Let's turn to the book of Luke
today, the book of Luke chapter 8. While you're turning, let me
also say that we're thankful to you all for lending us Walter and Paul on occasion.
We've gotten to know each other and Paul and Paula and Walter
and Penny have become dear friends. Nothing like the fellowship of
God's saints with one another. All right, Luke chapter 8. You
can put a marker here. We're going to be spending the
bulk of our time here. I will have you turn to a couple other
texts, but the bulk of our time will be in Luke chapter 8. We'll
begin reading in verse 26. Luke chapter 8, verse 26. And they arrived at the country
of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he
went forth, this is speaking of Christ, and when he went forth
to land, there met him out of the city a certain man which
had devils a long time, and wear no clothes, neither a boat in
any house, but in the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he cried out
and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What
have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I
beseech thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean
spirit to come out of the man. For oft times it had caught him,
and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters. And he broke
the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. And
Jesus asked him, saying, what is thy name? And he said, Legion. because many devils were entered
into him. And they, the demons, they besought
him that he would not command them to go into the deep. And
there was there a herd of many swine feeding on the mountain,
and they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into
them, and he suffered them. Then went the devils out of the
man and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the lake, and were choked. When they that
fed them saw what was done, they fled and went and told it in
the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what
was done and came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the
devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also which saw it told them
by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. Then
the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about
besought him to depart from them. For they were taken with great
fear. And he gave them their wish and he went back into the
ship and returned back again. Now the man out of whom the devils
were departed besought him that he might be with him. But Jesus
sent him away saying, Return to thy house and show how great
things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way and published
throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto
him. Now this account is one of three
that we find in the Gospels concerning our Lord's encounter with this
demoniac. The other two are found in Matthew 8 and in Mark 5. And
the verses in Matthew tell us that there's two men who were
possessed of devils who came out to meet the Lord. So is there
a contradiction here, unbelievers? Skeptical men like to say the
Bible is just full of contradictions. That's not the case. We know
it's not the case. We're just too ignorant to understand
it. And it may be that after casting out the demons from both
of these men, One of them departed immediately, and the other stayed
to sit at Jesus' feet. This brought to mind the story
in Luke 17 of the Lord healing the ten lepers. But the writer
only focuses on one of those ten. And starting in verse 12,
it says, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, And he entered
into a certain village, and there met him ten men that were lepers,
which stood afar off. And they lifted up their voices
and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy upon us. And when he saw
them, he said unto them, go show yourselves unto the priest. That's
what was done in the Old Testament. A priest had to declare a leper
clean. Go show yourselves unto the priest.
And as it came to pass that as they went, they were cleansed.
And one of them, only one out of the 10, when he saw that he
was healed, turned back And with a loud voice glorified God, and
fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks. And
he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, were
there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? They
are not found that return to give God glory, save this stranger. All ten were healed, but only
one ended up at the feet of Christ. And I think that that is the
case where we read of the two men possessed of demons in Matthew. One was a chosen vessel of God's
grace who had his demons removed and was brought to knowledge
of Christ, saving knowledge. The other had his demons cast
out, but as far as we know was left in his sins. And this is
why I think Mark and Luke only write of the one man who stayed
to sit at Christ's feet. Now I want to go through these
verses one by one and try to show some parallels and similarities
between this man possessed of demons and those of us who've
been redeemed by God's marvelous grace. And some hearing that
may take offense and say, I don't have anything in common with
a man who's demon-possessed. But stick around. You might be
surprised. Now in all three of these books,
this story is preceded by the account of our Lord and His disciples
going over the Sea of Galilee. We know this story. The Lord
decided He was going to take a nap. And while he was sleeping,
he said, a mighty storm arose. From what I understand, that
happens frequently on the Sea of Galilee. The storms can come
up without warning. And so our Lord was taking his
nap, and the disciples, fearing that they were going to perish,
awoke him and asked him, don't you care that we're about to
drown? This ship's not going to last much longer. And our
Lord was a little annoyed, but he got up, and with three simple
words, Stay dead stone. Peace. Be still. Three simple words. And after
which, his disciples were astonished beyond measure. And they said,
what manner of man is this? For he commandeth even the wind
and the water. And they obeyed him. But as astonished
as they were, their astonishment level was about to be raised
a few more notches. Because they were about to see
our Lord Jesus Christ cast thousands of demons out of these men. And He did it with merely a word,
again. Now we cannot imagine how powerful
the Word of our God is. Powerful enough to speak this
universe, which they're yet to find the edges of with all their
massive orbiting telescopes I forget the name of the one that's gone
so many light years away now, but they cannot find the edge
of this universe. We read in Genesis 1.1, and God
said, and then we read, and it was so. That simple. Psalm 33.8 says, Let all the
earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the
world stand in awe of Him. For He spake, and it was done. He commanded. and it stood fast. intended destination. He controlled
that storm, He controlled the path of that ship, and He controlled
the very place that they landed. Because there was one here at
this place, one who He must bring. And verse 27 says, And when He
went forth to land, there met Him out of the city a certain
man which had devils a long time, and wear no clothes, neither
a boat in any house, but in the tombs. There met him a certain
man. One meaning of this word certain,
I like to look up word meaning. Sometimes we just read over stuff
and don't think about what it truly says. But one meaning of
this word certain is destined. Destined. Predestined. Predestinated. To become a vessel
of God's mercy and grace. And it tells us that this man
wore no clothes. He came to the Lord just as he
was, naked. And isn't that the way we come
spiritually to Christ? Naked, destitute of anything
to cover our guiltiness. Casting off our filthy rags of
self-righteousness, we come to Christ spiritually naked, needing
to be clothed with the robe of His perfect righteousness. Now,
modern day religionists would hear that and they think, You'd
have to run down the aisle bare naked, because they see coming
to Christ as an act of the feet. That you have to come out of
the pew to the mourner's bench at the front of the church. But
we know that coming to Christ is not an act of the feet, it's
an act of the heart. Job told us, naked came I out
of my mother's womb. We came forth both physically
naked and spiritually naked. But natural man still likes to
think like his father Adam, And so when we see ourselves spiritually
naked, we start stitching together an apron of carnal good works,
little fig leaves, a fig leaf of church membership, a fig leaf
of reading our scriptures, fig leaf after fig leaf, and try
to stitch together something that will make us presentable
to the God of glory. And yet God does not regard our
robe of so-called righteousness Hebrews 4.13 tells us, neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight, but
all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him with whom
we have to deal. Now when our God gives us the
gift of faith to believe, He does what He did with Adam and
Eve, He strips us. He strips us of our filthy rags
and clothes us as that prodigal son's father clothed him with
the best robe. That Father said, bring forth
the best robe. And He clothed us with that best robe of the
righteousness of Christ. This verse also tells us that
this man had no home, but he dwelt in the tombs, which was
an appropriate place for him to be. Ephesians tells us that
verse is so familiar to us. And you have be quickened who
are dead in sins and trespasses. The dead is who you find in the
tombs. And this was a perfect place
for this man to dwell because he was spiritually dead. But this was to be the last day
that this man dwelt in the tombs. Because he was about to be free
from everything that had bound him to this point in his life.
And to be released from that hard bondage under which he lived
so long. This verse says that he had been
this way a long time. We don't know if that's 5 years,
10 years, 20 years. But it was a long time. And Mark's
account tells us that no man could bind him. Neither could
any man tame him. Sound familiar? It should. It describes us before grace
and mercy found us. Our mother and dad and society
in general tried to tame us. Tried to make us conform to the
rules. And those of us that grew up in religion know all too well
how that the church folks and the false preachers tried to
bind us with the law. But we were, as this demoniac,
we could not be tamed. We could not be bound. Not by
any man. But there was one that came to
us where we were and did what no amount of religious teaching
and church discipline could do He made His children of the living
God. Now verse 28, When He saw Jesus,
He cried out and fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said,
What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God, most
high? I beseech thee, torment me not. Now this man, when he first saw
the Savior and knew who He was, desired Him to simply leave him
alone. to not torment Him. And is this not how it was with
you, dear saint, when you first saw the first glimpse of Christ
and knew who He truly was, the Son of God Most High? Our desire
was simply to be left alone. We were perfectly content to
dwell in the tombs of our sin and depravity, but our blessed
Lord was not about to let us have our way, because as this
man We were chosen vessels of His mercy. Now when this first
records the request of this man that the Lord torment him not,
it is typical of what the awakened sinner begins to experience when
we first see the Lord for who He is. A God who will not forgive
sin. A God before whom we stand guilty. And it is a terror, it's a torment
to the awakened heart and mind But as it did to this man, our
torment eventually leads to our deliverance. And if what I'm
talking about sounds foreign to you, you may want to examine
your assurance of salvation. Because coming to Christ is not
a pain-free, easy experience. There is a terror of soul, an
overwhelming guilt, a sure feeling, that there is nothing you can
do. You are as sure of hell as if you're already there. But coming to Christ, it is a
painful thing. And it's especially painful to
self-righteous religions. Myself and many of you came down
this same path. And the reason it's so painful
is because you're forced to admit that everything that you put
all your hope in is completely worthless. You've built a house
upon the sand of man's imagined good works and self-righteousness. Our Lord described this in Matthew
chapter 7 when He spoke of the foolish man which built his house
upon the sand and it says, and the rain descended and the floods
came and the winds blew and beat upon that house and what was
the result? It fell. And great was the fall
of it. I picture this as some of the
videos I've seen. You all probably have, too, of
houses that are built on a seashore and what happens to them sometimes
during a hurricane. Here you have a large, beautiful
house that someone has put all their life savings into. Now
it's a pristine house. It has just a dynamic view of
the surrounding landscape. It's the envy of all the neighbors.
And the owners are so proud of it. I mean, who wouldn't be?
They built this with their hard work, with what they did. And they're sure they'll live
there the rest of their lives. But one day that hurricane hits,
the rain descends, the winds blow, and take the very foundation
off from under that house, and it collapses into the ocean.
I've seen videos of this. It's a scary thing to watch. And because of the fact that
so many of these coastal areas are in danger of flooding, you
can't buy flood insurance. So these homeowners watched everything
that they had done, their entire life's work, collapse into the
ocean. And that's exactly what happens
spiritually when our God sends a hurricane of the true gospel
to a self-righteous sinner. That gospel which Paul described
in Romans 1-16 is the power of God unto salvation. It completely blows away Every
hope of false religion until there's nothing left for the
sinner to hope in except Christ's Savior and Him crucified. It completely demolishes our
religious house of cards that we built upon the sand of our
imagined good works and righteousness. Verse 29, For he had commanded
the unclean spirit to come out of the man, for oft times it
had caught him, And he was kept bound with chains and in fetters.
And he broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the
wilderness. In the previous verse, the demons acknowledge the sovereignty
of the Savior and declare that they know who He is, the Son
of God, Most High. James tells us this, that the
devils believe and tremble. This word tremble means to shake
in a way that you cannot control. because of overwhelming fear.
Now there was no argument put forth by these demons. You think
about this. You had thousands of demons versus
one guy. One man. But it wasn't just any
man. This was the sovereign potentate
of the universe. And these demons, the thousands
of them, knew that they had no power to resist his will. And in that sense, that demons
are not as bad as depraved men and women who think they can
bend God to their will and resist His will. They're worse than
devils. And this verse also tells us
that this man was bound with chains and fetters, but he always
broke the bands. And as I mentioned before, it's
a perfect description of us before grace found us. We threw off
all the restraints that society tried to put on us. and especially
the ones that religion tried to put on us. Verse 30, And Jesus
answered him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion,
because many devils were entered into him. Now this word legion,
it refers to a division of the Roman army of 6,000 men. Now this doesn't necessarily
mean that there were 6,000 demons in this man, but certainly there
were many because we read that there were enough at least to
possess 2,000 swine and drive them down the slope. And when
you consider that, it's astounding. We read of the effects of one
demon on individuals, how they threw themselves into the fire
and tried to destroy themselves. It's unimaginable the number
of demons that were in this one man. Verse 31, And they besought
him, that He would not command them to go into the deep. This
verse clearly shows that our blessed Lord does indeed have
all power over demons and men. They do as He commands, and they're
powerless to resist His will. The demons know they're powerless.
Unfortunately, men most times do not. Verse 32, And there was
there an herd of many swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought
Him that He would suffer them to enter into them, And He suffered
them. Now, I don't know a lot about
demons because the Scriptures don't reveal a lot about them.
But I do know that they require a body to dwell in before they
can do harm to the one they are possessing and the ones around
them. And rather than to be cast into
the sea, they were content to be cast into this herd of swine.
And with the permission of our Sovereign Lord, they did so.
And verse 33 reads, And then went the devils out of the man,
and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down a
steep place into the lake, and were choked. When the demons
which had dwelt in this man were sent into the swine, this verse
tells us that these swine immediately ran into the sea and were drowned. Now these demons accomplished
with these swines what they were unable to accomplish with this
man. they had him killed himself. This account in Mark 5 tells
us that this man was always night and day in the mountains and
in the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones. Now can
you imagine what this guy looked like? He had to be covered with
scars. No doubt his hair and his beard
grown out. He looked like a wild man. doing self-inflicted harm to
himself. And of all those times that he
cut himself with stones, you would think eventually he would
have found an artery and bled himself to death. But that was
not to be because he was a chosen vessel of God's wrath, or God's
grace, I should say. So we know why he didn't perish. And is this not the same reason
that many of us here today are sitting where we are, We lived our lives before God's
grace, doing every harm we could imagine to ourselves, cutting
ourselves with every vile act that we could indulge in. And
many of us dwelt in the tombs of dead, empty, Christless religion,
cutting ourselves with every false doctrine that we could
get a hold of. And those cuts would have eventually led to
our eternal destruction. Had the Lord not landed on that
shore where we were, securing our false hope, and cast those
false hopes from us as He did these demons from this man. Now in verse 34 we read, And
when they that fed them saw what was done, they fled and went,
and told it in the city and in the country. Now we're not told
how many men oversaw the care of this herd of swine, but all
of them, to a man, were terrified by what they had seen. This madman,
who was a danger to both himself and any that came near him, running
to meet a man, but doing him no harm. Instead, falling at
his feet. This madman, who they no doubt
had probably witnessed from afar, attacking individuals, Matthew
tells us that this man was exceeding fierce. Not just crazy, but exceeding
fierce. And it tells us so much so that
no man might pass by that way. People had to avoid even coming
near this area because this man would run out and literally,
like a rabid dog, attack them tooth and nail. So I'm guessing
that when these guys had fed this herd of swine and saw this
man running toward this man coming out of a ship, they thought,
here we go again. He's going to tear into this guy. And I'm
sure they were astounded when this man stopped and fell at
the feet of Christ. Because they saw something that
had never happened before. And so they went. into the city
and in the country. This, from what I understand,
took place very early in the morning. And I don't know how
fast the runners there were or how many of them there were,
but it must have taken hours for them to spread the word around
the countryside and in the city. And in all that time, this man
was sitting at Christ's feet, learning of Him. Learning of
Him and from Him. Then in verse 35 it says, Then they went out to see what
was done, this is everyone in the cities and the country, and
came to Jesus and found the man out of whom the devils were departed,
sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in His right mind. And what was the effect? They
were afraid. This is what happens when those who have been vile sinners
or even good church-going Baptists are shown the truth of Christ
and they cast aside every hope but Christ and him crucified.
People can't figure out what brought about this radical change.
And they fear because they have no idea what happened. The previous
wild man of a friend that they used to run with now no longer
has any interest in indulging in the vices of the flesh. But
the ones who are most afraid are the good religious folks
Because they see this one who used to believe, as they do,
that salvation is a shared work between man and God, now claiming
only the work of Christ. And it's terrifying to them,
because if this person is right, that Christ is all, then it demolishes
every hope that they have. And it's a terrifying thing to
a works monger for that to happen, to be told that they're praying,
Their tithing, their soul winning, their church membership, their
Bible reading, their attendance at the local tent revival are
all completely worthless. Even worse than worthless, they
are damning to their souls. The doctrine of Christ and Him
crucified being the only hope of lost sinners is a terror to
the religionists. It makes these folks who came
out of the city and the countryside, it makes them just like them.
It makes them very afraid. Because all their hopes are false
if that indeed is the truth that Christ is all in all. Verse 36, They also which saw it told them
by what means he that was possessed of the devil was healed. Now
when lost men and women witness the salvation of a sinner, most
times they don't really quite understand what happens, how
this change comes about, Not so in this case. These men had
been eyewitnesses to exactly how these things occurred. They
could not deny what had happened. It was evident. It was seen by
their very eyes. This man who a short time a while
ago was so fierce that he would attack anyone who came near,
now sitting in perfect serenity at the feet of Christ, clothed
and in his right mind, Verse 37, in the whole multitude of
the country of the Gadarenes, everybody, round about sought
him to depart from them. For they were taken with great
fear. And he gave them their wish. And he went up into the
ship and returned again. This is the reaction of lost
religious men and women when their belief system is threatened. They want no part of this sovereign
Christ, who shatters to pieces everything in which they believe.
So they desire Him to depart from them, and to leave them
in their unbelief. And this verse tells us that
they were taken with great fear. Now you would have thought that
they would have had the exact opposite reaction, that they
would have been taken with great rejoicing. That this man who
was so fierce that they could not even walk this way, was now
sane in his right mind and sitting at the feet of Christ. And there's
a real danger in asking the Christ of God to depart from you. We do not read any place in the four Gospels
where the Lord Jesus Christ ever returned to this place. As far as we know, He only visited
one time. And I'm sure if you had gone
through the countryside in this city before the Lord showed up
and you had said to them, the Lord Jesus Christ is coming to
your country and He's going to save one sinner. Who do you think
it might be? You can bet that there would
not be a soul that would say, I think it's that lunatic demon
man up in the... He's a candidate for... None
of them would have thought this. Because in their eyes, he was
too far gone. And this should serve as a reminder
of what our God tells us. My ways are not your ways. Neither are my thoughts your
thoughts. God never, let me repeat that, God never looked at things
the way we do. Never. And when it came to anything
that this man's family or friends could do for him, he was definitely
behind any hope. But not for him who is mighty
to save. There is not one of God's chosen
sheep who is so far gone that the grace of God and the blood
of Christ cannot redeem him. This man was someone's son, someone's
brother, perhaps someone's father, And Christ knew this. He knows
all things. And He told this man, return
to your own house. Now you can't return to some
place you've never been. And can you imagine this? This homecoming of this man. Perhaps he was someone's father,
someone's husband. And he had been gone a long time,
maybe 10, 20 years. And he comes walking up the hill
to the house and is recognized by his children, who are now
grown probably, and his wife. Or maybe he wasn't married. Maybe
he just had a mother and father. And you can't imagine, we can't
imagine the incredible overwhelming joy that they would have felt
of this man returning to them. Because again, they thought he
was beyond hope. And as I mentioned a minute ago,
it's a dreadful thing to ask the Christ of God to depart from
you. I remember hearing a story of
Ralph Barnard. Walter, you've probably heard this story. Ralph,
I hope I get it right. Don told us this story a time
or two over the years. Ralph Barnard was preaching somewhere,
I don't know where. And as he was preaching, he noticed
this young lady in one of the front rows. And she was actually
affected by what she heard. She was crying. And Barnard went
down and said to her, young lady, you need to look. You seem like
you need to look. And the story goes that this
young lady screamed out at Barnard. For Christ's sake, preacher,
leave me alone. And from what I understand, this
young lady left that meeting and died in a car wreck shortly
after. And I'm sure for eternity that
message of Ralph Barney will ring in her ears. Just leave me alone. Now in verse 38 we read, Now
the man out of whom the devils were departed besought Him that
He might be with him. But Jesus sent him away. Now
when we're first given faith in Christ, and the Gospel is
revealed to our hearts, we're overwhelmed with joy. We're freed
from the wrath of God. And we want to be near God's
people. We want to hear the gospel of
Christ crucified and His finished work on our behalf, His love
and grace toward His people. We're so taken up with Him that
we can scarcely think of anything else. But we live lives that
require us to make a living, to take care of our families,
and so often those things distract us from worshiping our Savior
as we would desire, but we're not to be like those who shut
themselves away in a monastery lest we be polluted by the world. We have to live in this world,
but we certainly don't have to live for this world. So we find
in this last verse of our text instructions given to this man
out of whom the Lord had cast these devils. The Savior tells
him in verse 39, Return to thine own house and show how great
things God hath done unto thee." And he went his way and published
throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto
him. Now our Lord would not have us
remain silent about what He has done both to us and for us. And this verse would suggest
that that witnessing begins at our own house with our own family. And from there to whomever the
Lord brings us into contact and gives us those opportunities
to witness. And notice the wording here.
Christ tells this man to tell others how great things God hath
done unto thee. Then the last words of this verse
say the man published throughout the whole city how great things
Jesus hath done unto him. Now this man understood that
this One who healed him was indeed God in human flesh. Now Christ
never made it a secret that He claimed to be God, equal with
God. This was the biggest sticking
point for the religious crowd of His day, the Pharisees, that
this lowly carpenter's son, this lowlife, claimed to be equal
with God. This was not just blasphemy.
They considered it worthy of death. And many of those witnessed
with their own two eyes miracles which the Lord had performed,
yet they remained blind to the truth of who He was, God in human
flesh. Turn with me to Matthew 13, please. Matthew 13. I'm going to wrap this up. Matthew 13, verse 10. We're talking about
how these men had seen the miracles of Christ, and yet were held
in their unbelief. Verse 10 of Matthew 13. The disciples
came and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? He
answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven But to them
it is not given. For whosoever hath, to him shall
be given. And he shall have more abundance.
But whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away, even
that he hath. Therefore speak I to them in
parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear
not, neither do they understand. And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Isaiah, which saith, by hearing ye shall hear, and
shall not understand. Seeing ye shall see, and shall
not perceive. For this people's heart is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they
have closed, lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their
hearts, and should be converted. and I should heal them. But blessed
are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. And this is an astonishing verse.
For verily I say unto you, that many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those things which ye see, and they have not
seen them. And to hear those things which
ye hear, and have not heard them. Here our Lord explains to His
disciples that the ability to know the truth of God, to see
the truth of God, to hear the truth of God are gifts that are
given to some and clearly not given to others. And that truth
is hated. It is hated by religionists because
it takes away all their bragging rights. But it is indeed the
truth of God. Paul made this plain in the 9th
chapter of Romans. He said, power over the clay
of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another
to dishonor. Now for those of us sitting here
today who have been made vessels of honor, we have much to be
thankful for. Because as Christ came to where
this demoniac was and set him free from all which plagued him,
so he came to us where we were and made us whole, needing nothing
to stand perfect in the sight of an all-knowing, all-seeing,
holy God. One last thought. I find it astonishing to think
that this man, who was once possessed with thousands
of demons, you know where he is now? He's standing before that throne
singing the praises of Him who cured him of his ills when
he was in the flesh, particularly cured him of all spiritual ills. So let us, who have loved ones
that don't know the Savior, not despair because if this man was
not beyond hope, certainly none are. The grace and mercy of God
is so powerful that there is not one chosen one that will
not be brought to the feet of Christ. I hope the Lord has blessed
that to your heart.