn. God bless this day, and let shed
His own blood for my soul. It is well with my soul. ? Is well with my soul ? My sin, O the bliss ? Of this
glorious thought ? My sin not in part praise the lord It is well with my soul. It is well. Then, Lord, haste the day. In my faith shall be sight. The clouds be rolled back as
a scroll. The trump shall resound, and
the Lord shall descend. Even so, it is well with my soul. It is well. Let's open our Bibles, if you
will, to Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. You remember we talked last week
about Christ saying, Let us pass over to the other side. And all the things that happened,
those three questions, Lord, don't you care? Are you interested
at all in us perishing or not? And then he asked them, why is
it are you so fearful? Have you no faith? Have you no faith? And then after
he calmed the wind and the storm, just by speaking to it, they
got even more afraid and said, what manner of man is this? And
like I said, the Lord done these things to show us how we're not
to act, how we're not to react to such things. And so then in
verse five, I'm going to read down to the 20th verse. And they
came over unto the other side. They got, they passed over and
got to the other side of the sea in the country of the Gadareans. And when he was come out of the
ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs, a man with
an unclean spirit, who 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 tame him. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself
with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped him, and cried with a loud voice, What
have I to do with thee, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I adjure
thee by God that thou torment me not. For he said unto him,
Come out of that man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, What
is thy name? And the answer said, My name
is Legion, for we are many. And he besought him that he would
not send them away out of the 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.
They were about two thousand and were choked into the sea.
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 come to Jesus, and see
him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion sitting
and clothed in his right mind. And they were afraid. And they
that saw it told how it befell to him that was possessed with
the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to
pray him to depart out of their coast. And when he was come into
the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not,
but said unto him, Go, saith 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, and how great things Jesus had done for
him, and all did marvel." Our great, blessed, holy, and
righteous God, our Father, your Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of the Most High God, our great and blessed Savior, our
Redeemer of our souls. Lord, we come to bless you and
praise you. We're like this maniac of Gadara. We're so thankful that you clothed
us in our right mind. Lord, we could be in that shape.
We could be in horrible condition, locked away somewhere, put in
a mental place, put in a prison for people that's insane. But oh Lord, you is merciful
to us and you've let us be here this morning and we are in our
right minds. We're in our right minds because
you gave us a right mind. You gave us the ability to think,
and to reason, and to believe, and rejoice, and read your word,
and believe every single word of it, to rejoice in it, and
hopefully, by your blessed grace, learn from it. See the things
that you will to teach us here. And Father, I pray especially
for those unconverted among us, that you would have mercy on
them, that you would save them by your grace, Save them by your
blessed mercy. Wash them in the blood of your
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we pray again for
our dear, dear loved ones. God, be merciful, be pitiful,
be gracious to them. Oh Lord, we have so many that
have absolutely no interest at all in their soul, no interest
at all in God Almighty, no interest at all in your word. And, Lord,
I was there one day, but, Lord, you crossed my path, so I pray
in your sovereign mercy that you'd cross the path of my lost
loved ones and do it for Christ's sake. Meet with us today. Enable
me to preach the gospel. Come down among us, O Lord, in
power and in grace and teach us from your precious word. We
ask it in Christ our Lord's name. Amen. Hymn number 37. Number 37. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder ? The rolling thunder ? ? High
power throughout ? ? The universe displayed ? ? Then sings my soul
? ? My Savior God ? How great Thou art! How great Thou art! It sings my soul, my Savior God,
to Thee. How great Thou art. How great Thou art. Wither the woods, and pour its
leaves, I wander. Can't hear the birds Sing sweetly
in the trees When I look down A lofty mountain grandeur I'll break the wall great great great How great Thou art. And when I think that God his
Son not sparing, On the cross My burden gladly
bearing He bled and died To take away my sin And sings my soul I'll break the wall. I'll break the wall. It sinks my soul, my Savior God,
to thee. How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come With shout
of acclamation ? Take me home ? ? What joy shall
fill my heart ? ? Then I shall bow ? ? In humble adoration ? It saves my soul, my Savior God,
to Thee. We'll stand together as we sing
the hymn of the day, the Bulletin. Now may the Lord reveal His face
And teach our stammering tongues to make this sovereign reigning
grace the subject of our songs, the subject of our songs. No sweeter subject can invite
a sinner's heart to sing. display the glorious right of
our exalted King, of our exalted King. Grace reigns to pardon
crimson sins, to heal the hardest harms, And from the work it once
begins, it never once departs. It never once departs. It was grace that called our
souls at first. By grace thus far we're come. And grace will help us through
the worst and lead us safely home. And lead us safely home. Be seated. Look back then with me here in
Mark chapter 5. My name is Legion. Our Lord confronted a man that
had so many devils in him that killed 2,000 hogs. That's a lot of devils. That's
a lot of devils. But the love and power If our
Lord Jesus Christ is the mightiest power and force in heaven and
in earth, there's no more power, no more might, no more strength
than our Lord Jesus Christ has in heaven, on earth, and even
in hell. Our Lord's got all the power.
And when He wills to use that power, something happens. And we have a perfect illustration
of that here. You know, God, love constrained
God to give His Son, love constrained Him to do it. God commendeth
His love toward us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died
for us. He had love for His people and
the glory of His Father that constrained our Savior to come
and confront sinners, confront sinners. That's what he came
to do to save sinners and confront sinners. If a sinner has to be
confronted, he's not going to confront Christ. Christ has to
confront him. Christ has to come to the man.
And he came to confront sinners like this man. And we can see
our Lord Jesus Christ's absolute power over the devil or anything
else in this world. You know Colossians 1 and 12
says this, giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance in light, who hath delivered
us, delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated
us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. And that's what
happens right here. God confronts this man, And this
man is, you know, Satan is the strong man arm, but there's a
greater, greater than him that comes upon him. Now he has a
dreadful, dreadful condition. This man does. You can read this
also over in Luke chapter eight, but it says over in Luke chapter
eight, that this man was, was shameless. It says over there
in Luke act 26, that's 27, that he wear no clothes. that he didn t have any clothes
on whatsoever. He was NAKED! And here s the
sad situation of this man, that he was so completely possessed
of the devil that he was UNCONSCIOUS of his nakedness. He had no AWARENESS
that he was naked! You know, and that s the way
he was so completely possessed, and when Adam and Eve sinned,
Here s the difference. This man didn t know he was naked. He was unaware of his nakedness
because of his condition before he lost his mind and confessed
to the devils. But Adam and Eve, when they sinned,
they KNEW that they were naked, and they were ASHAMED of their
nakedness, and they covered themselves with fig leaves They tried to
hide their nakedness from God with something that would eventually
not live and have to be done again. But all I tell you something,
here's something, to not know your nakedness before God is
a grand delusion of the devil. If you don't know how naked you
are before God Almighty, then the devil has got you deluded
just as much as he had this man right here. ONLY PEOPLE THAT
UNDERSTAND HOW NAKED THEY ARE BEFORE GOD IS THE ONLY PEOPLE
THAT WILL BE CLOTHED WITH THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF THE LORD JESUS
CHRIST. BUT YOU KNOW HOW MANY PEOPLE DON'T KNOW THAT THEY'RE
NOT NAKED BEFORE GOD? MY FATHER DIDN'T KNOW IT, MY
MOTHER DIDN'T KNOW IT, MY BROTHER DON'T KNOW IT, MY BROTHERS DON'T
KNOW IT, MY SISTER DON'T KNOW IT, AND HOW MANY OF YOU HERE
DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE LIKE BEFORE GOD ALMIGHTY? God looked at you
and He sees you stark naked. He sees you without any covering. He sees you as you really are,
not like you think you are, like your mama says you are, like
your husband says you are, like your wife says you are, like
your children says you are, like God sees you. And God said He
saw this man and this man was naked and didn't have sense enough
to know it. Naw, that's a sad state to be
in, ain't it? Sad state to be in. And not only
that, but he was friendless. He didn't have a friend in this
world. It said over there again in Luke chapter 8, it says that
he neither abode in a house, but he dwelt in the tombs. Ain't
that what it says there? He had his dwelling in verse
3 here. A man met him out of the tombs,
a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling, or his
living, among the graveyard. In the graveyard. He was homeless. He was a homeless
man. And he didn't want to be in the
house, and they didn't want him in the house. Didn't want him
in the house. And I tell you, his condition
cut him off from his relatives and his friends. I remember years
ago, There was a lady that I knew, and she had a brother. He was
about in this fella's shape. And he was up day and night.
He wouldn't even sleep, and he smoked all the time. His lips
was brown, his hands was brown, and you couldn't talk to him.
But she tried to take care of him. But that man was a pitiful,
pitiful man. Walked day and night, up and
down the steps, wild-eyed everywhere he went. But nobody could do anything
for him. But this fella didn't have a house to live in, and
the people in the house didn't want him in their house. Would
you want a man like this in your home? Would you want a man like
this in your home going naked? And that's what happened to him.
Oh my, he didn't want them and they didn't want him. His condition
cut him off. from his relatives, from his
friends. And I found out the hard way
when I got back from overseas and was put in a hospital, that
I found out real quick that all the people that I thought were
friends and fellas that thought well of me and the women that
thought well of me, I didn't have one person, not one friend
or one neighbor visit me when I was in the hospital, not one.
I found out right quick that I had no friends. And that's
the way this fella found out. Who wouldn't want to be a friend
with a man like this? If you went up and tried to be
friends with him, he's subject to attack you. He's subject to
hurt you. And oh my. And he constantly,
constantly lived among the graveyard. And you can't have fellowship
with the dead. He couldn't fellowship with those
peoples in the graveyard. You can, you know, go out and
talk to your friend. You got somebody you love in
the graveyard, go out and talk to them. And I guarantee you,
they won't hear a word you say. You're talking to them for your
good, not theirs. And here's what he, you know,
he would rather be among the dead than among the living. Oh, no man could help him. Nobody
could help him at all. Who can help those that are slaves
for sin? You know, there was a fella told
our Lord Jesus Christ. He says, Lord, I'll follow you,
I'm gonna follow you. But my daddy died and I won't
go home and bury my daddy. You know what our Lord said to
him? You let the dead bury the dead and you follow me. The dead
will take care of the dead. He said, you come and follow
me. I'm the one that's got the life. I'm the one that's got
the life. And I tell you this, you know,
This is the condition man is outside of Christ. It really
is. I'm not trying to fool you. I'm
not trying to scare you. I'm just telling you the truth.
This is how God sees people outside of Christ. And oh my, he was
helpless. He was helpless. It said he was
driven of the devil. He was driven of the devil. And
then they got, went out and said, Oh, listen, we're going to control
this man. We've got to control him. They went out and got us
some chains and they chained him up. I wonder how many people
it took to chain him up. I tell you, it took more than
one or two and it took some pretty good sized men. They took some
chains out there. You get on this side, I'll get
on this side. And they run around, around, around, around that fell
and tried to chain him. Wow. He just busted the chains. Just
busted them. Oh my. And then it says there
that they, in verse three, four, he said, been bound with fetters,
oh my, we'll chain him up. And all he'd just break them,
break them, break them. Broke the fetters in pieces.
And look what it says there, neither could any man tame him.
Oh, we need to tame that man. How are we gonna tame him? You
can tame lions, tame tigers, tame elephants. but you can't
tame a man. A man's gonna be a rebel, he's
gonna be a God-hater, he's gonna be a Christ-rejecter, he's gonna
go against God, he's gonna go against Christ, he's gonna go
against the Scriptures, he's gonna go against EVERYTHING about
God until God tames him, and God's the only one who can tame
this man. I can't tame him! I can't even tame myself! I WISHED
I COULD TAME MYSELF EVERY ONCE IN A WHILE! I WISHED I COULD
CONTROL MYSELF BETTER! BUT OH, MY! HE COULDN'T HELP
HIMSELF, DRIVEN LIKE A BEAST BY THE DEVIL, AND OH, INTO THE
WILDERNESS. IT SAYS HERE, AND HE SAID IN
VERSE 5, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, NIGHT AND DAY! Night and day, this
man couldn't rest. The devils wouldn't even let
him rest. He was in the mountains and in the tombs crying out,
crying out. You could hear him screaming
and hollering and making noise and cutting himself with stones. Cutting himself, oh my. Let me
tell you something. Preachers believe that moral
persuasion can help sinners. If you can morally persuade them,
which I don't know what that means. George C. Finney come
up with that idea. If we can morally persuade people
and convince them to come to the front, come to Jesus and
morally persuade them, that couldn't help this man. How can you morally
persuade him? Nobody could even tame him, talk
to him. And oh my, what about Reformation wouldn't change this
man. He don't need REFORMED! He doesn't need REFORMED at all!
No, no! Talking to Him about the LAW,
telling Him that the LAW, listen, straighten up, and you listen
to the LAW, and let the LAW be your rule of life, and let the
LAW control you, and you'll be alright! Oh, no! He was blinded by the
God of this world, And I tell you, telling him to pray through,
come to an old-fashioned altar, telling him that he s got a free
will and it s up to you now to make your choice, to tell him
that he s got faith, all he s got to do is exercise it, do you
reckon any of those things would have helped that man? Would any of those things help
you? Did you need reforming? Oh, my! Did somebody tell you
that all you got to do is exercise your faith because you was born
with it? I tell you what, none of those
things will do a thing in the world for you. You ain't got
no faith, you ain't got no help, and you ain't got no hope until
Christ confronts you. I tell you, I have no problem
telling that. And you know, I want you to see
over here in Mark chapter I think it's chapter one, verse 12. I
want you to see something. Our Lord Jesus Christ, immediately
after he was baptized, and the Father said, this is my Son in
whom I'm well pleased, look what happened to our Master here.
And immediately the Spirit driveth him into the wilderness. And
he was there in the wilderness 40 days, tempted of Satan, and
with the wild beast. The difference between Christ
and this man is Christ subjected himself to that to show us that
he has power over Satan. And oh my, look at his attitude
now toward the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what happens when Christ
comes. This is what happens when Christ comes. Back over in our
text now, back over in Mark 5. And they said, Oh, he had often
bound with feathers, dwelled among tombs, no chains could
hold him, feathers, nothing could hold him, always night and day,
oh, he never got any rest, his soul never got any rest, his
mind never got any rest. And when he saw Jesus afar off,
he saw him afar off. You don't have to be real close,
you know, when that, when that BRAZEN SERPENT WAS LIFTED UP
IN THE WILDERNESS WHEN THOSE PEOPLE HAD SINNED SO AGAINST
GOD, AND HE SENT THE SERPENTS TO BITE THEM, AND THEY WERE DYING. THEY DIDN?T SAY THAT YOU HAD
TO GET CLOSE TO IT TO LOOK AT IT. ALL IT SAYS IS JUST LOOK,
LIFT UP AND LOOK, LOOK IN THAT DIRECTION. YOU MAY BE SO FAR
OFF AND YOUR LIVES MAY NOT BE SO? THEY?RE JUST ABOUT TO GO
AND JUST SAW TOO FAR OFF, AND THE MINUTE YOU LOOKED IN THAT
DIRECTION, YOU?RE LIKE THAT. That's the way this man, he saw
Christ afar off. Christ was getting off that ship.
Christ was getting off that boat, and he started walking. And as
he got there, this man, he saw Jesus afar off, and listen to
what he said, he ran. He ran. And oh, this is an amazing story
to me, and worshiped him, and worshiped him. Christ had such
POWER and such FORCE and such BEAUTY and such WILLINGNESS and
such COMPASSION that this man saw Him and RAN to Him. For just
a moment in time he was in his right mind and he WORSHIPED Him,
but here s what he said. Look how he reacted. And he cried
with a loud voice. and said, Oh, my. First of all, he cried and fell
down before him and worshiped him. And he said, What have I
to do with you, Jesus, thou son of the most high? You know, when
a soul is brought, this man was brought face to face with Christ.
He ran and he cried out, fell down before him. When a soul
is brought face to face with Christ, His inner thoughts, the
intents of his heart is revealed. A man, when he's brought faith
to faith with Christ, it's like looking in a mirror. You see
who you are, and you can't see Christ and not see what you are. You know, people say, well, you
know, when we become sinners, that's when we'll come to Christ.
You won't become a sinner until you see Christ. John said, When I saw him, I
fell as a dead man. Daniel said, When I saw him,
my comeliness turned into corruption. People's waiting to become sinners
and say, Well, he's a sensible sinner. He's a bad sinner. He's a deep sinner. He's a, but
listen, there's no qualification for being a sinner. You know
what the only qualification is? See Christ and you'll become
a sinner. You can't see Christ and not
see how awful you are. When you see Christ, the only
sinless man, the only perfect man, the only powerful man, the
only saving man, the only mediator between God and man, If you are
blessed to see Christ and God gives you eyes to see Him, the
first thing you'll do is you'll be afraid and fall down before
Him. You won't stand up and say, Hallelujah,
I see Jesus! You won't clap your hands and
dance in the aisles. You won't speak in tongues. When
you see Christ, you'll do like Isaiah, Oh, woe is me! And you know who you'll say that
to? To yourself. Lord, I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble with your holiness.
I'm in trouble with your righteousness. I'm in trouble with your law.
I'm in trouble in sin. I'm in trouble. I'm in trouble. Oh my. You seek Christ. That's what this fellow was.
Oh my. Those under the dominion of sin,
There s two sovereigns in the scriptures, sin reigns or grace
reigns, and where grace reigns, sin no longer abounds. You know,
we re not under the dominion of sin. Why? Because we re under
grace. You know how to go under the
dominion of sin? Go under the law. Go under your own self-righteousness,
and the minute you trust yourself, you're under the dominion of
sin. And this fellow was under the dominion of sin, the devil.
And I'll tell you something, he didn't want to be separated
from his sin. He didn't want to be separated
from their bondage. Most people don't want to be
separated from their sin. Sin's not their problem, self-righteousness
is their problem. Being good people's their problem.
Thinking highly of themselves is their problem. Oh, my, and not only did he have
fear, but he opposed, he opposed the Lord Jesus Christ. Look what
he said there in verse 7. He cried with a loud voice and
said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, Son of the Most
High God? What in the world do I have to
do with you? Oh, you know what he's saying? I have nothing to do with you,
Christ. I have, you know, the devil has nothing to do with
Christ. He has nothing in common with
Christ. He has nothing in the world before
the Most High God. What communion has light with
darkness? Look, you keep Mark 5 over here
in your left hand. Turn with me to 2 Corinthians
6, I believe it is. Look here, I want to show you
something, if I can. You know, what have I to do with you? Well, you're a pretty good person.
All you need is Jesus. If you're a pretty good person,
you don't need Christ. Oh, I heard a dear preacher friend
of mine one time said, I know I've told you this before, but
it's appropriate right now. Fellas, a lady in his congregation,
her husband got real, real sick and was in the hospital, looked
like he'd go die. Said, Preacher, would you go
talk to my husband? Would you go visit him? He said,
Oh, be glad to, be glad to. He went in, talked with him,
sat down with him. And asked him, he called his
name, and he said, Are you a sinner? Getting ready to read I John
5 to him. You know, this is the record
that God hath given to us, eternal life, and this life is in His
Son, and He that hath the Son hath life. And that fellow said,
Well, no, I know I'm not perfect, I've made a lot of mistakes in
my life, but no, no, I wouldn't say I'm a sinner. That preacher
walked out of that room, never said another word to him, said,
I got nothing for you. And that's where God is. He's
got nothing for you, but his son. God's that way. You're coming
to my son or you're not. And I'll tell you, do you think
God won't walk away and leave you alone? In Romans chapter
1, you would not believe how many times it said God gave them
up. Everybody that left the wilderness,
it was 11 miles in that desert that they spent 40 years going
around. And it's 11 miles from where
they left to where they needed to go. And they spent 40 years
going around the wilderness. You know why? Because God said,
I'm going to kill everybody that was against me that come out
of Israel, come out of Egypt. And they've spent 40 years in
the wilderness and an 11 mile journey. God ain't going to put up with
man in his rebellion. He ain't going to do it. We may
do it, but God ain't going to do it. And that's this man said,
Here, listen, what have I got to do with you? I don't need
nothing from you. That's what these devils are
saying. I don't want nothing to do with you. I don't need
you. And oh, my! What have I to do with you? What
have I to do with your will? What have I to do with your holiness?
What have I to do with your righteousness? What have I not got to do with
YOUR LOVE? What have I got to do with YOUR
COMPASSION? What have I got to do with YOU? Oh, our Lord Jesus Christ, the carnal
almighty, is enmity against God, and the flesh cannot please God.
Our Lord Jesus Christ, He told them one time, He said, I'M FROM
ABOVE! I'm from above, you're from beneath. And I tell you what, if that's
where he is right now, he's above. We're down here and we need him,
he's up there. And oh my, well, let me read
this to you, I'm about to forget it. Look over here in verse 14,
2 Corinthians 6, 14, talking about what he said, what have
I to do with thee? Our Lord said, be not unequally
yoked together with unbelievers. people being yoked up. Don't
be yoked, don't be joined together with an unbeliever. What fellowship? What fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? What communion hath light with
darkness? Is light and darkness common
to one another? And what concord or what ability to go with, what concord,
what union hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth
with an infidel? And what agreement, what agreement
hath the Temple of God with idols? You are the Temple, we are the
Temple of the Living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them and walk in them, I'll be their God and they shall be
my people. But this man said, here, what have I got to do with
you? And then look what he said back over here in our text. He said in the last part of the
verse, he said, what have I got to do with you? I adjure thee,
I beg thee by God that thou torment me not. I don't want to be tormented.
That thou torment me not. Oh my. and what he's telling
the Lord Jesus and what's happening right here, judgment's in your
power. Now, this is the devil talking
now. The devil talks through people, and I'll tell you what,
he said, Judgment's in your power. You've got the power to put me
in the place of eternal torment. That's what he said. You've got
the power to put me, this man, in eternal torment. And if Christ
doesn't come to a sinner and confront that sinner, torment
will be the final place for him. You know, rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a poor man and God
took him and carried him off. That rich man died and the Scripture
says being in TORMENTS, being in TORMENTS, TORMENTS! Now, I don't like to talk about
hell, but let me tell you something. Whatever nature you got when
you leave this world without Christ, that's the nature you're
going to take with you to hell. When a believer leaves this world,
he's changed. He s changed, He s changed from
this mortal has got to put on immortality, this flesh has got
to put on, corruption has got to put on, we ll be changed in
a moment, twinkle or not. But an unconverted man, when
he leaves this world, he leaves the world with the nature he
s got when he goes. That rich man s nature didn t
change. He said, Being in TORMENT, he
said, Please let me out of here. He didn t say that. He didn t
beg for mercy. He just said, I just want somebody
to take a drop of water and spit it in my tongue. That's all he
wanted. But oh, my. I don't want anybody
to do that. You don't want to go that, do
you? Oh, my. He got to save us by his power. He has to wash us in his blood.
And we must be overwhelmed by his love and power or else. And there's no middle ground.
I mean that, and I say that with as much, I'm sorry, I just don't
want none of you to be lost. I don't, I don't. Well, look
at his salvation now. Look at his salvation. For he
said unto him, he spoke to this man, this man with the, he come
out of the man, thou unclean spirit. You know, the spirit's
what makes us unclean. And then our Lord said unto him
in verse 9, he asked him, What is thy name? What's your name? He didn't have to ask Lazarus
what his name was. He didn't have to ask Zacchaeus
what his name was. He didn't have to ask the woman
at the well what her name was. But he asked this man, What's
your name? What's your name? And oh, listen to what he says,
My name is legion. And look what I said, for we're
many. You know what a legion is in the Roman army? 5,000 people. And I was in a battalion, when
I was in the Marine Corps, and a battalion's made up of four
companies, headquarter company, and then four different combat
units. But they're made up of only about
300 or 400, 500 people. But here's 5,000. Can you imagine? You say, Legion,
my name's Legion, and he confessed that he had many, many demons,
and they had control of him, and what he's doing is he just
told the truth. My name is Legion, there's a
whole bunch of us here. There's a whole bunch of us here. Oh my. Oh, listen, He just told
the truth. Many demons had control of Him.
What good would coming out of Him trying to hide it or cover
up His state? Christ already knew this. But
oh, look what happened. Look what happened down in verse
15 now. And they came to Jesus, now listen
to this now, and see Him, that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion sitting. He hadn't been sitting, he'd
been crying day and night, going in the mountains, going in the
graves, and then he said, Listen, sitting now, he's sitting down,
and he's got clothes on him, and here's the most amazing thing,
he's in his right mind. I know what it's like to be put
in your right mind. Oh, that fella's just running
around. Now he's sitting down. He's calm,
he's calm. What calmed him? Christ. He'll calm you down. He'll calm
your heart. He'll calm your trouble. He'll
calm your fears. He'll calm your anxieties. He'll
calm your doubt. Oh, my. They found the man out of whom
the devil's departed, setting clothed, and he's in his right
mind. First time he'd been in his right
mind his whole life. His whole life. Oh, my. And let me tell you something.
Whom the Son sets free, He's free indeed. It's freedom from
the dominion of sin. It's a place where the homeless,
restless find refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessed Lord
Jesus, and finding rest at His feet, He is now, He is now in
the presence of God Almighty. and all being led of the LORD."
Now look what happens down here in verse 16 through 19 now. And they that saw it, told how
it befell to him that was possessed with the devil. They run back
and told people. And also concerning the swine, they began to pray
to him to depart out of the coast. And when he was come into the
ship, he that had prayed, possessed with the devil prayed, now listen
to this, Christ getting ready to leave, and the man that had
been possessed with the devil prayed to him, please Lord, let
me go be with you. I wanna be with you, I wanna
be with you. Howbeit our Lord Jesus Christ
suffered him not, would not allow him to do that, but saith unto
him, go home. Evidently he had a home, he had
a family. Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things
the Lord hath done for you and had compassion on you. And you
know what he said? That's what he did. He departed
and he started telling everybody. Oh, listen, you remember what
I was? I'm not that anymore. Remember how crazy I was? Got my right mind. Remember how
naked I was? I got clothes on now. Remember
how wild I was? I've been tamed. Oh, my. Oh, listen. Oh, how great things Christ had
done for him. A great Savior confronted a great
sinner and wrought a great, great salvation. He had lifted their
feet out of the miry clay and set it on a rock. That's what
happened to this fellow. Well, what in the world happened
to these devils? What happened to these devils? Well, in verse
10 it says here, He besought him not that he would not send
him out of the country. Now there was nigh unto the mountains
a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils, all of them,
not just one or two, all of them said this, send us into the swine
that we may enter into them. Send us into these hogs. And
listen, and forthwith Jesus gave them leave. They couldn't do
it unless Christ allowed them. Them devils had to ask him. I'd like for us, instead of sending
us back to hell where we'd be in torment, I WISH you'd put
us in that bunch of hogs. That's what I'd love for you
to do for us." And the Lord Jesus gave them leave. He said, Well,
okay, you do that. And all the unclean spirits went
out and entered into the herd of swine. Now, this goes to show
you the difference between man and animals. The herd ran violently. Animals can't stand devils. And
run down the herd violently down a steep place into the sea, and
there was about 2,000 of them, and they all drowned. They drowned. I would tell you something funny,
but I won't do it. I'll tell you later. And they that fed the swine fled. They run, they scared them. What
in the world's going on here? And told it in the city and in
the country. And they went out to see what it was that was done.
That's when they saw Christ. That's when they saw Christ.
Oh my. But look what a frightful, frightful,
frightful prayer that they said. And they, in verse 16, and they
that saw it told them how it befell to him that was possessed
with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And this what they
said to the Lord Jesus Christ. And they begged him, prayed him,
please leave our country. Get out of our town. Get out
of our city. Don't come back. I don't want
you. You've done messed up our living.
You've done upset our apple cart. You've turned our world upside
down. How are we going to make a living now? Oh, my. Oh my, but sought him to depart
from him, and he went into a ship, and he did! And oh my, here's where he found
of a man who wasn't even seeking him. But let me say this in closing. Before salvation, a man's not
in his right mind. He's not, he's not in his right
mind. What kind of mind do you have that you would refuse to
come to the Lord Jesus Christ? Come to the only person that
can save you. Save you from your sin. Give
rest for your heart. Give rest for your soul. What kind of mind must a person
have that says, well, I don't need that. I don't need
that. I don't want that. Before salvation, a man's not
in his right mind. And he's not in his right place.
This man was in his right place at the feet of Jesus, the Son
of God. And he's naked, he's not clothed
until Christ clothes him. Ain't that right? Until Christ clothes you, saves
you. You're not in your right mind,
you're naked, but oh my. What a Savior! Oh, what a Savior! I pray that He would confront
you. He had to confront me. And He had to conquer me. He confronted
me and He conquered me. And the hardest thing to me,
the hardest thing and the awfulest thing that Christ conquered me
of was my false hope, my false religion. my false conceptions
of God Almighty, and the false conception that I had of myself.
I was deluded until Christ confronted me. Our Father, O our Father, in
the precious, precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, thank
you for allowing us to meet here this morning. Thank you for your
precious word. Thank you for the power, oh Lord,
that you have and the willingness to meet a man where he is and
to do for a man what he don't even want done and could not
be done unless you confronted him. Lord, confront sinners in
this place. Confront sinners in my own family. Oh God, come to them, confront
them. Save them by your precious grace.
Make your power known in their heart. Make your power known
in their mind. Make your power known in their
souls. And we ask in his holy name,
amen, amen. Verse two of 258, and you'll
be at liberty to go. 258, everybody knows what that is. A wonderful Savior is Jesus our
Lord. We'll sing. Let's stand together. A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord. wonderful Savior to me. He hideth my soul in the cleft
of the rock where rivers of pleasure I see. In the cliff to the rock that
shadows a dry, thirsty land. It's my life in the depths of
his me there with his hand and covers
me there with his hand. ? A wonderful Savior is Jesus my
Lord ? He taketh my burden up He holds me up. And I shall not be moved. Oh, it gives me my strength. He hideth my soul in the cliff
to the rock that shadows a dry, thirsty lake. ? In the depths of His love ? And
covers me there with His hand ? And covers me Verse four. To meet Him, to meet Him in clouds
in the sky. His perfect salvation. Oh, His wonderful love. Bless
His name. I'm gonna shout. Amen. In the cleft of the rock that
shadows a dry, thirsty land. He hideth my life in the depths
of His love. And covers me there with His
hand. And covers me there with His
hand. Boy, He does. He really, really
does. I'll see you tonight, six o'clock,
God willing.