In Mark chapter 5, I want to
read this incident that took place when our Lord was here
upon this earth concerning this Gadarean. We sometimes refer
to him as the Gadarean maniac, a man full of devils. The Lord
saved him. preached to you this morning.
Let's begin in Mark chapter 5 and verse 1. They came over unto
the other side of the sea, the Lord and his apostles, his disciples,
unto 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 your
name? And he answered, saying, My name
is Legion. For we are many. And he besought
him much, that he would not send them out, away out of the country. But there was there nigh unto
the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. And all the devils
besought him, saying, Send us unto the swine, that we may enter
unto 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 it, what was done. And they came to Jesus, and see
him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, said
him, clothed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. And
they that saw it told them how it befell unto him that was possessed
with the devil, and also concerning the swine. And they began to
pray him to depart out of their coast. And when he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed
him that he might be with him. Howbeit, Jesus suffered him not,
but said 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." One of the reasons I love these incidences
that Matthew and Mark and Luke and John tells us about in their
writings is because we have doctrine that's experienced in these live experiences. We have doctrine
and you know we argue doctrine, don't we? We have theories and
we debate theories and we have opinions and everybody's got
them. But the reason I love these life experiences is because they're
fact. They really happened. And you
know you can't do anything with fact, but just believe. Just
bow to it. You can't debate it. There it
is. And when we read this experience between the Savior and this sinner,
this really happened. You know, it's been almost 2,000
years ago now. You and I have difficulty relating
to it. It was marvelous in the eyes
of those that saw it, these apostles that were there that witnessed
it. But you know it's true. It's true. It actually happened. And what makes this so amazing
and so important to us this morning? What happened here in the physical
realm? still is taking place today in
the spiritual realm. Just as the Lord Jesus Christ
came to this earth almost 2,000 years ago now, and lived and
came here to where this man was, and delivered him and saved him,
you know the Lord Jesus Christ is just as present this morning
in the spirit as He was physically back then. You and I can look
at this man's experience, and we can find our experience there. Not completely like this, but
I see myself in him, don't you? I think every child of God sees
ourselves in this man. And I want to look at this in
that light this morning. The first thing I want to see,
and we see it here in verses 1 and verse 2, And I think as
we examine ourselves, this becomes so evident. What took place physically
here in this experience of this center takes place in the spiritual
realm even today. And what's the first thing we
see about this? When it comes to salvation, when
it comes to a man being saved, being delivered from the power
of darkness, When it comes to a man being regenerated, being
born again, the Lord Jesus Christ always takes the initiative. It begins with Him. Did you notice
that? He begins here in verse 1, and
the Holy Spirit tells us that they came over unto the other
side of the sea. The Lord Jesus came to where
this man was. Don't you think it's very telling
that His ship landed, it docked right where this man was? We
don't believe in any such thing as accidents or just a coincidence. But the Lord Jesus came to where
this man was. It's the same way today. Things
haven't changed. The Lord Jesus must come to where
we are. And it's amazing to me that he
didn't come 20 yards out on the coast and sit there on his ship
and holler, now listen, I've come this far. It's up to you
to come the rest of the way. And I've done all that I can
and the rest is up to you. I'm going to set out here and
if there's anybody there that can take the first step, Then
I'll come on in to show her. I'll meet you halfway. Haven't
we heard that a lot? Old Charles Spurgeon said one
time, he said, I have no doubt that a dead sinner may walk a
thousand miles. He said, it's not the thousand
miles that I'm concerned about a dead sinner walking. If I can
just see him take that first step, that's the difficulty in
it. I've done all I can do and the
rest is up to you. That's not what salvation is.
The Lord Jesus came where this man was. All the way where he
was. I want you to look over in Ezekiel
with me, chapter 34. You know, you and I, in Ezekiel
chapter 34, you and I don't hear much today concerning the Lord finding the
sinner. Somebody has always said, well,
I found Christ. Well, that's good. We did find
Him. I preached last Sunday morning and stressed very firmly and
forcibly, I hope, of coming to Christ. And we'll look at that
in a minute. But the first place the Scriptures
start is not the sinner coming to Christ. It's Christ coming
to the sinner. That's what must take place to
begin with, Christ coming to the sinner. And you know, you
know the Scriptures talks, the Lord Jesus talks about Him finding
the sinner? Remember the sheep that was lost?
What did He say the shepherd did? He leaves the nine and nine
in the wilderness and He goes after that one that was lost
until He finds it. The Son of Man has come to seek
and to save that which was lost. He does the seeking. He does
the finding first and foremost. I wonder if when the Lord sent
this maniac out to tell what he experienced, if somebody didn't
say, this Savior that you're talking about saved you, where
did you find him at? Where did you find him at? If
somebody asked him that, I bet this is what he said. He found
me. He came to where I was. He came
to where I was. You know, as you and I grow in
grace and knowledge, just hold Ezekiel chapter 34 there for
just a minute. As you and I grow in grace and
knowledge, don't we begin more and more to realize this? Fanny
Crosby wrote that song, Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior. Hear
my humble cry, while on others you call it, do not pass me by. You know she was a believer when
she wrote that song. But what she did, she had grown
in grace and knowledge. She began to realize more than
ever the importance of Christ coming to the sinner. So she
sat down and wrote that song as if she was lost in a lost
state, and realizing how essential it was that the Lord Jesus come
to her. Haven't you and I realized that
more and more? And especially when we preach
the gospel to men and women, and we see them going on as if
they've never heard a thing? Don't we go home and we pray
to the Lord, Lord, please come and visit their hearts? Please
go where they are. We see the essential of him doing
that, don't we? He must come to the center. He must find the center. Look
in Ezekiel chapter 33. If you read the context of this
scripture, this text, you'll see that the Lord was rebuking
these shepherds because they had forsaken the sheep. They
weren't preaching the truth to them. And here in chapter 34,
he basically tells them that I've given up on you shepherds. You're a bunch of crooks. I'm not going to depend on you
to search my sheep out and find them. Here's what I'm going to
do. I'm going to find them myself. I'm going to search him out and
find him myself. Look what he says in chapter
34 in Ezekiel. Look what he says in verse 11.
For thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I, even I, will both
search my sheep and seek them out. As a shepherd seeketh out
his flock in the day that he is among his sheep that is scattered,
So when I seek out my sheep, I will deliver them out of all
places where they have been scattered in the cloudy and dark day. I will bring them out from the
people and gather them from the countries and will bring them
to their own land and feed them upon the mountains of Israel
by the river and in all the inhabited places of the country. I will
feed them in a good pasture, and upon the high mountains of
Israel shall their fold be. There shall they lie in good
fold, and in fat pastures shall they feed upon the mountains
of Israel. I will feed my flock, I will cause them to lie down,
saith the Lord, I will seek that which was lost, and bring it
again, that which was driven away, and will bind up that which
was broken, and will strengthen that which was sick. But I will
destroy the fat and the strong. I will feed them with judgment."
See what he's doing? This is what he's doing. He's
finding his sheep. That's the first thing we see.
The Lord Jesus Christ takes the initiative in salvation. He must. He must. The second thing we
see here in this experience that I've read unto you is this. The
Lord Jesus must find His sheep in spite of all opposition, in spite of all hindrances, Did
you know how he was hindered from getting to this center?
If you read the context there in chapter 4, everything went
against this man being saved. Everything was a hindrance. The Lord Jesus told his disciples,
said, get in the ship and you and I are going across to the
other side. He knew why he was going over there. They didn't,
but he did. There came this storm. The winds which brought us in
the way filled the ship. That didn't stop him from getting
there. His disciples woke him up and
said, Lord, we're perishing. What we need to do is get out
of here and go back. The unbelief of his disciples
didn't stop him from getting there. When he got there, he
ran into these devils, a legion of devils that resisted him. He ran into this man that wasn't
willing first that the Lord should save him. What have I got to
do with you, Jesus of Nazareth? Everything was against this man's
salvation. There was only one that was for
him. That was Jesus Christ the Lord.
Is he enough? I tell you, I don't know of anything
that's more encouraging to me and should be more encouraging
to you. You have lost loved ones. You have friends. You have relatives. And you just see them sinking
deeper and deeper and deeper in unbelief and immorality and
hardness and rebellion. And everything seems to be opposed
to their salvation. It seems to be getting worse.
And sometimes we think, can they even be saved? Will they ever
be saved? You know that's the best time
in the world to pray for them. When everything seems against
their salvation, go to the Lord and say, Lord, everything and
everybody is opposed to their salvation. It would be a good
time for you to take this opportunity and glorify your name. Somebody wrote a little statement,
and I like it. I don't know who wrote it, but
our extremity is God's opportunity. That's the way it is in salvation.
Our extremity. The Lord told His disciples one
day, He said, Lazarus is sick. The Lord, you better go heal
him. Nah, we're going to wait a few days. We're going to wait
until he dies. Wait until he dies? Yeah, we're
going to wait until he dies. No, we're going to wait a little
longer than that. We're going to wait until he
starts rotting. and stinking, when there is no hope. When His
loved one said, if you would have been here, if you would
have just been here, nothing you can do now, but if you would
have been here. When all hope is gone, the Lord Jesus said,
that is what I am waiting for. That thief on the cross, in his
dying hours. Do you suppose the Lord could
have saved that man when he was young? Well, sure he could have. Kept him from a life of crime?
Kept him from being upon that cross, being put to death as
a thief and possibly a murderer? But if he had saved him at an
early age and not in his dying breath, we wouldn't have been
talking about it this morning, would we? We wouldn't be talking
about what a great Savior Jesus Christ is who can save a man
in his dying hours. Nothing can hinder him from saving.
You put all the opposition, you put all the hindrances that you
can imagine in this scale on this side, and put Jesus of Nazareth,
the mighty to save, in the scales on this side, and see which way
the scales tip. He doesn't save because of. I
tell you, when he saves, it's usually in spite of. Ain't that
the truth? Listen to this passage of Scripture.
Isaiah knew this. Here is what the Lord taught
him. I, even I, am the Lord, and besides me there is no Savior. I have declared it. I have saved. I have showed when there was
no strange God among you. Therefore, you are my witnesses,
saith the Lord, that I am God. Yea, before the day was, I am
He. And there's none that can deliver
out of my hand. I will work, and who shall hinder
it?" He brags about it. That's why he waits. That's why
he faces this opposition. That's why he writes it down
in the Word, so we can look at it and he can brag about it.
I will work, and the winds and the seas and the devil and man's
rebellion shall not hinder me. As soon as they hear of me, they
shall obey me, and strangers shall submit themselves unto
me. We see something else here in verse 2 in my text. Look at
this about this man and the Savior. He said in verse 2, And when
he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out
of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit. Immediately there met
him a man. I love the way this happens. When the Lord Jesus comes to
the man, what happens? The man will come to Him. It
always happens that way. It's not but. It's not but. But the man has to come. But
now he must come. It should be and he shall come. All the Father gives to me shall
come to me, and He that comes to me. It's not a but, it's an
and. When Christ comes on purpose
to the sinner, I'm telling you eventually the sinner is going
to come to Him. Why didn't everybody come? You
talk about a chance. You talk about an opportunity.
Here the Lord Jesus was right in the midst of these people.
They went into the city and all through the country. They brought
a multitude out there and stood right there and saw the miracle
that our Lord did. And only one man came. Why didn't
they all come? They had a chance to come. If all we have, brothers and
sisters, is a chance, a chance won't save anybody. Ain't but
one thing that will save a sinner, and that's Him coming to the
Savior. And why does he come to the Savior? Because the Savior came to him.
That's why. If you know people who talk about
the purpose of God, and we read that God has an eternal purpose,
and people just take those pictures of God's purpose and twist them
and make them say things that don't make a bit of sense. But
when you come here and look at this incident that took place,
this real experience, And you say, what was the Lord's purpose
in going there? Why did He go over there anyway?
When it was all said and done and He was back on the sea on
the other side, and you have a chance to look at it in retrospect,
you say, what was His purpose? And you answer it this way, what
did He do? What did He do? What happened? Well, his purpose was to go there
to save everybody. Then he failed in his purpose,
didn't he? We can understand his purpose
by seeing what he's doing. A man asked Charles Spurgeon one
time, he said, Mr. Spurgeon, what did Jesus Christ
intend to do by his death? And Mr. Spurgeon said, well,
sir, I'll answer that like this, what's he doing? That's the best
way to answer that, isn't it? What was his purpose in going
here? What did he do? He saved this man. He came to
this sinner, and this sinner came to Him. You call that effectual calling?
You call that irresistible grace? Or whatever you want to call
it. It's a fact. And you can't argue with that. Fourthly, consider this man's
condition. And boy, I tell you, just look
at his outward condition and that tells us a lot, doesn't
it? Matthew and Mark and Luke, John doesn't mention them, but
they tell us a lot about this fellow. He lives here in the
tombs. Matthew tells us that he was
an exceeding fierce man. Nobody could even pass by this
way. If you had people buried in this cemetery, you couldn't
go visit them. This man was wild. He was a fierce man. He tells
us here that always he was in the cemetery and in the mountains,
screaming and crying and cutting himself. And Luke tells us he
was naked. Now some commentaries, bless
their hearts, they're so modest, they'll tell you that Well, he
wasn't really naked. He had on some underclothes.
We shouldn't think that he was naked. Why shouldn't we think
he was naked? He was naked. Look at him. Look at him. Look
at his beard, his face, his hair manner. He was a filthy man.
He smelt of urine. Human feces had stained his backsides
and his legs. His hands and his fingers were
bruised and mashed, and his legs and his arms were cut with stones,
self-mutilated. He was a crazy man, a pathetic
man. And what he looked like outside
is what you and I are inside. Huh? Don't the Scripture tell
us that? from the tops of our head to
the soles of our feet. We're full of wounds and bruises
and putrefied sores. The whole head is sick and the
heart is faint. We're just like this man. A man met Him. Now this is amazing. A man met Him. If you and I could
go just for a minute back there in the Garden of Eden, and find
the first man God made, made him with his hands out of the
dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath
of life. And he was a holy man. He was a strong man, a pure man. And he loved his Creator. And
they walked together in the cool of the day. What a relationship
the man had with his Creator and God. And if you could just leave that
scene there in the garden, just close your eyes, and for 4,000
years not have any idea of what happened in the garden concerning
the fall. And 4,000 years later, you open
up your eyes, and here you see a man. But you'd say, that's
not a man. I saw the man. I saw a man as
he came from God's hand and God's breath. I saw Adam when God created
him. I saw the communion they had.
They walked together in the cool of the day. This is not a man. This is not the garden. This
is a cemetery. What is this? Who is this? This
man is not walking with his Creator. He is walking with devils. He's not holy. He's vile. He's
not clean. Look at him. He's not in his
right mind. He's deranged. What happened? Men who deny the fall of humanity. Come here and look at this man.
And there we go, apart from the grace of God. Sin entered us, brethren, back
yonder the garden had entered the human race, brought the judgment
of God upon us, brought death to us and devils among us. And
the only hope we have is for Jesus Christ, the incarnate God,
not only to come and bear our sins and atone for them, but
send His blessed Spirit and call us and regenerate us and save
us. That's the only hope we have.
And if He don't help us, if He don't save us, we're hopeless. We're helpless. There met Him
a man. Amen. Look in verse 3 and verse 4. Here's the first thing we see
about this man and the Lord Jesus as they begin their conversation. And the first thing we see is
this, that no man could tame this man. No man can save another man.
Put him in restraints, but that won't save him. They put this
man in restraints. And they thought they were doing
it for his good. They were binding him. And they thought, surely
this is the way to do it. This is the only way we know
to do it. They got their chains and their ropes and they bound
him. But he just broke them. He just
broke them. You can't save a sinner by putting
him under rules and putting him under laws, restraining him. We've got to have them. We've
got to have law. We've got to have restraints.
Can you imagine what kind of society we'd live in if we didn't
have laws? It'd be an awful place to live.
There's laws in my house. If you're going to live in my
house, I obey them. My wife obeys them. Anybody in
my house, there are certain laws. In your house it's the same way.
It's the same way at the schoolhouse and out on the roads in our government. We have laws, and thank God for
them. But I don't care if it's civil
law or religious law. Law and restraint will not save
a man. Brother Henry Mahan told about
a preacher out west, and he said many in the congregation
weren't living like he thought they ought to live. So he got
his pulpit committee together, and they wrote a whole book on
how the congregation must live. It had everything in it. How
short the haircut must be for the men, how long the dress must
be for the women, where you could go, what you could drink, what
you could puff on them. They just included everything.
I mean, they went through it and hid every jot and every tittle.
And then everybody agreed to it. Then just a few days later,
the pastor ran off with the piano player. That's the way it goes
at it. I just wonder, I don't know this,
I may be wrong, but I just wonder, the Lord knows, if you could
go out here this morning in the little community of Newcastle,
And you can see the hearts of church members. They're bound up by all of these
rules and regulations. Legalist rules and self-righteous
rules. But boy, in their hearts, in
their hearts, if they could find some way to break those chains
and tear those fetters loose and go back to their sins and
fulfill the lust of the flesh, they'd do it in a minute. God knows, don't you? Jesus Christ
has rules in His kingdom. He has laws in His kingdom. Why
are you here this morning? Because He tells you to be here.
That's why you're here. But He never puts a sinner under
His law, the laws of His kingdom. Listen to me. He never puts a
sinner under the laws of his kingdom with any expectation
that that sinner is going to obey him until he first frees
the sinner. You can't get a Christian to
live a Christian life. You can't do it. I've tried it. You can't do it. The Lord Jesus
don't even do it. First thing He says I'm going
to do is free you. That's the first thing I'm going
to do. I'm going to free you from your guilt. I'm going to deliver you
from the power of darkness. I'm going to put within you a
new heart and a new spirit. I'm going to make myself real
to you. And then I'm going to give you
my commandments to keep. And you'll keep them. You know
why? Because you love me. He that loveth me will keep my
commandments. And until the sinner falls in
love with Jesus Christ, you may put all these constraints upon
him. and put him under all these rules,
but he's going to sneak off somewhere and he's going to break those
things asunder. They bound him with chains and
feathers, but no man could tame him. No man could tame him. If
you all expect me this morning to put tape recorders in your
houses and cameras and follow you around, I ain't going to
do it. I ain't going to do it. I've seen some people, and this
has happened, I've seen some people, not anybody here this
morning, but I went to a person's house one time, and it embarrassed
them to death. What they were doing just embarrassed
them. It should have embarrassed them. But I wonder, why weren't
you embarrassed before I got here? So you want to say, the Lord
frees a person. He delivers you. And then you
serve him. in you, sir. Sixthly, here's something else
we see about this, is this. Notice here this. This business
of the Lord saving the sinner, it's not just between the Savior
and the sinner. But others are involved. Here
in verses 6 through verse 13, all of these fallen angels, These
devils, Satan, he's involved in it. You can't see him, but
he's there in the heart. He's in the mind. And when the
Lord Jesus comes to the heart, to the conscience of a sinner,
he has to contend with his fallen angel. You remember the Lord
telling that story about the unclean spirits being in a man?
And the Lord said he's there to secure his goods. unless a
stronger than he comes upon him. Those goods are intact until
a stronger than he comes from without and comes in there and
gets him and drags him out of that heart. There's more involved
in saving a sinner than just saving a sinner. The Lord's got
to deliver that sinner from the devils, from the power of darkness. And I'm telling you what, folks,
that's a task that only he can do. And the devil will resist to
the last minute. He refuses to come out, except
the Lord makes it. You can't cast the devil out
of yourself, and nobody else can cast him out of you. The
Lord Jesus has to do it. And boy, notice the way here
that he resists. And you can't tell, and I've
said this before, when you read this, you're the Lord Jesus talking
to this man, you can't tell who's talking, the devils of this man.
Did you ever notice that? Well, it's both of them. It's
both of them. That's why we and I are so depraved
by our nature. Have you ever had thoughts, then
you begin to wonder, was that my thought or the devil's? And
you said something, you said, I said that or the devil said
it. You know why we have trouble discerning sometimes? Because
we're so closely woven together. Devils and fallen men were so
closely together. We can't tell who's thanking
and who's speaking. That's the way it was with this man. And
the first thing this man did was this. The devils tempted
this man to resist the Lord Jesus. There in verse 7, What have I
to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the Most High God? What
have I to do with you? In other words, he said, I don't
want anything to do with you. Why don't you just leave me alone?
Who do you think put him up to say that? I think the devil put him up
to that. What you need to do, man, is first thing, tell him
you don't want anything to do with him. Resist him with all
your power. Do it! There's a lot of people
that does this, folks. A lot of people does this. And
so many of them, the Lord Jesus lets them by with it. Depart
from me! That's what they say. They feel
some conviction of their conscience, and they'll say, Depart from
me! I don't desire you or the knowledge of your way. And He
just goes about His way. But oh, thank God He doesn't
do that with everybody. He's not as easy put off as men
think. We tell men He's Jesus of Nazareth,
that He's such a meek and lowly Savior, that He's so tender.
And they begin to think we mean that He's weak, that He's frail. No, we don't mean that at all.
Jesus Christ cannot be resisted when He sets His heart to save
a sinner. Do you believe that? You believe that because you've
experienced it, haven't you? Don't tell me you didn't ever resist
it. Don't tell me you didn't ever slam the door and pull down
the shades and say, leave me alone. Oh, I can't think about
that. Judgment, death, sin, oh, I can't think about that. But
He wouldn't let you quit thinking about it, would He? No, no, no, dear soul. Jesus
Christ is not weak and He's not frail and feeble. He's irresistible
in His purpose. The waves couldn't resist him,
could they? The wind couldn't resist him. These devils can't
resist him and no man can resist him if he's pleased to conquer
him and subdue him. King Manasseh, a wicked king,
caused his children to pass through the fire. The Lord sent prophets
to him, commanded him to repent. And he said, I ain't going to
repent. He's like old Pharaoh. Who's the Lord that I should
obey him? The Lord sent more prophets to him. He said, I tell
you, I'm not repenting. Leave me alone. And they went
back and told the master, Lord, he won't repent. Lord, I'm sorry. He's gone. He's headed for hell.
And the Lord Jesus said, that's what you think. You can't get
him to repent. But let me put my hand to it
now. You can't touch his heart, but I can. He sent for enemies
upon King Manasseh. They cut up a bunch of brawlers
and made handcuffs out of them. They whipped him with it. They
carried him off into a strange city and threw him down in the
dungeon. And somebody came over and said,
How are you doing this morning, King Manasseh? Or is that you
down there praying? God be merciful to me. Why are
you praying now? Because the Lord is irresistible.
He's broken it. I'm a king, but there's a king
of kings. Lord, be merciful. I'm not praying, Lord, give my
children a chance to be saved. I'm praying, Lord, conquer my
children. Break in upon them. Break their
hearts. Subdue their wills. Conquer them. Nothing else is going to do it,
folks. Nothing else is going to do it. We've tried it, haven't
we? Notice the second thing. This
is very interesting. The devil tells this man this,
and this is what this man says. In verse 7, the last portion,
I adjure thee by God that thou tarment me not. It's just amazing. He comes to the Lord Jesus and
says, you come here and tarment me. Oh, don't torment me. Ain't this amazing now? He comes
to the Lord Jesus, the Savior of sinners, who came to set him
free. And the devil is such a liar,
he comes and says to this man, boy, I'll tell you what, that
man's going to make your life miserable. You better not bow
to him. He used to tell me that. When
I was in my teenage years, I'd go to church and sit in service
about an hour and I was miserable. And I'd go home and the devil
would be telling me this. I know it was him now because
I look back on it. He'd be speaking to my conscience and he'd say,
boy, you better never become a Christian. You'll be the most
miserable man in this world. He's such a hard taskmaster.
He's going to require things of you that you can't do. You're
going to be a miserable man. You better never come to Christ.
Ain't that amazing? The devil is the one that made
this man miserable. He drove him away from his family,
away from his job, stripped him of his clothes, made him cut
himself, made him scream and cry out. And he has the nerve
to tell this man, Jesus of Christ will make you miserable? Yeah, he can tell people that.
And they believe it. They believe it. And I believed
it too. But one thing he never will tell you. When God saves
a sinner, He gives him a new life. He doesn't require things
of you that you can't do. When He requires something of
you, He gives you grace to do it. He gives you a new spirit,
new motives, new loves. Things you used to hate, now
you love them. Things you used to love, now
you hate them. He gives you a new nature, makes you a new creature.
He doesn't say, love me, without putting a heart of love in you
for Him. Make you miserable. Are you miserable?
Are you miserable in Christ? You've never known a life like
this, have you? I got up Friday morning. It wasn't
because my wife was gone for the weekend, but I thought, man,
I've got it made. I've got it made. I'm the happiest man in
this world. And I've got all kinds of troubles.
I wouldn't sit down and tell you about them just to discourage
you to death. But I was standing there thinking to myself, I have
got it made. And looking around at all kinds
of food and a nice house to set in, I thought, all of this, and
Christ too, a good hope. And I thought about that old
song the songwriter said, Fade, fade, each earthly joy, Jesus
is mine. All that my soul had tried in
this world, all it did was left a dismal void. But Jesus is satisfied. Hasn't He satisfied you? I tell
you folks, we just live. We just start to live when He
gives us His life. That's been my experience. Lord,
to whom shall we go? Are we going back over there
to the cemetery? We'll go back over there to that
filth and stink and nakedness and despair? That's the only
place else we've got to go. No, I'll never go back to that
life. I've got the life I want, haven't
you? Oh, so happy in Jesus. That's
what they say. No rapture. Nobody can tell the
rapture that we feel in our souls. Torment you. Oh, don't you go
to Him. He'll torment you. In verses 7-12, if you study
this context closely and see how this was working out here,
the Lord Jesus told these devils to come out, and they didn't
want to come out. They tried to compromise. They wanted to
compromise. The Lord Jesus said, come out
of him. And they said, please don't send us out. Don't send
us out. Come out of him. He said, you
come out of him. Wait a minute, wait a minute. Don't send us
out into the deep. Don't send us into hell, tar
man. Come out of it. Wait a minute, wait a minute.
Here's what we'll do. Send us out into those swine.
Will you just compromise with us? That's what we try to get
the Lord to do, ain't it? Lord, I'll tell you what I'll
do. I'll start going to church. You
get me through this rough time. I promise you I'll start going
to church. Lord, if you'll get me through this, I promise you
I'll clean up my life. Lord, I'll get my act together.
I promise you. Anything but a full surrender. But I tell you, a peasant cannot
come to the king and talk about compromise. Kings don't have
to compromise with peasants, do they? He won't compromise. No, he won't compromise. I've
been that route too. Might as well go ahead and throw
up the white flag. Lord, I surrender. All to Jesus
I surrender. All to Him I freely give. Pawl
up your weapons there at His feet. Say, Lord, the fight's
over. The battle's finished. And you've won. And cast yourself
down. And say, Lord, have mercy. Save
me. Because He won't compromise.
I'm telling you, He will not compromise. And if He's on your
trail to save you, it's just going to get worse. Best thing
you can do is just surrender. Surrender. If somebody's telling
you to compromise, it's probably the devil. Boy, you hear verses 11 through
13, and I'll quit. I'm almost finished. These fallen
spirits that's among us, that's all around us, come to our mind,
all in humanity, they can't do any good at all. It's impossible
that these fallen spirits can ever do any good. The Lord sent
them out of this man and let them go into these swine. That's
what they asked for. Wouldn't you have thought, once
they got into those swines, they'd have tried to preserve the swine?
Boy, we found a place here. He's permitted us to go in here.
We'd better take care of these fellas. If we can't stay and
eat, we may be cast out into the deep next time. We better
make sure these hogs have a long and prosper life." But they didn't
do that. No sooner had they entered these
swines, and they all ran down a steep place into the sea, and
they drowned with every last one of them, about 2,000. Why
would they do that? Well, I tell you this about these
devils. It seems to me, as you read about them, if they can't
get the man, they'll get a man's possessions. Why are we having
all this trouble in our society today? I mean, look at our system,
the school system, the financial system, everything is a mess. I can't help but believe the
devil is behind all of that stuff. If he can't get your soul, he'll
get your house, he'll get your car, whatever he can take. Because
they hate us, they hate God, they hate the gospel. And they're
going to do all the damage they can. The devil has a roaring
line walking about seeking him he may devour. That's all he
does. That's all he knows to do. It's owing to God's goodness
that all of us, not only preserved in our bodies and our souls,
but have anything, a place to live, or anything else. Did you
ever wonder why this man didn't jump over a cliff himself? That's
amazing that all these devils were in this man and so violent. When they went out of him, all
these pigs killed themselves. I wonder why he didn't kill himself.
Can you imagine the time up on a cliff, turn as you run towards
that cliff, and boy, he'd get right to the edge? I'm going
to do it this time. Screaming to the top of his lungs, I'm
going to do it this time! And boy, he's ready to dive over
that hundred-foot cliff. But just before he got to the
edge, there was this secret hand that stopped him and said, Here
the two shall you come, but no father, buddy. I've got better
plans for you. Preserved in Jesus. when my feet
made haste to hell, and it was there I would have gone, but
thou dost all things well." Who was it, brothers and sisters,
that kept us until He called us? Verses 14-15, four quick things
about this fellow. The Lord cast these devils out
and saved him, and the first thing they saw when they came
there, they took notice of it. All three writers in the New
Testament took notice of this. He was sinning. They all make
mention of that. He was sinning. They noticed
that. Why did they notice that? He
had never sinned before. This was a crazy man. He was running
through the cemetery and up in the mountains, running, screaming,
tormented, upset. But now he was sinning. Set him
there at Jesus' feet. He had rest for the first time
in his life. And ain't that the first thing
the Lord does when He saves a sinner? He gives him rest. Rest from
his burden of sin and guilt. He has to do that. Nothing else
is going to help him until He gives him rest. Second thing,
he was clothed. They noticed that. He was clothed.
I wonder where he got these clothes at. You know, clothes were probably
expensive back then. Paul was concerned about having
a cloak for winter time. They had to bring him one. Clothes
were probably pretty expensive. I wonder where he got these clothes.
Somebody had to buy them. Somebody had to give them. Where do we get our clothes?
When the Lord clothes us. He gives it to us, doesn't He?
He clothes us with the garments of salvation. He puts upon us
the robe of His righteousness. And look at this, he was in his
right mind. He was in his right mind for the first time in his
life. He was in his right mind. You
know a man that's never in his right mind until the Lord saved
him. He can't think properly. Ain't no sense getting mad at
them brothers and sisters. They're crazy. A lost man is
crazy. He can't have right thoughts
of God or himself or Christ. He's crazy. The devil's blinded
his mind. But soon as the Lord saved him,
here he sits and he's in his right mind. And notice his request. Verses 18 and 19. You know he's
the only one who never got his request answered. The devil's
got theirs answered. These people said, Lord, depart
out of our coast. And he did. And this man came
and said, Lord, can I be with you? The Lord said, no. Lord,
let me go with you. No. No. Notice what you want
me to do. Notice this. I want you to do
this. I want you to go home. I want you to go home. You've got a dad and mom at home.
You go home. And you obey your father and
your mother. You reverence them and love them. You've got a wife
at home. You go home and love her as I've
loved you. You've got children at home.
You go home and raise your children. You teach your children. You
go home to your community and you be a good citizen. You go
home to your neighbor and you treat them right. And you be
an example of my grace in your life. Go home. Go home. There was an atheist. Brother
Larry can tell you his name. He wrote a book. One of the chapters
has this as the title. Christianity. You know what he said about Christianity?
One of the dangerous things in the world was society. The dangerous thing in the world
is Christianity. His concept of Christianity maybe. But Christianity is the best
thing this world has ever known. The Lord is a family man, ain't
he? He's a family man. Go home. Go home. And lastly is this. Tell them
what great things the Lord hath done for you. Luke said, tell
them what great things God has done for you. And the Scripture
said He departed and told them what great things Jesus had done
for them. Was it God or was it Jesus? Don't tell them what you did
for me. Don't tell them what I've enabled you to do. Tell
them what I've done for you. Brothers and sisters, don't go
off and try to teach people deep theology and get yourself confused
and them too. Tell them what the Lord's done
for you. That's enough. That's enough. And tell them this. Tell them
why I did it. Why did I face that raging sea? Why did I face
those devils? And why did I face your rebellion?
Why did I give you rest? Why did I clothe you? Why did
I save you? I had compassion on you. I loved you. That's why I did
it. Tell everybody that. Tell them that. Let's pray.