Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nivert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nivert. I've entitled the message for
this morning, My Name is Legion. In Mark chapter 5, the Lord Jesus
asks this demon-possessed man his name. And he asked him, what
is thy name? The Lord knew what his name was. He wasn't asking him this because
he didn't know. But listen to his answer. And he answered, saying, My name
is Legion, for we are many. Notice he doesn't say, Our name
is Legion. He says, My name is Legion. Now this was a human being, a
man, and he was possessed by demons. When he says this, who's
speaking, the man or the demons? You really can't tell. My name
is Legion, for we are many. Now I love the stories of the
miraculous healings of the Lord Jesus Christ. But there isn't
one that I love more than this one. I identify with this so
much. We read beginning in verse one
of Mark chapter five, and they came over unto the other side
of the sea. Now, during this trip across
the sea, That's when that storm came and filled the boat with
water, and the disciples were terrified, and they came to the
Lord who was sleeping in the back of the ship and said, don't
you care that we're perishing? And he arose and rebuked the
wind, and he rebuked the waves of the sea, and there came a
great calm. And the disciples looked upon
one another and said, what manner of man is this? that even the
winds and the seas obey His voice." Well, I can tell you what manner
of man this is. This is the God-man, the Lord
Jesus Christ, and He has crossed the sea and come over to the
other side into the country of the Gadarenes. And verse 2 says,
when He was come out of the ship, immediately there met Him out
of the tombs. a man with an unclean spirit. Now, this meeting had been ordained
before time began. This was one of his elect. This was someone that he had
come to save, and he came just for him. And this man is described
as a man who came out of the tombs, the dwelling place of
death, the abode of dead men. And he was a man with an unclean
spirit, a foul spirit, an evil spirit coming out of the tombs
to meet the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse three, he had his dwelling
among the tombs and no man could bind him. No, not with chains. Now, let's go on reading this
description of this man. 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. Now, people were afraid of this
man. And they attempted to bind him in fetters and chains to
keep him from committing some terrible act upon somebody else
and frightening the people. And I can see why they were afraid
of him. He seemed to have almost some kind of supernatural strength
to be able to break the chains and break the fetters. When sin called, he could not
be restrained. The scripture says he could not
be tamed. Now, you can tame a tiger, but it's still a tiger, and its
nature is just as bad as it ever was, and it's bound to come out
at any time. This man could not be tamed. Now, this is what religion attempts
to do, attempts to tame a man. The nature's not changed, but
the behavior is modified. Try to make him act better. tame
him. But this man could not be tamed. All attempts to do so had failed. And verse 5 says, and always,
night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying
and cutting himself with stones. This man was miserable. And the
fact that he was cutting himself with stones lets us know that
he knew he was the problem. He wasn't a victim. He wasn't
blaming his plight on somebody else. He was making himself miserable,
cutting himself with stones, crying. Oh, how miserable this
man was. Verse six says, but when he saw
Jesus afar off, he ran and we wouldn't have expected this,
worshipped him. This man who was possessed by
demons, an unclean spirit, a man that no man could tame. The scripture says when he saw
Jesus. Now he did what everybody does
who sees who he truly is. Now there were a lot of men that
our Lord was around, but never worshiped him, and the reason
they didn't worship him is they didn't know who he was. But this
man, when he saw Jesus from afar off, the word saw doesn't simply
mean a physical sight. He had a perception. He had a
knowledge of who he really is. And let me say this, everybody,
without exception, who sees who he really is, is gonna fall down
before him and worship him. Now, this is very important. He had not yet received any benefit
from him and didn't know if he would, but he worshiped him for
who he was. And don't miss this. If you worship
Him for what you think you can receive from Him, that is not
worship. You only worship Him when you
worship Him for who He is, the Son of God, the Creator, the
Lord of the heavens and the earth. the king of kings, the one who
has dominion over all things. There came a leper, the scripture
says in Matthew chapter 8 verse 3, there came a leper and worshiped
him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me clean. Now I
want to be clean, and I know if you pass me by, You're still
the Lord. You're to be worshipped whether
you do anything for me or not. You're still to be worshipped,
but if you will. He worshipped him first. If you will, you can
make me clean. There was a woman who had asked
the Lord for mercy and he didn't answer. You can read about it
in Matthew chapter 15. The Syro-Phoenician woman. He answered her not a
word and she continued to cry. And he replied, I'm not sent
but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I didn't come
for everybody. You know what the scripture says?
Then came she and worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. Now,
she worshipped him before he did anything for her because
he is to be worshipped. She knew who he was. Worship
is a response to a revelation of his person. You see who he
is. and you will worship. And this
has to be settled first. He is the object of divine worship,
whether he does anything for me or not, he is the Lord. And whatever he does is right,
just, holy, and good. Now look what he says, worshiping
him, verse six, 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, He knew exactly who He was. I adjure Thee, I beg Thee by
God that Thou torment me not. What have I to do with Thee?
What connection is there between us? You're holy. I'm unclean. You're life. I am death. You're good. I am evil. You're the truth. I'm a lie. You're light. I am darkness. This is what Peter said when
he saw who he was. Lord, depart from me. I am a sinful man. You see, you can't see who he
is and not then see who you are. The only way you'll ever have
any and the only way I'll ever have any understanding of my
own sinful condition is by seeing him. You remember Isaiah, in
Isaiah chapter five, he said, woe to them, five times, woe
unto them, woe unto them, woe unto them. He could pronounce
woes on people. And then in chapter six, verse
one, he said, in the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
high and lifted up and his train filled the temple. And you know
what Isaiah's response was upon seeing the Lord? He had been
saying, woe unto them. Now he says, woe is me. I am undone. I'm a man of unclean lips. Everything
that comes out of my mouth is unclean because I said it. I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, for mine eyes
have seen the king. the Lord of hosts. You see, this man knew he was
the son of the most high God. He knew he was the creator. He knew he was the Lord of heaven
and earth. He knew he was the one whose
voice the winds and the sea obey. And he begs that he might not
be tormented. He didn't even suspect mercy
at this time. But he begs that he might not be tormented, Matthew's
account says, before the time. Four, verse eight. He, the Lord
Jesus, had said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean
spirit. And remember, his commands are
always obeyed. Now look what's next. And he
asked him, what is thy name? Now he wasn't asking him this
because he didn't know. This is very much like when the
Lord was wrestling with Jacob in Genesis chapter 32. And he
said to Jacob, what's thy name? Well, he knew exactly who Jacob
was, but he was saying this to cause Jacob to confess Jacob. Cheat. Deceiver. Failure. That's all Jacob was. And that's when he changed his
name. Thou shalt no longer be called Jacob, but Israel. For
as a prince, thou hast power with God and hath prevailed. He was causing this man to confess
who he was. And he said, my name is Legion,
for we are many. Now this man was demon possessed.
The New Testament has a lot to say about this subject, and there
are a lot of people who were demon-possessed. And men today
are demon-possessed just as much as they were back then. Now, somebody says, where in
the world are you coming up with something like that? Everybody
who is not a believer Everybody who does not trust Christ only,
as all in their salvation, is under the control of the devil. The Lord said to the Pharisees,
you are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father you
will do. Now when we think of demons,
we usually think of the occult and people with hoods over their
head and chanting strange things, and that could include demon
possession, no doubt. But when Paul described Satan,
he described him as coming as an angel of light. The prince
of darkness masquerades himself as an angel of light, and his
ministers as ministers of righteousness. You see, Man's religion is motivated
and caused by the devil. And the scripture actually says,
among whom we all had our conversation in times past, in the devil.
The prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works
in the children of disobedience. Every unbeliever is under the
control of the devil. So don't look at demon possession
as as some kind of cult figure, although that certainly is included,
but it's everybody that does not believe the gospel. Everybody
that does not look to Christ only is under the control and
the dominion of the devil. Now, this man said, my name is
Legion for we are many legions of lust and uncleanness, legions
of pride and self-righteousness, legions of impurity and hypocrisy. My name is Legion. That's his
confession. My name is Legion, for we are
many. And he besought him, verse 10,
he, Legion, besought him, the Lord Jesus, much that he would
not send them away out of the country. And Luke's account says
into the deep or into the abyss, that's talking about being sent
back to hell. They were scared to death. Verse
11, 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.
Now this is interesting. These demons knew that they couldn't
make a move without his permission. They couldn't just go into the
swine. They had to ask him if he would allow them to do it.
And this shows the power and authority of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He has all power. He has all authority. The devil's
a mighty being, but he is under the thumb of Christ. And he can't
make a move without the permission of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
gives us something of his kingly authority. Now, we read in verse
13, and forthwith, Jesus gave them leave. Jesus gave them permission. They couldn't do it unless the
Lord gave them permission. Now, this gives us something
of the kingly authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's sovereign.
He's sovereign over everything. If there's anything He's not
sovereign over, He's not sovereign, period. But He's sovereign over
all things, over demons, over men, over unbelievers, over weather,
over matter, whatever it is, He is completely sovereign over
because He is God. Jesus gave them leave. He gave
them permission. You all can go into the herd
of swine. 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. Now, can you imagine this sight,
2,000 pigs squealing and snorting, running as fast as they could
toward a cliff, jumping off the cliff into the sea? And all 2,000
were drowned in the sea. And these pigs cost somebody
a lot of money because somebody owned these pigs. And you can
be sure that they would have been upset about this taking
place. Verse 14 of our text in Mark chapter 5, 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 what did they see? Verse
15, and they come to see Jesus and see him that was possessed
with the devil. Remember he wear no clothes.
He was a mad man, crying, cutting himself, dwelling in the tombs. And they come to Jesus and see
him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion. Sitting. Not running around. Sitting. Luke's account says, sitting
at the feet of Jesus. Clothed. He had been naked. Now he's clothed. And in his
right mind. Now, he's been given a new nature. And he is now sitting at the
feet of Jesus. Now, does that mean his old nature
was no longer there? No, he was still a sinful person.
If you would have asked him, he would have said, yes, I'm
a sinner. But he had a new nature that sits at the feet of Christ. He was very much like Mary, who
sat at his feet and heard his word. And they also saw that
he had been naked, but now he is clothed. And that represents
being clothed with the righteousness and merits of Jesus Christ, that
wedding garment, that perfect robe, the righteousness and merits
of Jesus Christ. You see, when God saves somebody,
they're given the righteousness of Christ, and that's what makes
them acceptable before God. They actually have his righteousness.
Just as my sin became his sin and he was punished for it, his
righteousness becomes my righteousness, and I'm justified because of
it. He was clothed. And scripture also says he was
in his right mind. You know, a man that doesn't
trust Christ is crazy. He's crazy. A man that looks
to his own works is crazy. I mean, he's not in his right
mind. There's nothing more crazy or insane than to not rest in
Christ only. But now this man is in his right
mind, looking to Christ only. And that word is also translated
sober minded. not thinking of himself too highly,
but to think of himself soberly, knowing that he's nothing but
a sinner saved by grace, and Christ is all of his righteousness. Now, what happened when these
people saw this? The scripture says they were
afraid. Now, they were afraid of him
when he was naked, cutting himself with stones in the tombs. They
were afraid they might get hurt by this man. But they were more
afraid when they saw him like this. You see, an unbeliever
is never comfortable with grace. And that's what this man had
experienced, the grace of God, the saving grace of God. An unbeliever is never comfortable
with that. Verse 16, And David saw it, told
them how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil,
and also concerning the swine. And look what they did after
this. And they began to pray him to depart out of their coasts. We don't want you here. We want
you to leave. Now, when you hear the gospel
and say, I don't want this. Watch out." He may say, okay,
and leave. He left these people, left them
to themselves. 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. He wanted to go with the Lord.
Wherever the Lord was, that's where he wanted to be. Now this
is what happens when God saves somebody. They want to be with
Christ. Now this preposition with is also quite often translated
in. They want to be in Christ. They
want to be with Christ and they want to be in Christ. That's
the greatest desire of any believer. I want to be with him. I never
want to be separated from him. I want his hand to be upon me.
I want to be in him. I want it to be to where all
God sees is me in him. All he sees is him and me in
him. He wanted to be with the Lord
Jesus Christ. He wanted to be in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Verse 19, How be it? Jesus suffered
him not. He said, No, you can't go with
me. He said, Yes, to the unbelievers. He left them. But he said, No,
to this one who he has saved. 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 have had compassion upon
thee." And notice what he says, you go home to your friends and
tell them the great things the Lord hath done for thee. Now quite often when I hear religious
people giving their testimony, they talk about the great things
the Lord has done in them. I'm a different person. I'm a
changed person. You ought to see my life now
compared to the way it used to be, and now I used to be an addict
or I used to be some kind of horrible thing, and now I'm no
longer that. Look at what God has done in
me. Now, I don't know that there's a lot of difference between that
and the prayer of the Pharisee. God, I thank thee that I'm not
as other men are. I'm not an extortioner. I'm not
unjust. I'm not an adulterer. I pay tithes
of all that I have. I fast twice a week. I'm certainly not like this pathetic
publican. He was giving God the credit
about his life, but the Lord doesn't say to this man, Go show
your friends and family what you're like now. He says, go
home to your friends and family and tell them the great things
the Lord have done for thee. The Lord stood as my surety before
time began and took full responsibility for my salvation. Now, that's
great. In time, He became flesh and
kept the law for me and worked out a perfect righteousness for
me. And he died on a cross for me. You see, he took my sins and
my sorrows and made them his very own. He bore the burden
to Calvary and suffered and died alone. He paid for my sins. And when He died, He justified
me. All my sins were paid for and
gone, no more. And I now stand before God without
sin. He was raised from the dead for
me. When He was raised, I was raised. He ascended into heaven
for me. and intercedes for me. And the
reason I believe is because He gave me His Spirit. He gave me
this nature that believes His gospel. He preserves me. He keeps me. And He's coming
back for me. Listen to me. Jesus Christ is
all in my salvation, and He is all in everybody else's salvation
who's ever saved. thou shalt call his name Jesus
for he shall save his people from their sins. And he departed
and began to publish in Decapolis and how great things Jesus had
done for him. And all men did marvel. He became
the missionary to Decapolis. May God bless you for Christ's
sake. To receive a copy of the sermon
you have just heard, send a request to todd.neibert at gmail.com. Or you may write or call the
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