I've entitled this message, The
Man of the Tombs, and this is one of my favorite
stories in the Word of God. We begin reading in verse 1 of
Mark chapter 5, and they came over unto the other side of the
sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. Now, why were they
going there? because one of the Lord's sheep
was there. And the Lord is always on the
trail of His sheep. He never loses one of them. If
you are one of the Lord's sheep, He's going to have you. Isn't
that a wonderful thing to know? And we read in verse 2, And when
he was come out of the ship, Immediately there met him out
of the tombs, the graveyard, a man with an unclean spirit. Now look at this description
of this man that the Lord was after. Matthew's account tells
us that he was exceeding fierce. Luke's account tells us that
he wear no clothes. This man was stark naked that
came running at Christ and his disciples. Our account here in
Mark tells us that he was a man with an unclean spirit. This man was not merely unclean
in his actions. He was unclean in his spirit. An immoral man. An evil man. an impure man, wicked to the
core. Now that's the description of
this man. I can't help but wonder if this describes anyone who's
listening to me this morning. A man with an unclean spirit. We read in verse 3, who had his
dwelling among the tombs. Death was all around him. Spiritual
death was in him. And it says in verse 3, No man
could bind him, no, not with chains. This man could not be
restrained. Verse 4 says, 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, what I get in the latter
part of verse 3 in this verse 4 is a description of religion. Now, I want you to listen to
me real carefully. This is a description of man's religion. chains, fetters,
bondage. It is man's attempt to tame men. Now, what do you do when you
tame an animal? You don't change his nature,
you simply try to restrain his actions. You restrain his outward
behavior. Would you have a tamed tiger
as a pet in your home? I wouldn't think of it, not even
for a second. While it may be tamed temporarily,
you know at any moment it can break out. And this man was fettered. He was chained. He was in bondage. And that's what human religion
does. It seeks to tame a man, to keep him from doing what he
really wants to do. Makes him do what he really doesn't
want to do. That's what these chains and
fetters and bondage is all about. You know, religion is a very
unhappy and it's a miserable thing. It really is. It's unhappy and it's miserable. This man was tamed. He was he
was in bondage. He didn't get to do what he really
wanted to do. But you know what? These chains and this bondage
was always temporary. It never would last. Now, he
would resolve to be good. He would resolve to stop sinning. He would resolve in his mind,
I'll never do that again. But when sin would call, he would
obey. And sooner or later, he would
snap these chains and snap these bonds. His religion was always temporary. What a miserable life this man
had. He had been off and down with
fetters and chains. I suppose this man had rededicated
his life more than Gellog's has cornflakes. He was always doing
something, trying to get things straightened out. But when sin
would call, he could not keep from obedience to that call.
And he would snap these fetters away, and no man could tame him. And we read in verse 5 regarding
this man, and always Night and day, he was in the mountains
and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones. Now, this man was miserable. This man was self-destructive. If he were not afraid of hell,
I don't have any doubt that he would have chosen death over
life. But he was afraid to die. And
notice it says he cut himself with these stones. Now, I don't
have any doubt that this man probably was brought up in a
terrible way. I mean, how else did he get in
the mess he was in? He no doubt had a bad environment.
Maybe he had some kind of emotional problems. Maybe he had some kind
of chemical imbalance. I don't know. There's all kinds
of things you could say about this man. And indeed, now listen
to me carefully. Indeed, our environment, the
things that we were raised with, they have an effect on us. There
is no doubt about that. You can't get away from your
raising, can you? There are things right now that are affecting
you because of the way you were raised. No question about that. But what does it say about this
man? It says he cut himself with stones. You know what that means? That means ultimately everything
was his fault. Now, what this is dealing with
is human responsibility. Now, there's no doubt that there's
many things that have affected us. No question about that. But
our cuts come from ourself. Our sin is our fault. Now, write this down. Who is to blame for your personal
sin? There's only one answer. You. Who's to blame for my sin? I
can't blame my mom and dad. I can't blame my environment.
My sin is my fault. He cut himself with stones. What
a picture of misery. This man, fierce, naked with
an unclean spirit, crying night and day, living in the tombs,
cutting himself with stones. What a picture of misery. Verse
six, but. This is one of my favorite words
in the Word of God, but. But. But. When he saw Jesus. Now he was a far off. He didn't
see him clearly. But he saw who he really was. Now this is where mercy begins
for this man in his experience. When he saw Jesus, what did he
do? He ran. One of you count says. He ran. He didn't hesitate about
this and worshiped him. Now the word Saul is not the
word that is generally used for physical sight. It means when
he perceived. When he understood. Who Jesus
really was? Now that's what happened to this
man. Now somebody says, how do you know that he really knew
who Jesus really was? How do you know that he really
believed he was God? How do you know he really believed
he was the God man? How do you know that he really
believed that he was the only savior of sinners? How do you
know that he knew who Jesus Christ really was? I can tell you how
I know that. Because He did what everybody
does who sees who He really is. He worshipped Him. He ran and fell in the dirt,
prostate at His feet. He ran and He worshipped Him. You see, you will only worship.
Now this word is such a powerful word. Is anybody here going to
worship me? Most of you say no. Some of you are dumb enough to
do it. I'd say you're a fool. You're a fool. Worship a man?
A man whose breath is in his nostrils? You'll only worship
an absolute You'll only worship one in whose hands you are, and
he can do with you whatever he is pleased to do. That's who
you worship. This man ran and worshipped him
because he really believed he was in the hands of an absolute
sovereign. He was very much like that leper
who came running to the Lord and worshipped. And the scripture
says, he said, Lord, if you will. You can make me clean. It's all up to you. And notice
this about this worship. This worship was before he could
perceive that the Lord had done anything for him. Now, I want
to ask you a question and I want you to think about this. Is the Lord worthy of worship? Is the Lord Jesus Christ, that's
who I'm speaking of, the Lord Jesus Christ, Is he worthy of
worship even if he doesn't do anything for you? What if he passed you by? And
what if you went to hell? Would he still be worthy of worship? You see, true worship worships
him for who he is. Can you for just a moment forget
yourself? And forget your circumstances.
Forget about the good. Forget about the bad. And is
he worthy of worship without reference to you? True worship worships him for
who he is. Does somebody say, well, I've
never worshipped him like that? That's because you've never seen
him. Because let me tell you this, I'm telling you the truth.
Everybody who has seen Him, I know they will do this. They might
not know whether they're saved. They might not know whether the
Lord's done anything for them. But I know this, everybody who's
seen Him is going to bow down at His feet and they're going
to worship. They worship Him for who He is. He ran and He
worshiped Him. Verse 7, 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 thee, I beg thee by
God, that thou torment me not. Now what's this all about? You say he's worshiping, and
yet he says, What have I to do with you? What connection is
there between you and I? What's this got to do with worship?
Well, this is Holy Spirit conviction. This is the conviction of sin.
You see, you cannot see him. Now, you listen to this real
carefully. You cannot possibly see him without also getting
a glimpse of yourself. Isn't that so? I can talk about
total depravity. I can talk about human sin, and
it sounds negative. It just sounds like a real negative
way to look at things. But if you and I ever see him,
it's just the truth. I can't describe you or myself
bad enough if I ever see him. What connection, what agreement
is there between us, is what he's saying. And this is when
conviction of sin begins, when we see the Lord Jesus Christ.
Remember what happened to Isaiah when he saw the Lord? What did
he say about himself? He said, woe is me, I'm undone. What happened when Daniel saw
him? Daniel, what a man, Daniel. Read him, read his character.
He's the one who stood before the wind and prayed when everybody
else was afraid to confess Christ. He's the one who went into the
lion's den. But Daniel, when he saw the Lord,
you know what he said about himself? He said, My comeliness turned
to corruption. Job said, I've heard of you with
the hearing of the ears, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore, I hate myself, and
I repent in dust and ashes. When Peter finally found out
who the Lord was, you know what he said? He said, Lord, depart
from me. You don't want to have anything
to do with me. Paul said, I'm the chief of sinners. John said,
when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. That's what happens
when someone sees Christ. He says, what connection do we
have? There is no connection. I'm darkness. You're light. I'm evil. You're holy. I'm bad. You're good. I'm weakness. You're strength. I'm unclean. You're pure. I'm ugly. You're beautiful. I'm a lie. You're the truth. I'm temporary. You're eternal. I'm death. your life, what agreement, what
connection is there between us? You know, this man, look what
he says in verse 70. He says, I beg thee by God that
thou torment me not. He didn't even suspect mercy.
He didn't even suspect that Christ could do anything with him, but
send him to hell. I beg you by God, don't torment
me. I know that's all I got coming,
but don't torment me. Let me say this. When I hear
people object to what is called the sovereignty of God and salvation,
how He saves whom He will and He passes by whom He will. Christ
died for the elect and didn't die for everybody else. He died
for His people. When I hear people object to
that and say, how can that be fair? You know something I know
about that person? They've never seen the Lord. Because if you've
ever seen the Lord, You might not know about anybody else,
but you know, sure as you're a foot and a half high, that
if He passes you by, it's right. It's just you know that. Now, this man said, I beg you
by your God that you don't torment me, that you don't send me to
hell. Now, let's go on reading. Verse 8, For he said unto him,
Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit. What omnipotence there
is in his command. Verse 9, And he, the Lord Jesus,
asked him, What's thy name? Now, did the
Lord not know what his name was? Did the Lord need information
at this time? Well, you know better than that. The Lord knew
exactly who he was. He asked this question for confession. What's your name? That makes
me think of the angel wrestling with Jacob. What's your name? Jacob. Cheat. Heal. Deceiver. Supplanter. You're going to be made and I'm
going to be made to confess before him who I really am. What's your
name? Legion. That number represents 6,000 legions of uncleanness, legions
of pride, legions of lust, legions of self-righteousness. My name
is Legion, for we are many. And I think this is so interesting
about this passage of Scripture. And this tells how bad man really
is. Who's speaking here, the demons
or the man? Can you tell? Who's speaking
here, the demons or the man himself? You can't really tell, can you?
That tells me how bad man is. You can't tell the difference
between a man and a legion of demons. What's your name? Legion. For we are many, verse
10, and he, the man, the legion, and he besought him, he begged
him much that he would not send him away out of the country.
Luke's account said that he would not send him back into the deep. the abyss back to hell. These fellows, these demons were
afraid they were going to be sent back to hell. So they begged
the Lord that he would not send them away out of the country
or back into the abyss of the deep. Verse 11, Now there was
there, nigh unto the mountain, a great herd of swine feeding
two thousand pigs. That's a lot of pigs. Verse 12,
And all the devils besought him, begged him, saying, Send us into
the swine that we may enter them. Look how they begged and groveled
in the presence of the Lord Jesus. They knew they couldn't make
a move without his permission. You know, I can't help but notice
this, and I pointed this out before. These demons showed more
respect and more understanding of who Christ is than most religious
people do. They were cognizant, they were
understanding of the fact that they couldn't even make a move
without the direct permission of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
I can't tell you how much I love this next statement, verse 13.
And forthwith, Jesus gave them leave. He gave them permission. You
see, this 6,000 demons couldn't make a move. They couldn't move
an inch without the permission of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want
you to picture in your mind the Christ seated at the right hand of the
Father, ruling and reigning as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, undisturbed by opposition. Somebody opposes us, we get disturbed,
you know it? He doesn't. Utterly undisturbed
by opposition, seated in regal splendor and majesty as the Lord's
Christ. Jesus gave them leave. I don't know of a more powerful
statement. Jesus gave them leave. Verse 13, And the unclean spirits
went out and entered into the swine, and the herd ran violently
down a steep place, or they jumped off a cliff into the sea. There
were about two thousand, and they were choked or drowned in
the sea. What an eerie sight that must have been. Can you
imagine it? 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. Now, you can imagine how afraid
these keepers of the swine must have been. So they go back into
the city and they tell everybody just exactly what had taken place. Verse 15, and they come to Jesus.
And here's what was done. Notice it doesn't say they came
to see what had happened, but they came to see what was done.
And here's what was done. They came to Jesus and see him
that was possessed with the devil and had the legion sitting. Remember how he's running
all over the place naked? Now he's sitting. There's such
powerful imagery in that. sitting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ, resting, not up and doing, resting. What's it
say next? He was clothed. Remember, he'd
been naked as a jailer, but now he's clothed. And oh, the imagery
of that. Clothed, covered, clothed in
the righteousness and merits of the Lord Jesus Christ. Clothed
with that covering that is perfect. And what? He was in his right
mind. He had been crazy. But now he's
in his right mind. Did you know that the lost man
is crazy? You remember when Festus said
to Paul, Paul, you're beside yourself. Much learning has made
me mad. And he replied. I'm not mad, Most Noble Festus. But speak forth the words of
truth and soberness. I'm not mad. Let me tell you
what's crazy. Let me tell you what's insane. Trusting anyone or anything else
other than Christ alone. It is insane. It's plum crazy
to look anywhere other than Christ alone. But now, he's in his right
mind, just like the, you remember the prodigal. He'd been out in
the fields feeding swine, and the scripture says, when he came
to himself. He came to himself. All of a sudden, he's in his
right mind. This man is now in his right mind. But look what
it says about their response toward this fellow. Now, they
tried to tame him. I mean, it's hard telling what
all effort these people have put in trying to help this guy
out, trying to clean him up and so on. But now when they see
him sitting and clothed in his right mind, Scripture says they
were afraid. This made them uncomfortable.
Do you know religious people? are always uncomfortable with
grace. They might understand everything
else, but here's one thing they're uncomfortable with. Grace, they
were afraid. And look what they did, verse
16. And they that saw it told them how it befell to him that
was possessed with the devil, how he came to be sitting and
clothed and in his right mind and also concerning the swine.
And what did they do? They began to pray him to depart
out of their coasts. They asked him to leave. They
didn't like this. And you know what's very scary?
He granted their request. You better watch out what you
ask for. The Lord might give it to you. They asked him to leave. And
he left. And when he was coming to the
ship, answering their request, leaving the coasts, he that had
been possessed with the devil prayed to him that he might be
with him. Lord, I don't want you to leave,
and I don't want to stay behind if you're leaving. I want to
go with you. I want to be with you at all times. Isn't that
where you want to be? I don't care where I am. I want to be
with him. Long as I'm with him, everything's fine. Doesn't matter
whether I'm in a cave. Doesn't matter whether I'm in
a palace. It doesn't make any difference as long as I'm with him. If this
fellow felt like he would, I do. I want to be with you, wherever
that is. And this is interesting. While
he said yes to the unbeliever's prayer, he says no to this man. You know, sometimes the answer
no is the greatest blessing you can have. Verse 19. How be it? Jesus suffered him not. He said, no. But he 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.
Now, this actually is my text, and I'm just going to spend a
few moments on it. The Lord said, no, I've got other intentions
for you. You're to be a missionary. You're to be a gospel herald.
You're to preach the gospel to your friends. He says you go
home to your friends and you tell them how great things the
Lord has done for thee and have had compassion on thee. Now,
here we have really what the Christian message is. Now, do
you want to know in a nutshell, just in a small capsule, just
exactly what the Christian message really is? If someone is actually
a representative of Christ and they're giving the Christian
message, what is it that they preach? What is it that they
tell their friends? Well, here we have it. Now, the
first thing that I've noticed about this message is it's an
extremely personal message. It's not abstract. It's not academic. It's personal. You go home and
you tell your friends what great things the Lord has done for
them. If it's not personal, it's really
not the Christian message, is it? It's got to be personal. I'm telling what the Lord has
done for me, not just some abstract theory. I'm telling what the
Lord's done for this sinner when I preach Christian message. But
not only is it an extremely personal message, it is an objective message. You go home and tell your friends
what the Lord has done. Not your interpretation of what
the Lord has done. Not what you think. You go home
and tell your friends what the Lord has done for thee. It's an objective message. But
I want us to notice this wording, and this is so very important.
He says, you go home to thy friends. Verse 19 again. You go home to
thy friends and tell them how great things the Lord. What's
it say next? have done for thee. This wording is very important.
Now, I hear people give their testimonies. And generally, when
religious people give their testimonies, they speak of the great things
that God is doing in their life. God's doing great things in my
life. He's turned me around. I used
to be on dope, and I'm cleaned up now. My home was a wreck,
and it's straightened up now. That's nice. I'm glad. But is
that the Christian message? If you would have asked Joe, what's
God doing in your life right now? What would he have said?
Well, he killed all my kids. He took everything I got. And
he took away my health. And I'm sitting here on a dunghill,
scraping my swords with a broken piece of pot. That's what God's
doing in my life. That's what God is doing in my
life. You know those letters some people
send out at Christmas to tell everybody how wonderful everything
is? I wonder what Job's letter would have sounded like. He says, You go home and tell
them the great things the Lord not is doing, but hath done. And the word here is in the perfect
tense. A perfectly completed action. Perfectly completed, never to
be repeated. You go home and tell your friends
the great things the Lord hath done for thee. What's God doing in your life
right now? I have no idea. I really don't. As a matter of
fact, my life for the last three months, as many of you know,
has been very difficult. What's the Lord doing in your
life? Sure ain't very fun. What has the Lord done for thee
now? I can talk about that. What has
the Lord done for thee? Go home and tell your friends
what the Lord hath done. Listen to this scripture. Ephesians
1, 3 says, He hath blessed us. With all spiritual blessings
and heavenly blessings of Christ. I want you to turn to this. Turn
to Romans 8 if you would for a moment. Talk about what the
Lord hath done. Verse 28, And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are called
according to His purpose, for whom He did foreknow. Now, here's one thing He hath
done for me. He foreknew me. That means He
knew me beforehand. It means more than simply some
Knowledge of me, that means He loved me beforehand. He foreknew me. Before you were
formed in the belly, He said to Jeremiah, I love thee. Behold, I love thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with loving kindness
have I drawn thee. He foreknew me. What else has
the Lord done for you? Well, go on reading in verse
29. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. He predestinated me to be conformed
to the image of His Son. I know this much about what the
Lord is doing. Somehow, and I don't understand how, but somehow everything
is working together to make me exactly like Jesus. Everything that comes my way
is being used to conform me into the very image of His Son. Doesn't
the Scripture say the end of the thing is better than the
beginning? It surely does, and it is. He predestinated me. And I tell you what, if God predetermined
something, is there any way it can fail to come to pass? Ain't
no way. Everything He predestinates.
Thank God, and that covers everything. Everything's predestinated. He's
in control of everything. He's an absolute God. Absolute. Well, what about human freedom?
I don't know, but I still know this is over. And I'm happy with
that. Well, does that mean people don't
do what they want to do? No, people do exactly what they want
to do. What you've done, you've done
what you wanted to do. And I know this, God's in control
of everything. Aren't you thankful for that?
He's in absolute control. What's it say next? Verse 30,
Moreover, whom He did predestinate, them He also called. He's called
me. He called me out of darkness
into His marvelous light. Paul said, Would it please 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? He called me. He called me through the Gospel.
What else? Moreover, whom He called, them
He also justified. Now, here's something I can say
that God has done for me. He's justified me. Brother Paul
brought this out in the Sunday school class to remind us again
of this. Justification. Now, listen to
me real carefully. If you've never heard this before
and you believe this, it'll be a blessing to you. Justification
is not making it just as if I never sinned. I have sinned, but God
kind of covers it. He still knows I'm a sinner,
but He's treating me as if I was not one. And He's covered me
in the blood of Christ, covered me so. He knows what I am, But
he's not going to treat me that way. Is that what justification
is? No. You know what it means if you're justified? Not guilty. If you're justified,
you never sinned. But I have. Not in Christ you
haven't. Union with Him. Did Christ ever
sin? Did He? No. He knew no sin. Everybody that's united to Him
knows Him. Justified. What did He do for
you? He justified me. Moreover, it
says, verse 30, whom He justified, then He also will glorify. Is
that what it says? It says whom He justified, then
He also glorified. Now, this statement is not prophetic. It's not talking about something
that will happen. It's historic. It's something that is talking
about something that has already happened in Christ. I'm not as sure for heaven as
if I'm already there. I'm already there. Ephesians
2, 6 says we're seated in the heavenlies in Christ. If Christ
is there, I am too, because beloved, I'm always with him. That is
my What's God done for you? Well,
I can say this, verse 31. What should we say to these things
if God be for us? Who can be against us? You go home. And you tell your
friends, not all the great things God is doing in your life, although
he may be doing great things in your life, he also might be
destroying you. You go home and tell your friends the great things
he has done. I'm trusting him who has already
accomplished my salvation. There's not a thing I can do
to add to it. There's nothing I can do to take anything from
it. It's already complete. Truly,
we're trusting the finished work. of the Lord Jesus Christ. We're
trusting him who finished the work. Back to our text, in closing. And he departed after the Lord
gave him this commission. He departed and began, verse
20, Mark chapter 5, verse 20. and began to publish in Decapolis
how great things Jesus had done for him, and all men did marvel.
Now would you turn with me to Luke's account of this? Luke chapter 8. Now here is Luke's account of
our Lord's commission to this man. Verse 39. Return to thine own
house and show how great things God, and notice that, show how
great things God has done unto thee. And he went his way and
published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him. Was he wrong? Not hear what the Lord said.
The Lord said, you go out and tell them what God has done for
you. What did he do? He went home and told them the
great things Jesus, who is God, had done unto him. Let's pray.