Turn back to 1 Samuel 12. While you're turning there, let
me just say I had a chance to visit out in Rock Valley this
past weekend, and just encourage you to keep them in your prayers.
They're going through such a hard and difficult time, but as often
as the Lord brings them to your mind, just keep them in your
thoughts and prayers. 1 Samuel 12. Verse 24. Only fear the Lord and serve Him in truth with all
your heart. For consider, consider how great
things He had done for you. Now, if you look back at verse
one, Samuel said to Israel, behold, I've hearkened unto your voice
and all that you said unto me and have made a king over you. In verse six, we read that Samuel
said to the people, it's the Lord that advanced Moses and
Aaron and brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt. Verse
eight, when Jacob was come into the Egypt, and your fathers cried
unto the Lord. When the Lord sent Moses and
Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, He made
them dwell in this place. Verse 11, And the Lord sent Jeroboam,
and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out
of the hand of your enemies on every side, and you dwelled safely. And then in verse 22, We read,
the Lord will not forsake his people. Why? For his great namesake. Because
it hath pleased the Lord to make you his people. That word consider,
it means to view. It means to behold. It means
to look at with joy. And they're told here, consider,
consider what great things the Lord had done for you. He gave him a king, even though
their request was a wicked one, he gave him a king. He brought
their fathers, he delivered them out of Egypt, out of the hand
of Pharaoh. Again and again, he delivered
them out of the hands of their enemies. He never forsook them. He will
not forsake His people. He made them His people. Think about it. It pleased the
Lord to make you His people. Consider. That's just a few things,
isn't it? Aren't those great and mighty
things that the Lord has done for His people? Well, turn to
Mark chapter 5. Mark chapter 5. Consider the
great things He's done for you. Mark chapter 5. Now, in this passage, we're going
to read these first 20 verses, but in this passage, here we
read of a wild man. There's no better way to describe
him. A man who dwelt among the tombs. He lived in the graveyard. Scripture says that he could
not be controlled. They tried. They tried to bind
him with chains, and yet no one could get him under control.
And his days were spent crying and cutting himself with sharp
stones. This man was in terrible, terrible
condition. You know, if you or I would see
him walking toward one of us, Adam cuts a couple cemeteries,
him and Ben and Sam, they mow a few cemeteries. I just suspect
if somebody like that came out from among those tombs, Adam
would probably leave the mower setting, grab the boys, load
up, and get out of there. What a sight this would have
been. And yet, aren't we thankful the Lord doesn't
look at us that way? Yet the Lord is pleased to show
this man mercy. Let's read about it here in Mark
5. Verse 1, they came over onto
the other side of the sea into the country 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. Verse three, who had his dwelling
among the tombs and no man could bind him. No, not with chains
because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains
and the chains had been plucked asunder by him. and the fetters
broken in pieces, neither could any man tame him. And always,
this never ended, night and day, he was in the mountains and in
the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. But when he saw Jesus before
all, he ran and he worshiped him. And he cried with a loud
voice and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son
of the most high God? I adjure thee by God that thou
form it may not. For he 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're
many. And he besought him much that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now there were
there nigh into the mountains a great herd of swine feeding,
and all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine
that we may enter into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them
leave, and the unclean spirits went out and entered into the
swine, and the herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. They were about 2,000, and they
were choked in the sea. And when they that fed the swine
fled and told it in the city and in the country, and they
went out to see what it was that was done. And they came to Jesus
and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion
sitting and clothed and in his right mind and they were afraid. And they that saw it told them
how it befell to him that was possessed of the devil and also
concerning the swine. And look at the people's reaction.
They began to pray him to depart out of their coast. Consider
the depravity, the absolute depravity of man. In Matthew's account,
it wasn't just a few that asked him to leave. Matthew's account
says the whole city asked him to leave. Wasn't that the same request?
Wasn't that the same thing they shouted at Calvary? The people
said this, away with him. Away with him. Crucify him. Let's read on here. And when
he was come into the ship, he that had been possessed with
the devil prayed him that he might be with him. Howbeit Jesus
suffered him not, But he said unto him, go home to thy friends
and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee. We'll take our title from that
right there. Great things the Lord hath done
for thee. And he had compassion on thee
and he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great
things the Lord had done for him. And all men did marvel. Consider the great things the Lord has
done for his people. First point is this, the Lord
came to him. The Lord came to this man. Verse one says, they came over
unto the other side. Of all the ways our Lord could
have went when he come off of that ship, this is the man that
he sees fit to go to. And throughout God's word, we
read that the Lord, where the Lord is pleased to cross the
path of his sheep. He either comes directly to them
or he draws them, he brings them to himself. Turn with me to a
few scriptures. Look first at John chapter four. Now in chapter 4, beginning with verse 3, he left Judea. and departed again
into Galilee. Now this is the Lord Jesus Christ,
and it says he must, needs, go through Samaria. Why is that? Let's read on here. Then cometh
he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the
parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's
well was there, and Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey,
set thus on the well, and it was about the sixth hour, then
cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water, and Jesus saith unto
her, Give me drink. The Lord was there waiting on
her. She came to the well at just
the right time, didn't she? No accident about that, is there?
No, the Lord's pleased to show her mercy, and if you read down
through there, you'll see she went out and told, she said,
come see a man, told me everything ever I did. And you know there
were many as a result of that, as a result of the woman's sayings
that came to hear what the Lord had to say. And when they got
there, they said, now we believe not because of the saying of
this woman, because we've heard him ourselves. We've seen him
and heard him ourselves. Turn to Luke chapter 19. Y'all
looked at this Sunday morning, Luke chapter 19. Look beginning with verse one.
of Luke 19, Jesus entered and passed through Jericho. And behold,
there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the
publicans, and he was rich, and he sought to see Jesus, who he
was, and he could not for the press because he was little of
stature. And he ran before and he climbed
up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that
way. There's no other way he could
have went, is there? And when Jesus came, how do we
know that? Look at verse five. When Jesus
came to the place, that place determined from before the foundation
of the world, he came to the place and he looked up and he
saw him and he said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come
down, for today I must abide at thy house. And what did Zacchaeus
do? He made haste. He probably couldn't
have come out of that tree any quicker if he'd have fell out
of it. The Lord said, make haste. Turn to John. John chapter 1. Look at verse 43. The day following, Jesus would
go forth into Galilee, and he findeth Philip, and he saith
unto him, follow me. He didn't have any trouble finding
Philip, did he? He knew exactly where he was,
and he looked at him, and he said, Philip, follow me. He either comes to his people,
or he draws them to himself. He seeks and he saves that which
was lost. And this is illustrated just
when he describes the work of that shepherd seeking that one
lost sheep. Look at Luke 15. This may be one of my favorite
passages of scripture, Luke 15. Look at verse four of Luke 15. What man of you, having a hundred
sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and
nine in the wilderness and go after that which is lost until
he finds it? He don't stop there, does he?
When he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And
when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors,
saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which
was lost. I say unto you, likewise joy
shall be in heaven over one sinner that repented, more than over
ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. And here's the comfort. Here's
the comfort in it. All of them that are his, whether
it's this woman at the well, whether it's Zacchaeus up in
that tree, whether it's Philip, whether it's this wild man in
the tombs that we're gonna look at here, all of them are his. And he's gonna find every last
one of them. He's not gonna lose One, we read
that in John 639, this is the Father's will, which has sent
me of all which he hath given me, I should lose nothing. Not one, but should raise it
up again at the last day. Second, consider where he found
him. Where did he find Scripture says
he was in the tombs. Let me ask you, who dwells in
the tombs? That's a fairly easy question.
Dead men. Dead men dwell in the tombs. And that's us by nature. That's
a description of all of us, dead in trespasses and sin. He found
him with an unclean spirit. That's us. That's such a good
description of us. Unclean. Isaiah 64, 6 says this,
We are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses,
if we had any, all of them, are as filthy rags. And we do fade
as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. Third, he opened his eyes. He opened this man's eyes. He
gave him sight. In verse 6 of Mark 5, it says,
he saw Jesus afar off and ran and he worshiped him. He saw
him. He saw him. His eyes were open. Again, Scripture says this, the
hearing eye or the hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord
hath made both of them. If we have an ear to hear, if
we have an eye to see, it's because the Lord has given us that. I
ask you this, what can a blind man see? Nothing, right? A blind man can't see anything. Use this as an illustration in
our Sunday school class, or our Bible school class. We watch
these football games and baseball games and basketball games, and
when the official misses a call that's right in front of him,
what do we say? Are you blind? That happened
right in front of you. You can't see, you can't see
anything. Man, by nature, is blind. We cannot see what is right in
front of us. Man walks around with God's Word
in his hand. At the mall, you look up on the
dashboard. A bunch of cars will have Bibles
sitting up in the dashboard. Pages all curled up, I guess,
where they've sat there in the sun forever. There's no book
more readily available than God's Word. We stay blind until the Lord
is pleased to give us sight, until He's pleased to open our
eyes and let us see Him. Turn to Luke chapter 4. Luke chapter 4. Our Lord spoke here. He said,
the spirit of the Lord is upon me because he hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliverance to the captives, and the recovering
of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them which are bruised,
to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ
came to open the eyes of the blind. Consider. Consider what great things he
did for this man. Consider what great things he
did for this man. He came to me where I was. He found me where
I was, in the tombs, dead, unclean. He gave sight to see him. And then fourth, we read here,
of a display of His sovereignty over all things. He removed this
unclean spirit from this man. God's sovereign in all things. That's what God's Word said.
He's sovereign in all things. He's sovereign in creation, He's
sovereign in providence, and He's sovereign in salvation.
To this unclean spirit, he says, come out of the man. And that unclean spirit came
out, didn't it? Fifth, he made him a new man. This fellow's a new man. Consider what we know about this
man initially. He's a wild man. He's a man among
the tombs. He lived in a graveyard. He couldn't
be controlled. Men had tried to bind him with
chains and yet no one could get him under control. Isn't that
what false religion does? Isn't that what the law tries
to do? To bind men? To keep them in
line? To keep them doing what they're
supposed to be doing? That works for a while. but not
for long. Those chains are broken. They cannot, they cannot, he
could not be bound. And he spent his time crying
and cutting himself with stones. And one more thing, turn to Luke,
turn to Luke's account of this. Luke chapter eight, verse 27. when he went forth to the land,
Luke 8 verse 27, when he went forth to the land, there met
him out of the city a certain man which had devils long time
and he wear no clothes. Neither abode in any house but
in the tombs. He wore no clothes. He had no
covering. Did he stay that way? Look at
Mark 5, verse 15, back to Mark 5. What a sight this must have
been. It says, Mark 5, verse 15. They came to Jesus and see him
that was possessed of the devil and had the legion. He's not
that way anymore, is he? No, now he's sitting. He's clothed
and in his right mind. And the people's response, they
were afraid. Now they're afraid. I think I'd
have been afraid when he was out there running around breaking
chains and wreaking havoc. Now they're afraid when they
see him like this. You know, when you read this
description, isn't it hard to believe that this is the same
person that this could be the same person? Turn with me to
1 Corinthians chapter six. 1 Corinthians six. Look beginning with verse nine. Know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived, neither
fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revelers, nor extortioners shall inherit the
kingdom of God read on and such were some of
you but did you remain there but ye are washed ye are sanctified
ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
Spirit of our God. This is a new man, isn't it?
A new man with a new way. This man, he now has a covering. He's covered, he's clothed. This
naked man is now clothed and in his right mind. You know Adam
and Eve after they disobeyed God? Remember that? They sinned,
took that fruit. Adam sinned, took that fruit.
And what did they try to do? They tried to hide from God.
That's impossible. You can't hide from God. They
tried to cover their nakedness. They knew they were naked. They
tried to cover it with their own works. They tried to knit
some fig leaves together to cover themselves. That wouldn't work
though, would it? The Lord went out and found them.
He found them. And one of the first things he
did is he made them coats of skins, sacrificed that animal,
made them coats of skins, and covered them. This man's a new man. He's made
something that he was not before. Second Corinthians 521, he hath
made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be
made the righteousness of God in him. For us to be made something
that we're not, the Lord Jesus Christ had to be made something
He was not. He was made sin. Well, Scripture
says He was made sin. And we, His people, were made
the very righteousness of God in Him. This man was found He
was running wild. Where is he at now? Sitting at
the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Sitting, clothed in his right
mind. Sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Sitting at the feet of the Master. And now he's clothed. We read
in Scripture that we're clothed in the garment of salvation.
Covered with a robe of righteousness. clothed in garments of salvation
with fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of
the saints. One of the old hymn writers wrote
this, when I stand before the throne, dressed in beauty not
mild, when I see thee as thou art and love thee with unsinning
heart, then Lord shall I fully know, but not till then, how
much clothed in beauty, not my own, clothed in the very righteousness
of God. And then sixth, he created in him a new desire. What was that new desire? Look
at Mark 5, verse 18. When he was come into the ship,
he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that he
might be with him. A desire to be with the Lord
Jesus Christ, a desire to be with his people, to follow the
Lord. I'll just read this for sake
of time. Back in 1 Samuel 12, 24. Only fear the Lord, serve
him in truth with all your heart, for consider, consider how great
things he hath done for you. Listen to what the Lord told
him here in Mark 5. Look at verse 19. Howbeit Jesus suffered him not,
but saith unto him, Go home to thy friends. Don't join a monastery. Go home to thy friends and tell
them how great things the Lord hath done for thee and hath had
compassion on thee. And look what he did in verse
20. He departed and he began to publish
in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him. And all men did marvel. Great things. Great and glorious
things he does for his people. He comes to them where they are,
crosses their path. He finds them. Where does he
find them? Dead. dead in trespasses and sin. He
finds them unclean, and what's he do? He opens their eyes. Oh,
that he'd open our eyes and let us see him. He displays his sovereignty,
declares his sovereignty. He creates a new man with a new
desire, a desire to be with the Lord, a desire to follow him. Great things. Great and glorious
things He hath done for His people. Consider this. Consider the great
things our Father has done for us. He loved us with an everlasting
love. He chose us in His Son, made
a covenant with His Son, and saved us by His grace. That's just a few things in it.
We could go on and on and on. Consider great things the Son
has done for us. He became our surety. He bore
our sins. He suffered the punishment of
sin. And that perfect righteousness
that was His, He gives to His people. Consider the great things
His Spirit has done. Father, the Son, and the Spirit,
that Spirit that calls us by His grace, opens our eyes to
the light of the gospel, quickens and gives life to a dead sinner, gives us life in the Son, leads us to righteousness, leads
us to life, leads us to salvation. Great things. great things he
had done for you. So I pray the Lord would make
that great.