The lesson this morning is taken
from Luke chapter 8, verses 26 through 39. This is the story
of the Gadarene demoniac. So let's read these verses together.
Luke chapter 8, verse 26. And they arrived at the country
of the Gadarenes. which is over against Galilee. And when he went forth to 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 tomb. 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 four times it had caught
him, And he was kept bound with chains and in fetters, and he
broke the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. And Jesus asked him, saying,
what is thy name? And he said, Legion, because
many devils were entered into it. And they, that is the devils,
besought him that he would not command them to go out into the
deep. And there was there an herd of
many swine feeding on the mountain, and that besought him that he
would suffer them to enter into them, that is, into the swine,
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. And they that fed
them saw what was done and they fled and they went and told it
in the city and in the country. Then they went out to sea, that
is the folks that they went to tell. They went out to see what
was done and they came to Jesus and they found the man, the demoniac. They found him out of whom the
devils were departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed
and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They also which saw it told them
by what means he that was possessed of the devils was healed. Then
the whole multitude of the country of the Gadarenes round about
besought him to depart from them. They were taken with great fear.
And he went up in the ship and he returned back again. Now the
man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he
might be with him. But Jesus sent him away saying,
return to thine own house and show how great things God hath
done unto thee. And he went his way and published
throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto
him. Now the story of the Gadarene
demoniac is the story of every saved sinner. If you're a sinner,
and you're saved by grace, this is your story. This is your story. The scripture says that you hath
he quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein
you walked according to the course of this world according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedience. And that's what we all were,
and we lived, and he took advantage of this fallen flesh, and that's
the way we lived, and were by nature, the scripture said, children
of wrath, even as others. So this story is the story of
ever-safe sinners. were unclean sinners, possessed
with unclean spirits. And you know, when you think
about spirits, I mean, I think this way because this is how
I was taught when I was little. I can't help but think that way.
Whenever I think about devils and spirits, I'm thinking about
how Hollywood portrays them, you know. But that's not how
Satan works. Satan's realm, his evil realm,
what his spirits do to men, is in the realm of religion. It's
in the realm of religion. It has to do with how you think.
How you think. He said, walk not in the... You used to walk this way, but
don't do that anymore. Well, how did you walk? You walked
in the vanity of your mind. You walked under these religious
principles. That's how you walk. And you'd
say to folks, well, God helps them who help themselves. Really? You won't find anybody disagree
with that except believers. Believers know better. God helps
them who can't help themselves. He helps the helpless. We're all unclean sinners possessed
with unclean spirits. and the flesh with all of its
lust, and the world with all of its deceits, and Satan with
all his devices. He rules over every sinner with
absolute sway. The scripture said he takes you
captive at his will. There's only one thing that'll
keep him from taking you captive, and that's Christ. That's Christ. We're all demoniacs. living among the dead. And it says here that he couldn't
be tamed. He was wild. He was a wild man. You couldn't
touch him. You couldn't tame him. He couldn't
get a word in egg-wise. You tie him up, he'd break the
rope. You put chains on him, he'd break the chain. You couldn't
tame him. cannot be tamed or bound by any
device of man. Solomon said the hearts, now
listen to this, the hearts of the sons of men is full of evil. Talking about your heart, the
center of your affection. The heart of the sons of men
is full of evil and madness is in their heart while they live
and after that they go to the dead. Now only a madman, only
a madman, are you listening? Only a madman would set aside
the commandment of God and go do what he wants to. You're a
madman to do that. And we've all done it. We've
all done it. Only a madman would put off what
he says to do now to some other time. Only a madman A sinner who don't
know he's a sinner, only a madman would reject the grace of God,
my soul. It's unmerited favor. It's God
showing you his mercy and grace, not even considering any merit
on your part. Only a madman would reject that. Only a madman would deny the
word of God, go contrary to the word of God. Well, it seems to
me. Well, who other than you really
cares what seems to you? God says what he says, and he
means what he says, and everything he says is right. We're all demoniacs. Living among
the dead, he made his bed in the tombs. He slept with the
dead. Well, so do we. So do we. And I know that here in the scriptures
it says the devil spake, but they spake through the gathering. His lips moved. The sound came
from his body. And I know that their power was
in him and upon him. And so as being one with those
spirits, he couldn't be bound. And only our Lord and Savior
can divide asunder between soul and spirit. And this is an accurate description
of the sinner and how the sovereign Lord of glory delivers his elect
and leaves him clothed and in his right mind. Now let me just
give you a few things that I see in these verses that I read to
you a little earlier. First of all, I want you to see
this intervention of Christ. This sinner was not seeking Christ. He was a sinner. He was a madman.
He was going about doing what his nature dictated. He was being
used of Satan. Being used in whatever way he
wanted to use him. And who knows how long this poor
sinner's life went on the same. The same madness, the same misery,
the same outcome, the same captivity. His life was like a broken record.
It just played over and over and over a few notes. It just
played it over and over. And apart from some minor changes,
it would have continued that way all the way to the grave.
It never would have changed. But for this man, for this demoniac,
unknown to him, unknown to those in the city, For this demoniac
provision had been made. Now, when you get there, when
you get there where you understand where you are and what you are,
then we don't kick about eternity anymore. We don't kick about
God's election anymore. Of course, there was no open
door. Election is the open door. God opened that door. John said,
I saw a door opened in heaven. Christ is the door. This man, as Paul wrote to the
Philippians, from the beginning had been chosen unto salvation
through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth.
All this provision had been made for him long before this man
ever appeared on this earth. Long before there was ever an
earth. Before, the scripture says, the
foundations of the world. Or in another place, he said,
before the world was. Predestinated, the scripture
said, unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according
to the good pleasure of his will. And not one part of his salvation
had been left to chance or left to circumstance. Our Lord did
not just happen upon this man, he went to him on purpose. I'll never forget what Brother
Mahan said that Brother Barnard asked him if he could quote Romans
8.28. And he said, yes, I think so. He said, all things work together
for good to them that love God. And he sat down. And Barnard
pulled him glasses out on the end of his nose and looked at
him. He said, don't you know the whole verse? And he thought about it. And
he said, all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. And he said,
Brother Barnard just blew the back doors off the hinges and
just screamed out, purpose. God saves men on purpose. On purpose. And this is what
he's saying. Having predestinated us under
the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to
the good pleasure of his will. Lord didn't just happen on him,
he went there on purpose. And then think about this man's
condition. Think about his condition. He's
helpless, hopeless, dead spiritually, a madman. You know, we tend to
This one or that one acts a little bit interested to hear. And boy,
we get all excited. This is a fella. He's got a nice
family. And he's been to school. And
boy, he'll make a great member of this staff. And we want him
to come. But here's one over here. And he's a madman. He's
crazier than a loon. We don't want nothing to do with
him. This man was a madman. He was
a madman. Because provision had been made,
our Lord passed through the stormy sea to find him. And gospel preaching is a means
whereby chosen sinners are called to God. Called from death unto
life, he says. Called from darkness into light.
And then notice this, it was the Lord who came to him. Now I don't want to shock you
here, but I hope you'll give us some thought. But whether
it was him in person that day, I'm talking about the Lord, whether
our Lord himself confronts you in person, or he does so through
one of his ministers, it's the same thing. When he sent that 120 out, he
said, he that heareth you, heareth me. And that's why he calls us
ambassadors. Did you know that? We send an
ambassador over there. Whatever that country does to
that ambassador, he's doing to this country. If he strikes that man, he's
lashing out at this country. There have been wars started
over how people treated ambassadors. And whether it was him in person
that day or myself as I'm speaking to you today, it's still the
Lord's intervention, isn't it? If God intends to intervene in
your life, it'll be through a preacher. And you won't be expecting it.
This man was not expecting the Lord of glory to come into his
presence. Now he just wouldn't. He found a fit place to live
with the pigs, with the swine. That's where he was at, right
out there among those herds of swine, a madman, living down
in the tombs. Had no clothes, slept outside,
no home, no nothing. And I don't know if he really
knew he was running around naked. I don't know if he knew that
or not. I doubt it. Because if I look at this in
its spiritual light, we're all naked before God. We've got no
covering. The only covering there is is
his righteousness. We run around naked most of our
life. Didn't know it. Didn't know it. Talking about
how pretty our clothes was, how pretty our righteousness was.
We didn't have any. So there was on the part of this
vile sinner an intervention. And then secondly, a power greater
than all. Any power that you can imagine,
a power greater than that took place in the heart of this madman.
I'm talking about power beyond our imagination. That madman
could not be bound, he couldn't be restrained, he couldn't be
tamed, he couldn't be reasoned with. But when he saw the Lord, Mark
says, he ran to him and worshiped him. He worshiped him. And for every chosen redeemed
sinner, there's an appropriate time, an appointed time, a time
of reconciliation. It's called in the scriptures
a time of life and the time of love. It's also called the adoption. The adoption. In Galatians 4.6,
because you are sons, God has sent forth the spirit of his
son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Like the waters of old, the whole
earth was without form and void, even so was this man. But when
the time come, he said, I'll break up for it in my decreed
place. Talking about the earth, covered
with what? and set bars and doors, and say
unto the waters, hitherto shalt thou come, but no further, and
here shall thy proud waves be stayed. And so it is in a man. The Lord Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. He's the head of all principality
and power. We're complete in him. He's a force to be reckoned with. He said, a strong man arm keeps
his palace and all his goods are at peace until one stronger
than he. That's the Lord, he's stronger. The very devils that possessed
this poor sinner called him the Most High. The Most High. And I know it's
an unpopular doctrine, but the Spirit of the living God attends
the preaching of Christ and not some Arminian free will universal
Jesus. They attend the preaching of
the gospel, Christ's crucifixion. And all true gospel preaching
is attended with power, but that power is only effectual under
faith and salvation in the hearts of those chosen of God. A large portion of the church
at Antioch rejected the gospel. You remember Paul preached to
them. I preached on that verse here a week or so ago. And a
large portion of that church, that was a huge church, and a
large portion of them, mostly because of the Jews, rejected
the gospel. But it says, as many as were
ordained to eternal life believed. They heard. They saw. They saw in the ancient prophecies
the salvation manifested in Christ. Paul read it to them, and they
said when they heard that, they was glad. They was glad. And when Christ comes to chosen
sinners, he comes with Irresistible, for lack of a better definition,
operations of grace. That's how it comes. And it's effectual. It's effectual. And thirdly, we're shown in these
several events how their salvation was accomplished. You have to look back at what
transpired on the sea. We always want to look at the
moment. We're looking at the moment. But we have the mind
of Christ, and that mind takes in eternal things. And we look
at these things. We look at what transpired on
the sea and what followed, and he shows us in these things our
accomplished redemption and calling. Our Lord left his throne in glory. He came across the sea of time
and mortality to suffer with and for all his people. And by
enduring the storm of God's wrath as our substitute, and rising
up from that awful storm of wrath, he now comes to chosen sinners
and gives them the good news. Huh? Isn't that what's going
on here? That's exactly what's going on
here. And then fourthly, how was this man, this madman, how
was he found? When the city come out and the
folks that were feeding the swine came back, when they left, he
was a madman. And he was standing there talking
with a man that they didn't know. He just arrived on a ship, walked
out on the beach, and just, boom, this man met him right there,
and he cast those demons out of that man, and they heard what
was going on, and they took off. They were afraid, and they went
back to the city. Man, they're two mad men out
here now, one talking to the other. So how did they find this man?
A lot different than when they left him. A lot different. He was sitting with the Lord.
Now I'm going to tell you something. Were two or more gathered in
his name, what you'd say? He said, he's in the midst. He's in the midst. Church can
do without me. It can't do without him. He's
in the midst. This man's sitting there with
the Lord and says he's clothed. Where'd he get any clothes? Huh? He was clothed. He clothed him
in his righteousness. He's covered completely. God
himself looks at him and can't find anything, can't find a thing. You know what the Scripture said?
He uses this word unreprovable. He couldn't find anything in
him to be bettered. He was fully clothed. And it
says he was in his right minds. And believers all have communion
with the Lord. They're taught by him. I read
you this verse last week out of Ephesians 4.20. He said, but
you have not so learned Christ. If so be you have heard him and
have been taught by him as the truth is in him. And this man now had a saving
knowledge of Christ, which the scripture tells us is eternal
life. And he was clothed. You know, until what we are is
revealed to us, we don't have any need of righteousness. We
don't have any need of salvation. We might need a hand up in society
or a hand up in life in this world, but we have no need of
these eternal things because we don't know we're naked. We
don't know we're unrighteous. We don't know we're sinners. But when our Lord comes, he clothes
us with his righteousness, sets us in his presence fully dressed,
unblameable, unreprovable, holy in his sight. And then thirdly,
they found him in his right mind. What is a right mind? It's the mind of Christ. It's
a mind awakened by the truth. He sees his need of mercy and
grace. The mind of Christ perceives
things are right, and therefore he calls it a right mind. The
mind of Christ sees things in an eternal light. He don't see
things... You know, here's what the scripture
says. He said, these afflictions that we have are all this light. It's light. If I consider them
in the light of eternity, they're just light. They're just a little
thing. He said, while we look not at
things that are seen, but things that are not seen. For things
that are seen are temporal, things that are not seen, now listen,
they're eternal. These are eternal, salvation's
an eternal thing, justification's an eternal thing. And all the rest is temporal,
is temporary, is temporary. May the Lord give us some sense
of what this story is all about. It's our story, our story. But the Lord has to show it to
us, don't he? Then we realize, that's my story. That's what he did for me. All
right, thank you.