Turn, if you would, to Psalm
48. We'll continue our study in this
wonderful psalm which pictures the church. Zion being the church. Psalm
48. We'll read verses 4-9 to get
the context of where we'll be. And we'll be looking at verses
8 and 9 tonight. For lo, the kings were assembled,
they passed by together. They saw it, and so they marveled. They were troubled and hasted
away. Fear took hold upon them there,
and pain is of a woman in travail. Thou breakest the ships of Taurus,
Tarshish with an east wind, as we have heard, so we have seen
in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God. God will
establish it forever, Selah. We have thought of Thy lovingkindness,
O God, in the midst of Thy temple." So last week, we looked at verses
4-7 of this psalm, and we saw how God's enemies and Zion's
enemies were defeated. We looked at how Zion is a picture
of the church, and how the Lord always takes care of His people.
He always takes care of His church. Always. He defends us. He's our
shepherd. He's our protector. He's our
shield. And he always takes care of his people. Sometimes we don't
always see in our lives that he's caring for us, but he is,
beloved. He is. He'll never leave his
people. He'll never forsake us. Others
may. Others may leave, leave our lives. Some of us have had family members
turn away from us because of our faith in Christ. But Christ
will never leave you. Never. Never. It's incredible. He'll never forsake his people.
And he keeps diligent watch over them, just as the shepherd does
his sheep. We looked at how God's enemies and those who came up
against Zion, the city where God dwells, which pictures the
church. They'd be destroyed as ships
that are shipwrecked against rocks in a storm or as ships
that are torn apart by a vicious storm. And we talked about how
the east wind there is a vicious wind, they say, in that part
of the world. It had devastating effects on
ships back then. And you've got to remember, we're
talking wooden ships. And just getting pulled apart
by a devastating storm. And this picture is God's enemies
just being utterly destroyed before him. And sometimes it's in the defense
of Zion. It's in the defense of his people. So tonight we'll look at verses
8 and 9. Let's read them together here. It says, As we have heard,
so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, or in the
city of our God. God will establish it forever.
Selah. That's a pause. We have thought
of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple. Now
here before us in our text is what the church enjoys. In who
the church glorifies, we glorify God. And here before us is a
picture of the church. Zion, the city of God, is a picture
of the church. The picture of the ones the prophets
had foretold and what God would do for Zion. And we see this
in verse 8. And in our study, we've seen
Zion's king in verse 1, that he's great. He's great. Zion's king is great. And he's
greatly to be praised. We've seen Zion's king protect
Zion from their enemies. And we see in the Old Testament
prophets proclaim what God would do for Zion. We see that all
through Scripture. And we've seen in the history
of Israel before as we've Look through the Old Testament, and
as Brother Jim taught when he was here, that God always protects,
always protects Israel, doesn't he? Israel's a picture of the
Church in the Old Testament. It's a picture of you and I. It's one of them types and shadows
that we talked about. And Christ is the substance. Well, we're the substance of
Zion. We're the substance of that picture, the Church, God's
elect. And Zion, what does Zion do?
Zion seeks to praise her King. Look, as we have heard, so we
have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of
our God. God will establish it forever.
Zion seeks to praise, praise her King. The church, we seek
to praise our King, don't we? We seek to praise the Lord Jesus
Christ and Him alone for what He's done. Those in the Old Testament look
forward to Christ on the cross, and we look back, don't we? We
look back to what Christ has done. And note in the Old Testament
how they praised God, who was the promise-performing God. He
promised things would come to pass, and they came to pass,
and they trusted and rested in those promises. And they praised God. They praise
God for what He did. Think of this, if the redeemed
in the Old Testament had lived to see fulfilled the prediction
of the prophets, which we've seen in Christ and what He's done
for His people. We've seen In the death of Christ,
not literally, it's 2000, but we're looking back to the cross
now, we've seen that what's the prophets predicted come to pass.
We've seen right here in this verse, Psalm 48, 8, is we have
heard, who's heard? Zion, beloved. Have you heard
the gospel? You're Zion, you heard. And we've
seen, we saw this morning, we've been given eyes to see Christ,
haven't we? In the city of the Lord of hosts, And we see God's
people praising and worshiping God. We see. We see this. We see sinners who are saved
by grace, who have seen and heard, given glory to God, given glory
to our great God. So think of this. If the redeemed
in the Old Testament, and don't ever forget that the elect of
God are people of the Old and New Testament, right? The Old
Testament saints weren't saved. I remember hearing someone say
this a long time ago, and it's such error. They said the Jews
were saved by the sacrifices. No, they weren't. The elect of the Old Testament,
and I don't mean all the Jews, I mean the elect that were given
to Christ by the Father, that were amongst the nation of Israel,
were saved the same way you and I are. by looking to Christ,
by looking to Christ. Abraham believed and it was counted
to him for righteousness. Saved the same way. So think
of this, if the redeemed in the Old Testament had lived to see
fulfilled the predictions of the prophets concerning the advent
of Christ, the coming of Christ, the ministry of Christ, the life
of Christ, and the death and resurrection and ascension of
Christ, and the coming of the Holy Ghost, how much more would
they have praised him? Oh my. See, their hope was based
upon the promises, which are all in Christ. Which all point
to Christ. And their hope was in He who
was the one spoken of in the promises. They look to the same
one you and I do. The Lord Jesus Christ. And think on we who believe,
the one spoken of in verse 8. It's we have heard, have you
heard? Have you heard? Has God given you hearing ears?
Oh, I hope He does, if He hasn't. So we have seen. Our blind eyes,
we see now. In the city of the Lord of hosts,
we see the Lord moving and saving whomever He wills. The one spoken of in verse 8.
How much more are we to praise? Are we to give glory to our great
God and King? Over 2,000 years ago, The Lord
Jesus returned to glory. And we live to see that promise
which He left. We live to see that promise which
He left, that He had founded His church upon a rock, and Him
being the rock, and that the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it. We see that, don't we? We see the world in opposition
to what we believe. We see religion in opposition
to what we believe. But the Lord sustains us, doesn't
he? He keeps the truth going out. Donny and I were talking.
Donny was telling me about young preachers that are being raised
up to preach the gospel of God's free grace. It's wonderful. It's
wonderful to hear. Give God all the glory. His gospel
shall go forth. Shall go forth. Look at Psalm
48 again. As we have heard, so we have
seen in the city of the Lord of hosts. In the city of our
God, God will establish it forever. Note in our text, as we have
heard. When God, the Holy Spirit, gives
a sinner hear and ears, who does he hear the voice of? The Great
Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. And how does one hear the voice
of the Shepherd? Faith cometh by hearing. and
hearing by the word of God. But I say, have they not heard? Yes, verily their sound went
out into all the earth and all the words and to the ends of
the world. Romans 17 and 18. The gospels preached and proclaimed.
In God the Holy Spirit regenerates sinners and we hear the voice
of the shepherd. We've heard, haven't we? We've
heard. We heard his voice through the
preaching of his word. We've called upon the name of
the Lord. Turn, if you would, to John 10. John 10. As we have heard, so we have
seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our
God, God will establish it forever. So we see as we have heard. Look
at John 10, verses 25 to 30. Have you heard? Oh, if you haven't, I pray God
will give you hearing ears. Oh, look at this. Jesus answered
them, verse 25. I told you, and you believe not
the works that I do in my Father's name. They bear witness of me.
But you believe not, because you're not of my sheep, as I
said unto you. My sheep hear my voice. They hear. They've heard. And
I know them. There's that intimate knowledge.
And they follow me. You see that blind man this morning?
Was one of his sheep. Was one of his sheep. And look
what the Lord says here. Now, a bunch of folks out there
will tell you that you can receive eternal life based upon your
decision. Based upon your doing. But what
does the... We don't want to know what people's
opinions are. What does the scripture say, right? This is our final
authority right here, this book. And look at the words of the
Master right here. And I give unto them eternal life. He's
the one who gives eternal life, beloved. We don't naturally seek it, do
we? And they shall what? Never perish. You know what that
means? We can't mess up our salvation.
You ever think of that? Now that doesn't give us a license
to go out that door and go crazy though. Right? But the Master said, Brother,
he said, you'll never perish. Never. Because the salvation
is based upon him and not us. Not based upon our doings. Now
God's people, again, the love of Christ constrains us, doesn't
it? But our Lord, our Master said right here, And I give unto
them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Look at this. Neither
shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father which gave
them Me is greater than all. And we've looked at, I know Brother
Jim preached the sovereignty of God too, and I do the same.
We preach a God who's in absolute control. And the Scripture declares
here that no one is able to pluck them out of His hand. That's security. That's eternal
security right there. That's a salvation of the Lord. That's the true salvation of
Scripture. That all who rest and trust in Christ, all who
hear the Shepherd's voice, all who flee the hymns, And you know
He's not turned a sinner away, right? All who flee to Him, He
doesn't turn them away, does He? No. They're his sheep. They hear his voice. As I said,
we don't know who they are. Therefore, we preach the gospel
to all. God does the same. But look at that. My Father which
gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck
them out of my Father's hand. And then the Lord says, I and
my Father are one. Boy, he just told them who he
was. God. God incarnate in the flesh. So
God's people have heard the voice of the shepherd through the preaching
of his word. Now think on this as a historical
aspect of these verses. The Israelites had heard of the
deliverance of God's people from past generations, right? The
fathers had told the sons about what had happened at the Red
Sea. It'd been passed on, they'd heard.
They'd heard of it. And we looked at earlier in this
psalm that a lot of commentators say that God had brought a great
deliverance before the writing of this psalm. Now think of this. Zion is a picture of the church.
Have we who believe not seen God deliver us time and time
and time again? Have we not seen Him deliver
us from all our sins at Calvary's cross? Have we not seen Him deliver
us from the penalty of our sins at Calvary's cross? Have we not
seen Him redeem us, die and as our substitute upon the cross,
paying that which God's law demanded for us in our place, the sinless
sacrifice? Has God not given us eyes to
see Him? And have we not seen Him deliver
us through trials and temptations again and again and again? So we who have heard the Shepherd's
voice, we who have looked to the Crucified One, the Lord Jesus
Christ, the One who died in our place, died for this sinner right
here. I've seen Him in my life constantly
at work. And I may not see it when I'm
going through the trial or the temptation, or I may not see
it then, but I sure see it afterwards. So, look at our text. So, have
we seen in the city of the Lord of hosts? We've seen it in our
lives. We've seen this great deliverance
in our lives, and we see it in the lives of the other saints
too that we fellowship with. Now, you may not see your growth
in Christ, but I may see it. And I'll see you go through a
trial or a temptation. and see you come out the other
side stronger. You know, I know you had a sad time
with the split, but we saw some people come out stronger on the
other side, didn't we? Knit your hearts closer together.
And we pray, we hope and pray that anyone who left, they're
welcome to come back, right? But it made you stronger. And
some of you were a testimony through all that. It's incredible. It's incredible. Testimony of
God's grace at work. We've been witness to God's deliverance. And think of this on a personal
basis right here. We who believe, we who are saved,
we who are redeemed have been witness to God's deliverance
from all our sins. All our sins. All, I mean every
single one of them. And it's not by anything we do. It's the opposite of what religion
tells you to do. Religion tells you, do this.
Gospel preachers say, look to the one who did it all. There's life in a look. There's
life in a look. So God is the One. Look at our
text again too. As we have heard, so we have
seen in the city of the Lord of hosts. We've seen, we've been
witness to God's work amongst His people, amongst Zion, in
the city of our God. God will establish it forever. He is the One, beloved. God is
the One. who has established the church.
He's the one. We're members of his body. We're his workmanship. Do you
see how it takes any kind of boasting from we who have been
receivers of this grace? It strips us down to nothing.
And we give Him all the glory and all the honor and all the
praise. He's the one who's established the church. He's the one who's
purchased the church. God. The Lord Jesus Christ. He purchased His people. He paid
that which God demanded by shedding His own blood. God's blood. The God-man need. Turn, if you would, to Isaiah,
chapter 14. Think on this, beloved nations.
Think of how much through the history of this world. Think
of how many nations have rose up. Think of how many empires
have rose up. Vast empires. Didn't Germany
think they were going to, they're the third rank, they were going
to reign for a thousand years? That was only six years. But see, empires rise up and
people think they're gonna do all these things. Babylon, great
empire. Nebuchadnezzar was king over
it all. Where is it? There's nothing left. There's
maybe some ruins. Rome, a vast amount of territory. Greece first, a vast amount of
territory. Then Rome comes in, another,
even more. Where are they? They're gone. They've perished. Empires have
risen and fallen. But look at what our texts say,
it's here. God will establish it forever. Speaking of the church,
speaking of Zion. The church of God has continued
on. Why? Because the true church
can never be disestablished. Never. Never. That which kings establish can
last for a time, right? Empires can last for a time.
But beloved, that which God establishes endures all eternity. Look at Isaiah 14, verse 32. What shall one then answer the
messengers of the nation that the Lord hath founded Zion? And
the poor of his people shall trust in it. So our text says
God will establish it forever. Look at what it says in Isaiah
14, 13. The Lord hath founded Zion. So he's established Zion. He's established his church.
God has done this. And then look over in Isaiah
chapter 2, verse 2. And then put your finger in Revelation
5, Isaiah 2, verse 2. The church, beloved, has one
foundation, only one. One foundation. The Lord Jesus
Christ. And it is upon Him that the church
is established. He's the rock that the church
is established upon. He's the one who against the
gates of hell, the gates of hell cannot prevail. Look at Isaiah
2, verse 2. And it shall come to pass in
the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established in the top of the mountains. So God will establish. The mountain of the Lord's house
shall be established. And John Gill says, that's Zion,
beloved. And look at this. And shall be
exalted above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it. Now turn over to Revelation 5. Where does all of God's elect
flow to? Christ, who's the foundation
stone. Christ. And we're built up, aren't
we? A holy temple. We're the body
of Christ. He's the head. He gets all the
preeminence. We've been looking at that in Colossians. He gets
all the preeminence. All of it. And we're the body. But He's the head. We flow. That text in Isaiah 2.2 said,
"...and shall be exalted above the hills, and all nations shall
flow unto it." All of God's elect flow. to Christ who is the foundation
stone of Zion. They flow into Christ and they
are bought to a saving knowledge of Christ. How? By the preaching
of the gospel of the free grace of God in Christ and Him alone.
Look at Revelation 5, 9 and 10. And think of that latter part
of Isaiah 2.2, and all nations shall flow unto it. Look at this
in Revelation 5, 9, and 10. And they sang a new song. This
is the redeemed. This is all the elect of all
the ages gathered together in heaven. And they sang a new song
saying, Thou art worthy. And our God isn't our King worthy?
Isn't our Savior worthy, beloved? Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof, for Thou was slain and has redeemed
us. Christ has redeemed this people
to God, right? How? By thy blood. Look at this. Remember Isaiah, and all nations
shall flow unto it? Out of every kindred, and tongue,
and people, and nation. And has made us unto our God
kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. So who is
Who is Zion, beloved of God? It's God's elect. The ones whom
Christ gave His life a ransom for. Matthew 20, verse 28 says this,
Even as the Son of Man came, not to be ministered unto, but
to minister and to give His life a ransom for many. A number that
no man can number. And I'm so thankful that I'm
included in that number, aren't you? Oh my. I'm undeserving. But he gave
his life, a ransom for many, and I'm one of the many. It's
amazing. It's amazing grace. And if you're
saved, you're one of the many. And those sheep who he hasn't
saved yet, but he will, they're part of the many. It's wonderful,
beloved. It's absolutely wonderful. Look in our text here, it says,
Selah, which is a pause. And think of this. What a fitting
place for a pause, eh? It's Zion. It's Zion. ponders and meditates upon the
fact that we've heard, and we've seen in the city of the Lord
of Hosts, we've seen God move in our life and in the lives
of other believers. And it's in the city of our God,
Zion, again. His elect, his people. And God is the one who has established
this city. Who's the one who gave us to
Christ? God the Father. He's established
this city, beloved. Way back in eternity. He's established
Zion. It humbles us, doesn't it? To
think that God loved us. And I remember hearing one old
grace preacher In one of the old commentaries I've been reading,
I love this too, he said, God didn't look down through time
and see who would choose him, because none would choose him,
right? This old commentator said, and I've mentioned this a few
times and it's worth repeating, he said, God looked down in time
and saw us all dead in trespasses and sins. He chose a people, didn't he?
In eternity. Isn't that amazing? This grace
is incredible. And it's only in Christ. It's
only in Christ. So we have a pause there. This
is a fitting place for a pause. As we view Zion, the church in
Christ Jesus our Lord. So let's consider our next verse,
which is verse 9 in our text. We have thought of thy lovingkindness,
O God, in the midst of thy temple. Scripture declares, we have thought
of thy loving kindness. Now God's people are thoughtful
people, as we acknowledge God's work in our lives, and we think
about what He's done for us, and then we testify of what He's
done for us. Our eyes and our ears have been
opened to the things of God, and we think and meditate upon
His great works, and the wonders that he's wrought in our lives. We have thought of thy loving
kindness. When we get down or anxious, and we do, because we're
sinners, When we do, we should ponder
the thoughts, ponder the thoughts right here of the loving kindness
of God towards us in Christ. What a remedy for us when we're
fretting or when we're anxious to ponder the loving kindness
of God towards us, towards his people. If you're a believer
towards you, in Christ. Ponder that. God has said loving
kindness towards me, a sinner, in Christ. And he's loved me
with an everlasting love. Every time I think about that, It's just almost too much, you
know? Because you think about it, God
has loved me from eternity, but that's what the scripture declares.
Even when I was dead in my sins, He was watching over me. And when it was God's appointed
time, I heard the gospel. And I know it's so for you who
believe too. My, what a God. Ponder the thoughts
of the loving kindness of God towards us in Christ. And let
us remember that He who is God, He who is sovereign over all.
You ever look out, you ever look sometimes in the summer or the
springtime and you see the beams of sunlight coming in the house?
And you ever notice that in those beams is just Dust flying, right? Did you know A.W. Pink said every one of them specks
of dust is ordained by God to be floating there, right there
at that time? That's how sovereign our God is, beloved. Next time you see that, think
about that. The God who saved my soul keeps all those and has
ordained them to float in the air like that. It's incredible. That's how sovereign our great
King is. He's absolutely sovereign. He's the self-existent One. As
we think upon His name, Lord Jehovah. Let us think on His character. Let us think on His deeds. Let
us think upon all that He has done, not only for us, But let
us think upon his great works of creation that we see every
day. Every day we see this. Do you
know that every snow, they say that every snowflake that falls
is different? Every one of them, they say. That's incredible. And we just watch them fall. Oh my. And let us think upon his great
work of redemption. How he went to the cross, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and saved his people from their sins. And
let us ponder and think about all that he is doing now. Right
now. And let us ponder and think of
all that he's going to do. He's going to save his people
from their sins, right? His lost sheep out there. He's
going to gather them in. It thrills the believer's soul.
It thrills the believer's soul. The true Christian has thoughts
of Christ every day, every day that he lives, for one simple
reason. Because we love him. We love him because Christ first
loved us. Now for God's people, pondering
the loving kindness of God, towards his people in Christ, it brings
us great joy. It brings us great joy. And we
delight in what God has done and what God is doing. And it's
profitable for our souls too, beloved. It really is profitable
for our souls. You know what? Because it gives
us rest and it gives us comfort as we ponder what he's done for
us and what he's doing. One commentator says on the Hebrew
words underlying we have thought in our text in verse 9 here,
speaks of a quiet rest, a quiet rest, silence, patience, expecting,
thinking, considering. Consider God's loving kindness
towards you in Christ. Consider that. And the believer
in Christ is encouraged as he ponders the loving kindness of
God towards him in Christ from all eternity. It encourages hope. It gives us hope. It makes us
praise him more and more. And it'll draw out our love for
God. It'll strengthen us to carry
on while we sojourn in this world. We're just passing through, beloved.
We're strangers and pilgrims in this world. We're just passing
through. And as we ponder the loving kindness
of God towards us in Christ, it'll help us in our journey.
It'll give us strength. Turn, if you would, to Psalm
40, verse 10. Psalm 40, verse 10. Do not God's people declare
God's loving kindness Amongst each other don't we don't we
declare what God's done for us. Don't we marvel at what God's
done for us It's incredible It's absolutely incredible And we rejoice with each other,
don't we? Look at Psalm 40, verse 10. I have not hid thy righteousness
within my heart. I have declared thy faithfulness
and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. God's people get
together and we rejoice. We talk about the great things
Christ has done for us. We rejoice with each other. It's
wonderful. When I'm preaching, I'm declaring
to you the faithfulness of God in Christ. The faithfulness of
God in Christ to save sinners, which is only in Christ Jesus
and Him alone. We don't conceal it, but we proclaim
salvation as of the Lord, beloved. We proclaim this. We don't conceal
God's loving kindness and truth from the great congregation.
We rejoice together, don't we? We rejoice together with what
God's done for us. It's marvelous. Again, our text says, we have
thought of Thy lovingkindness, O God. Our thoughts are of what
He has done for us in Christ. We think upon the lovingkindness
that God has towards His people. And let's consider the latter
part of our text here. We have thought of Thy lovingkindness,
O God, in the midst of Thy temple. Think of this, beloved. All the
streams of mercy flow from the throne of our great sovereign
God. They must be traced back up to the fountain of God's loving
kindness towards us in Christ. Neither does this loving kindness
flow to us based upon any merit of our own. It is all due to
the free and sovereign grace of God in Christ in Him alone. There is no merit in the creature,
no merit in the receiver. God's loving kindness to us in
Christ is all owing to His pure mercy towards you and I. It's all owing to Him. Isn't
it marvelous? And we think of God's loving
kindness towards us whenever we hear the Gospel preached,
don't we? Doesn't it remind you every time you hear the gospel
preached? God's had mercy on me. God in his loving kindness
has had mercy on me in Christ. See, the gospel will strip us
down, won't it? And then we're built back up in Christ every
time the gospel's preached, beloved. And we rejoice that God has had
mercy upon us. We think of God's loving kindness
towards us when we're amongst the people of God. As Christ
dwells amongst his people, he dwells amongst his people. And
we fellowship with other believers who have experienced what we
have in hearing the voice of the shepherd. And looking to
Christ in him alone. And we can encourage one another.
Turn, if you would, to Psalm 77. We can encourage each other
as we speak of the loving kindness of God towards us. And we marvel. I don't think the believer ever
gets over the marvel that God has had mercy on us. I'm finding
it gets sweeter and sweeter. It gets sweeter and sweeter. Look at Psalm 77, verse 11 to 14. I will remember
the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. I will meditate also of all thy
work and talk of thy doings. The way, O God, thy way, O God,
is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art God. Thou art the God
that doest wonders. Thou hast declared Thy strength
among the people. So we meditate upon all the work
of God and we talk of Thy doings. Turn, if you would, to Mark chapter
5. Mark chapter 5. And think of this, beloved, what
wonders, what, what, think of the wonders the Lord's done amongst
his people. We're redeemed from all our sins. We're forgiven of all our sins. And he's done that amongst every
one of his people. And how has he done it? By the
precious blood of Christ. And we go on to testify the great
things the Lord hath done for us. I've told you often times
that witnessing is just telling people the great things the Lord
hath done. Look at this in Mark chapter 5. And I thought this
was a fitting portion of Scripture for what we're looking here. And they came over unto the other
side of the sea into the city of the Gadarenes. And when he
was come out of the ship immediately, there met him out of the tombs
a man with an unclean spirit, who had his dwelling among the
tombs, and no man could bind him, no, not with chains." Now
a lot of commentators say what's spoken of in verse 3 and 4 here,
about they're trying to chain him up, they're trying to help
him, right? But he keeps breaking the chains and fetters. A lot
of grace preachers will say, this represents works-based religion.
Get chained up and fettered. And then they break the chains.
Oh my. Look at this. Because that he
had 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. And always, night and day, he
was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself
with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran and worshipped Him and cried with a loud voice. Now,
this man is possessed of a legion of demons. They know who Christ
is. They know who He is. and cried
with a loud voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus,
thou Son of the Most High? I adjure thee by God that thou
torment me not. For he had said unto him, come
out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him, what
is thy name? And he answered, saying, my name
is Legion, for we are many. Now, He's standing before the sovereign
God of the universe. Those demons know exactly who
He is. And they're trembling. They're doing more than what
some sinful men who will never repent do. They know who He is. He's the Maker. He besought Him much that He
would not send them away out of the country. Now there were
nine to the mountains, a great horde of swine feeding, and all
the devils besought Him, saying, Send us into the swine that we
may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them
belief. Do you see the sovereignty of
God right there? Do you see the sovereignty of the Son of God
right there? He's God. And forthwith Jesus
gave them leave, otherwise they couldn't leave. And the unclean spirits went
out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the sea. There were about two thousand
and were choked in the sea. And they that fed the swine fled
and told it in the city and in the country. And they went out
to see what it was that was done. Now remember, this man was possessed,
right? This man was cutting himself.
This man was chained. He lived amongst the tombs. Other
portions of scripture say he was naked. He's running around
naked. And they came to see And they
come to Jesus, verse 15, and see him that was possessed with
the devil, and had the legion sitting. Okay. Now, remember
it said he was running all over the place, amongst the tombs.
He's acting like a crazy man, eh? Now he's sitting. Where's he
sitting, beloved? At the feet of Jesus. That's
where we sit. We sit at the feet of Christ.
He's sitting. And he's clothed. What a picture,
being clothed in the righteousness of Christ. And look at this. And in his right mind. He has
the mind of Christ, beloved. And it happened in an instant,
didn't it? And they were afraid. And they
saw it, told. how it befell to him that was
possessed with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And
they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts." Now, he's
just done a great miracle, and they don't want him around. That's
how a natural man is. That's how I was before the Lord
saved me. And they began, pray him to depart
out of their coasts. And he was coming to the ship.
He that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he
might be with him. This man who had been delivered,
who's saved and redeemed, he wants to go with the Lord. And which one of us wouldn't
want to, right? We all would. If we were in his
place, we'd want to go with him. And when he was coming to the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might be with him. How abate Jesus suffered him?
Not, but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. There's witnessing
right there. proclaiming to those around us
the great things the Lord hath done for us. This man couldn't
help himself, could he? But he had a divine appointment
with God. He had a divine appointment. Go home to thy friends and tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had...
Now look, think of this. Think of this for you and I.
We who are redeemed. Okay? Think of this. It hath
had compassion on me. If you're saved, the Lord had
compassion on you. The loving kindness of God has
been manifest in your life, beloved. And we tell others about the
great things he'd done for us. And he departed and began to
publish in Diocopolis how great things Jesus had done for him
and all men did marvel. He went home. And he told what
great things God had done for him. And people marveled. My, oh my. So let us close with this. We
tell others of God's great loving kindness towards us in Christ.
We testify of His great work of salvation on the Calvary's
cross. We tell others the great things
the Lord has done for us and we witness the great things that
God does amongst His people. And we marvel. We marvel, beloved. What a sovereign God and King.
And He has had compassion on we who believe. We don't deserve
it, do we? We don't merit it. but it all
flows from the throne of God's grace. And the mercy that we
have received is only found in Christ, in Him alone. May God
grant you faith to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Gracious
Heavenly Father, we come before Thy throne. Oh, we're so thankful
again for Your goodness to us, Your mercy. And just like the
Gadarene, You've had compassion, the Gadarene demoniac. You've
had compassion upon Your people. And now we are clothed in the
righteousness of Christ. Clothed in His righteousness
so that we are made fit and qualified to be in Thy presence. And one
day, Lord, we'll be with You when You come and take us home.
And what a glorious day that will be. Give us grace and strength
to make it through this week and through the days that will
come. And may we seek to glorify Thee and honor You. In Jesus'
name, Amen.