Would you turn with me to the
eighth chapter of the book of Luke? We will observe the Lord's table
tonight, and I'm going to be speaking from Matthew chapter
seven, verse six, where the Lord said, give not that which is
holy to the dogs. Neither cast ye your pearls before
swine." I've never preached on that passage of scripture. I've
looked at it, I've referred to it, but I want to try to deal
with the subject dogs and swine. I've entitled the message for
this morning, The Man Who Could Not Be Tamed. I borrowed that
title from Mark's account of this passage of scripture where
Mark said, no man could tame him. In Luke chapter eight, verse
26, and they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over
against Galilee. Now included in that they is
the one of whom is described in verse 25 of the same chapter
where the disciples said, what manner of man is this? For he
commandeth even the winds and water and they obey him. And that is the one who came
over to the country of the Gadarenes. Verse 27, and when he went forth
to the land, There met him out of the city, a certain man, which
had devils long time and wear no clothes, neither abode in
any house, but in the tombs. Matthew's account tells us this
man was exceeding fierce. You want to stay away from him.
Scare you to death. He was exceeding fierce. Mark's
account tells us he was a man with an unclean spirit. He was
an immoral, evil, dark man. And he wear no clothes. Dwell,
his dwelling place was in the tombs. The only place he felt
comfortable. It was with the dead. And in
Mark's account, we read where he had often been bound with
chains and fetters to restrain him. And you'd want this fellow
chained up too, wouldn't you? He was fierce. He was filled
with demons. He wore no clothes. He was a
wicked, evil man. And they would bind him with
chains and fetters. And this is as far as human religion
can go. It can restrain a man. Temporarily. Restraint. Keep people from doing what they
want to do. You know, human religion is a
very sad thing, isn't it? Because that's about all it does,
is it keeps people from doing what they really want to do.
And it causes them to do what they really
don't want doing. chains and fetters. But these
restraints never work over the long haul. Pretty soon he would
be back and he would break the chain of religion and snap the
fetters of commandments. His religion was always temporary. I had no doubt that this man
was miserable with his life. He would resolve to change, to
be good, to quit sinning. Chained up by human religion,
but when sin would call, he would obey. He would break the chains. How many times have you resolved
to be good, to change? And how often has that resolve
been successful? You know, Mark tells us they
attempted to tame him. They attempted to tame him. You
tame a wild animal. You tame a tiger. You tame a
lion. You tame an elephant. You can
tame wild animals. Now, for some reason, I was thinking
I had seen an elephant riding on a unicycle in the circus. I guess it was a cartoon I'm
thinking of. But I actually thought, and I said, Lyndon, is that?
I actually tried to Google it this morning. I guess it never
happened. But you I have seen animals tamed to
do amazing things, though. I mean, taming tigers, taming
lions. I've been to the circus and seen how they can be tamed. And you can restrain them. But
every now and then, somebody who's tamed those animals, they're
sorry about what took place because those animals turn on them. Because
you know what happens when you tame an animal? Its nature is
the same. You might have changed its action
to where it can act pretty good around people, but its nature
is the same. And sooner or later, it will
attack you. Now this man was miserable and
self-destructive. The scripture says he cut himself
with stones. You know, I was thinking that
that was a phenomenon that was just in our day, but no, it's
been going on for a long time. People cutting themselves with
stones. Maybe this man had been abused.
I don't know. Maybe he forms, he experienced some kind of horrible
abuse, but he cut himself. He cut himself. He hurt himself
with stones. Verse 28 of our text. Now here
we have this man. He'd been possessed by devils
for a long time and he wear no clothes. Neither abode in any
house, but in the tombs. But when he saw Jesus. Now beloved here is where salvation
begins. When he saw Jesus seeing the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now the word see doesn't merely
refer to a physical sight. He perceived who he was. Go on
reading verse 28. When he saw Jesus, he cried out
and fell down before him and with a loud voice said, What
have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou son of the most high? He
knew exactly who he was, didn't he? I beseech thee, torment me
not. Now he did what all who see him
do. He fell prostrate at his feet. Now that's what folks do who
see the Lord Jesus Christ. They fall prostrate at his feet. Once again, Mark's account says
he worshiped him. This man worshiped the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now, would you please listen
to me carefully? I know this. Before the Lord does something
for a man, as far as he can perceive, this issue of worship has to
first be settled. True worship has absolutely nothing
to do with personal gain. Remember where Paul warned us
about those who supposed that gain was godliness? True worship
has absolutely nothing to do with personal gain or personal
benefit. If that's what it's about, it's
not worship. You worship the Lord when you
see who he is and you worship him for who he is without reference
to what he does for you. This man saw who the Lord was
and he ran and fell down before him and worshiped him. And he didn't even suspect that
the Lord would have compassion on him. He said, I'm begging
you. Don't torment me. Don't send me back into the deep.
Don't send me back into the abyss. Don't send me back to hell. Notice what he says in verse
28. He says, what have I to do with
thee? Jesus, thou son of the most high,
I beseech thee, torment me not. And Mark tells us when he said
that he was worshiping the Lord. Now we know he was worshiping
because the Bible says he was, but yet he says, what have I
to do with thee? There's no agreement between
us. You see, he saw who he was. And when you see who he is, you
know what you'll see next? You'll see who you are. And that's
exactly what he saw. There's no agreement between
us. I'm darkness. You're light. I'm weakness. You're strength. I'm evil. You're holy. I'm bad. You're good. I'm unclean. You're pure. I'm a lie. You're the truth. I'm all ugliness. You're all beauty. I'm transient. You're eternal. I'm death. You're life. What agreement is
there between you and me? What have I to do with thee? That's exactly what Peter meant
when he found out who the Lord really was. He said, depart from
me, Lord. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. Depart from me, Lord. I am a
sinful man. I'm full of sin. That's exactly what this fellow
was saying. What have I to do with thee? All he could do is,
I beseech you, don't torment me. He didn't even suspect that
the Lord would do anything for him, but he worshipped him. He worshipped him. You see, you worship the Lord
for who he is without reference to what he does for you. One
thing this man did know, he knew who the Lord was and he worshiped
him. I beseech you, torment me not. You know, this thing of worship,
when I hear people speak ill of God's absolute sovereignty
in salvation. How he saves whom he pleases
and he passes by whom he pleases. And people complain about the
fairness of it. I think of myself, I think to
myself, you've never seen Christ and you've never seen who you
are. Because if you saw who you are, you know that if he passes
you by, he is fair. Amen. You'll only worship a sovereign. Now, here is someone that sees that the Lord Jesus
Christ is the son of God. Look at verse 29. For he had commanded the unclean
spirit. This is that same one who commanded
the winds and the seas and they obeyed him. This is the one who
said to the wind, peace, be still. And there was a great call. And this is the only one who
can say peace, be still to your heart. And there'll be a great
call. For he had commanded the unclean
spirit to come out of the man. For off times it had caught him
and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters. And he break
the bands and was driven of the devil into the wilderness. I
know this. I know what this fellow knew.
The only way I can be saved is for him to command my salvation. Do you know that? The only way
that you or I can be saved is for him to give commandment,
save him. He's one of mine, save him. Verse 30, and Jesus asked him saying, what
is thy name? Now the Lord knew what his name
was, but once again, this is one of those things where the
Lord asked for confession. Kind of like he said to Jacob,
what's your name? Jacob. Supplanter. Cheat. Deceiver. What's your name? Legion. Legions
of demons. Legions of lust. Legions of sin. Legion. Many devils were entered
into him. And look at verse 31. This is
so comforting to me. These demons, they besought him. They begged him that he would
not command them to go out into the deep. Now we're afraid of
demons. Do we believe in demons? Absolutely.
They were in the Lord's time. I have no doubt that they're
in our midst even now. And it scares me to think of
that. And we're afraid of demons. We're afraid of them. But you
know what? They're a whole lot more afraid
of the Lord than we are of them. You see, they know who He is. And they couldn't make a move
without His permission. They had to ask Him if they could
leave. Isn't that wonderful? see, he
really is the Lord. He's the Lord. And everything
is under his absolute sovereign control. He's the Lord of Demons
can do no more than he allows. And right now, as we speak, there
sits the Christ at the right hand of God, undisturbed by opposition. Seated in regal splendor and
majesty, exercising supreme sovereign control. He speaks, and his will
is done. He doeth according to his will
in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay his hand or say unto him, what doest thou?
He's the Lord. He's the Lord. That's not an
empty title. He's the Lord. Me and you and
everybody else and everything else are in his hands. Those demons would not even be
allowed to move from one place to another. They besought him
and he gave them permission. Look in verse 32. Verse 31, and
they besought him that he would not command them to go out into
the deep, the abyss, back to hell. And there was there and
heard of many swine. feeding on the mountain. And
they besought him that he would suffer them to enter into them.
We know from Mark's account there were 2,000 of them. And he suffered
them, he allowed it. Then went the devils out of the
man and entered into the swine and the herd ran violently down
a steep place into the lake and were choked. Can you imagine
how eerie that sight must have been? 2,000 pigs running toward
the precipice, jumping off into the lake and drowning. Verse 34, when they that fed
them saw what was done, they fled and went and told it in
the city and in the country. Then they went out to see what
was done and came to Jesus and found the man. out of whom the
devils were departed, sitting, this man who'd been so fierce,
sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. Now, beloved, I don't believe
there's a more beautiful illustration of salvation than right here.
He found this man sitting, not running around scaring people
to death, but sitting. Sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ, the place of submission. You sit at the feet of the one
you submit yourself to. He submitted to the Lord Jesus
Christ. It's the place of worship. It's
the place of hearing. Remember how Mary sat at his
feet and heard his word sitting at the feet of Jesus. And next
it says he was clothed. I don't have any doubt what that
is a reference to. He was clothed in the righteousness
and merits of Jesus Christ. clothed with the garment of salvation,
that fine linen, clean and white, the righteousness of the saints,
which is nothing less than the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Now, I love to think of having
his righteousness. I believe I have his righteousness.
It's not just a covering. It's not just a covering. It's
not just a ticket that says I'm righteous. It means I am righteous
through and through. It's all God sees, because that's
all that's there. You see, my sin's been put away.
My sin has been put away. It's gone. You know, when it
was on Christ, you know where it wasn't on? It wasn't on me.
Sin can't be two places at once, can it? When it was on Christ,
Wasn't on me, and he put it away. Now hath he appeared once in
the end of the world to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. My sin, oh, the bliss of this
glorious thought, my sin not in part but the whole has been
nailed to the cross and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, oh my soul. sitting at the feet of Christ,
clothed in the very righteousness of Christ, justified before God. And I like this next phrase.
It says he was in his right mind. He was in his right mind and
no doubt he'd been crazy at me, but he's now in his right mind. You know, somebody doesn't believe
the gospel and I'm not saying this in a I hope I'm not saying
this in a judgmental or harsh way, but just realistically,
someone that doesn't believe the gospel is crazy. Somebody who doesn't look to
Christ as their righteousness before God is insane. Someone who doesn't believe that
they're nothing but sin, and Christ is their only hope, is
filled with self-delusion and self-grandeur. They're crazy.
They don't think right. Their thoughts are contrary to
God. You know, he said, my thoughts
are not your thoughts. Neither my ways your ways. Well,
isn't that the truth? Somebody that doesn't believe
the gospel right now, they're not in their right mind. The
only wise, sensible thing to do is to trust the merits of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's all you need. To trust
His precious blood as your only sin payment. If you don't do
that right now, you're crazy. Just like this man was. He was
crazy. I mean, it's insane. It doesn't even make sense. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ right now. Sirs, what must I do to
be saved? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and thou shalt be saved. Do it right now. Don't wait.
Don't believe. And anytime you don't, that is
crazy. Now, this man was in his right
mind, wasn't he? But look at the last phrase in
verse 35. And they were afraid. They liked
him better the way it was before. Lost men are always afraid of
grace. I guess the way that fellow was
before, it made him feel good about themselves. I'm not like
him. At least I'm not like that guy. Verse 36. They also, which saw
it told them by what means he was that he that was possessed
with the devils was healed. They told him the Lord did this
simply by word. Then the whole multitude of the
country of the Gadarenes, every one of them roundabout besot
him to depart from them. And we don't, we don't like this.
Leave, go back where you came from. You know, that's the natural
man's response to the gospel. Depart. We desire not the knowledge
of the Moschi. Depart. We don't like this. We
like things better the way they used to be. Depart. Depart. For they were taken with great
fear. And you know, he answered their
prayer. He went back unto the ship and
returned back again. He did what they asked him to
do. Verse 38. Now the man out of
whom the devils were departed, he besought him that he might be with him. This is all he wanted. He wanted
to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, I want to be with you. Don't
leave. I want to be with you. I want
to go with you. If you're leaving, I'm going with you. This is what
a believer is. He's somebody who wants to be
with the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to be with Him, don't
you? I want to be on His coattails. I want Him to hold my hand. I
want to be in Him. I want Him to bring me to the
Father. I want to be with Him. with the Lord Jesus Christ. He besought him. I want to be
with him. I want to be, oh, I, I want to
be with him. But the Lord sent him away. He gave the unbelievers what
they wanted. And he didn't give this man what
he wanted. He sent him away. He said in
verse 39, 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. Was he confused here? No. He knew, as every believer knows,
that Jesus is God. And when he went and told the
great things God had done, he went and told the great things
that Jesus had done. Now this I know. Jesus Christ is God. I can't
help but think of that Ethiopian eunuch. See, here's water. What hinders me from being baptized?
Is there some reason why I shouldn't? Perhaps my life is not holy enough. Perhaps I've got too much sin
in my life. Perhaps I don't know enough. Perhaps I don't understand enough.
Perhaps I don't love enough. Perhaps he could have thought
of all kinds. If there's a reason why I shouldn't be baptized,
I want to know. What did Philip say? If you believe
with all your heart, you may. And he replied, and I love his
reply. You know what I'm going to say?
You've heard me say it before, but I hope it comes in power. He
didn't say, I believe I'm saved. He didn't say, I believe Jesus
Christ died for me. He didn't say, I believe I'm
one of the elect. He didn't say, I believe I've been born from
above. He didn't say, I believe I'm me. He said, all his faith
within it was this. I believe that Jesus Christ is
the son of God. You believe that? This fella did. He went home
to tell his friends and family the great things Jesus had done
for him. Now religion, man's religion,
loves to talk about the great things God is doing. God's doing
great things in my life. I mean, God's doing great things
in my life. I sure hope he is. But as to
what he's doing, I don't know. I don't, I know it's glorifying
himself and I know he's in control of everything, but as far as
knowing what he's doing, I don't know what he's doing. I really
don't. But I can tell you the great things he has done. Do you know he foreknew me? He said before, I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee. He predestinated me to be conformed
to his very own image. And if he predestinated that,
you know what? It's already taken place. He stood as my surety. before
time began and agreed with his father that all of salvation,
all that God required of me, you look to me for it. I will
be surety for him. That's what he did for me. In time, he came in the flesh. He was made flesh for me. He
kept God's holy law for me. He died for me, taking my sin
upon himself. And you know what he did by that
death? He justified me and made me to be without sin. When he was raised from the dead,
God accepted him and he accepted me. And he accepted everybody
he died for. Right now, he's interceding for
me. You know, he called me. I love
that scripture. When it pleased God who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace to reveal
his son in me. That I might preach him among
the heathen. I love the way he said he revealed his son in me.
Do you know, it's not enough for him to reveal his son to
me. That's not enough because I'll forget, but he revealed
his son in me. Christ in you, the hope of glory. I live yet not I, but Christ
liveth in me. That's what he's done for me. He's called me. He's kept me. He's preserved me. He's coming
back for me. You go home and tell your friends
and family. This is a personal, here's my
personal testimony. Here's the testimony of every
believer. If you go home and tell them the great things God
has done unto you, for you. And he went home and told him
the great things Jesus had done. Now here's a Here's a testimony. And for the most part, I've got
to admit, I do not like to hear the personal testimonies of religious
people. I really don't because all they
brag about how bad they used to be, how good they are now
and how the Lord's using them and what all the Lord's doing
in their life and all that kind of stuff. And it's just, it's. But here is something that I
can proclaim. I want to go home. I want me
to do this. I want you to do this and tell everybody the great
things that Jesus has done for me. And he went and published it
abroad in the city, the great things that Jesus had done. Now this man couldn't be tamed,
neither can you, neither can I. I think of that scripture,
the tongue. Can no man tame? Can you tame
your own tongue? You know from your own experience
that you can't tame your tongue. No man can tame. But remember
this. Taming is just trying to get
somebody to change the outward behavior. That won't do you any
good. But the Lord doesn't tame anybody. He makes them new. I still got the old. I would
be dishonest and unreal if I didn't say I still have the old man
that's just as bad as it ever was. But I've got a new man who
sits at the feet right now in spirit, who sits at the feet
of Jesus Christ, clothed in his righteousness. And I'm in my
right mind. I'm looking to him. only. Nothing more, nothing less, and
nothing else. Let's pray.