In Mark's Gospel in chapter 5
we read the account of the Gadarene with an unclean spirit when Jesus
meets. And 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, who had his dwelling among the
tombs. And no man could bind him, no,
not with chains, because 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, 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
and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the
Most High God? I adjure thee by God that thou
torment me 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 are many. And he besought him much, that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now there was
there nigh unto 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 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. And they come 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 with the devil and
also concerning the swine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coasts. 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 saith unto him, Go home to thy friends, and tell them how
great things the Lord hath done for thee, and hath had compassion
on thee. And he departed, and began to
publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him,
and all men did marvel. 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 who had his dwelling among the
tombs and no man could bind him no not with chains Because 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 night and day he was
in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with
stones. This is the man that Christ delivers. a man with an unclean spirit
a man who could not be bound no not even with chains he broke
them such was the strength of the unclean spirit within him
such was the might of the force that possessed him that no man
could bind him no man could tame him He was furious. He was filled with a force that
no man could quench. He could not restrain himself
and no one could restrain him. So he dwelt night and day in
the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting himself with
stones. Oh what a possession! oh what
an unclean spirit there was within him oh how tormented he was oh
how that within him raged and was furious how strong it was
how helpless this man was was this within a man with an unclean
spirit You may read this account today and think of some man,
some strange man and merely look on the outside and think, oh,
I wouldn't want to be him. But this is not an account of
someone unusual. This is a description of you
and I. This is a description of what
you and I are like by nature. We may not physically live in
a mountain and amongst the tombs. We may not physically be bound
with chains that we break. We may not physically cut ourselves
with stones. But in the vivid description
here, we see what it is to be possessed by sin. and a sinful
nature and a rebellious way which afflicts us all. We are helpless
in the face of sin. We cannot restrain ourselves. and we cannot be restrained.
Though others may attempt to, as it were, bind us with fetters
and chains, though others may attempt to constrain us, our
sin rages. Our rebellion flows forth, our
disobedience and hatred bubbles up and no man can restrain us. We can't restrain ourselves and
no one can restrain us. We sin daily. We may conceal
it within. We may conceal the evidence,
the visible evidence of sin underneath a very civilized exterior. we may try to conceal our sin
underneath the veneer of religion. We may appear before others to
be upright and noble and moral. We may go to church every week
and read our Bible, but inside is a raging mass, a raging torment
like the lava inside a volcano that's bubbling away. There's
a fire within our sin. There are thoughts and intentions
and motives. which may be hidden away inside
the volcano of our heart but there it is all the time there's
the unclean spirit within us there are the legions of hateful
thoughts and hateful deeds and hateful intentions bubbling away
within us which we cannot eliminate which we cannot restrain and
which others cannot restrain and put us into the right circumstance
Cross our path. Meet with a no from someone else
when we want a yes and all will bubble up and come forth no matter
how religious, how noble, how civil we may appear to be on
a day-to-day basis. We're all sinners. We're all
possessed by sin. We're all possessed by the same
spirit, the same attitude, the same evil that possessed this
man. We're wretched sinners by nature,
utterly depraved. And in reality, no matter where
you live, my friend, no matter how you might appear unto others,
you are before God as a raging sinner, roaming about in the
mountains, roaming about in the tombs, and cutting yourself daily
with stones. You're no different from this
man. You might scoff and laugh at that and pretend otherwise
but that's your state and you know it within. You can't restrain
the thoughts within. You can't restrain the hateful
thoughts to those who would cross your path and say no when you
want to go a certain way. You can't restrain the anger
that comes forth or the jealousy that comes forth when someone
else gets something you feel you deserve. You can't restrain
it. You can't restrain the anger
that's within you against God and His sovereignty. Why hast
thou made me thus, you say? When something goes wrong, when
something's not right, when you feel you haven't but got what
others have, oh, how you rage, and your raging might, you feel,
be a circumstance, but who created the circumstance? God did. God placed you where you are.
God gave you what you have. God ordered your path and your
raging's at Him. And rather than worshipping the
One that made you and the One that sustains you and the One
that's given you all the good that you receive from His hand,
you rage at Him for that which you think is wrong. You can't
stop it. You can't stop the thoughts within.
You can't stop the raging within. Though they might be banned with
fetters and chains, you break them aside. A man with an unclean
spirit, like us all. Fallen in sin. Depraved. Raging. He had his dwelling place
among the tombs. No man could bind him, no, not
with chains. Among the tombs, he dwelt among
the tombs, the place of the dead. Why did this man live among the
tombs? Because in the picture, he's
a picture of a man dead in trespasses and sins. That which possessed
him, the unclean spirit within, was his sin. and sin slew him. Sin killed him. Sin which entered
into man brought death. That which is common to us all
is the fact that one day we die. We're born, we live, we grow,
we grow old. we're full of disease and one
day we die and the reason we die and the reason there's sickness
and sorrow and death and disease in this world is because of the
sin which entered into man when man at the beginning rebelled
against God. And ever since man has rebelled,
he's rebelled against God, he's rebelled against authority, he's
rebelled against his parents, he's rebelled against everyone
that comes and crosses his path. He's a rebellious creature, a
sinful creature which seeks his own selfish ways, his own selfish
praise, his own selfish adoration. He wants everything for himself
and cares nothing for others, least of all God his maker. He's dead. Sin has brought him
death. One day he will physically die.
One day you will die. You appear to live today. But
you are walking death. There's no true life in you.
There's no everlasting life in you. The hours are simply ticking
away till that day when your physical body falls into the
grave and you're no more. But spiritually you're dead already. You cannot do one thing which
is righteous, one thing which is truly honourable before God,
one thing which is truly unselfish. All that we do and think is for
our own gain. We never worship God as we should,
even though He's our Creator, even though He deserves it. We
think only of ourselves. We're dead. And like this man,
We dwell spiritually among the tombs. Because we walk with dead
men. We live with dead men. There's
death all around us. That's the fruit of our sin.
Death. No man could bind him. Nothing
could stop him. He raged within like you and
I do. That's what sin is like. It can't
be bound. And it slays us in the end. and
always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs
crying and cutting himself with stones he was in the mountains and in
the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones what is this? what is this? why was he in the
mountains and in the tombs? He's in the tombs because he's
a dead man spiritually. Because the spirit within slew
him. Because he found no place among
the living. They cast him out. He had no
place amongst them. He dwelt in the tombs. But he
went in the mountains. Because to go into the mountains
was to go up. to try to seek God and try to
seek some salvation and deliverance from the state he was in. Try
to find an escape, try to reach up into the heavens. But man,
when he tries to get to the heavens by his own efforts, climbs the
wrong mountains. He goes up Mount Sinai. He tries
to attain unto glory, unto God by his own strength. He tries
to build himself a tower of Babel. He does everything in his own
strength and ultimately for his own glory. And this man was in
the mountains. He was spiritually in Mount Sinai. He dwelt in Mount Sinai. And he felt the effect of Mount
Sinai upon him. He cut himself with stones. The mountain he tried to climb.
And the stones he found on the way only slew him, only cut him. He dwells there in the mountains
from whence the law was given, Sinai. And in the tombs where
the effect of the law is brought to bear, the law comes down upon
him and it slays him and puts him in the grave. He tries to
climb up and he finds himself in a tomb. He tries to climb
up the mountains unto God but finds himself in the grave. That
which he thinks might bring him life and hope and salvation actually
slays him. And so is the religious man today. So you may be today. That which
you think might prosper you brings only death you go to the scriptures,
you go to the law you try to live a life that you think is
pleasing unto God you order your life according to God's law and
you say this is the way I must walk and it slays you and rather
than bringing you up higher rather than bringing you unto God it
brings you down, it cuts you you take of the law, you take
of the tablets of stone You try to live accordingly and they
slay you, they cut you, they're a killing letter. And they bring
you down into the grave. Such is the effect of law and
sin within. Death. He cut himself with stones. With stones, the law, the tablets
of the law. Moses went up into the mount,
into Sinai and came down from God with the law, the ten commandments
on two tablets of stone. And here, night and day, man
comes to those stones and takes them and tries to rise up the
mount again to get under God but all they do under him is
they cut him. They cut him. Well go on religious
man, go to your scriptures, go to your law, try to get unto
God in your strength, by your will, by your own efforts, and
you'll find you get nowhere. You can't contain the unclean
spirit within you. You can't restrain the sin that's
within you. You can try to chain it, but
the chains will be broken. Others can try to restrain you.
Others can bring the law to bear upon you. Others can come along
and say, don't live that way, this is how you should live.
And you can try, but all they do is find that you can't be
restrained. Your sin bubbles forth. The more
they try to bind you, the more you break forth from sin. The
more the law is brought down upon you, the more you break
the fetters which bind you. The more the stones of the law
are brought to bear upon you, the more cut up you become. They just cut you down. They
bring no life. They bring condemnation. They
cut up the flesh. But there's no life. There's
no life, there's just torment. There's torment. Oh believer,
has that been your experience? When you came to the law, when
you tried to live before God, in your strife, did you find
that you were just tormented? You wanted to rise up the mountain,
you wanted to be free, you wanted to come before God, but you were
tormented, you strived, you tried every way, but all you did was
fail, you failed every day. You were tormented, you were
cut up. These stones cut at your flesh. And the worse you became. And
down into the tombs in the grave you fell. He dwelt in the mountains
and in the tombs. Oh what a contrast. One would
seem to get him up high and the other plunges him down low. Every day he's trying to climb
and every day he falls down. because he's a dead sinner, like
you and I. Every day you might strive to
live before God rightly, you might strive to do what you know
you should do, you know you should worship him with all your heart,
you know you should love your neighbour as yourself, you know
you should do this, you know you should do that, but every
day you find yourself sinning. Every day you find yourself wretched
before Him. You can put on a show, you can
put on your best clothes, you can go to the meeting, you can
read the Bible, but inwardly sin is raging within. Those legions
within, those legions of sin within, that unclean spirit is
ripping you to pieces. No one can stop it and you can't
stop it. Night and day you may dwell there,
striving to keep the law but cutting yourself to pieces with
the stones you never ever attain but there comes a day when Christ
comes to where this Gadarene dwells here he is day after day
after day in torment and nothing he can do changes anything and
there you are Sinner, day after day, trying to be right, but
failing every day. Religious sinner, there you are,
day after day, seeking God by your religion and you never see
Him. You never know Him. You never
have that hope within that you can say, yes, I know God. You just have a reformation of
life. You just have your vain attempt
to be holy. You just have your vain show
of religion when inside there's all unclean spirits, there's
a legion within and you can't restrain it. And you're all cut
up with stones and you know it. you're dead, you're in the tombs
you try to pretend to others that you're on the mountaintop
but you're in the tombs and you can't escape day goes by, day
goes by you cry out for help but there's nothing you can do
one day one day in this man's life Jesus comes over the sea
into the country of the Gadarenes where he dwells and he sees Him
coming. The man sees Jesus coming. When he saw Jesus afar off, he
ran and worshipped Him. When he saw Him afar off, he
ran and worshipped Him. When Christ came, when the Gospel
came, when he saw through the Gospel to the Saviour approaching,
he ran and worshipped Him. O wretched sinner, you who have
strived every way to get under God, you who've tried to climb
the mountain, but ended up in the tombs. Has the day come? Has the day come when the gospel
has come your way? When through the gospel you've
seen Jesus afar off, and has your heart cried out unto Him? Has that gospel, has that sight
made you run unto Him and worship Him? When he saw Jesus afar off,
he ran. Such is the impact of the gospel,
even upon a sinner, even upon a man, as unclean as this. Such is the impact of the gospel.
Even a glimpse of far off of Christ was enough to make him
run and worship. When his eyes were blind, when
his eyes were shut, he could see nothing. But should God open
the eyes of a sinner to see? Should God bring the gospel and
just open your eyes to see a glimpse of Jesus afar off? Should God
put faith in the heart to see? Then you will run and you will
worship. Even a glimpse, even though Christ
may seem so far away, it causes the dead sinner who knows he's
dead when he sees to know that there's faith to behold and he
longs and he runs unto him unto whom he longs for and he falls
down and he worships well he's nowhere else to go has he? he's
no other hope he's been there in the tombs in the mountains
cutting himself to death what he's tormented So when the Gospel
comes and opens his eyes and he sees the Saviour afar off,
what else can he do? He runs unto Him, who alone can
save him. He knows he's dead, he knows
he's no hope, but here's one that can deliver him, and he
runs to 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
torment me not. What have I to do with thee?
Now here in these words we see both the man and the spirit within
him. Here the words spoken by the
man are the words of the unclean spirit of legion within him,
who knows God. The unclean spirit, the devil
within, knows who God is and knows that he has nothing to
do with God. Nothing that he can receive from
God. He knows that God will justly
condemn him and slay him. He knows that he cannot dwell
in God's presence. Sin knows that it can't dwell
with God. The wicked know that they can't
be with God. The wicked know that before God
all they deserve is judgement. All they deserve is God's wrath.
All they deserve is condemnation. They know that that's where they
stand before God. And the evil spirit within this
man, the unclean spirit, knew that he had nothing to do with
Jesus. No right to be with him, no right
for any good from him. And the man possessed by such
a spirit knows that he deserves nothing from Christ. Oh, he ran
unto him because he had no hope. As a man, as a helpless man,
as a helpless sinner, he runs unto the only one that can deliver
him. But he knows that as a sinner
he deserves nothing from him. What have I to do with thee? and He knows under whom He runs. Jesus, Thou Son of the Most High
God, He knows under whom He runs. Oh, we live in a world these
days that claims to be so full of atheists, so full of those
who by their wisdom and knowledge and prudence and understanding
have ruled out the existence of God. But when you come before
God, when Jesus comes your way, whoever you are, you know who
he is. The devils here, the unclean
spirits, the legion, the many evils within this man, the many
spirits that dwelt amongst him, they all knew who this God was. They all knew who Jesus the Son
of God was. And this man knew. And when you
come face to face with Christ, whatever your profession, whatever
you claim, however atheistic you may claim to be, however
much of a fool you may be in saying there is no God, however
strident you may have been through your life, when God comes your
way, you know. And you always knew, though you
resisted. You know. Jesus. the son of the Most High God. You know who he is. You know
who he is. But you'll also know that as
a sinner, you deserve nothing from his hands. Nothing. Despite that, this man fell down
and worshipped. Despite the fact that he was
possessed with these spirits, he was full of sin, he deserved
nothing from Christ, he knew that his only hope was in Christ.
He ran to him, he fell down and he worshipped him. And despite
the fact that he ran to him, and fell down and worshipped
him, he also knew that Christ owed him nothing. There was no
presumption on his part. No, I've come unto you, I've
accepted you, I've received you, I've believed in you, I've done
this, Lord, before you, I've done this. Bless me because of
what I've done. He knew that he deserved nothing.
He ran unto him, he fell down, he worshipped him, but he knew
that he deserved nothing from him. Yet he knew that salvation
was in him and in no other. This poor man can't imagine that
Jesus, the Son of the Most High God, would have anything to do
with him. Because the spirits within him, who speak through
him, know that they cannot dwell with him. He's a sinner. He's
full of sin. He's full of sin. And you, O
sinner, you who are full of sin, you who are utterly depraved,
totally depraved, a wretched rebel before God, you deserve
nothing from Him. Nothing. And you know you deserve
nothing from Him. You deserve condemnation, judgment. Hell fire forevermore. That's what you deserve from
God. That's what your daily sins deserve. That's what the sins
you committed yesterday deserve. That's what the sins you've committed
so far today deserve. That's what the sinful thoughts
which are bubbling away in your head now deserve. That's what
your unbelieving heart and your unbelieving thoughts now deserve. You won't believe, you don't
believe and that deserves condemnation. Because the God that you refuse,
the God that you rebel against, the God that you reject in your
heart when you refuse the Gospel, and refuse His Word, and refuse
to bow down and worship Him, is the very God that made you
and that is keeping you alive at this moment, at this hour.
And yet even when you hear His voice in the Gospel, you rebel. Even when you hear the truth
in the Gospel, you rebel. Yet if he opens your eyes to
see him when he preaches his gospel unto you, and if he opens
your ears to hear him as he preaches his gospel unto you, then, like
this man, you will worship. You will know that he is your
only hope. And you will know that only He
can take your sin away. Only He can deliver you from
this that possesses you. Only He can set you free. Only
He can send the Spirit that's within you out from you. 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
torment me not. Don't bring me unto thee and
then send me away to judgment. Oh Lord, have mercy upon me. I'm here before thee. Spare me. Christ addresses the spirit that
speaks and says, come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. Come out of him. You sinful,
wicked heart. You raging spirit within. You unclean spirit, get out. For this man is mine. Get out
of this house, for this house is mine. And I'm gonna come in
and dwell where you once were. This man is mine. I've chosen
him. He's a chosen vessel. He's mine. Get out, unclean spirit. Get
out sin. Get out death. He's mine. And I'm going to dwell here.
Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. And he asked him and
said, what is thy name? And the spirit answered saying,
my name is Legion, for we are many. Legion. He's full of sin. He's full of
spirits. He's utterly unclean. Christ
commands. And the Spirit's here. He comes unto him and Christ
speaks. And the Spirits can do nothing
but obey. Even the unclean Spirits obey
him. Even the legion of Spirits obey
the voice of Christ. O sinner, should Christ come
unto you in his Gospel? Should he come unto you and speak
unto you? Should he speak unto you by his
gospel, you can't stand against him. Your rebellion can't stand. If he says get out, it will get
out. If he says, believe, you will
believe. If he says, repent, you will
repent. If he says, turn from your sin,
you will turn. If he says, follow me, you will
follow me. None can stand in the way of
Christ. None can stand against the power
of his gospel. He said, come out of the man,
thou unclean spirit. As he addressed the unclean spirit
in you. Has he come unto you and spoken unto your soul? The spirits answer and say my
name is Legion for we are many. Legion. We are many. There's an unclean spirit but
it's a multitude of spirits as one. There's many of them they
come with one name but there's many. And sin that's within you
has one name, there's sin within but there are many sins. You're
full of sin but there's many. You've not just wronged God in
one way but you've wronged him in every way. What a multitude
of sins there are within our hearts. What a multitude of attitudes
and motives. What a multitude of deceits and
lies there dwells within. How many lies we've spoken. How many times we've rebelled. How many things we've sought
to do for our own glory. How many deceits there are in
our religion. Oh, we pretend to do things which
are righteous and good when we're lying all the time. We pretend
before God that we're right when we're liars. We say we've done
this for God when we did it for ourselves. We say we've worshipped
you when we never worshipped him. We say we did right by this
person when we did wrong by them. How deceitful and wicked we are,
even in religion, most of all in religion. We are many. There's a legion of sins within
us. There are, aren't there? How
full of sin we are. Not just one. Not just a few
mistakes. There's many. It's every day
in every way. He besought him much that he
would not send them away out of the country. Now there were
nigh unto 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. Christ speaks to the evil within
this man and he says, get out. And he sends them into the swine
who were sent into the sea where they perish. They're choked in
the sea. Now swine, pigs in the scriptures,
under the old Jewish law, under the law of Moses, were considered
unclean creatures, filthy creatures and the filthiness of this man's
sin, his unclean spirit, the devils within him the filthiness
within this man is cast out of the man and laid upon these unclean
creatures which are then scattered into the sea where they perish
they're unclean In figure they bear the uncleanliness of this
man, the evil of the man and they take it away where they
perish in the sea. They are in this account a spiritual
picture of Christ himself of a substitute coming and standing
in the place of this man. Christ came as it were as an
unclean man not that he's unclean himself but he comes and he takes
the uncleanliness of our sin he bears the sins of his people
he's made sin in their state and he becomes as it were in
figure a swine who is cast into the sea he takes the sins of
his people he takes the evil unclean spirits and takes them
away he's judged in their place He dies that they should live. This swine died that this man
should be delivered of that which possessed him. That he should
be sat, clothed and in his right mind. That he should be able
to go forth and speak of the great things which Christ had
done for him. He could say that because these
swine perished in his place. He deserved to perish, but they
perished. They stood as a substitute. And
as such they were a picture of Christ who came unto this man,
who came unto the man in the Gospel and took his sins, took
the legion of sin within, took the legion of the unclean spirit
within him and took it upon himself and perished as an unclean creature,
as swine in the sea, in the place of this man. Note where these
swine were, they were nigh to the mountains, nigh to the mountains. Close to that place where the
man sought to climb unto heaven, close to the place where the
law came down. Here they are, close to the law. And note where they died, in
the sea, in the waters of judgment. God took this poor wretch of
a sinner up to Him He leads him up to the mount which leads to
glory but He leads him up that mount by taking another up another
mount up a mount of judgement, a mount Sinai from whence comes
the law He sends the substitute, He sends Christ in his place
to the law which cut this man up as stones And he takes Christ. He takes his own son in the place
of this man and he takes the unclean spirit and lays it upon
him. He takes the legion of sin and
lays it upon his own son. And his own son is cut up by
the stones of the law. Cut to pieces by the stones of
the law. And then he's cast down into
the waters of judgement in which he dies. the waters which choke
him the waters which slay him that this man might live he goes
up to the mount from whence the unclean spirit is sent away off
it goes into the swine into the sea off it goes unto Christ into
the sea he perishes the swine fall down the steep place down
the cliff and perish and are choked in the waters. We see how this points us to
Christ. In Luke's Gospel close to a similar
account of a similar man close to the account in Luke of this
man possessed of a devil we read how the opponents of Christ try
to lead him up a cliff and push him over it. Christ spake of
the gospel and in verse 28 in Luke 4 we read that all they
in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with
wrath and rose up and thrust him out of the city and led him
unto the brow of the hill whereon their city was built that they
might cast him down headlong but he passing through the midst
of them went his way his time hadn't come But that's what they
wanted to do. They wanted to take him up a
cliff like the swine and cast him down headlong that he should
perish. They wanted to slay him. They
said away with this man, away with him. They treated him, they
treated Christ like swine. He was unclean in their eyes.
They hated him because of what he preached, because of his words,
because of the truth. because of the truth immediately
following we read of the man with an unclean devil who cried
out unto Christ with a loud voice saying let us alone what have
we to do with thee thou Jesus of Nazareth art thou come to
destroy us I know thee who thou art the Holy One of God and Jesus
rebuked him saying hold thy peace and come out of him when the
devil had thrown him in the midst he came out of him and hurt him
not For Christ to deliver a man from such a devil, Christ himself
must suffer what he would otherwise suffer. He must be as the swine
cast into the sea. He must be the one thrown off
the cliff. He must be the one upon whom
the judgment comes. He must be the one that dies,
that he should live. Did he come unto you? Has he
come unto you? Have you seen him afar off? Have
you heard him speak? Has he commanded the devils to
come out from you? They that fed the swine fled
and told it in the city and in the country and they all went
out to see what it was that was done. They came to see what was
done. And they come 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 are afraid. And
they that saw it said, how it had befallen under him, and what
happened with the swine, and the people tried to cause him
to depart from their coasts. When they would come into the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed unto Christ
that he might be with him. Howbeit 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, and hath had compassion
on thee. And he departed and began to publish in Decapolis
how great things Jesus had done for him. And all men did marvel. All men did marvel. Why did they
marvel? Because here was one possessed
with a devil who was sat before them as one who was clothed in
his right mind, delivered, saved. Sin had been separated. Righteousness had met with it
and cast it away. In the meeting of the devils
with the swine and the perishing of the swine, we see the cross. We see the death of Christ. We
see the righteousness of God meeting the sin of this man,
meeting the legions of his sin. We see the faith of Christ as
he looks up unto his God to deliver him. We see the salvation which
is wrought on his part. And we see in the man going forth
and telling others the message of what had come to pass for
him, being preached and delivered unto others. He's sent forth
in the city and in the country. The people are sent forth, those
that kept the swine went forth in the city and in the country.
They broadcast what they'd seen and people came to see and the
man spake of the great things that Jesus had done for him and
the people marveled. Oh have you seen! Have you heard? Have you seen what was done? Not just unto him, but unto others. Has Christ come into his gospel
to you? Has he come in his gospel to
you? Have you seen him afar off? Has he spoken and cast out the
legion of sin within? There's no salvation any other
way. There's no climbing him out any
other way. You can strive to get to heaven
any other way and you'll never get there. People speak of many
ways to heaven. People speak of all religions
leading to heaven and they're liars. You can climb this mountain
and that mountain. You can go with this religion
and that religion and you'll perish. You'll go in the mountains
and you'll find yourself in the tombs. You'll pick up the stones
of this religion and that religion. You'll read what's written upon
them. You'll try to shape your life by it and it will cut you
to death. You'll perish any other way.
The only way that this man was found in his right mind and rightly
clothed in righteousness was by seeing Jesus afar off. hearing his voice and having
Christ come unto him and call unto him and command by his gospel
that the evil within him should be separated and he could do
that because Christ stood in the sinner's place and bore the
judgment against his sin for him Has Christ come unto you
and said unto you in particular, I have stood in your place. I have borne the legion that
lives within you upon myself. I have been made sin in your
stead. I have tasted death for you,
O sinner. I died that you might live. rise up, live, walk before me
by faith for I have touched thee and made thee whole as he said
it to you as he taken his blood and sprinkled it upon your heart
and said go, live, be free worship me, walk before me as one who
is clean, as one who was once blind, as one who was full of
the devil, as one who was full of sin, as one who was cut by
stones, but now as one who is clothed in his right mind and
who can speak of the great things which Christ hath done for his
soul. Amen.