Turn, if you would, to the book
of Luke. The book of Luke. The name of the message today
is called A Miracle of Grace. A Miracle of Grace. Have you
ever heard someone say, or maybe in religion you might have said
it yourself, I know I said it of a few people,
and now I look back and I realize just how wrong I was to make
a statement like that. Have you ever heard people say,
well, that person will never be saved? No way. You know, when I was
religious, I used to think like that sometimes. Isn't that awful?
What an awful thing to think. Limit in God. God saves whom
he wills, right? When he wills. And he says that
All who come to him, here save him to the uttermost. Some commentator
says to the gutter most. Because he found us down in the
gutter alive, didn't he? That's where he found us. And
he picked us up out of that situation that we were in, situation we
could never get out of ourselves, and he set us upon a rock, beloved.
so this firm upon rock now we're gonna look at somebody that i
imagine some people that man will never be saved i imagine they said that imagine
people said that in their self-righteousness and the reason i i imagine that
people said that is because i said things like that when i was in
religion and i know other people have said the same thing in the
past are god has mercy on whom here have mercy. And here have
compassion on whom here have compassion. And when the Lord
reveals himself to us, we find out just how mighty our God is.
We find out that nothing's impossible with our God, right? And you
know that every one of you who believe the Lord are a miracle
of grace. You're a miracle of the grace
of God. Whether you feel it or not, You
are. Because it was impossible for
you or I to save ourselves, right? With man, these things are impossible. But the scripture says with God,
all things are possible. We're walking miracles of grace,
beloved. We don't feel that way, do we? We feel our sinfulness. We feel our shame. But you know
what? Never forget what Tim James said.
He said that the blood of Jesus Christ gags the conscience, puts
a gag upon the conscience. You know why? Because the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. We're not guilty before God anymore. There'll be no punishment for
us when we pass from this world to the next. we're in Christ. Now here's a man, here's a man
in our text today, Luke chapter 8. And we'll be looking at verses
26 to 39. And we'll read this portion.
And like I said, I imagine some people wrote this fellow off.
Just said, well, he's a lost cause. But remember, the very
one who Calm the storm and he had the Lord had just calmed
the storm before this he had spoke in that storm calm The
very one who calmed that storm who we know is the Word of God
right the second person of the Trinity in the flesh Is going to have a meeting with
this man Now this man has no idea He has
no idea that there's a divine appointment and he has no idea
that a miracle of grace is going to be be performed all by the
power and might of our great god and think of this just the fact
when he says peace be still in that storm calmed that that
That showed us his deity, didn't it? That magnified the deity
of the Lord Jesus Christ and who He really is. And again,
too, let us remember as we read this portion that all this happens
according to God's divine purpose and will. And think in your own life that
your salvation all happened according to the divine will and purpose
of God. It was God's will that you would hear the gospel. It
was God's will that you'd be regenerated by the power of the
Holy Spirit of God. Now here we're gonna see clearly
God's eternal purpose at work. Again, this man woke up that
day and had no idea what was gonna happen. As a matter of
fact, he's out of his mind. It's the Gadarene demoniac. He's
out of his mind. One of my favorite portions of
scripture, because it shows us in the state, we don't know God. They've tried to help him. They
tried to do all kinds of things. And that's just religion. We're
going to see that. That's just religion, trying to reform the
guy. They put chains on him. He just
broke them all. Now, but he has a meeting, a divine appointment. with the eternal one the Word of God incarnate let's
read here chapter 8 verses 26 to 39 and they arrived at the
country of the gatherings which is over against Galilee all by
the purpose of God. Nothing happens without the purpose
of God. Keep that in our minds all the time while we're reading
this. And he went forth to a land, there met him out of the city
a certain man, which had devils long time, and where no close,
neither abode in any house but in the tombs. This man was living
in the graveyard amongst the tombs. When he saw Jesus, he
cried out and fell down before him. And with a loud voice saith,
what have I to do with thee? Jesus, thou son of God, most
high. Look at that. Look at the identification
of who Christ is. I beseech thee, torment me not. For he had commanded the unclean
spirit to come out of the men. For oftentimes he 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, a legion, because
many devils were entered into him. A legion is 5,000 men in
the Roman army. And they besought him that he
would not command them to go out into the deep. The deep there
in the Greek is the abyss, the abyss. And there was 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 a 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." Now, this is amazing miracles happened here. This
man has been delivered from a legion of demons. You think people would be joyful
because they tried to help him before, right? But he just break
the bands. But look at these folks who are the
keeper of the swine here. Then they went out to see what
was done and came to Jesus and found the man Look at this out
of whom the devils were departed sitting at the feet of Jesus
now remember. He was uncontrollable He was uncontrollable before
this they tried to chain him he break the bands He was totally
out of his mind Now look at he's now sitting at the feet of Jesus.
He's in his right mind now, isn't he? And he's sitting he's in
the position of submission He's sitting before the Lord
He didn't do that before he raged through the tombs like a crazy
man And now he's sitting he's sitting at the feet of Jesus My oh my and clothed now he's
clothed He was naked before one day that's what the scripture
said now he's clothed and Well, that's a picture of us being
naked in our natural state and clothed by the precious righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ, beloved, and in our right mind. Oh, it's beautiful, isn't it?
Beautiful picture. And what? You think they'd be rejoicing,
right? You think they'd be happy? Well, they were afraid. They
were afraid. They also would saw it, told
them by means that he was possessed, the devil was healed. Then the
whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes roundabout beside
him depart from them. He's just performed a miracle
of grace. And these people want nothing
to do with them. Think of that when the Lord saves
one of his sheep. What happens to him with his friends who were
in the world and his family who is in the world? All of a sudden they don't want
as much to do with you as they used to. Something's changed. Something's
changed. Now the man out of whom the devils
were departed besought him saying, besought him that he might be
with him, but Jesus sent him away saying, now see there, he
wanted to go with the Lord. He wanted to go with, he wanted
to follow the master. No matter where he went, he wanted
to be with him. And look what the Lord says. Return to thine
own house and show how great things God had done unto thee.
And what does he do? He obeys the command of the Lord.
And he went his way and published throughout the whole city how
great things Jesus had done unto him. He's an evangelist. He's
a born-again, blood-washed saint telling folks, look what the
Lord's done for me. And think of that. Think of how
much He would be a constant reminder to them of the power of God.
They knew what He was like before. And here's this fellow going
around saying, the Lord, look what the Lord did for me. He
saved me by His grace. And he's publishing it all over
the place. Oh, my. It's wonderful. Absolutely
wonderful. And we know the Lord was on a
divine mission to save His people from their sins. And he came
to the lost sheep to do the Father's will. Note verse 22 of this chapter
says, let us go over to the other side of the lake. So we see the
reason and we know now the reason why the Lord went to the other
side of the lake, why he went to the Gadarenes, because there
was one sheep there. Think that he went for one sheep. One sheep. And he performed a
miracle grace on that one sheep. You're one sheep, aren't you?
Did the Lord come to you? He did, didn't he? He sought
us, right? We weren't seeking him, were
we? He sought us. What a beautiful picture we have
here. One sheep of all that country. Everybody else said, Oh, get
out of here. That one sheep, he just kept bleating, didn't
he, when he went back home. He was never quiet again. Oh
my. And you who are the redeemed,
blood-washed saints of the God, We're joyful just like he is,
aren't we? When that time of love comes. And then we're joyful
when we hear about the gospel preached and proclaimed, when
we hear Christ crucified preached and proclaimed, when we read
about this wonderful narrative here of this man who's been delivered
from a legion of demons. Delivered by the Lord Jesus Christ. And think of this, the storm
that occurred earlier when he calmed the sea. That was not
to stop him. That was all designed to manifest
his power and to manifest who he was to the disciples. And
now think of this. He goes to the other side, and
here's a man who no one can heal, no one can help, and with a word,
like that. The power of God is demonstrated
just with a word. My oh my. So this storm came
and he came to this. He came to the shore like the
scripture says. Why? Well, for the glory of God. For the glory of God to be manifested. And we know that everything he
did, he gave glory to God, didn't he? He's a submissive servant. He came here to do the father's
will. So it was the father's will that he would land on that
land. That he would step off that ship that he would walk
to that man. See, that man again had a divine
appointment. He had a divine appointment.
And there was no way of getting out of it. He didn't even know
he had a divine appointment. Did you know you had a divine
appointment when the Lord saved you? Not a clue, right? We were going
the other way. and the Lord arrested us, stopped
us in our tracks, right? Stopped us in our tracks, beloved.
And we are born again by the Holy Spirit of God. And my oh my, what a mighty work
he did. What a mighty work he did. I
just gotta keep my glasses on to keep that thing from falling
out, so. Oh my. Look at verse 26 again. And they
arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against
Galilee. All this was purposed and planned by God from eternity. All this has come to pass because
of the great covenant of grace that the Father, Son, and the
Holy Spirit made in eternity. And without controversy, great
is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Here he is, right here before
us, the Lord Jesus Christ. God manifest in the flesh, justified
in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed
in the world, and received up the glory. And that's in 1 Timothy
3.16. This is not some story. This
really happened. This man was really possessed
by a legion of demons. But oh, what a great, great deliverance
we see here before us. Now we know this man was one
of the Lord's lost sheep. And here are three things for
us to ponder and meditate upon this week. Christ is the great
shepherd of the sheep. And he will come and find his
lost sheep. He will seek them out. That man
was not seeking Christ, was he? He was running around the tombs
naked and causing all kinds of trouble. He had no idea, again, that he
had a divine appointment. And in Luke 1910, the scripture
says that Christ came to seek and to save that which was lost.
So he's the great shepherd of the sheep, and he came here to
this earth to seek that which was lost. That was us, his lost
sheep. This is one of his lost sheep.
And notice who did the seeking. Christ went right to him, didn't
he? Christ went right to him. And
then also, the third point for us to remember this week is that
none of us in our unregenerate state, our natural state, will
ever seek the Lord. This man's proof, right? He wasn't
seeking the Lord. Not at all. Scripture says there's
none that seeketh after God. But remember, the Lord Jesus
Christ is the great shepherd of his sheep. He came here to
save his people. He will not lose one of them. And think of this. This is even
before he's went to the cross and redeemed them. He's still
one of the sheep, though, and he. Because we're a sheep for
what, for maternity. His love has been set upon this
man from maternity. He saw him in that state. And
he rescued him, didn't he? He rescued him. So what a wonderful
God-honoring account we see here of the Lord Jesus Christ manifesting
His almighty power. So let's bring it home. If the
Lord's done this for this man, is anything too hard for Him
to do for us? Let us just look to the Savior.
in all times in our lives. No matter what the opposition
we're facing, let us take comfort in our Savior. And let us tell others of the
wonderful things that He's done for us. Because we're all miracles
of grace. All of us. A miracle of the free
grace in the sovereign grace of God. I must admit, I don't feel that
way. But it's true, isn't it? Where
his workmanship created in Christ Jesus, beloved. With stones being made ready.
It's incredible. and it all happened according
to God's almighty power. Look here in Luke 8, we're going
to read verse 26 to 29 again. And they arrived at the country
of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to the
land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had
devils long time, and wear no clothes, neither abode 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 oftentimes it had caught
him, and he was bound with chains and in fetters, and he broke
the bands and was driven of the devil, into the wilderness. This man was in torment. He was tormented. How are we when the Lord starts
to reveal to us, by his Holy Spirit, our sinfulness? You ever look back and remember
how it was when the Lord was drawing you? I know one dear
sister we have among us, she said that one minute she saw
her sinfulness, and the next minute, the balm of Christ came. I've never forgotten that when
she told me that. My. So we see our guilt, we see our sinfulness, and then
the precious, precious blood of Christ is revealed to us the
fact that Christ cleansed us from all our sins, and we rejoice, don't we? We
look to Christ by God-given faith. And now we see here, we see here that this man is
made willing in the day of God's power. He was unwilling. He was just
raging in them tombs. And then Christ comes. And number
one, he runs to Christ, right? But who's speaking here? Who's
speaking here when he calls and says, what have I to do with
the Jesus, thou son of God, most high? As far as we know, he's
never met Christ. But those demons know who he
is. As far as we know, this man never,
never even heard of him. We don't know. But the scripture
says the devils believe in tremble. That's who's speaking. They know
who he is. Jesus, thou son of God, most
high. And they're trembling. Demons have more sense than unsaved
men. And we were all in that state,
weren't we? Not knowing who God was. Look at this, though. Jesus, thou son of God. Most high. They're acknowledging
who he is. And they're afraid. So you never
forget. That our king has all power. He's all powerful and the one
who's standing before that man and who's possessed of a legion
of demons. Is the word of God incarnate.
The most high one. The one who the angels just fall
to their faces before. And those demons, they know who
he is. And they have a right to tremble, don't they? The Lord Jesus Christ is no one
to be trifled with. He's no one to be made fun of. People casually throw his name
around like it's nothing. Oh, Lord, please save him before
they die. Because if he doesn't. They're going to find out who
he was and who he is even today. He's got all my. The son of God. The most high. Now think of this. He's our savior. That's our savior. We have a holy awe of him, don't
we? We have a holy fear of him, of who he is. But he's made peace with God
for us through his precious, precious blood. We don't have
to fear our God. What does he say? What did David
say to Mephibosheth? When Mephibosheth is bought before
David, He's bought before Dave David's the king over all the
land right picture of the father king overall And here's Mephibosheth
and he's bought he's bought before the king And he falls down boy he can't walk
he's on but he just he's you know, he's he's just laying his
head down and David says fear not That's what God says to us
in Christ Fear not. Oh my. But all my sins, Lord,
I know what I've done and you know what I've done. Fear not.
They're covered in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is it any wonder we say hallelujah? Is it any wonder we praise his
mighty name? Is it any wonder that this man
went back and published all the great things that Christ did
for him? Is it any wonder? What a miracle. What a miracle
of grace the Lord has done with every single believer. And again,
this man, he's possessed of a legion of demons. He's not in his right
mind when the Lord comes to him. And he's there facing the one
who has all power in heaven and earth. Remember that, too. The Word of God never ceased
being the Word of God, did he? Now he's submissive to the Father,
but he's still God incarnated in the flesh, isn't he? And the
Scripture says all power is being given to him. When was that given
to him? Just when he was on earth? No, he's a lamb slain from the
foundation of the world, isn't he? He's the very one who said, it
says of the Scriptures, in the beginning God created the heaven
and the earth. He's the one who said, let there
be light. And what? There was light. That's him. The very one who
we see in our text here. That's him. And so here's this
man possessed, possessed of a legion, a legion of demons. Turn, if
you would, over to Mark, chapter 5. And we'll look at the narrative
over there. Same narrative, Mark chapter
5. This man, beloved, he was in a hopeless, helpless state.
Men had done all they could do to help him, and he had received
no help at all. None. He broke those chains. They tried to bound him, and
several grace preachers say that that represents religion. Binding
us up with fetters. You have to do this, you have
to do that. and you're just weighed down. And no one can help. Religion can't help an unsaved
person. Religion can't help an unsaved
person. Only Christ can. So this man, he's in a hopeless,
helpless state. He's running around, he's in
the middle, he's in the tombs running around where dead people
are, and he's running around naked. Now I imagine That troubled
the townspeople and the people of that land, right? I imagine
it did. He probably terrified them. That's why I can't understand. Here he is in his right mind
and he's fine and they're saying, get out of here, Lord. Well,
that's just natural man, isn't it? That's just natural man. Look at Mark chapter five, verses
two to five. 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." Look at that. They couldn't bind him
up. No, not with chains. Think of the chains of religion.
They bind us up, don't they? Oh, my. And look at this, because
that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and
the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken
in pieces, neither could any man tame him. He's out of his
mind. And look what he did. And always,
night and day, he was in the mountains and the tombs crying
and cutting himself with stones. He started to mutilate his body. cut themselves with sharp stones
for no reason. And they tried to help him. Tried
to shackle him. Again, this picture's religion
trying to help a lost man. But he'd broken all those chains,
couldn't help him at all. Couldn't help him at all. But then comes God incarnated
in the flesh. and stands before Him. You know, we'll never understand
the sovereign grace of God unless we understand the toll of the
poverty of man and how we fell in Adam and what a picture we
have here. It pictures our natural state,
beloved. No man could tame us. Doing whatever we will, whenever
we will. Scripture says we drank sin like
iniquity. Yep, I was there. Still struggle
with sin, do you? All the time, eh? But praise
be to God. We're safe sinners now, eh? Let's go back to Luke again,
look at verses 28 to 33. Here's a lost sheep who's under
control of these demons. But he's gonna have a meeting. Luke 8, verses 28 to 33. When
he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him. 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 oftentimes 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, what is
thy name? Now our Lord is not asking them
this information, is he? He already knows who possesses
this man. This is for our learning and
for the disciples' learning as well. Everything God does, he does
with a purpose, doesn't he? There's nothing God does that
doesn't have a purpose behind it. And he says, for us, what is
thy name? And he said, Legion, because
many devils were entered into him. Again, a legion was 5,000
men, but then when you added usually the auxiliaries and everything
else, you're talking a slew of men. Sometimes 7,000 to 8,000
soldiers with the people that would help them and everything.
A lot of folks. So think of this. One person. But the important
thing is the person who's standing. One person standing before a
man possessed by, let's say, let's just do the 5,000. One against 5,000 is not even
a contest, is it? It's not even a contest. They're
already laying their arms down. You know why? Because that's
the captains of the Lord's host standing before them. My. That's God incarnate standing
before them. And they know who he is. They
know. And they besought him that he
would not command them to go out into the deep because they
knew they did not want to go to the abyss. That's what that
is in the Greek. And they knew that he had all
the power and authority to do that. What power our king has. What power our lord has. You
know, our president is the commander
in chief, right, of the armed forces. That's a lot of men to
be in charge of. And usually each leader in the
world is commander in chief of the forces. That's nothing. That power is nothing. Not even a scratch on the surface
compared to the power that our king has. And that's a lot of
power that these earthly men have, eh? Nothing. He's commanding demons. One angel killed over 100,000
men. There's 5,000 fallen angels. And they're trembling before
our King. Trembling before our Savior. Oh, Lord. Why do I ever doubt? Flesh, flesh, flesh, Lord, help
my unbelief. This is our Savior. This is our
Redeemer. And they besought him that he
would not command them to go out into the deep. And there
was 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. They all died. Now the reason why those folks
were so ticked off, because that's a lot of money and pigs. That's a lot of money, isn't
it? They should have been rejoicing
over the fact that the Lord did a miracle of grace. But see,
natural man doesn't think about spiritual things, do they? Did you or did I speak or think
of spiritual things before the Lord saved us? I didn't. Not really. Someone died, then
I'd have a, you know, the fear of death would kick in, which
was always around. But now we don't fear death,
because we know what awaits us. Now, I'm not saying we're not
going to shake on that time when we're going to go be with the
Lord, because that's just the natural part of our flesh, isn't it?
But what a comfort and peace we have, what an assurance we
have, that the moment we breathe our last breath, we're with the
Lord. And that'll never change, beloved. If you're one of his,
that'll never change. So what power we see here? What have I to do with the Jesus,
thou son of God, most high? They identify him. And then they
said, I beseech thee, torment me not. What power he has. They've been tormenting this
man, and they beseech the Lord not to torment them. Men just scoff at the Lord, and
men just throw His name around like a byword, like I said, not
knowing who He is. Not knowing His power. not knowing
that he is the eternal son of God and and notice notice there's
no worship of God in this man's heart no worship of Christ not
yet but there will be because of a miracle of grace oh my and these demons wanted
nothing to do with the Lord Jesus Christ did that They want nothing
to do with him. They have no interest in him. There's no redemption for fallen
angels. None at all. But there's redemption for fallen
men, praise be to God. And that's only in and through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you turn over to Mark
chapter one, verse 25, Look what our Lord says to the unclean
spirit in Mark 1.25. Look at this. Mark 1.25. Same narrative. And Jesus rebuked him saying,
hold thy peace. Silence. They couldn't say another word. My oh my. We see here proof that
all things visible and invisible. are under the power of God. He has power over all things,
visible and invisible. They cannot do nothing unless
the Lord allows. And what powers demonstrated
here before us, that same power that we see here demonstrated, is the same power that was exercised
on us by God's regenerating power. It's all the power of God, isn't
it? Same power that raised Christ from the grave is the same power
that regenerated us. My oh my. Let's go back to verses
30 and 33 now. Luke chapter 8, verses 30 to
33. And Jesus asked him, saying,
what is thy name? And he said, legion, because
many devils were entered into him. And they besought him that
he would not command them to go out into the deep. See, they
knew, again, that they were at his beck and call. Whatever he
said, they had to do. They couldn't say, well, wait.
No, you know what? You know what? They couldn't say this. They
couldn't say this. Well, you know, I decided not to. Not to do what
you're saying. I'm going to stay in this man. I know you want to. I know you
want to help this man, but we're not going to let you. Yeah, you know where I'm going,
hey? Yeah. They stop. And there's silence
and there's nothing they can do. And they do not command us to
go to the abyss. Because they know if he says,
you're going there, what are they doing? They're going there. My, oh, my. And there wasn't heard as many
swine feeding on the mountain, and they besought him that he
would suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. He
allowed them. Remember that. He allowed them
to do that. He commanded them to do that. The only reason he
allowed them to is because he said, go in there. Then went the devils out of the
man and into the swine and the herd ran violently down the steep
place and were choked. Again, let us take note quickly
here that Our Lord asked them their name. He already knew it.
But again, this is for the disciples' learning and for our learning.
And note, they tell them their name. They can't not tell them.
If he asks, again, they can't say, well, you know what? I don't
want to tell you my name. I think I'm going to wait until
I feel like telling you my name. There's none of that, is there? Instantly, they tell him. And
again, that's for our learning, beloved. That's for our learning. And they were begging him not
to command them to go out into the deep, which refers to the
place of eternal torment, eternal darkness. Note the words. Note these demons
knew that our Lord was the eternal Son of God. They knew that He
had all power. There's no doubt in this portion
of Scripture that they knew. So what a powerful lesson this
was for the disciples. They'd seen the waves and the
wind obey His command, and now they see legions of demons obey
His command. What learning for us, too, eh?
You know, the Lord can calm the storms in our life, can't He?
With just a word, beloved. And sometimes we go through rough
waters, don't we? But don't forget, he's the one
who's steering that ship. And he's right beside you. He's right beside you. Oh, what
a powerful lesson we have here. And again, these demons begged
him. They begged him to let them go into the herd of pigs. And
he let them. He suffered them, didn't he? And then we see the reaction
of the ungodly men. Verse 34, when they that fed them saw what
was done, they fled and went and told in the city and in the
country. Now, these were men who keep watch over the swine.
Well, they saw their whole fortune go down in the water, didn't
they? Drowned, choked out. And then verse 35, then they
went out to see what was done. And they came to Jesus and found
the man out of whom the devils were departed again at the command
of God, at command of the word of God, at command of Jesus,
the Most High. They were gone, sitting at the
feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind, and they were
afraid. Again, they should have been
rejoicing. A miracle grace is being performed. God's almighty
power is being exercised. This man's clothed, again, with
pictures of we who are born again being clothed in the precious
righteousness of Christ. And it's God who puts that robe
on us, isn't it? We are just like him. We were running around
naked in our natural state, spiritually, with no covering except our fig
leaves, like Adam did and Eve. Well this will cover here. If
I stop doing this, there's a little fig leaf there. If I stop doing
that, there's a little fig leaf there. God will have none of that, won't
he? And so this man here, he's clothed
and he's in his right mind. Again, which pictures us being
clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And he's sitting at
the feet of Christ. He's reposing. Remember I mentioned
that a few weeks back, sitting in a chair, you guys are reposing
right now? He's reposing. And he's in a state of submission,
isn't he? He's sitting, and I'll tell you
what, I bet you his eyes are glued to Christ. I bet you the
whole rest of the world just dissolved away, and he's looking
at the Savior. Because that's what happened
to us, isn't it? Lord saves you and my, you just
want to keep your eyes on him. Unfortunately, we battle this
flesh, don't we? And we live in this world of
what seems like turmoil, but it's not. Everything's happened
according to God's will and purpose. Just remember that too. It's
all happening according to God's will and purpose. My oh my. Here he is sitting at the feet
of Jesus cold and in his right mind This man's been set free
from the power of darkness How's he been set free by anything
he did We've seen in here there's nothing he did is there with
a word With a word our Lord cleansed him Or had those had those I
was just thinking with a word the Lord cleansed that leper.
I When the leper said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou can thou can
make me clean. With a word, this man had all
those demons. Depart from him. Just with a
word. My oh my. He's been given an
understanding of who Christ is now, isn't he? He's run around
them tombs naked. He didn't have any understanding
who God was again. Again. As far as we know, he
never even heard of Christ. He knows him now, doesn't he?
He was always knowing of God from eternity. You and I were, who are believers,
were always knowing of God from eternity. There was a time when
we didn't know him, no deal, isn't there? Now we know him. Now we worship him, and now we
adore him. My Let's look at the last couple
verses here 38 and 39 now the man out of whom the devils were
departed besot him that he might be with him He just wanted to
be with the Lord Where do you want to be? Oh Lord We all look to that day don't
we Oh Lord Oh We look to that day when we'll be with the Lord,
either at our death or at His coming. But we look forward to that,
don't we? To drop this robe of flesh, this tent, the scripture
calls it, and to be with Christ. He just
wanted to be with the Lord. He's just like us. He's just
like every born-again, blood-washed saint. He wants to be with the
Lord. But Jesus sent him away, saying,
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. Think of this. We're saved. When the Lord saves
us, what do we want? We want to be with the Lord,
don't we? He says you need to tarry there a little while. You need to go back. Tell the
great things I've done for you. See how this can apply to us
too? Because what do we do now? We tell people about what the
Lord's done for us, when the Lord opens the door. And we have to tarry here just
a little while. But one day, and it's not very far off, because
our life's like a vapor. I'll tell you what, this last
year has flown by for me. And I know the older I get, the
faster it seems to get. It's incredible how quickly days
pass now. It's amazing how quickly weeks
pass. We've been here five and a half years and it feels, I
still remember when we got here. It's amazing, but it's been so
quick, hasn't it? So amazing, just incredible. We have to tarry here a little
while. Just a little while. And I ask you this, eh? Can you
blame him for wanting to be with the Lord? No way! Here's the one who healed him!
Here's the one who cast out all those demons! Here's the one
who was tormented. Did not our sin torment us? When
the Holy Spirit revealed Christ to us, did not our sin torment
us? Now we're clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Now we're in our right mind.
We look to Christ and now we just sit at his feet, don't.
Praise be to God. Praise be to God.