I titled the message this morning,
Only a Sinner, Saved by Grace. The account of the healing, and
this is the Lord's own words, that he was healed. And the account
of the healing of Legion is recorded in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I've chosen to use Luke's account
this morning, and this indeed was a genuine miracle of Christ,
and as such, an unfallible proof that Jesus was the Son of God. He was and is the promised Redeemer
and the Christ who was prophesied by the old prophets. In Acts
chapter 2 and verse 22, Peter said, you men of Israel, you
hear these words. They thought Jesus was out of
their hair forever. They sold him out to the Romans,
run him through a kangaroo court, nailed him on the cross, and
watched that bloody mass taken down and laid in a tomb. And
they sealed that door. They talked the governor into
putting a seal on the door plus a guard beside of it to make
sure that nobody tampered with that grave. And they thought
he was out of their hair of prayer. Peter said, you men of Israel,
hear these words, Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you
by miracles and wonders and signs. Now watch this. Which God did
by him in the midst of you as you yourselves also know. You were witnesses. You were
witnesses when he raised the dead. You were standing there
when he called Lazarus out of that tomb. You were at the wedding when
he turned the water into wine. you yourselves also know. And
the miracles which Christ performed were not this showmanship or
spectacular works to get the attention of men and women. They
were performed as infallible evidence that Jesus is the Christ. And then secondly, they were
performed both by the Lord and his apostles to confirm the gospel
that they now preached. The priesthood was coming to
an end. That whole mode of worship was coming to
an end. That garment, he said, waxed
old, and it was time to take it out of the way. And so he confirmed the gospel
that both our Lord and his apostles preached. Listen to this in Hebrews
chapter two and verse three. How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation which at the first began to be spoken by the
Lord? He was the first to speak it,
clearly. And was confirmed unto us by
them that heard him God also bearing them witnessed both with
signs and wonders and diverse miracles and gifts of the Holy
Ghost according to his will. Preachers today don't need these
miracles. They all would like to have them. They'd all like to for their
own glory. They'd like to have it like that
one man approached the apostles and wanted that gift of healing. He wanted that. He wouldn't be
able to cast out demons. He wanted it for his own glory. For his own glory. But we don't
need these miracles and signs because we've already got the
full canon of scripture right here. I don't have to doubt a word
in this book because God has already confirmed it with undeniable,
infallible miracles, things that you can't explain away. And it's
a matter of history that he did it. This book declares that he did
it, but the historians declare he did it too. It's a matter
of historic fact. And we don't need these miracles.
I don't need to raise the dead. I have the word of God. And the word of God's already
been confirmed. And it's the basis for all that
we believe. It's the rule of our walk and
our conduct. And it's the foundation of our
hope, the word of God. And then thirdly, these miracles
of Christ collectively, all of them together, picture the condition
of the sinner and the exceeding greatness of the power of our
God who saves him by his grace and makes him whole. Collectively, that's what they
are. They said, who sinned that this
man was born blind? Did his parents sin or did he
sin? How come he's blind? The Lord said, needn't worry.
He's born blind for the glory of God, for this moment when
God shall come and deliver him and give him eyes to see and
make him whole again. So collectively, all of these
miracles, they declare to us, they picture the sinner. I can
give you plain declarations of the scripture, and I will this
morning, but these things picture, they picture what the word declares. And all of the miracles of healing
performed on chosen sinners, they all picture this, but I
find legion one in particular. One in particular. He is a nearly
complete picture of the sinner. And what I hope to do this morning
is to examine this miracle and see if we can find ourselves
somewhere in the middle of it. See if I can find him." I said,
here's the healing of a wild man. He was untameable. They tried to tame him and they
couldn't tame him. They tried to bind him and they
couldn't bind him. They tried everything they knew
to do. And he'd just shake loose the
fetters and go on his way. Ain't that your story? It's the story of every saved
man, I know that. I hope we can find ourselves
somewhere in the middle of this. And as we do, perhaps we can
see again the grace of God that effectually healed us and set
us on our way. So let's begin where the Holy
Ghost begins with the sinner. Now the Lord came there. I can't
give you all the text. This just came to mind. When
they were crossing that sea, as soon as they received the
Lord into the ship, they were at their desired destination.
I don't remember which one of the accounts of that ship at
sea at night and all those things that says that, but one of them
does, says it very clearly. As soon as they received him
into the ship, they were at their desired destination. And when
they come to this desired destination, who desired it? The Lord did.
The Lord did. There met him a man from the
tombs. Here's this wild man standing
there. So let's begin with the sinner.
See the sinner as he is. As God has pictured him and as
the book of God plainly declares him, he was possessed by a great
multitude of evil spirits. Now both Satan and his demon
spirits are called in the scriptures the rulers of the darkness of
this world. What is the darkness of this
world? It's unbelief. It's the religion of this world.
It's the concepts of the world. It's the whole idea of man and
God. It's darkness. He said, don't
walk like the other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds,
being blind. What are they blind from? Blind
from the religion of this world. Satan and his demon spirits are
called, in the scriptures, the rulers of the darkness of this
world. Paul said to the church, now
listen, he said, we wrestle not against flesh and blood. You go down here and Let's just
use the Methodist as an example. Go down to the Methodist church,
wherever that's at, look for the sign, find one, and then
ask for the pastor, and when he comes out, pow, just knock
him out. No, we don't wrestle against
flesh and blood. That's not the problem. You can
knock them all out, it wouldn't do a bit of good. You wouldn't
accomplish one thing. Our Lord could see men's hearts
like you could never see them. And there's only one time in
all the scriptures when he used any kind of violence, and that
was because they were in the house of God and turned it into
a flea market. And he braided up a cat of nine
tails and whipped him out. But Paul said here, we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities. and
powers against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Now
listen, against spiritual wickedness in high places. What are these high places? Look
at the Pope in Rome, that's a pretty high place. Everywhere he goes,
you can't get, you'd have to make an appointment a year in
advance to even get in the crowd where he goes. That's a high
place. Look at Billy Graham, that's
a high place. Look at these men on TV with
crowds of thousands, some of their churches taking up five
city blocks. That's high places. And you can go on and on. There's
spiritual wickedness in high places. And in every portrayal
of demon possession put on screen by Hollywood, now I've watched
least the advertisements of some of these things that come on.
But in every portrayal of demon possession put on the screen
by Hollywood and by the testimonies, every testimony I ever heard
while I was in false religion, Satan and his demons are set
forth as a tempting force, strong and mighty, tempting force, but
still something that you can overcome. if you really want to. What'd
that man tell you? You need to quit smoking. You
need to quit drinking. You can overcome these things
if you want to. Really? It's not the case in the word
of God. Their victim is always portrayed
as helpless under their power. Remember the guy pleaded for
his son? Demons possessed him, he'd throw himself in the water
and throw himself off the cliff and throw himself in the fire. He was a victim. He couldn't
do anything about it. Turn with me to Ephesians chapter
two. The powers of darkness are not
something we're born with, They are rather described in the scripture
as something that we are possessed with, something that possesses
us within. Something that enters
into a man, something which takes him captive. Now to understand Satan's work,
we must take God at his word, and in the word of God, Satan's
work is set forth in the form of false religion. Satan's ministers are called
ministers of righteousness. The Jews who would not bow to
Christ or receive him as God had set him forth were called
children of the devil. The scripture says that Satan
transforms himself as an angel of light and as a minister of
righteousness. And as such, I believe, takes
possession of men and women as they get older and begin to hear
and understand what men are saying. Ephesians 2, verse 1. This is talking about the sinner
before God saved him. Now here's a legion, God hasn't
saved him yet. He just met him, he stepped off
the ship, met him there. But here in Ephesians 2, he's
talking about one that he had saved, but here's his condition
before he was saved. You have the quickened who were
dead in trespasses and sins, wherein, that is in the state
of your spiritual death, in time past you walked according to
the course of this world. what Paul calls in Colossians
2.8 the philosophy, vain deceit after the traditions of men and
rudimentary principles of the world, basic laws, accepted principles
of the world and worldly religion. We walked according to the course
of this world, now watch this, according to the prince of the
power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children
of disobedience. That's Satan's work. Satan's
work. He enters into a man and begins
to whisper in his ear about salvation by your free will. Salvation by works. Salvation
by self-righteousness. Secondly, he tells us that this
sinner had devils a long time. Long time. He didn't just get
possessed. That possession began a long
time ago. Long time ago. When did your
possession begin? I can remember just about as
far back as memory will take me, I can remember my dad talking
to me about religious things. God teach me what he believed
was right and wrong and what was the truth from the word of
God and all of the things. Concepts of God and worldly principles
are established at a young age. That's why I encourage you to
get your young children here. Let them hear. They gonna hear
enough out there. Who would be an easier victim
for Satan than a child who loves his mommy and daddy? Huh? You think Satan don't use that?
Sure he does. Sure he does. Steeped in false
religion, Paul calls himself the chief of sinners. Now he
said, you think you got something to brag about? I have more. And
he talks about how his parents took him on the eighth day to
have him circumcised, and how he was taught in the temple,
and how he sat under the feet of Gamaliel, and talked about
all these things. He said, that turned out, everything
that I had hope in, it was just dung. I took it out and put it
on a dung heap. Just loss. Just loss. But you see, We get this little
principal, and then another one comes along. And then another
one comes along. And then another one comes along.
And then we get up into high school, and then the kids begin
talking about what they believe. And you take a little bit about
what they believe, a little bit about what you was taught, and
you start mixing up the brew. You put a dash of this, a dash
of free will, a dash of this, mixing up the brew. And it goes
on and on and on. And then you get into college,
and you decide, well, I don't know which way to go, so I'm
just going to take a course on religion. So you take a course
on religion, and they tell you, well, religion's all born of
men. And it's a good thing in its
way, but just don't get fanatical about it. Religion was born of
men, and the reason for the religion is to keep men in line, to teach
them something about morality and all of these things. They're
not really a God. We don't really worship God.
It's just the idea of God. Little bit here. You see what
I'm saying? Not just one devil. He had devils
a long time. Long time. Now I'm going to tell
you something. I love my mom and dad. Now I don't believe they lied
to me on purpose. I believe they were deceived
and told me what they believed was the truth even though it
was a lie. But coming from them, man, it took root deep in my
heart. Long time. Then thirdly, our text says he
wear no clothes. Now remember, what he was in
the physical, the center is in the spiritual. Most of you got on some pretty
good looking clothes. He didn't have any. He run up there before the Lord.
He wasn't clean. He wasn't washed. He lived in
the tombs. He didn't have a house. Hair's a knotted up mess. Naked as a jay. Run up before
the Lord. Wearing no clothes. In Hebrews
chapter four, verse 12, he tells us that the word of God is quick.
It's alive. And it's powerful. And it's sharper
than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder
of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner
of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Now listen to this. Neither is there any creature
that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and
opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do." We're all
naked before him. We got no covering for our sin. We got no covering for our shame. Adam and Eve whipped up some
clothed some fig leaf aprons and put them on, but that didn't
do anything. He had to clothe them with the
skin of the substitute to hide their shame. Here stood this sinner, naked
before the Lord. And I tell you, no matter how
much a sinner puts on himself and tries to make himself appear,
God sees him as he is, naked. He sees him in his sins. And then fourthly, we're told
he had no refuge. He abode in no house. Had no
refuge, had nowhere to go. He was food for the predators,
a victim for the elements, prey for his enemies, He lived in
the tombs. Where'd he live? In a graveyard. He lived among the dead. Among
the dead. Paul cried in Romans 7, verse
24, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? These tents we call home are
nothing but tombs. From the dust we were taken to
the dust we shall return. And then listen to this. Paul
said, our throat is an open grave. That's what it is. It's an open
grave. You're dead, Paul said, and your
life is hidden with God in Christ. You're dead. And then in Mark's account, he
tells us that he could not be constrained or tamed. You couldn't tame the sinner.
Couldn't do anything with him. People tried to train and tame
sinners. And here's what happens. If you
take a jar and fill it up with water, put the lid on it, and
set it on the burner, And it sits there, and it heats, and
it heats, and it heats, and then after a while, you better get
out of the way. What's gonna happen? Gonna blow the lid off. And men try to tame sinners,
and they get them into the building, and they get them down the aisle,
and they get them to sign the thing, and then they tell them
they're saved, and then they go out, and they do this and
do that, and they bottle all this stuff up inside until they
can't hold it anymore. And then the lid blows off the
pot. and they become the worst sinners
around. Sure they do. This man couldn't be tamed, they
couldn't do anything with him. I can just picture one of these
little woman acting preachers coming
up to this guy and sitting down with him at the tombs and saying,
Let's raise him together. Up. And I can see that man just
raising him with his ribs. You can't pet a wolf. Something
has to be done about his nature. It has to be taken into account
what he is and who he is. We've seen the sinner now. We've
seen him in his And I want you to understand
this. The sinner, this demoniac, and all sinners are demoniacs.
I hope you can see that. But they're past doing anything
for, by this world or by themselves. They're past the point. They're
forever doomed in this world apart from an intervention of
God. We've seen him in his true nature
and possessed by the rulers of the darkness of this world, and
we've seen him as he is, naked and unable to help himself. Now
let's see the Savior as he meets the sinner. There's no mention here about
free will. There's no mention here about
accepting him as his personal Savior. There's no mention here of sharing. The Lord didn't say, I'm gonna
share this with you and then you share something with me.
There's no mention made of any of those things. That's all religious
nonsense. No walking the aisle, no raising
of the hands. All of that was taken care of,
William, in a look. When he saw Jesus, when he saw him. Have you ever
seen him? That's what a sinner has to do.
He has to see him. And only Christ can reveal himself
to the sinner. But if he's willing to do that,
then the sinner will have some things to say. But it takes that
intervention of God. He has to see Christ. This was
a wild man, a man who couldn't be tamed, could not be chained.
But with one look at the Son of God, he fell down on his face
before Him. The first work done in the sinner
is to convince him of his sin. The sinner knew what he was.
He knew what he was. And the second is a confrontation
with the Lord of glory. This man whose very name was
Legion, meaning a great multitude, being possessed with not one
or two spirits, but with an overwhelming force, now bows and submits to
the office of the king and waits on his command. Now let me tell
you something. God's people are called with
an effectual cause. That's the difference between
when I tell you something and when He tells you something through
me. When He tells you something through me, it's effectual. It
takes root. It causes reactions. When Christ called Lazarus out
of the tomb, he didn't stay in the tomb for a week and think
things over. Christ called him out of that
tomb and he come out. But he couldn't, he was bound
head and foot, he came out. Christ told that paralyzed man
at the pool, he said, take up your bed and walk. He didn't
lay there in his paralysis and say, well, maybe I better count
the cost. No, he stood up and took up his
bed and walked, just as the Lord commanded him. Paul told those Thessalonians,
he said, when you receive the word of God which you heard of
us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in
truth, the word of God. Now listen, which affectionately
worketh also in you that believe. When sinners meet the Lord of
glory, they no longer run the show. They didn't say to the Lord,
we're going into that herd of swine, no. Know what they said? They said, if you would allow
us, we'll go into the herd of swine. Oh, these are demons. Yeah, but they're his demons.
There he is, and they're under his power. And I tell you, they
knew more about who he was than Legion. They knew that he was the Christ,
and they also knew that he was the Most High, and that's how
they addressed him. He's Lord. He's Lord. And when a man sees him as he
is, he sees him as Lord. He submits to him. He bows to
him. I don't care how many demons
he's got. He'll subdue the strong man armed
and he'll spoil his goods or he'll leave that strong man in
him to reign unto death, one or the other. Man who was at one time driven
into the wilderness by the devil now lies on his face before the
blessed and only potentate King of Kings and Lord of Lords. All
right, thirdly, the king makes the sinner to acknowledge his
name. He said, what's your name? You're gonna confess who you
are to the Lord. Yes, you are. You come to him,
you will. What's your name? Legion. That's my name. Possessed by a multitude of devils. My whole life is a life of wickedness. John tells us this, if we confess
our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There are no sinners who continue
on in union with Christ who do not confess their sins. They
continually confess their sin. David said, my sin is ever before
me. I know they're put away in Christ
and I have a good hope of that. I know that he put away our sin
by the sacrifice of himself. Understand that. But if we say
we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. I'm
aware of my sins. So if we say we have no sin,
we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. And if we
say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar. And his word's not in us. When
a sinner meets Christ and is brought to fall on his face before
him, he'll acknowledge his sin and sin is his name. All right, fourth one. By the word of his power, the
power of Christ, legion was set free from what once reigned within. See, that's what this world is
so unaware of. Sin reigns. If sin was a force
and grace was a force and they were in this big battle, I could
understand some of the things that they say. But sin reigns
in the sinner. He can't do anything for himself. None that understandeth. I don't
care how many seminaries it goes to, there's none that understandeth.
God has to give you an understanding. They shall all be taught of God.
And when they are, the result of that, they all come to Christ. People tell me every so often, You emphasize the preaching of
the gospel too much. Maybe I do, but the preaching
of the gospel to them that are being saved is the power of God. And it's the wisdom of God. The scripture tells us it is
the power of God unto salvation for therein is the righteousness
of God revealed. When they that saw what Christ
did to legion, when they saw what took place, they went back
to their city, verse 36, and told them by what means, by what
means, that he that was possessed of the devil was healed. Well,
what were the means? Huh? The spoken word. He didn't wave, he didn't hold
up his rod, he didn't wave his hands, he didn't dabble him with
oil, he didn't, here's the means, the spoken word. Christ spoke
to him. He spoke to him. He spoke to him. And I tell you,
that'll be your confession if Christ ever saves you. How did
he save you? He sent me a preacher, and he
spoke to me. The Lord spoke to me. And then lastly, see the sinner
fully reconciled to Christ, verse 35. The whole outfit, they ran
back to town, these herdsmen ran back, they feared what they
saw, they'd never heard anything like this, never saw anything
like this, and they ran back to town and they told them by
what means that these devils were cast out, told them everything
that happened, and a whole outfit come out. And when they did,
they found the man, verse 35, sitting at the feet of Jesus. No chains on him. He was clean. They'd never seen
him clean. I doubt they even recognized
him. I had to stand there and look at him for a minute. He
was clothed, and he was clean, and he was
sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to every word that
came forth out of his mouth. And listen, he was in his right
mind. He was in his right mind. You'll
always find the same sinner sitting at the master's feet. He used
to like to sit at the bar. Now he likes to sit at the master's
feet. That's his desire. That's his
desire. I want to sit at the master's.
I tell you, if you heard the master speak, When you realize
what you were possessed with, and you saw the power of the
Lord take those things from you, I guarantee you, you'd wanna
sit at his feet. You wouldn't wanna go anywhere
else except right there. My soul, if he can cast out demons,
what else can he do with his words? You always find a saved sinner
sitting at the Master's feet. And they found this sinner fully
clothed. I have no doubt that he'd been
washed before he was clothed. Paul said, when the kindness
and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us by the washing of
regeneration. This man had been regenerated. Washed. The washing of regeneration
and the renewing of the Holy Ghost. The hair was all clean,
combed, sitting there in his right mind. In his right mind. When is a
man in his right mind? He spent his life walking as
others in the vanity of his mind. When is a man in his right mind? when he has the mind of Christ.
He's in his right mind. That's the only right mind there
is. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's the mind of Christ. Paul said, with the mind, I serve
the law. But the mind of Christ, I serve
the law. I see him who met its demands,
paid its penalties, and exalted it to its perfect end. And Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
That's the mind of Christ. What is the mind of Christ? It's
an understanding of the person and work of Christ, and it is
a humble mind. Let this mind be in you, which
was also in Christ Jesus our Lord, making himself of no reputation, taking upon him the form of a
servant, humbling himself as a servant to the death of the
cross. And then one more thing, and I'll quit. When they found
this sinner saved by grace, sitting at the master's feet, clothed
and in his right mind, it says they were afraid. Don't that seem out of place
to you, they were afraid? Not really, not if you've ever
experienced the grace of God. When I first came home and told
my dad what the Lord done for me, it scared him to death. He thought for sure the devil
had just completely taken me over. That's right, he was afraid. He was afraid. Afraid of what?
Afraid of what they'd never seen or heard of before. Afraid of a man whose words accomplished
what all their efforts could not do. Afraid that just maybe
their religion didn't measure up. No, their religion, they never
seen anything like this. Afraid that they had witnessed
what they had witnessed might just take salvation out of their
hands and put it in the hands of him where it belongs. Only a sinner saved by grace. That's legion. I believe you. And I don't have time this morning,
but if I had time, I'd show you that he's a picture. This demon-possessed
man was a picture of every man in false religion. They're all doing the same thing.
You can't talk to them, you can't tame them, you can't bind them.
Can't do anything with them. Huh? Well, I don't believe that. Try it. See if you can bind one. You can't get to first base.
Can't hardly get a word out. May the Lord give us some understanding
of this and cause us to see ourselves in the center. Thank you.