Luke 8 26. This is the teaching
of Jesus casting out demons Out of a man a lot of times we can
read these passages and fly right by them and go Wow, you know,
it's powerful But I hope tonight that I might be able to go a
little bit more deeper in this passage and show us some spiritual
application And how it can relate to us Luke 8 26 Then they sailed
to the country of Gerasenes, which is opposite of Galilee.
And when Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man
from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no
clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.
And when he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him
and said with a loud voice, What have you to do with me, Jesus,
Son of the Most High God? I beg you do not torment me for
he had commanded the unclean spirits to come out of the man
for many at a time had seized him and he was kept on a guard
and bound with chain shackles but he would break the bonds
and be driven by the demon into the desert. Jesus then asked
him, What is your name? And he said, Legion, for many
demons have entered him, and they begged him not to command
them to depart in the abyss. Now a large herd of pigs was
feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them
enter these. So he gave them permission, and the demons came
out of the van and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down
the steep bank into the lake and drowned. When the herdsmen
saw what had happened, they fled and told of the end of the city
and the country. And then the people went out to see what had
happened, and they came to Jesus and found the man from whom the
demons had gone, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed in his
rock mine, and there they were afraid. And those who had seen
it told them how the demon-possessed man had been healed, that all
the people of the surrounding country of Jerusalem had asked
him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear.
So he got into his boat and returned. The man from whom the demons
had gone begged that he might be with them. But Jesus sent
him away saying, return to your home, declare how much God has
done for you. And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole
city how much Jesus had done for him. Let's pray. Father God, we are overwhelmed,
astonished at the mercy that you have given us. Lord, I pray,
Lord, that every day we would think about the birth, the life,
the death, the burial, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that it would
consume our minds, that we would always be thankful and give you
worship and give you glory for what you have done for us, making
us right before you through his life, death, burial, resurrection.
Help us trust in that daily. Pray, Lord, that you would help
me, a weak man, Preach truth tonight, help me to feed your
sheep. Give your people, oh God, ears to hear your word. Let your
word grab hold of their hearts. And Lord, help them to remember.
Help them to remember your word, Father. Help them to dig deeper
into your word, that they might come to know you more and more.
And we ask this in no other name but the King of kings, the Lord
of lords, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the
first and the last, our great Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, we see that Jesus is coming
into this country of Jerusalem. He just got in a boat with his
disciples and as they were crossing the waters, we understand that
a storm hit them. You know, if you're reading the
Gospels, except I don't know if it's in John, you hear about
the storm that hits them and some say Jesus is asleep in the
cabin and others he's not asleep. But we know what they do. They
come to him and they cry out for him to what? Save him. And we know Jesus stands up and
He rebukes the weather. Can you imagine that? I mean,
we had a hurricane or a slight hurricane coming through here,
what, last year I believe it was, and then the year before
that we had the big storm in Matthew. Can you just imagine
being in the middle of that storm and next thing you know it just
ceases and it's just a bright, beautiful day outside. I mean,
this is what the disciples experienced. Jesus rebukes the storms and
then they stand in awe of Him And ask themselves, who is this
that even the winds and the waves listen to him? Jesus showing
his deity. That Jesus Christ is the one
who controls all things. He is sovereign over our weather
system. He makes seasons come and he
makes seasons go. He makes rain comes, he makes
rain go. And then here after they had
finally arrived to where they were going, we see there in verse
26 through 27, that they sailed to the country of Jerusalem,
which is opposite of Galilee. When Jesus had stepped out on
the land, there met him a man from the city who had demons.
For a long time he had worn no clothes and he had not lived
in a house but among the tombs. First, we must realize that the
author is letting us know that Jesus is selling opposite of
where? Galilee. We know that Galilee
was a region that were mostly Jews dwelled in. And he's going
opposite of his Jewish family, opposite of his Jewish, according
to the flesh, to this place where most Jews will not dare to go
because we know it would be a place of where? Gentiles. That Jesus
is going to this place where he would be in contact with Gentiles. And we'll learn later on in this
passage, he'd be in contact with what the Jews would never even
want to be close to touching, which is what? Swine, pigs. And
when Jesus had stepped out on the land, the Bible teaches us
here that he was met by a man from that city who had demons. Now, this letter is recorded
in the Gospel of Mark and also in the Gospel of Matthew. In
the Gospel of Matthew, we learn that there are two demon-possessed
men there. Not just one, but two. But for
the sake of what Luke is teaching here, I'm going to stick with
one tonight, but I'm not disagreeing with Matthew. I actually believe
because the Gospel of Matthew teaches there were two. There
were two men there. Matthew Luke and Mark are not
at war here with each other what they're just two of them in a
different count But Matthew says there's two so I believe there's
two men there and with these men or this man meets Jesus We
learned that he is what? He's still with demons He has
no clothes on him and he doesn't have a house to live in but he
stays amongst where the tombs and Now when you think about
that, you go, what in the world is going on with this guy? That
he is running around with no clothes on. I mean, first, that
would be an indicator, this guy right here is a little cuckoo,
is what we would call him. I know college kids at times
will do it just for a good laugh, maybe. But this guy, this was
the way that he would carry himself amongst the people. But what's the importance here?
Well, beloved, we know that this man's biggest problem wasn't
being physically naked. His biggest problem was being
spiritually naked. We know Adam and Eve were holy
and righteous before God's eyes, but the moment they bit a piece
of the fruit, They were naked and utterly ashamed before God.
And though they worked hard to sew fig leaves together to cover
their nakedness, and they probably looked at each other, we're covered. We're covered. When God showed
up, they were still naked. They were still naked. And what did God have to do in
the garden to cover their nakedness? He killed an innocent animal
that He might clothe them with it. Showing us what that we as
a people before God saves us. We are all naked and ashamed
before God Shame Sin Shames us in the presence of God goal of
God is holy and we're unholy God is righteous and we are unrighteous. I But also teaches what? Well,
you might say, well, Brother Jesse, you know, we were not
filled with demons before God saved us. And I say, well, probably
none of us were, but were we not ruled by them? Was not Satan
our God without even realizing that he was our God before he
saved us? I know growing up as a, as a,
in the South Georgia, I had a Jesus that was a devil Jesus. Meaning
I thought it was the true Jesus, but it was the devil taking the
form as a Jesus Hear that now But also we know if he's just
to teach us what they were all following the prince the power
of the air Which is who saved himself? That we are ruled by the devil
himself that you know, the Bible teaches that we are the children
of the devil and before God saves us. Not children of God like
some portray, that we're all children of God before conversion.
No, beloved, only those who have been born of God and trust in
the finished work of Jesus Christ by his grace are the children
of God. Everyone else is of the devil. I mean, Jesus makes that
clear in his gospel preaching. He looks at the Pharisees who
proclaim that Abraham's their father. So that must mean that
they're children of God. And what does he rebuke them?
So if you were Abraham's children, you would love me, but because
you do not love me, what? Satan is your father. Satan is your father. And we
also know in 1 John 3, it teaches us what? That those who are in
the practice of sinning, meaning those in context who are in the practice
of not loving their brothers and sisters in Christ, are of
the devil. Why did Cain murder Abel? because he was of the devil. Second one after Adam, second
man on earth after Adam. He didn't get a pass by that,
even though I imagine Adam and Eve told them many times what
they did and what God done on their behalf. He was never come
spiritually alive to understand that. Beloved that we, because
we were born in utter sin, come in this world as naked and shamed
in our sin and God haters. You might say this man dwelled
among the tombs. Well, of course he did he was
dead Dead men hanging out with dead men. Is it when Jesus asked
when Jesus was asked by this man? I'll go with you Jesus,
but first let me go back and bury my father And what did Jesus
tell the man let the dead? Bury the dead Did this man show
the only thing out of the graveyard with dead people, but he's showing
that he is spiritually dead As we know, the Bible teaches us
that we are spiritually dead in our sin. We are dead in our
trespass sin, that there is no life in us. We come out of our
mother's womb and our parents are glad to see us. We look like
we're alive and we're alive physically, but spiritually, we are dead
in need of a savior. And this man was naked, demon
possessed, and hanging out with dead people because he was spiritually
dead. And what happens when he sees
Jesus? When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before
him and said with a loud voice, What have you to do with me,
Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.
Now, one thing I love about this passage is when we see the demons
are talking here, but they also have possession of this man.
So in the same way, I believe this man is actually speaking
on behalf of the demons. that these demons fall down before
Jesus and cry out, do not torment me. And I believe this man is
falling down before Jesus and crying out, do not torment me. Now those who these demons are
falling down before, Jesus, how could they not have fallen down
before him? They've been falling down before
him ever since he created them. Hear that. Ever since He created
them, they've been falling down before Him. They knew who He
was. They were not blind to who He was. They've been looking
at Him for all of eternity. Maybe not in the flesh. Maybe
not in the flesh, but they knew who He was. They knew that He
was the Son of the Most High God. And they knew that He was
the Judge of them. They knew it would be Him who
would torment them for all of eternity. He would torment them for all
eternity, beloved. That there would be no escape for them. They knew there would be no escape
for them of destruction to come when Jesus came for them. That they cry out, He's the Son
of the Most High with a loud voice. And they begged Him. Notice this. This is them begging Him. I don't
know about you, but if I was to ever encounter demons, I probably
would shrink back in fear. I mean, can you imagine seeing
a fallen angel? I mean, you see, you see John
in the Revelation seeing an angel and he falls down before one
of God's angels, one of God's elect angels in fear. And of
course, the angel stands there and says, look, you don't have
to fear me. I'm just a serpent like you. But here we have these
men, these slain angels, who we would probably be fearful
to even lay our eyes upon, and they are looking at our Lord
and Savior and begging Him not to torment them. Then we see,
For he had commanded the unclean spirits to come out of the man.
For many a time it had seized him, and he was kept on a garden,
bound with chains and shackles. But he would break the bonds
and be driven by the demons into the desert. So we see here that
these demons who have taken control of this man gave him supernatural
power. Unheard of power. I cannot imagine
a man being wrapped up in chains and him just breaking. But this is the supernatural
power. I mean superpower that this man had we know in later
on I believe in Mark and also in the Gospel of Luke that Jesus
encounters a Little boy who is a power of demons want to do
it make him fall down and divulge at the mouth at other times it
would cause a little boy what to try to throw himself in the
fire or throw himself in the water and Trying to kill him
and also other gospel writers. He says this very self this very
man who was born or would break out of shackles and stuff Even
when he was out in the desert area with what yell out and cut
himself And we see people cutting themselves in our day we go wow,
they just need they just need special treatment They you know,
they need to go see a counselor No, they need Jesus They need
the gospel. They need the gospel of it. Just
like when we were lost and dead in our sins, we didn't need a
counselor. We needed Jesus. We needed the gospel. For it's
the gospel who sets men free from their sin. And also, beloved, if you know
anything about the Pentecostal churches, and I'm not all Pentecostal
churches here, but some Pentecostal churches, When they lay on hands
on people, what do they do? They fall down. And they call
it drunk in the spirit. The Bible teaches that we should
be sober minded all the time, but they call these people drunk
in the spirit. And they can lay there at times,
or sometimes when they touch them, I've seen them run through
crowds. I've seen them jump on pulpits. And you're like, there's
no way in the world that 50-year-old man can just jump on a pulpit
like that. Well, it's not the Spirit of
God. God calls us to be sober minded. God calls for us to do
things according to the Scripture. Nowhere in the Bible do you read
men running around a building for an hour in worship service. Or Paul and them laying hands
on people and them falling out in the Spirit. And they would
say, or being drunk in the Spirit. We see the only two times Jesus
People fall on the ground in Jesus' ministry is one, when
they ask Him who He is and He says, I am He. And one, they
fall down. And two, another one falls down
when Jesus is rebuking the demons of a little boy. He falls down.
So, beloved, we should not be careful when we see such things
to make sure and test it. Is this the Holy Spirit working
in a human being or is this the devil and the falling angels
working in a human being? That this man has supernatural
powers that he could break chains and shackles. Then we see Jesus then asked him, what is
your name? And he said, Legion, for many
demons have entered him and they begged him not to command them
to depart in the abyss, into the abyss. So we see, now you
have to be careful here because it seems like the gospel writing
is writing that Jesus tried to cast the demon out. And then
it wouldn't quite come out, so then he asks the name of the
demon. No, beloved, I believe the gospel
writers say, look, Jesus rebuked the demon, and it kind of gives
us a little history of what took place before the demon actually
come out of the man. Jesus has never rebuked the demon
out of somebody in the New Testament and then not come out right away.
Never. We know at times his disciples
would try to rebuke demons out of people, and it could not be
done, and he'd have to come up behind them and do it. Then we
know the devils hear the voice of God, and they obey Him every
time. Every time. Hear that, beloved? They obey Him every time. Even
the devil, as we know, can do nothing outside God giving him
permission to do so. He says, what is your name? And
he said, Legion. What is Legion? Well, we know
Legion, according to a little bit of studying they're doing
on the Word, we see Legion was a name given to around 2,000
or plus Roman soldiers. showing that they, and we know
Roman according to this day was a very powerful nation. So we see this man and what I
think the gospel writer is trying to get us to see here that these
demons were all powerful, all mighty. Why do you try to see
that? To show the power of Jesus over
them. I mean, you think about this man that the city has already
pushed him out of the city, the demons already pushed him out
of the city, and now they want nothing to do with this man.
Other gospel writers would teach us what? That you don't, no one
even went by that way. Why? Because of the risk of being
hurt. I mean, imagine, I know a friend who, um, Worked a job,
and he put up tents for a living. And he had to travel for his
company, and he was in a city, and he got on the wrong road.
He got lost. And he says that some people,
some of the locals around there waved him down and told him to
stop and said, look, don't go down that street, because you
might not come back. Don't go down that street. Well,
I could imagine this day if this man was so powerful, such that
I could imagine the people saying, look, don't go there. Cause you're
gonna be hurt. Don't go there. You're gonna
be robbed. Don't go there. You're gonna be killed. This
was a violent man. A violent man. Full of demons. And the gospel
writer tells his legion to show us that he is powerful. These are a bunch of demons who
are powerful. But notice what happens. Here again we see beg. And they
begged him not to command him to where? To depart from the
events. What is the events? It is a bottomless pit. It's a bottomless pit. They are
fearful that Jesus has come to send them to what? The bottomless
pit. Another gospel writer would say
something like this. Have you come to send us to the bottomless
pit or come to torment us before our time? See, even them knew that it was
not time for them to be done away with, for Christ is not
down on the cross, for Christ is not risen from the grave.
They knew it wasn't their time, but when they see Jesus just
in fear, cry out, have you come to get us beforehand? Have you
come to torment us beforehand? Have you come to throw us in
the bottomless pit? And we know we see the bottomless
pit in the book of Revelation. Around the bottomless pit, just
in the way it's taught, we see the great white throne of judgment. Where were all the angels, the
devil himself will be thrown, and the bottomless pit will be
thrown, and the lake of fire for all eternity. Who else will
be? All those who do not trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. All
those who, what the Bible teaches, what the dead that were in the
sea, they were what? Brought back to life. Even though,
imagine that, those who have died at sea and never been found
will be brought to judgment. Every grave will be opened and
everybody will give an account for their life. Someone to judgment,
someone to life, according to whether or not they have trusted
in Jesus Christ by His grace. according whether they were the
elect or the non-elect of God. But we see here that they are
begging him, this powerful believing, these powerful falling angels
are begging him not to send them to the abyss. So the New Testament
teaches us Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the
hillside, and he begged him to let them enter these. So he gave
them permission. Then the demons came out of the
man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep
bank into the lake and drowned. So we see here from the pigs,
this is where I was saying we'd get to in a little bit, that
the pigs are representing them where? That Jesus is amongst
Gentiles. That a Jew, we know a good Jew,
would want nothing to do with pigs or what, some translators
say swine, because that would be considered what? An unclean
food. Unclean food. They were permitted
to what? Eat it. They were considered
unclean. So they were not even, there
would be no such thing as a herdsman herding, a Jewish herdsman herding
swine. What they herded? Sheep. But
here we see that this man It's so unclean that he's even hanging
around swine. That he's in a country full of
swine. These are Gentiles here. And they see, some gospel writers
say 2,000 pigs. They see this herd of swine,
this herd of pigs, and they ask Jesus, could they go with them?
And he gives them what? Permission. Notice them asking,
meaning they cannot go in the swine without Jesus giving them
the permission. The same way they cannot go in
the man without God giving them permission to go in him. Can't do it. We know that the
devil cannot touch Job apart from the permission of God. Can't
do it. That these demons were permitted
by God to go in this man. Why? So that we could read this
account today. That Jesus would show his power
and rebuking these dangers out of this man. And giving them
permission to enter these shrines. Which do what all of a sudden?
Heard rush down the steep bank into the lake and drowned. Well, I'm gonna say, well, what's
the purpose behind that? And I had to think about that.
What was the purpose of these unclean spirit going to these
unclean animals and running off this lake and drown? I think
it's Jesus. I think now, because there's
no proof of this, but I think Jesus is giving them remembrance,
though they escaped his judgment now, it's still soon to come.
To notice they run off in the lake and drown. We know that
the fallen angels and all who are not trusting in Jesus Christ
will drown in the lake of fire fall of eternity They will they
will be given over death every day and yet they will not die
That the wrath of God will consume them all eternity even teaches
that Their torment goes up day and night and as a pleasing aroma
and the nostrils of God. I That Jesus lay low though. I let you escape now. It's still
soon to come And when the heardness saw what had happened they fled
and told it in the city and in the country and then the people
went out to see what had happened and they came to Jesus and found
the man from whom the demons had gone sitting at the feet
of Jesus clothed in his right mind and they were afraid so
we see these herd men's are witnessing the whole thing and Now you can
just imagine what's going on through their mind. Here's a
man that no one can attain. Here's a man that the whole city
is scared of. And next thing you know, this
man runs up and everything. He's probably about to run up and steal from
them. And next thing you know, this
man runs up and falls down before this man standing before him.
This powerful being of a man falls down before this man, Jesus,
whom they don't know of. And then they see here and see
and they see there. So what's the best? What do you
think they're going to do? They're going to go back and tell the city.
They want the city to come out and witness what just happened. And what happens when the kitchen
city comes? Well, when they come, they find this man who had demons
sitting at the feet of Jesus. picture Here's a man out of his
mind Wild crazy and he cut they come up and he's sitting at the
feet of Jesus The significance there is beloved is that he once
was just in fear bowing at the knees of Jesus And the next day,
you know, he's sitting at the feet of Jesus. What what should
that bring us? Well, I believe and from what Scripture teaches
when God shows us our sin and We fall down in fear. When Peter saw, heard Jesus tell
him to cast the net on this side of the boat after fishing all
day long without catching nothing, and it takes two boats to get
the fish in and they about sink, he falls down before Jesus and
says, depart from me, for I am a sinful man. When Isaiah sees
Jesus high and lifted up on the throne, He says, I'm a man without
clean lips and I dwell on a lot of people without clean lips.
And what does he think? He thinks, I'm about to be destroyed. Even
John, who was a believer when he sees Jesus in his glory, falls
down before him. But then what does Jesus tell
John right after he falls down in fear? He touches him on the
shoulder and says, fear not. See, beloved, that we as believers,
we fear the moment that we understand that we're sinful before God,
we're unholy before God, we deserve God's judgment, and then we see
the beauty of Jesus Christ and what He's done for us. Then we
see the ultimate love of God, and we know what? True love,
perfect love casts out fear. That we as believers have no
reason to fear God anymore. Yes, we have a humble reverence
of God, But there's no need for us to fear for God's choice anymore.
That this man's bowing at the knees of Jesus in fear, and next
thing you know, what happens? He's sitting down on his butt,
looking at Jesus. Showing us what? Well, we know
in that day the rabbis, when they taught their disciples,
would what? Sit down. As the rabbi sat in
a chair and taught them. And also we know that most times
when you see adults teach little kids, they'll sit them all on
the ground, right? True. But the Bible teaches us
what? That we must become like little children during the Kingdom
of God. That we go from being a child of the devil to being
a child of God, and next thing you know, we are what? Sitting
at the feet of Jesus, wanting to learn Him more. Of course,
not physically. As though we see Him sitting
at His feet. But beloved, is that not what we do every time
we pick up His Word and strive to learn even more? That we humble
ourselves and we study to know Him more. Not studying to know
Him more in fear that He's going to destroy us. Studying to learn
Him more because we what? Love Him. That this man was in
a position of fear because he was lost. Now he's in a position,
as the saved child of God, trying to be a disciple. But not only was he sitting at
the feet of Jesus, but he was clothed. He was clothed. I said,
where did they get the clothes from? Did they have an extra
outfit with them? I mean, did the herd have been
drawn off in fear and leave an outfit for him to wear? Or did
Jesus just say, Clothes be on you and clothes went on him Who
knows but we know we know the man is clothed. He once was naked
and now he is clothed Beloved did you see the spiritual application
there? He was naked and now he's clothed
we are naked before God as I mentioned earlier And by what Christ has
done for us on the cross we become clothed I mean, that's the significance
of Jesus hanging up on the cross naked, showing that he is our
sin bearer, taking on our sin, that he might take on all the
judgment that we rightly deserve. And as you go back to the garden,
as I mentioned earlier, God kills an innocent animal that he might
clothe Adam and Eve. And we know what john says the
first time that he sees jesus. He says behold the lamb of god
It takes away the sins of the world and in revelation. We see
what people from every tribe every nation every tongue Worshipping
the lamb that was slain And jesus christ had To take on our sin
had to become naked on the cross had the judgment of God or we
as his people could not be saved. Could not be saved. That Jesus
had to buy us on the cross. He had to purchase us on the
cross. And he had to give us his clothes.
He had to give us his clothes. And there ain't much change since
Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve worked so vigorously together to hide
their nakedness. As I mentioned earlier, when God showed up,
they were still, what, naked. Isn't that what religious people
do today? They work, work, work. Work, work, work. So in all them
vigorously together. So when God comes, they won't
be naked. They won't be naked. But they
will be naked. Because only through trusting
in a finished work of Christ are we done for us on the cross.
that we can be clothed for eternity. Clothed for eternity. I mean,
when we sin as true believers, by the grace of God, we are what?
Still clothed. Now, of course, we know that
when we give ourselves to sin, we don't sin in that grace bound. Surely not. Lord, Lord, help us not to do
such a thing. But we know that as true believers,
when God clothes us, we are forever clothed. that he seals us with
the power of the Holy Spirit when he saves us. Beloved, think
about that for a minute. Think about that. No matter of
all my sin that I will commit in the rest of my days on earth, which probably will be many,
unless God kills me tonight, I've forgiven them. I'm still
clothed. God still sees me as holy. God still sees me as righteous,
though I'm far from it. Far from it. He still sees me
as such. Why? Because Christ has took all my
sin and given me his righteousness. And apart from the righteousness
of Christ, we know we will never be able to enter the kingdom
of God. No matter how righteous we may
look in the eyes of men, no matter how much Bible we might know,
and can repeat, we still will not be righteous, it's only through
Christ that we are made righteous in the eyes of God. So we see
this man is what? He's sitting at the feet of Jesus, he's clothed,
and what else does it say he is? He is in his right mind.
He's in his right mind. Here's a man who was out of his
mind, a man who we would say is what? Crazy, past the point
of salvation, And here Jesus restores this man's mind. Which
is what? Repentance. Weren't we all out
of our mind before God saved us? You know what looks like
out of your mind? Trusting in something else but
Jesus Christ for salvation. That's to be out of your mind.
That's to say, there's another way for me to be righteous. God's
plan, God's plan of redemption isn't good enough. God is a liar. When we say someone who is repeatedly
calling God a liar, wouldn't we say that person's out of their
mind? Yes, we would. One who pursues
the world for happiness, one who pursues money for happiness,
one who pursues all different things the world has to offer
for happiness, the world says they're in their mind. But the
Bible says they're out of the mind. For what does it profit
a man if he gains no world? Yet he loses his soul. It profits
him nothing. He's out of his mind. He's pursuing
that which will never give him eternal joy, will never give
him eternal peace. That, beloved, we were out of
our minds before God saved us. And then what did He do? He granted
us repentance. Isn't that what repentance is? It's a renewing of the mind.
where we've all been taught a lot of times, especially in South
Georgia, repentance is what? Stop doing evil and start doing
good. Truly, if we become just better
people, we have repented. But beloved, true repentance
is recognizing who we are and who God is. I'm unholy and he
is holy. I can't save myself only through
Christ can I be saved. God hates sin. I hate sin. God loves righteousness. I love
righteousness. See that? One minute I hate God
and the next minute I love God. How does that happen? How do
you one minute hate God and the next minute you love God? One
minute you're trusting yourself and the next minute you're trusting
in Christ. Grace. Saving grace. God grants us repentance. God gives us the measure of faith
that we might trust in His Son for salvation. That God would
get the glory and we would not. That this man who was filled with demons has
been set free. He's sitting at the feet of Jesus.
He's clothed. He's in his right mind. Now think about this. And the people who see this,
you think they would rejoice. Let me think about that. You got a man who's cut himself,
a man who has shown hatred towards everybody who comes his way,
and now he's normal again. But they're afraid. And he goes
on to tell us, Those who have seen it told them
how the demon possessed man had been healed Then all the people
of surrounding country of jerseys asked him to depart from them
for they were seized with great fear So he got in the boat and
returned So we see these people are afraid they are in fear Well,
this other man was just in fear and he falls down and cries out
for mercy These people are in fear, and they say, get away
from us. There's a fear that saves a man,
and there's a fear that does not save a man. You know, Pharaoh
feared God as long as the plagues were there. But he did not fear God as though
he was not worthy to be in God's presence. He just feared God
because he did not like the judgment that was being poured on him
by God. So it isn't that he wanted God, he just wanted God to go
away. He wanted God to go away. And we see the same thing in
our day. People in our day would say, yes, I fear God, because
they don't want hell. But at the same time, they feel
like they're worthy enough to stand in His presence. This man realized he was not
worthy to be in the presence of Jesus. Peter, when he said,
depart from me, Lord, realized he was not worthy enough to be
in the presence of Jesus. It's a fear of judgment and also
realizing I'm not worthy to be in your presence. There's people
who fear God who still think they're good enough to please
Him. It's not why most people get
an altar call and get thousands to come down because they, hell,
hell, hell, hell, hell. And so, I mean, you talk about
hell long enough, people will come. And they only come because
they're fearful of God's judgment. Not because they realize that
they're sinful human beings. They're fearful of His judgment.
And after they leave, they're like, Deport from me, God! I
got my fire insurance now. I'm good to go. I don't really
need Him no more. I just need Him on Judgment Day.
But beloved, we who have been born again, Realize that we're
sinful, and we realize we don't deserve to be in the presence
of God. And we also realize we deserve His judgment. That's
true fear there. But we know we get grace. We
receive mercy. He saves us. And we will always
realize that we're not worthy to be in His presence. I mean,
John the Baptist, who was born again from his mother's womb,
even when asked about being the cross, he says, I'm not even
worthy to latch his sandals. I'm not even worthy to be in
his presence. Jesus, I'm not even worthy to baptize you. You
baptized me, Jesus. If we ever think we're worthy
to be in God's presence, beloved, we need to repent. If we ever think we get high
enough or we just are perfect now and God should just lovingly
accept us who we are, we need to repent. That we have taken our eyes off
Christ. We have not been in God's word,
or we've been twisting scripture while we've been in God's word
to make ourselves look as though we're right in our own perfection
in His eyes. That these people feared God,
and because they feared God, and they didn't fear God in the
right way, they wanted Him to depart. And then what did Jesus
do? Well, He started weeping and
begging them, no, no, accept me into your heart. No. He got back in the boat, showing
us what? That he only went over there
to get one man and one man alone. There was no other purpose for
Jesus to go over there. He gets off the boat. Matthew,
he saves his two men and he gets back on the boat. All the preachers in our days,
he's begging everybody to come to him. He's upset if you don't
come he's weeping over all who go to hell What jesus are we
talking about? Jesus commands And those who
the spirit gives life come And everyone else shake their fist
at him and and hatred towards him And he doesn't weep over
there. They're shaking their fist at
him Jesus gets back in the boat,
showing that he only went over there to save his lost sheep. Who later, God did not realize
he was a lost sheep. He did not realize that. Remember,
he was a deeming of the best man whom we would look at and
really in our day and go, well, I think that guy's past salvation.
Isn't that what we normally do? We see someone with evil, bad,
crooked, you know, we just like, there's no way that person be
saved. We just got a gunshot and give them the gospel. But
isn't that who God saves? I mean, he saved us, didn't he?
Or we don't see ourselves as violent as this man was against
God. Lord, help us if we don't see
ourselves just as evil as prostitutes and homosexuals and those who
have sex outside of marriage. Lord, help us if we don't see
ourselves as murderers and thieves. Beloved, Jesus did not come to
save righteous people. He came to save sinners. He came
to purchase His elect who are sinful. If anything, I would
say the elect of God are probably more sinful than anyone else
that has ever been born. That God might show His great
mercy and His great power in saving such people. Isn't that why Paul said he received
mercy? Because he was the chief of sinners. That God would show
his great power and saving him who had a desire and was in the
practice of what? Locking up Christians and wanting
to what? Kill them. And what happens? Jesus gets back in the boat,
and the man for whom the demons had gone begged, I'm like, what
is he begging again for? He once was just begging for
God not to destroy him, and then he was sitting on his, on his
tail, looking up at Jesus, sitting down, looking up at Jesus, and
says, right now, what is he begging again now for? He definitely ain't
begging for God not to judge him no more, because he's already
been made righteous, and now what is he begging for? He's begging
that he might be with him. See that, beloved, that this
man, because he has seen the beauty of Jesus Christ, that
the light of the gospel has shone in his heart and showed him the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, he wants to go with Him. He doesn't want him just to go
with Him because he cleaned him up a little bit. No, he wants
to go with Him because he realizes that is his Savior. That is his
God. And I could not imagine. I could not imagine seeing Jesus
in the flesh and healing me of my wickedness. I'd be begging
to go with him too. I want to go with you, Jesus.
Wherever you're going, I want to go with you. What does Jesus say? I beg that
he might be with them, but Jesus sent him away saying, return
to your home and declare how much God has done for you. So,
Jesus is teaching here, I understand that you want to go with me.
I understand that you want to be with me. But there's a different
purpose I have for you. I need you to go back to your
town. I need you to go back to your
country. and tell everybody what God has done for you. And you
think, OK, this guy's about to go back and tell everybody what
God has done for him. And he's going to say the word
God. But this is what he does, isn't it? And he went away proclaiming
throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him. Because what good would it have
been for him to go back and tell those who worship false gods
what God had done for him? Did it go, well, yeah, we already
told you that we serve the right God. I mean, isn't that what
happened to Israelites with the Gentiles? They would, they would
go into these cities instead of killing everyone, they'd spare
someone. Next thing you know, they'd marry into the, they'd
marry their wives or, or the husbands of these people would
marry the Jews' wives and vice versa. And next thing you know,
what would they be doing? They'd be worshiping the false
gods of the Gentiles. That's reading God, but tell
them not to do it. And they would do it anyways. I mean, look at
Solomon, the wildest man to ever live, and what happens? He marries
women. Who are what? Who don't know
the true God. And next thing you know, he's
building temples for them to worship their false guardian. This man just could not go back
and say, God had done this for me. He had to be specific. and what God he was talking about.
Same way when Paul goes into the city and they have all these
gods, but yet they leave one unknown God named. And he says,
let me tell you about the one true God. Show me what? All the
other gods that they thought they knew were not gods at all,
but what? Idols. Idols. The Beloved. We have to be specific. in our day when we teach people
who Jesus is. Because there's many Jesus in
our day. There's the get rich Jesus, which
is the prosperity Jesus. There's the non-trinity Jesus,
which is what, the oneness Jesus. And the list goes on. There's
the most popular one, the work yourself through heaven Jesus,
That's the one that pretty much covers everything but Christianity.
That a Jesus that I can appeal to Him by my good efforts, my
good works, by my morality, I can appeal to Him. Beloved, we must
be clear about Jesus. Because a false Jesus saves nobody. A religious person believing
in a false Jesus makes them no more holy now as God. And God
is not no more pleased with them. If anything, he burns with his
anger against them even more if they be teachers of his word
and twisting it. But he went back to his city
telling the people what Jesus had done for him. Why? Because he loved the Lord as
God. He loved his Savior. That he realized that the Lord
was telling him to go. And how could he not go? Isn't
that something we should ask ourselves, Christians? That God
commands us to go there for and make disciples, knowing all that
Christ has done for us, realizing that the majority of people that
we come in contact with are going to hell, and realizing the only
way they can be saved is what? Through the gospel. Are we unwilling to tell the
world about Christ? Are we unwilling to tell our
co-workers about Christ? Are we unwilling to tell the
people we run into about Christ that we become ashamed of Him? For this man wasn't ashamed of
Him. He wasn't ashamed of Him. Are you ashamed of Christ? I
pray not. Paul says, we're ashamed. that the Gospel is the power
of God unto salvation. That we realize that we had the
One through God. We had His words. We had the
Holy Spirit living in us as God's temples that He might give us
the strength and the boldness to what? Go therefore and preach
for us crucified. Beloved, I plead with you to
be witnesses for the name of Christ. The one who has paid
for your sin on the cross. I was buried three days later,
rose again from the grave. I plead with you to trust in him. I long
for salvation. I plead with you to preach him
to a lost and dying world. Amen. Let's pray. Father God, we are thankful that
you take nobody's and use them for
your glory. Lord, I pray, Lord, that your
words that were read tonight was a blessing to your people.
Lord, if there was any errors that I said, Father, I pray they
would fall to the wayside and my brothers would let me know. I pray, Lord, that you would
glorify Pray, Lord, that you'd help us as a church to be witnesses
for your namesake, always ready to tell people about the hope
we have in you. Pray, Lord, that you would give
us a great desire each and every day to pray. Give us a great
desire each and every day to be in your word, that that would
be the most important thing in our daily schedule. Lord, we
know our flesh strives against that. Our flesh rise against that.
Help us to be on our phones, reading the Bible more than we're
on our phones, looking at Facebook. Help us to be in our Bibles more
than we are watching television, Lord. That we might come to know
you more and more. And we ask this in Jesus' name.
Amen. God bless you, church. Thank you.