Hi, everybody. I don't know how
much longer we're going to have to do this, but I'm thankful
for the ability to do this. At least we get to hear something,
but I hope the Lord is pleased to bring us back together to
worship publicly together soon. I miss everybody. I'm going to
be speaking from Mark chapter 5, and I'm going to read the
first 21 verses. I've entitled this message, My
Name is Legion. Now, before I read this passage
of scripture, I love the different miraculous healings the Lord
has given. I love to read of blind Bartimaeus. I love to hear of the Syrophoenician
woman. I love to hear of the leper who
the Lord healed and on and on. But this passage of scripture
is what I identify with the most of all of these miraculous healings. This is a very special passage
of scripture to me personally. Mark chapter five, and they came
over onto the other side of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes. Now this was right after he had
stilled the wind and the waves, and there was a great calm, and
he gets to the other side. 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. 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 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. And they that saw told them how
it befell to him that was possessed with the devil and also concerning
the swine. And they began to pray him to
depart out of their coasts. And when he was 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. Let's pray together. Our merciful and gracious heavenly
father, we come into your presence in Christ's name and we're so
thankful for him, his beauty, his excellencies, the completeness
of his salvation. And we pray that we might be
enabled to worship him. Lord, we pray for our nation. We pray for our leaders that
you would give them wisdom and guide their steps. Lord, we pray
for those in need at this time that you would supply their needs.
We ask that you would give us grace to conduct ourselves in
a way that honors you. And Lord, we confess our sins. They're ever before us. We pray
for forgiveness and cleansing, but how we thank you. for the
forgiveness of sins. Now bless us for Christ's sake.
In his name we pray. Amen. My name is Legion. Let's look back at verse one.
And they came over into the other side of the sea into the country
of the Gadarenes. Now remember what had happened
while they were crossing the sea. A great storm of wind came
down and Water filled the ship and they were scared to death
and they said, Master cares now not that we're perishing? And the scripture says he got
up and rebuked the winds and the sea and said, peace, be still. And there was a great calm. And
the disciples looked at one another. Scripture says they feared exceedingly
and said, what manner of man is this that even the winds and
the sea obey him? Now he comes to the other side
and we read, And when he was come out of the ship, immediately
there met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. Now he had ordained this meeting
before time began. And he was going across the lake
to meet this one man, because this was one of his elect. And
he was going to save him. He was going to make himself
known to him. And that's why he came. You see, the Lord is always on
the trail of his sheep. And he's going to have every
single one of them. So this man met him. because
the Lord determined for it to be done. And we read with regard
to this man with this unclean spirit, this foul brave spirit,
that he had his dwelling among the tombs. And no man could bind
him, no, not with chains. This man could not be controlled. Verse four, 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. Now people were afraid of him.
And they attempted to bind him in fetters and chains to keep
him from hurting them. They were frightened at what
he may do. But he would always break those
chains asunder when sin called. He could not be restrained. He could not be tamed, the scripture
says. Now a tamed tiger is still a
tiger. You better watch out. His nature
has not been changed. Now these people attempted to
tame this man, restrain him, modify his behavior, and that's
what religion attempts to do, to tame a man. But that nature
was still there. And when sin would call, he would
come running. He could not be tamed. He could
not be bound with these fetters. And I think this represents what
religion attempts to do. Religion attempts to tame a man
and restrain his behavior, but it can do nothing to give him
a new nature. That's what this man needed.
He needed a new heart. Now we read in verse five, and
always, night and day. He was in the mountains and in
the tombs crying and cutting himself with stones. He was miserable,
cutting himself with stones. And this lets us know that he
knew who the problem was. He knew he was the problem. He was cutting himself. He knew
he was his own worst enemy. He didn't feel like a victim.
He knew this was all of his fault and he was miserable, daily in
the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. Verse six, but when he saw Jesus,
when he saw Jesus. Now that word saw is not merely
a physical sight. He perceived who he was. He knew exactly who he was. And when he saw Jesus afar off,
he did what all who really see him do. He ran, he hit the dirt,
and he worshiped him. Now, the only true worship there
is, is when you worship the Lord for who He is without any regard
to what He does or does not do for you. If you supposedly are
worshiping because of something you think He may do for you,
and that you may be able to get Him to respond to you, and you
wouldn't worship Him if He didn't do what you want Him to do, That
is not worship. This man didn't even suspect
mercy at this time. He was asking the Lord just not
to torment him and not send him back to hell, back to the abyss.
But he ran and he worshiped the Lord Jesus Christ for who he
is. Now, he is to be worshiped for
who he is. He's the son of God. He's the
Lord. He's God's Christ, God's prophet,
God's priest, God's king. And if he doesn't save me, oh,
I hope he does. I pray he does. But if he doesn't
save me and if he leaves me to myself, he's still the object
of divine worship because of who he is. Now you look at the men in the
New Testament and the women in the New Testament who worshipped
him. The scripture says regarding the leper, there came a leper
and worshipped him, saying, Lord, if you will, you can make me
clean. Now, he didn't know if the Lord
would do it, but he worshipped him anyway for who he is, knowing
salvation was utterly and completely in the Lord's hands. Lord, if
you will, You can make me clean. The Syrophoenician woman asked
the Lord for mercy. He didn't answer a word. She
continues to ask. And he said, I'm not sent but
to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. I've only come to
save the elect. You know what the scripture says
she did at that time? Then came she and worshiped him,
saying, Lord, help me. If you don't help me, I won't
be helped. And that's when he said, it's
not right to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And
she said, that's the truth, Lord. If I ever heard the truth, that's
it. Yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table.
I know I'm no more than a dog, but I'm your dog. And I'll be
so thankful for any crumbs of mercy that fall my way. That
is worship. Now, this must be settled first. Well, you can't go on with him.
He is to be worshiped for who he is, whether he does anything
for me or you or not. Amen? He is worthy of worship. I think of that man in John chapter
9. Does thou believe on the Son
of God? Who is he, Lord, that I might
believe? Thou hast both seen him, and it's he that speak with
thee. And he said, Lord, I believe. And he fell down and worshiped.
Worship is a response to who he is. Now let's go and read
him. But when he saw Jesus far off,
he ran and worshiped him. And he cried with a loud voice
and said, what have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the
most high God? See, he knew exactly who he was.
I adjure thee by God. I beg you, don't torment me. Now, think of what he said. What have I to do with thee? You're holy. I'm unclean. You're life. I'm death. You're good. I'm evil. You're the truth, I'm a lie. You're light, I'm darkness. What connection is there between
me and thee? I couldn't help but think of
Peter. You can read about this in Luke chapter five when Peter
found out who the Lord really was. The scripture says he fell
down on his knees before the Lord and said, depart from me,
Lord. For I'm a sinful man. You don't
want to have anything to do with me. I'm nothing but sin. I'm full of sin. That's all that
is there. Depart from me. This man says,
what is there? What connection is there? What
have I to do with thee? What is there in common with
us? Absolutely nothing. All I'm asking
is that you torment me not. Verse eight, for he, the Lord
Jesus had said unto him, come out of the man, thou unclean
spirit. And remember his voice is always
obeyed. When he commands, his voice is
always obeyed. And that unclean spirit knew
that. Verse nine, And he asked him,
the Lord asked him, what is your name? Now, the Lord wasn't asking
this for information. He knew exactly who his name
was. He had known this man from the
very foundation of the world. But this is very much like him
asking Jacob his name when he wrestled with Jacob. What's your
name? Well, he knew Jacob was, but this was for confession.
Jacob. Deceit. Cheat. Deceiver. He's confessing who
he is. That's what this man is doing.
He's confessing, my name is Legion, for we are many. Now this man was demon possessed. And he had a legion of demons
in him. Now the New Testament has a lot
to say upon this subject of demon possession, and many were possessed of demons
in that day, and many are possessed of demons in this day. As a matter
of fact, everybody that is an unbeliever is under the dominion
and the control of Satan. Do you remember when the Lord
said to those religious people in John chapter 8 verse 44, you
are of your father, the devil. and the lusts of your father
you will do." Now many when they think of demon possession they
think of the occult and these dark practices and people wearing
hoods and chanting and so on. Well no doubt that is demon possession
but didn't Paul when he described Satan he says he comes as an
angel of light? And his ministers, ministers
of righteousness. Now, my dear friends, that's
demon possession. Listen to this scripture from Ephesians chapter
two, verse one. And you hath he quickened who
were dead in trespasses and sins. This is talking about every unbeliever.
Wherein in times past you walked according to the course of this
world, according to the prince of the power of the air. the
spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, among
whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of
the flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind,
and were by nature children of wrath, even as others." Now,
works religion is demon possession. Let me repeat that. Works, religion
is demon possession. Uncleanness is demon possession. This man with this unclean, foul
spirit, no doubt he was demon possessed, but so is every other
person who does not believe the gospel. It comes in different
ways, but when Paul warned us of Satan, he didn't warn us of
a guy with a a tail and pitchfork. He warned us of an angel of light
and a minister of righteousness. Now he says, my name is Legion,
for we are many legions of lust and uncleanness, legions of pride
and self-righteousness, legions of impurity hypocrisy. That's me. My name is Legion.
We are many. Verse 10 and he, Legion, besought
him much that he would not send them away out of the country. And Luke's account says, send
them back into the deep, the abyss, the pit. And that's a
reference to hell. Now look in verse 11. Now there
were Nigh into the mountains a great herd of swine feeding." And what happened to these swine?
And all the devils besought him saying, send us into the swine
that we may enter into them. Now, a couple of things to think
about. Number one, who's speaking, the man or the swine? Yes, the
man is speaking. The demons are speaking, and
you can't really tell which one's speaking. It's the same. The man is one with the demons. And these demons realize that
they cannot make a move without the permission of the Lord Jesus
Christ. They couldn't do anything without
first Him letting them do it, and they knew it, and they asked
Him permission. They knew they couldn't make
a move without Him. That is how high they viewed
Him. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. He's
the Lord. He's the Lord of angels. He's
the Lord of demons. He's the Lord of lords and King
of kings. And they understood this, and they said, Sufferance
to go into this herd of swine. And I love verse 13, and forthwith,
Jesus gave them leave. He gave them permission. Now
that's a statement regarding the kingly authority of the Son
of God. This great group of demons could
not make a move unless he allowed them to do it. You see, he is
Lord of lords. He's Lord of demons. He's everybody's
Lord. He's the Lord of the dead. He's
the Lord of the living. Somebody might think He's not
my Lord. Yeah, He is, because He's the
Lord. He's your Lord, whether you know it or not, and you are
under His thumb. And I love it that way. I wouldn't
want it to be any other way. He's the Lord, and He gave these
demons permission to go into that herd of swine. Now, what a sight. Look what
it says, And forthwith Jesus gave them leave, and the unclean
spirits went out and entered into the swine. And the herd
ran violently down a deep place into the sea. There were about
two thousand, and they were choked in the sea. And what a sight
this must have been, two thousand pigs. squealing and snorting,
running as fast as they can toward a cliff. As soon as they reach
it, they jump off, go into the sea and every one of them are
drowned. Now somebody owned those pigs
and this cost somebody a lot of money. Somebody would have
got very upset over this. Verse 14, and they that fed the
swine fled and told it to the city and in the country. And
they went out to see what it was that was done. You can imagine what a stir this
created. And verse 15, and they come to
Jesus and see him that was possessed with the devil and had the legion
sitting. Luke's account says, sitting
at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. Sitting. You see, he'd been given
a new nature. And that nature has one great
desire to sit at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. This man
whom no man could tame, who would break asunder the fetters and
the shackles is now sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, does that mean his old nature
is gone? No, his old nature is still there, but he's got a new
nature that's greater than the old. And he's sitting at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. And what's it say next about
him? It says he was clothed. Now remember he'd been naked.
He was now clothed, completely clothed. And I have no doubt
that that represents being clothed by Christ. Clothed. in his righteousness, no longer
naked, clothed in his righteousness, having the wedding garment on,
having that fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness
of the saints, which is the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He is now clothed
in Christ. He's justified. He has the very
righteousness of Christ as his own personal righteousness. And
I love what it says next. He was in his right mind. Now,
before he what? he is now in his right mind."
You see, a lost man's crazy. Someone who doesn't look to Christ
only as everything in salvation is plum crazy. Now, this word
right-minded is also translated sober-minded. Everyone is called
upon in Romans 12 to be sober-minded And what does that mean? To not
think of yourself more highly than you ought to think. Now,
this is the only way I can be right-minded, is if I don't think
of myself more highly than I ought to think. Now, natural men think
of themselves so much more highly than they ought to think. Oh,
they may be insecure, they may have no self-esteem, but they
still think of themselves more highly than they ought to think
because they don't see God's absolute justice in sending them
to hell. They don't bow to the gospel, but a believer does. He thinks of himself, as he ought
to think, as a sinner needing Christ, and that only is being
right-minded. Any other view is being insane,
but this man is sitting, now sitting at the feet of Christ,
clothed in the very righteousness of Christ, and he's now in his
right mind. He's looking to Christ only. Verse 16, and they that saw it,
they saw the pigs go over the cliff and they saw what the Lord
had done to this man. And they that saw it told them
how it befell to him that was possessed with the devil and
also concerning the swine. They told him everything that
took place. And they began to pray him to depart out of their
coasts. They did not feel comfortable
with this. They felt all right with the
guy being tamed and chained, but a lost man never feels comfortable
with grace. They see this man sitting at
the feet of the Lord, clothed in the very righteousness of
Christ, in his right mind, and they didn't feel comfortable
with it. And they actually asked the Lord to leave. Depart from
our coast. We don't like this. We don't
understand this. We don't feel comfortable with this. We like
the guy better the way he was before. We don't like this. Leave. Now, if you hear the gospel and
your request is, I don't like this, you better watch out. The
Lord may give you what it is you want. You may ask him to
leave and he'll say, oh, well, OK, I'll do it. And you'll never
hear from him again until Judgment Day. These people ask this man
to leave. and he answered their request. Verse 18, and when he was coming
to the ship, he was going to leave. When he was coming to
the ship, he that had been possessed with the devil prayed him that
he might be with him. Now, if a man or a woman ever
comes to know who the Lord Jesus Christ is, I know what they're
going to want. They're going to want to be with
him. That's all I want is to be with Him. Wherever He is,
that's where I want to be. And this word with, this preposition
with is also translated in. He wanted to be in Him. Now this
is what every believer desires more than anything else. I want
to be with Christ. I just want to be with Him. I
don't want to be without Him at any time, and I want to be
in Him. I want it to be to where that all God sees when He sees
me is He sees me in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's my only
desire. He wanted to be with Him. He
wanted to be in Him, and He wanted to go with Him. He didn't want
to stay there. And look how the Lord answers him, verse 19, Jesus suffered him not. Now, this is interesting. He
answered the prayer of the people who wanted him to leave. He said
yes to them. But this one who wants to be
with him, he says no. He says no. Jesus suffered him
not, but saith unto him, go home to thy friends and tell them,
and don't miss this, how great things the Lord hath done for
thee and had compassion on thee. Now, if you would listen to the
testimony of the average religious person, he would talk about the
great things the Lord has done in him. I'm different. My life has changed. I'm not
like I once was. And I don't think when someone
speaks in those terms, it scares me. It sounds too much like the
Pharisee. I thank thee that I'm not. as other men are. I give you
the credit. I give your grace the credit.
I'm not as other men are. Now, if you're thinking that
way, you're not thinking about what the Lord has done. You're
thinking about what He has enabled you to do and how He's enabled
you to be. And I'll be quite frank, whenever
I start thinking that way, I start wondering whether or not I'm
even saved. I start wondering if the Lord's ever done anything
for me because I'm not as good as I ought to be. I certainly
know that. And when people start boasting about their changed
lives, you know, change lives, here's the evidence, change lives.
Well, lives ought to be changed. I'm not saying anything against
that, but that doesn't give me any comfort. That doesn't give
me any hope to think about my life being changed. That gives
me no assurance whatsoever. The only thing that gives me
hope is what the Lord has done for me and had compassion on
me. Now, let me tell you in just
a few minutes what the Lord has done for me. And I think it's
interesting In Luke's account, he said, go home and tell your
friends and family what God has done for thee. But here he's
speaking of himself, what the Lord has done for thee. Now,
the Lord accepted me before time began when the father gave me
to him in eternal election. And as my surety, He took complete
responsibility for my salvation. He said, I will save him. I'll do everything for him. That's what the Lord has done.
And he became flesh. And in the flesh, he kept God's
holy law for me. He worked out a perfect righteousness
for me. And then he was nailed to a cross
for me and died for me. Now, why did he die? We can't
ever overlook that question. Why did he die? Because my sin
became his sin. He became guilty of the commission
of that sin. And God's wrath, the soul that
sinneth shall surely die. My sin became his sin. No, he
never committed sin, but my sin still became his sin. He was
made sin. And in being made sin, God's
wrath came down upon him and all my sin was paid for. I was redeemed by what he did. And he was raised for me. You know why he was raised for
me? Because God was satisfied with what he did and he justified
me. He was delivered for our offenses
and he was raised again for our justification. He was raised
for me and accomplished my salvation. He redeemed me. He put away all
my sins and made me perfectly righteous before God. And he
did this by himself. There wasn't any cooperation
on my part. The scripture says he by himself purged. our sins. He did this all for
me. And do you know, he gave me a
new heart. I was like that man living in
the tombs. And he gave me a new heart, a
heart that believes, a heart that repents. A heart that loves
Christ, a heart that loves God just as He is. He gave me a new
heart. He preserves me. The reason I
haven't fallen away is because I'm kept by His power. He causes
me to persevere in the faith. When I die, I'm going to be brought
into His presence perfect. He's coming again for me. I'm
talking about what he has done for me. Well, what have you done
for him? All I'm going to talk about is
what he has done for me. The songwriter said, living,
he loved me. Dying, he saved me. Buried, he carried my sins far
away. Rising, he justified freely forever. one day he's coming oh glorious
day he's interceding for me right
now at the right hand of the father
as my representative how be it jesus suffered him not but say
then go home to thy friends and tell them how great things the
lord have done for thee and have had compassion on thee Don't
go home and tell your friends of the great way you've changed
and how good you are and how well, no, you have one mission
to go home and tell your friends and family the great things the
Lord had done for you and had compassion on you. Verse 20,
and he departed and began to publish in Decapolis how great
things Jesus had done for him. And all men did marvel. He became
the missionary to Decapolis. Oh, that I might be enabled by
the Spirit of God from the scriptures to see the great things the Lord
hath done for me and have had compassion on me. Legion sure
had some understanding of this, didn't he? Let's pray together. Our merciful and gracious Heavenly
Father, how we thank you for your word. Lord, how we thank
you for the great things that you have done for us and has
had compassion upon us. And we give thanks. Lord, bless
this message. And Lord, we look forward to
the time hopefully soon, where we'll get to meet together again
and see each other, worship thy son with one another. Bless us
for Christ's sake, accept our thanksgiving. In his name we
pray, amen.