Mark chapter 5. Lord willing, this evening I'm
going to be speaking on this subject, I'm tired of manna,
from Numbers chapter 11. Verse 1, Mark chapter 5, And
they came over unto 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. That's what I title this message,
a man with an unclean spirit. who had his dwelling among the
tombs. And no man could bind him, no, not with chains, because
that he had been often bound with fetters and chains. And
the chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken
in pieces. Neither could any man tame him. And always, night and day, He
was in the mountains and the tombs crying and cutting himself
with stones. But when he saw Jesus afar off, he
ran and worshiped 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 had 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 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. There were about 2,000 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 came to Jesus and see
him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting
and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. They liked
him better the other way. And they that saw it told them
how it befell 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 coming to the
ship, he that had been possessed with the devil, prayed him that
he might be with him. How be it 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. When the Lord asked this man
his name, he said, Legion. Legion. Now, a legion was a Roman army regiment,
which consisted of 6,000 foot soldiers and 726 horsemen. That was a legion. And when this man says, my name
is legion, we are many. He's speaking in his experience
of legion of sins, legions of lusts. legions of uncleanness,
legions of lies, legions of hypocrisy, legions of pride and self-righteousness. My name is Legion. We are many. I love the Bible. I can say that
with a lot of conviction. It's God's inspired word. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God. You know, it's not hard to believe
that God created the universe, is it? Matter of fact, you've
got to do some real stretching to not believe that. And if it's not hard to believe
that God created the universe, it's not hard to believe that
God inspired a word and gave it to us. I'm so thankful for
the scriptures. We're not up to what men's thoughts
are, but God's thoughts as he's revealed in his word. I love
the Bible and I love the miraculous healings of the Lord and I identify
with him so much. Do you identify with that leper?
Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Do you identify with Bartimaeus? Jesus, thou son of David, have
mercy on me. I identify with that Syro-Phoenician
woman when the Lord said, it's not right to take the children's
bread and throw it to the dogs. She said, that's the truth. but
the dogs eat of the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
I identify with all of these miraculous healings, but there's
none that I identify with more than the one we just read about.
This man with the unclean spirit. That's what I've entitled this
message. A man with an unclean spirit. Spirit. In verse 1, and
they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country
of the Gadarenes. Now, while they were on this
sea, let's look what happened. Verse 37 of chapter And there arose a great storm
of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now
full. And he was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. Don't you love to think about
that? The wind raging, there wasn't a bit of stress in him.
He was asleep. back at the ship. And they wake him and said unto
him, Master, carest thou not that we perish? And he rose and
rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased. And there
was a great calm. Now picture this in your mind,
the waves rolling and all of a sudden it looks like glass. And he said unto them, why are
you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly and said one to another, what manner
of man is this that even the wind and the sea do obey him." What manner of man is this? The
God-man. Only God controls the weather. No man could ever control the
weather. Only God controls the weather. Now this man who is God gets
out of the ship, verse 2, Mark chapter 5, and when he was come
out of the ship, immediately there met him a man with an unclean
spirit. Why did he immediately run to
meet him? Because God the Father purposed
it. You see, this is a man for whom Christ died. This is a man
that Christ came to save. This is one of those lost ones
that he came to seek and to save. That's why he ran immediately
to the tomb, from the tombs, to see the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't realize it, but he
was one of God's elect. And notice he's called in verse
three, who had his dwelling among the tombs. A man of the tombs living among
the dead, a man with an unclean spirit living in the tombs. Now that in itself is kind of
creepy, isn't it? A man that lives in a graveyard, a man with
an unclean spirit living among the dead, whatever he did, only
be called unclean because he was unclean, a man with an unclean
spirit, a sinful spirit, a filthy spirit, a wicked spirit, unclean. Verse three, who had his dwelling
among the tombs and no man could bind him, No, not with chains
because he'd been often bound with fetters and chains. The
chains had been plucked asunder by him and the fetters broken
in pieces. Neither could any man tame him. He couldn't be restrained. He'd been often bound with fetters
and chains, but when sin would call, He would come running with
no resistance. He would break asunder those
fetters and chains with an above human strength. And the scripture
says in verse four at the end, neither could any man tame him. Now isn't that what religion
seeks to do? Tame men. You know, when you're
tamed, Your outward actions may be different, but the nature
remains the same. And that's what religion tries
to do. They try to tame him. Get him where they want him to
be. But no man could tame him, no,
not with chains. Verse five, and always. How often was he like this? Always. Night and day. 100% of the time, always, night and
day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs crying and cutting
himself with stones. How destructive were his self-inflicted
wounds. Everything was his fault. crying and cutting himself with
stones. He was destroying himself. My
dear friend, have you and I ever seen that the greatest enemy
I have is me? Have you ever seen that about
yourself? You are the problem. You can't blame your circumstances.
You're not a victim. All your sin is all your fault. He was cutting himself with stones. I need to be saved from God.
I've sinned against him. I need to be saved from my sins
and I need to be saved from myself. That's what this man needed.
He needed to be saved from himself. Verse six, but. Now this is the
but of grace. But God. Aren't you thankful
for that word in the Bible? But, if God would have left him
alone, he would have continued this way. But, the but of grace,
but God who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith
he loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened
us together with Christ. But, when he saw Jesus, a far off. Now understand this,
the word saw means more than a physical sight. For the first time, this man
saw who Jesus is. Now, salvation, insofar as our
experience goes, when is someone saved? When he knows who the
Lord Jesus is. Not before then. When you know who He is, you
know what you're going to do? You are going to worship Him. That's the evidence of knowing
who He is. Immediately, immediately, He
worshipped Him. He ran and worshipped Him. You only worship an absolute
sovereign that you can't manipulate. You can't get him to respond
to you. You are utterly in his hand as the Lord of glory. That is the one you worship. Now, if you ever see who he is,
if I ever see who he is, I know this. worship him. I will fall down at his feet
and I will worship him. And listen, this man hadn't gotten
anything from the Lord yet. He just saw who he was and he
worshiped him. If you ever worship, if I ever
worship, we'll worship him for who he is, not what we're going
to get out of him, but for who he is. Now let me ask you a question
and I want you and I to answer this question honestly. If Christ
did not do anything for you, would he still be worthy of worship? What's in your heart? This man ran and worshiped him. Verse seven, 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 you, I implore you by God that
thou torment me not. Now, what's he mean? What have I to do with thee?
The amplified version says, what do we have in common? What do we have in common? You're holy. I'm unholy. You're light. I'm darkness. You're good. I'm evil. You're purity. I'm unclean. You're not of this world. I'm
of this world. You're power. I'm weakness. You're all wise. I'm all ignorant. You have absolute
control. I have no control. He was like Peter when he finally
saw who the Lord was in Luke chapter five. When he finally
saw who the Lord was, you know what he said? Depart from me,
Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. Depart from me. I am a sinful man. Oh, Lord, I am full of sin. That is what I am. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. And that's what this man is saying. What do we
have in common? All who know Him as Jesus, the
Son of the Most High God, see themselves in this light. Verse 7, He cried with a loud
voice and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of the Most High God? I implore you by God that you
torment me not. Now, when you find out who He
is, that's when you find out who you are. Not before then. And when you find out who he
is, you no longer cannot see why he would not save you. You
can't see why he would. And that's what this man is saying.
He's not even at this time asking for mercy. He's just asking not
to be tormented. He had no clue when he saw who
he was that he could ever have mercy on someone as sinful and
bad as him. That is how he saw himself. He thought all there could be
was torment. He saw himself so bad that he
thought Christ wouldn't save him. And he didn't yet realize
that this is the only kind of person Christ saves. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners, unclean people, people whose name is Legion,
sinful people. Now, I hope this word sinner
never becomes cliche with us. Well, sure, I'm a sinner. Let's
go on to something else. Are you a sinner? Are you? Now, I mean what the
Bible means by the word sinner. That means all you do is sin. That's it. You cannot not sin, and it's
all your fault. You're not a victim to the sovereignty
of God, You are the problem, and you can't look down your
nose at anybody, and you have no claims on God, you're a sinner.
That's who Christ came to save. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom Paul said, I am the chief. Verse eight, for he said unto him, come out
of the man, Thou unclean spirit. And he asked it, what's thy name? I thought of the Lord saying
to Jacob, what's your name? When they were wrestling. He knew what his name was, but
this is a confession. What's your name, Jacob? Cheat.
Deceitful. Deceiver. Heal. What's your name? Legion. We
are many. Verse 10, and he, I think it's
very interesting. You can't tell if it's the man
speaking or the demons. It's both. Somebody says, is there demon
possession in our day? Why would there not be? We might
call it by different things, but why would there not be? And
if somebody doesn't act like a devil, if somebody doesn't
act demon possessed, if they're unbelievers, their father is
the devil, isn't he? That's what the Lord said. You're
of your father the devil, and the lesser your father, you will
do. Now you may act real religious and real good, but that doesn't
mean you're not possessed by the devil. Every natural man
is. The children of God and the children
of the deaf. Well, this man in his absolute weakness, verse 10,
he besought him much that he would not send them away out
of the country. I think this is interesting. Even demons know
they can't move without his permission. You see, Jesus Christ is Lord,
even of the devils. And Satan himself is under his
thumb doing his will, his sovereign purpose. Yes, I'm afraid of the
devil, but I'm a whole lot more afraid of the Lord. And he's
God's devil, under God's thumb, on God's chain, maybe not willingly,
but he's doing the Father's will, he's doing his purpose. Everything's
in control of the Lord. And these demons knew they couldn't
go anywhere without first asking the Lord for permission. And
they besought him much that he would not send them away out
of the country. Luke's account says into the
abyss. I think they're saying back to hell. That's where they
didn't want to go, back to hell. Now, verse 11, there was nigh
unto the mountains a great herd of swine feeding. We know it's 2,000. I've seen pig farms and stuff
like that. I've never seen 2,000 pigs in
one. This is a great herd of swine. And can you imagine the
smells that must have emitted from this? I mean, have you ever
been in swine country? It smells horrible. And they
see these 2,000 swine, and they say, verse 12, And all the devils
besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter
into them. And forthwith Jesus gave them
leave. He gave them permission. They couldn't make a move without
his permission. They knew. And the unclean spirits went
out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the sea. There were about 2,000, and they
were drowned in the sea. They went running off a cliff,
jumped into the sea, were all drowned. Verse 14, and they that fed the
swine fled, and they were scared to death. They 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. Luke's account says, sitting
at the feet of Jesus. He'd been running around all
over the place in the tombs, crying, cutting himself to stones,
here, there. Now he's sitting. He's not going
anywhere else. He's at the one place he wants
to be. abide in Christ. You know, if
you ever see yourself in Christ, you're going to want to sit down
and not go anywhere else. You want to simply be found in
Him. Sitting, resting, stationed at the feet
of Jesus. Clothed You know, he'd been naked. Now he's clothed in the righteousness
and merit of Jesus Christ. Sitting! Clothed! And I love this next description.
In his right mind. A right view of God. A right view of himself. A right
view of salvation. He didn't have it before this.
You see, a lost man's crazy. The thoughts they have of God
are insane. They're so wrong. The thoughts
they have of themselves are so wrong. They put God way down
here and themselves way up here. The thoughts they have of salvation,
salvation by works, they're just wrong. He's in his wrong mind. But when God saves somebody,
he puts them in their right mind. They have right thoughts of the
character of God according to as he reveals himself in his
word. They have right thoughts about themselves being nothing
in and of themselves but sin. They have right thoughts of salvation. Jesus Christ is salvation. Right thoughts. He's in his right
mind. And they were afraid. They liked
him better the way he used to be. They did not feel comfortable
with this thing of sitting, clothed, and in his right mind. Verse 16, 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. We want you gone. We want you
to leave. Would you leave? And he answered their prayer.
He left. Verse 18, and when he was coming
to the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed
him that he might be with him. Now I know this. I want to be
with him. That's the only place I want
to be is with Him. This fella saw the Lord get into
the ship and, oh, let me stay with you. Let me go with you. I want to be with you. How be it? Verse 19. Jesus suffered him not. Now he answered the prayer of
the people who asked him to leave. But he says no to this man's
prayer. He suffered him not. Aren't you thankful for the no's
of Christ as well as the yes? He 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. Go home and tell your friends,
look how my life has been changed. Look at me now, I used to be
this way, look at me now. I have changed. So what he says to say, he says, you go home and tell
your friends the great things the Lord hath done for thee. and had compassion on thee. Now, would the God that I, just
for a few moments, would be enabled by the grace of God to tell the
great things the Lord hath done for me. Do you know before time began,
The Lord Jesus Christ took complete responsibility for my salvation
as my surety. What a great thing. He said,
I'll be surety for him. Everything you require of him,
you look to me for. And at that time, God the Father
didn't look for a thing out of me. He looked for everything
from his son. Is that great? I was chosen in the Lord Jesus
Christ before time began to be holy and without blame before
the living God. Is that not great? The Lord Jesus Christ left heaven's
glory for me. For me. He became flesh for me. In the flesh, He kept the law
for me. He said to John the Baptist,
thus it becometh us to fulfill all righteousness. He died for me. He took my sin and my sorrow
and made it his very own. He bore the burden to Calvary
and suffered and died alone. He was raised for me. He was delivered for our offenses
and raised again for our justification. Now, I realize he did this for
God. He did all of this for his heavenly
father's glory, but he did it individually for every one of
his people. When he was raised from the dead,
I was raised from the dead. And I was justified before God.
This is what he did for me. He made it to where I have no
sin. That I stand before God perfectly
righteous. One who has never sinned. He did this for me. He gave me life. I was dead. He gave me life. He gave me ears
to hear so that I can hear the gospel. He gave me a heart to
receive the gospel and embrace the gospel. He gave me faith.
I believe, but I know why I believe he gave me that faith. I wouldn't
dare think something like, well, I believe because I decided to.
No, I believe because I had no choice. He put that faith in
my heart. I repent. because He granted
me repentance, a state of repentance before Him. He's presently keeping
me, and I'm awaiting this glorious presentation now unto Him that's
able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless. before His presence with exceeding
joy. When I die, it'll be because
He killed me to bring me into His very presence. And I will spend eternity beholding
His glory. That's what He did for me. Here's
my testimony. He loved me and gave himself
for me. And with the ransomed in glory,
his face I at last shall see. It will be my joy through the
ages to sing of his love for me. and hath had compassion on thee. God said, I will be gracious
to whom I will be gracious. And I will have compassion on
whom I will have compassion. Now you go tell your friends
the great things the Lord Well, I feel a lot better about that
than to start talking about what I've done because I know it's
nothing but sin. You go tell them what the Lord's
done for thee and had compassion on thee. Now, I want to close
by reading a verse out of Luke chapter eight, same story, same
story given by Luke. Verse 37, Then the whole multitude
of the country of the Gadarenes, Luke 8, 37, round about besought
him to depart from them, for they were taken with great fear.
And he went up into the ship and returned back again. Now
the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that
he might be with him. But Jesus sent him away, saying,
Return to thine own house, and show how great things God hath
done unto thee. And he went his way and published
throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto
him. Is that a typo? No. When he told him the great things
God had done, He was telling the great things Jesus had done. To every legion like this man,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save men and women who are
Legion. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for what
you have done for us. And Lord, we ask that we would
be divinely enabled to go throughout Lexington and
wherever we go, publishing the great things that Jesus has done. Bless this message for your glory.
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray, amen.