Good evening. Ask you to open your Bibles with
me to Mark. Mark chapter five. We'll be looking at the first
20 verses of Mark chapter five this evening. The title of my
message is Something to Tell Your Friends. Now let's begin reading back
in Mark chapter four. Back verse 35. And we read here, the same day
when the even was come, he saith unto them, let us pass over unto
the other side. And when they had sent away the
multitude, they took him even as he was in the ship, and there
were also with him other little ships. 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. Our Lord was in the hinder part
of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him and say unto
him, master, carest thou not that we perish? And he arose
and rebuked the wind and said unto the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased and there
was a great calm And he said unto them, why are ye 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
obey him. Just a couple things here before
we move on to the text. First, our Lord said this. He
said, let us pass over to the other side. Before they got in
that ship, he said, let's pass over to the other side. And he
said this to the disciples. Now over on the other side of
the Red Sea is the country of the Gadarenes. And it's there. It's there that one of God's
sheep, dwells there. That's where our Lord's going. But during this time in this
ship, his disciples, while our Lord was sleeping and this storm
was raging, they grew fearful. And they woke him. They woke
him out of his sleep and they said, don't you care? Lord, don't
you care that we perish? Now think about the, just think
about that for a minute. Our Lord's in this ship. He's
already said we're going over to the other side, and yet this
storm brews up. And just like us, they quickly,
quickly grew fearful. And our Lord, he arose, and he
rebuked the wind, and he said unto the sea, Peace be still. And we read after he said that,
there was a great calm. No doubt with the wind and the
sea and no doubt with his disciples, surely that had to calm their
souls. Through his word, through what
he spoke to his people, through his word, there was a great,
great calm. And I pray here this evening,
just for a few minutes, that he might grant the same to us. As he calmed the wind and the
waves, that through his word, he might be pleased to speak
to us, that he might calm our troubled souls. He said, let's
go over to the other side. You see that in verse 35, let
us pass over to the other side. And look what
happened in Mark 5 verse one, what happened? They came to the
other side. Just as he said, Almighty God
declares from the, he declares the end from the beginning and
the beginning from the end. He declares from ancient times,
the things that are not yet done saying, my counsel shall stand. I will do all my pleasure. The Lord of Hosts has purposed. Who will annul it? Who can change
it? He stretched his hand out, and who will turn it back? Truly,
what manner of man is this? He's more than just a man, isn't
he? He's God in human flesh. And here in Mark 5, 1, our Lord
comes to save one of his sheep. Nothing, nothing can keep him
from his sheep. Let's look at this passage together
this evening. Now, look at these first five
verses. I believe here we quickly see
something of our natural condition. 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, 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 in the tombs, crying and
cutting himself with stones. Our condition by nature is right
here. The first thing we see is an
unclean spirit. He had, this man had an unclean
spirit. This is how we're described in
God's word. All we, we're all like an unclean
thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags. Unclean,
unclean. And our best works, the absolute
best that we can do. If you took all of our righteousness,
all of our so-called righteous works, whatever those might look
like, and you combine them, and you collect them in a whole,
You put it all together, it would be nothing but filthy rags in
the sight of Almighty God. We're all as an unclean thing. From the sole of the foot, even
to the head, there's no soundness in it. Nothing but wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores. They've not been closed, neither
have they been bound up, neither have they been mullified with
ointment. And in verse three, we see this man, he had his dwelling
among the tombs. On the edge of our property is
a cemetery, and it makes a great neighbor. You don't hear nothing
in the cemetery. Cemetery's full of one thing,
dead men. Dead men. So where this man dwelt,
it's where dead men dwell, isn't it? It's where he found us, dead. That's what the scriptures say,
dead in trespasses and sin. But we read this, God who is
rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us even
when we were dead in sin. Like that infant mentioned back
in Ezekiel, cast out into the open field, polluted in our own
blood, yet the Lord in mercy is pleased to speak life. You, you hath he quickened, you
hath he given life, who were dead in trespasses and sin. Next we read that no man could
tame him, They tried. Read on in verse
four. He'd been often bound with fetters
and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder, and the
fetters broken in pieces. Neither could any man tame him. Men use religion to bind. They try to use religion to bind
men. They try to use the law to bind
men. And it looks good. On the surface,
it looks good. But the problem's not on the
outside. The problem is this wicked heart. The problem is
this wicked nature. Outwardly, men can keep the law. Outwardly, they can refrain from
certain things in the right company, right? They can keep certain
days when folks are watching. But that same old man is still
there. That same dead heart is still
there. It's like a lion in a cage. We
wouldn't have any problem with our kids walking up to a lion
in a cage, would we? But when that lion comes out,
that's where the problem is, isn't it? We can bind men. Aaron,
you've seen men bound. And they can behave pretty well
with the hands behind the back and the cuffs on, but boy, when
they come off, it's a whole different story, isn't it? That's what
the law does. That's what the law tries to
do. That's what religion, false religion tries to do. It binds
men. This man, this Gadarene man,
he couldn't do, listen, men couldn't do anything for him, and he couldn't
do anything for himself. In our text, he, listen, in Luke's
account, he wore no clothes. He was naked. Does that not describe
us by nature? He had no covering. Adam and Eve, they tried to knit
together some leaves, some fig leaves and make a covering, but
that won't do. God must cover us. Listen. The Lord God made coats of skins
and put on Adam and Eve. In this passage, we see our natural
condition. Man is a sinner. We're dead in
trespasses and sin. And then we see something of
the Lord Jesus Christ revealed. Look at Mark 5, verse 6. It says, when he saw Jesus afar
off When he saw Jesus afar off, he
ran and he worshipped him. When he saw him, when he saw
him. You know, I'm quite certain there
were others there that day. But we only read of one man who
saw him, one man to whom the Lord was pleased to reveal himself.
In Proverbs 20 and verse 12, we read, the hearing ear and
the seeing eye, the Lord hath made both of them. If we have
eyes to see, it's because the Lord's opened our blind eyes
to see him. Job said, I've heard thee by
the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. And when he saw him, we read
he ran and he worshiped him. I don't know that a word had
been spoken. Yet this one who dwelt in the tombs, this one
who couldn't be bound with chains, he runs to the Lord Jesus Christ
and he worships him. He makes haste. He runs to him. You know, when
something's urgent, when something's really important, when someone's
life's at stake, We don't just, we just don't tiptoe, do we?
We don't drag our feet, we run. My friends, if the Lord's pleased
to reveal himself, we run to him. We must have him. Third,
we see something of God's sovereignty. Look at verse seven and eight
of Mark chapter five. 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. Now there's much written about
this unclean spirit. And I'll tell you, there's much
of it I don't understand, but I do believe I can say this.
Back in chapter four, our Lord displayed his sovereign power
over his creation. When he spoke to the winds, when
he spoke to the sea, and he said, peace be still, and there was
a great calm. That's not been said about any
man, has it? Well, in the same manner, in
the same manner as the wind and the sea obey Him, this creation
obey Him, our God's sovereign in all things. And He displays
that same power again right here in this verse. He speaks. When our Lord speaks, He speaks
in power. When I was a kid, I remember
these commercials. Some of y'all may remember this,
but there was some kind of firm called E.F. Hutton. And they
would say this, people would be moving around, and there'd
be all this activity, and they'd say, when E.F. Hutton talks,
and everything would just stop. When E.F. Hutton talks, people
listen, right? When Almighty God speaks in power,
people listen, people hear. His call's irresistible. We can't
not hear. We could try to cover our ears
with our hands, We're gonna hear, his sheep's gonna hear his voice,
aren't they? Just as he spoke to Lazarus in the grave, remember
that Lazarus' body stunk, it had been in the grave so long.
And our Lord spoke in power and he said, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth. He speaks, he speaks in power. And he declares to this spirit,
come out of this man. He commands it to come out. And
listen, with the command, that spirit comes out. That evil spirit
can do nothing until Christ gives leave. Turn to Job chapter 1. So beginning with verse eight. And the Lord said unto Satan,
hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like
him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, a complete and
upright man, one that fears God and eschews evil. Then Satan
answered the Lord and said, does Job fear God for not? Hast thou
not made a hedge about him and about his house, about all that
he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of
his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. But
put forth thine hand now and touch all that he hath, and he'll
curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan,
Behold, all that he has is in thy power. only upon himself
put not forth thy hand. So Satan went forth from the
presence of the Lord. Nothing, nothing is done without
God's consent. Listen, not even an evil spirit
going into a herd of pigs is gonna happen without our Lord's
command. And back to our text back here
in Mark chapter five, beginning with verse nine. He asked him,
he said, what is thy name? And he answered saying, my name
is Legion for we're many. And he besought him much that
he would not send them away out of the country. Now there were
nine to 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. 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 tottered in the city and in the country, and they went
out to see what was done. Jesus gave leave. And look here,
the enemy is destroyed. There's death, but the enemy
is destroyed. Let's move on here. Look at verse
15. And they come to Jesus to see
him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting
and clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. Here we see a new man. This isn't the man we read about
earlier on, is it? Here's where we find him now,
sitting, clothed. and in his right mind. And the
people didn't know how to respond to that, did they? Now they're
afraid. The people were afraid. Sitting
at the feet of the Savior, no chains. He don't need to be bound
anymore. He's clothed. He's in his right
mind. Turn over to Isaiah 61. Look at verse 10. I will greatly rejoice in the
Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. He hath covered me with the robe
of righteousness. As a bridegroom decketh himself
with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. This man's clothed now. Who clothed him? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He clothed me with garments of
salvation. He covered me with a robe of
righteousness. Back there in Ezekiel, that infant
that was cast out into the open field, that one that was polluted
in her own blood, that one to whom the Lord spoke life, he
said this. He said, when I passed by thee,
and I looked upon thee, he said, behold, it was a time of love. And he said, I spread my skirt
over thee, and I covered thy nakedness. Who did it? He did it. He did it. Yea, I
swear unto thee, and I entered into a covenant with thee, saith
the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. He clothed him. Clothed him in his very righteousness,
the very righteousness of God. Now back in our text, we also
see that he was in his right mind. Well, he's not what he
was, is he? Look at 1 Corinthians. 1 Corinthians
6. 1 Corinthians 6 verse 9. or know ye not that the unrighteous
shall not inherit the kingdom of God. Be not deceived. Don't
be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters,
nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with
mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revelers,
nor extortioners shall inherit the kingdom of God. Well, those
are some pretty strong words, aren't they? And such and such
were some of you. But, oh, don't we love that word
in scripture? But ye are washed, ye are sanctified,
ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the
spirit of our God. this man that dwelt among the
tombs, this man with an unclean spirit, this man that could not
be bound, he now sits at the feet of the master, a place of
submission. He's been turned, turned from
darkness to light. He's been delivered from the
power of sin and Satan. And he sits at the feet of our
Lord. a new man, a new man with a new desire. He no longer desires
to dwell among those tombs. This desire, and listen, this
desire is much different than the rest of the people in town.
His desire is to be with the Lord, to be with him who loved
him, to be with him who saved him, to be with him who called
him out of the tomb, that brought him forth, But sadly, sadly,
that's not everyone's response to the Savior, is it? Look at Mark chapter 5, look
at verse 17. Verse 16 and 17, and they that
saw it, they that saw what happened there, They told them how it befell
to him that was possessed of the devil and also concerning
the swine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coasts. Instead of marveling at the great
work that had been done, everybody had to know who this man was.
You can't run around naked in the cemetery and people not know
who you are, right? Everybody had to know who he
was. They didn't marvel. They didn't rejoice in what had
been done for him. Instead of praising the Lord
Jesus Christ and begging mercy for their own souls. Think of the terrible condition
this gathering man was in. Think of the work that was done
for him and in him. Think what the master had done
for him. And yet, their desire, their
desire was that Christ depart. They were more concerned about
these swine. They were taken up with the things
of this world. the things of this world rather
than the Savior, rather than the Lord Jesus Christ. You prayed
that back in the study that the Lord would deliver us, Drew,
that the Lord would deliver us from, well, we do, we want to
get our hands on this world, don't we? That he would deliver
us from that and cause us to look to him and him alone. Lord, don't leave me. Don't leave
me to myself. Don't leave us to ourselves.
Don't leave me to my will. That's what men beat on that
drum, right? Their will, their desire. Think about this. These men were
left to themselves, and they said, depart from us. Depart from us. And at Calvary,
Think about what they said at Calvary, huh? They said, give
us, we're left to ourselves. We're left to what I want. I'm
gonna say give me, give me Barabbas. Give me Barabbas. They said this,
they said away with him. Crucify him. That's what happens when we're
left to our will. Oh Marvel not my brethren if
the world hate you. It hated our Lord first, didn't
it? It hated him. They cry this, they cry, and
this was our cry before he came to any of us in mercy. We will not have this man to
reign over us. In Luke eight, Luke's account
of this, it says that the whole multitude of the country They
asked him to depart. They all wanted, they all wanted
rid of him, but not this Gadarene man, not this one to whom the
Lord was pleased to show mercy. Look at verse 18. It says, when he was come into
the ship, he that had been possessed of the devil prayed him. He prayed to the Lord that he
might be with him. Oh Lord, let me be with you,
to be with Christ. David said, he said, when my
mother and my father forsake me, those near and dear to us
in this world, when they forsake me, don't despair. He said, then the Lord will take
me out. The Lord, the Lord my shelter,
The Lord, my strong tower, the Lord, my shepherd, the Lord,
my deliverance, the Lord, my salvation. He said, I want to
be with him. Over in Philippians 1 verse 23,
Paul said, I have a desire to depart and be with Christ, which
is far better. Nevertheless, to abide in the
flesh is more needful for you. to be with Him, to have His presence,
to be near Him, to have fellowship with Him, to know Him as not
just the Savior, but my Savior, to rest in Him. Turn to Philippians
3. Let's begin with verse eight
of Philippians 3. Yea, doubtless, and I count all
things, all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord, whom I have suffered the loss of all
things, and do count them but done. that I may win Christ, and be
found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of
the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness
which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power
of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings,
and being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I
might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. I want to be with
Christ. I want to know, I want to know
him. And back here, back in our text,
Mark 5, verse 19, how be it, how be it 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. He said, go home, go home, go
back to your family, your mom, your dad, your sister, your brother,
your wife, your children, you go back and you tell them. You know, we offer up advice
on just about anything and everything, right? We don't have to look
too far for that, do we? Where to eat, where to shop,
where to travel, how we should handle this, how we should handle
that, what we should do, what we should not do. This is what
our Lord said. He said, you go tell your friends
what great thing the Lord has done for you. As a beggar, as
a beggar, you go tell another beggar where you found bread,
right? Back in John chapter six, our
Lord, he met that woman at the well, that Samaritan woman. And
our Lord told her, he said that, he said, whosoever drinketh of
the water that I shall give him, he shall never thirst. But the
water I give him shall be in him a well of water springing
up into everlasting life. And that conversation went on
and she said, give me that water. Give me that water that I don't
have to come back to this well and draw anymore. Make my life
a little easier. And he said, go call your husband.
And she said, I don't have one. And he said, you've well said
you don't have a husband, you've had five, and the one you're
with now is not your husband. Remember that account of that
woman later, later she made mention of the Messiah. As they were
talking, she mentioned the Messiah. And he said this, he said, I
that speak to thee, am he. You're looking at him. She was
looking at the Savior. And she left her water pot, and
she ran to town, and she said to the men of that town, she
said, come see a man that told me everything I ever did. Is not this the Christ? That's what's recorded in God's
Word. Turn over there to John chapter 4. Let's pick up here in verse 39. And many of the Samaritans of
that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which
testified, he told me all that I ever did. So when the Samaritans
were coming to him, they besought him that they would tear with
him both their two days. and many more believed because
of his own word. And said unto the woman, now
we believe not because of thy saying. Boy, that's what got
him there, but we've heard him ourselves and know that this
is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world. Wouldn't it be something, wouldn't
it be something that if almighty God would use one of his sheep
to tell someone else about the Lord Jesus Christ, that he would
be pleased to do that? In closing, what had the Lord done for this
man? He told him, he said, you go
tell your friends what great things the Lord hath done for
you. Back in Mark 5, what he did for that man is what
he's done for every one of his sheep. He does the same thing
for each one of his. Great things, truly great things
the Lord hath done. That man had an unclean spirit.
He cast it out. He cast out all evil. He came
to him. He came to me. He came to him
where he was. He found him. He crossed over
the sea on purpose for that man. Listen, we can all join in this. He took away my sin and my shame. He bore it. He suffered. The
Lord Jesus Christ suffered on the cross. He shed his own blood. He bore my sin. The scriptures
say, he said, I tread the winepress of God's wrath alone. That man was naked, wasn't he?
He clothed him. He clothed him, and he's clothed
us in a robe of righteousness, the very righteousness of God. He accomplished salvation. That
man was saved. He saved him, safe and secure
in him. Truly, great things, great things
the Lord hath done And listen, it's personal, isn't it? He said,
you tell him what great things the Lord hath done for thee,
for me. Go tell what great things the
Lord hath done for thee, and that he had compassion. He had
mercy. He had mercy on me. And look
here in verse 20. He departed. and began to publish
in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him and all
men. All men did marvel. Boy, when
we consider that, don't we just marvel at it ourselves, what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done for us? Well, praise him. Praise him for what he's done
for his people. And listen, may He grant us a
desire and opportunity to tell what great things He's done for
His people, great things He's done for us. Let's go to our
Lord in prayer.